PLEASE SHARE AND SIGN THIS PETITION!

Residents of the Village of Valley Stream in Nassau County, New York, want to hold their Village leadership accountable for despicable comments a Village Trustee (an elected official) made against a resident diagnosed with Asperger's.

UPDATE: GRASSO HAS DOUBLED DOWN WITH MORE COMMENTS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On November 5th, 2022, Amil Virani shared a conversation he had with an elected official of the Village of Valley Stream on his Facebook.

See the full conversation here

In the conversation, Trustee Vincent Grasso said horrific, bigoted things to Amil, such as: 

"Do you wear a helmet?"

"I guess I should just pity you. I didn't realize you were special ed"

"I'm going to let you get back to your coloring books."

Our demands as taxpaying residents of Valley Stream are this:

1. Trustee Vincent Grasso must issue a public apology to Amil, his family and the residents of the Village, and must humbly resign from his position as Trustee effective immediately;

2. The leaders of Valley Stream must join the community's call to action and condemn Trustee Grasso's horrific conduct; and

3. The leadership of the Village must make legislative changes to the Code of Ethics of the Village Ordinances to ensure that any employees of the Village be held accountable for such behavior. 

Trustee Grasso has demonstrated plainly that he is not fit to hold public office. He’s acted in a manner that is extraordinarily unbecoming of a representative of our community, let alone a paid elected official. And that's just putting it nicely. What kind of community would we be if we allowed paid, elected representatives to get away with denigrating someone with vile, bigoted comments because of a diagnosis. If leaders do not act to condemn Grasso’s horrific conduct towards a member of the community and join us in these demands, it would be a searing indictment on the values of the leadership as a whole. This would be a message to the entirety of our community that if you try to be an active participant in our local democracy, you will be disparaged and ridiculed with impunity by bigots. 

However, it must be made explicitly clear that under no circumstances should anyone harass or bother Trustee Grasso's family. He must be held accountable for his actions, but we will not tolerate or condone more hate as a response.

For more context:

Amil Virani a young man who just recently moved to the Village of Valley Stream in Nassau County, New York. Ever since he moved to Valley Stream, he has become one of the most active young men in local politics on the west side of Long Island we've seen in a long time. Amil is someone who has a genuine passion to be involved in local government and hold political leaders to account with transparency and accountability, and has made himself very well known among residents and leaders in a short period of time. He contributes a significant amount of his time going to Village Meetings, Town Halls, etc., and constantly posts information to the public on social media so that every resident can be more informed and mindful of what's going on in their backyard. And it just so happens that he is diagnosed with Asperger's.

Amil has started to become something of a thorn in local leaders side as he has been vocal and active to hold them to account. He goes to Village meetings to politely yet fearlessly talk about issues in the Village and how leadership can do better to remedy them.

Amil has been having on and off conversations with a Village Trustee, Vincent Grasso, who is a paid, elected official of Valley Stream. We can only speculate that Grasso was finally fed up with Amil's insistence and retaliated with horrific comments related to his diagnosis.

Amil's diagnosis is by no means a deterrent to his passion and gumption to work for the community. And this is what he does: he is extremely invested in the state of our neighborhood, its economy, its social fabric and its safety, and tirelessly participates so that his neighbors can learn and benefit from it.

Valley Stream borders Queens and is run by a Mayor, Deputy Mayor and three Trustees who have voting power in the Village's affairs.