Israel's Roots Run Deep in Dix Hills

Even though U.S. Rep. Steve Israel has been in Congress for almost 10 years –a tumultuous time of war, natural disasters and economic nosedives – what he's most proud of is his habit of leaving the Capitol.

"I've spent only a handful of weekends in Washington. I leave skidmarks on the Congress floor to get back to my family in Dix Hills at the end of the week," he said.

Israel has lived in Dix Hills for close to 20 years with his wife, Suffolk County Family Court Judge Marlene Budd. His two daughters graduated from Half Hollow Hills High School West, are both in college and both still live in Dix Hills because they love having grown up there.

Before he was a congressman, Israel served on the Huntington Town Board as a councilman. He said that he originally got into politics "because I was concerned about many issues that were confronting the community in the early '90s. I felt that being involved in the political process would help make a difference. I thought there was a gridlock in the town at the time and that there was neglect for Dix Hills. I didn't think they were always as focused on Dix Hills as they should be. I wanted to change that, and I felt I could do that being on the town board. I think during my time on the board [1993-2001] I ensured that the town became responsive to every community."

In 2001 Israel decided to run for Congress because he thought there were national challenges he could address and he thought that being in Congress was an effective way to also address local issues. He said that he is still able to focus on local issues even while in Congress.

One of Israel's biggest local concerns  is college affordability, something he is seeing first hand with two daughters in universities.

"Mortgage interest is tax deductible because the federal government feels that home ownership is an important investment in the economy. But so is a college education. My constituents are paying for farmers in the Midwest not to grow their crops. They should be paying to grow their kids with a college education." 

Israel's currently sponsoring a bill that creates a $5,000 a year tax credit for all college expenses.

He has also been securing federal funds for a traffic mitigation study for Commack Road.

"I think we should build a parallel access road to Commack Road for commercial traffic. Dix Hills is the victim of the perfect storm of overdevelopment. There are four towns in the area: Huntington, Islip, Babylon and Smithtown. And because of this, planning decisions were made without consulting the other towns. There is a lot of redundancy. For example, within two miles there are two Home Depots. Every morning when I leave my home and I try to make a left onto Commack Road I get stuck in all the traffic."

Israel met his wife when she was a councilperson for the town of Huntington from 1995 to 2005. "I brought her to Dix Hills," Israel said. "She has the most amazing life story," he added. "She was a foster child in the family court system. She never met her dad and her mother died of breast cancer when Marlene was a child. So Marlene was placed into the foster system and she used to have to appear before family court judges and she would tell herself, 'I want that to be me. I want to be a family court judge.' And she put herself through college, through law school and now she's a family court judge. I am so proud of her."

When Israel is not in Congress and he comes back to Dix Hills, he doesn't just sit in his campaign office.

"I eat breakfast in the Premier Diner on Commack Road every time I'm in Dix Hills. Marlene and I eat at Red Mango at the Arches in Tanger. I am out meeting people every day. And I don't walk around giving speeches. I am listening to the people."

He says that he is only partisan about one thing: the Mets. "After a day on the Congress floor in D.C.," he said, "I go back to my apartment and I watch the Mets on my iPhone. Everyone should remember: The Mets are never as bad as they look when they're playing poorly. They recently came home from a 2-9 road trip, but they're not a 2-9 team. And when they had that 10-game winning streak not that long ago, they weren't a perfect team either. But I'll let [owner] Fred Wilpon figure out what to do about [manager] Omar Minaya and the Mets and I'll keep worrying about the issues that are important to my constituents in Dix Hills."