NY Islanders And Lighthouse Project Featured at Republican Roundtable

Assemblyman Fred Thiele, who has had experience with SEQRA, chimed in. “SEQRA can be used as a tool or a weapon.”Mr. Thiele is a representative from the East End of Long Island. “You can have a good law and bad officials, or a bad law and good officials. We need to do everything we can to keep you [the Islanders] here. It is of critical importance.”
 
Mr. Picker continued, “No one wants to skip steps. Just don’t let politics get in the way. We get a battle between the Republicans and the Democrats. How do we get it done?”
 
This is an age old question. How do you get the parties to agree on something – anything—that will benefit everyone?
 
“There are bathrooms OUTSIDE the Coliseum.” This is indeed embarrassing. “We are so far behind the times. The county loses money on the Coliseum today. Without your major tenant, this building just goes away.”
 
Meanwhile, the Islander's organization is being courted by many areas in North America and Canada. “We have told everyone, we’re not interested. But once the time comes, we may have to think differently,” Mr. Picker said. He was not issuing an ultimatum, just stating facts.
 
Sports franchises are different from other businesses. Retail can pack up and move in a blink. They can pull a truck up in the middle of the night and be up and running in a different spot 24 hours later. You can’t do that with a hockey team. Time is of the essence here. You can’t wait until 2012 to think about where it’s going to be.
 
The assemblymen listened as Mr. Picker detailed what they already knew; how much tax revenue the county will lose if the Islanders have to relocate and how much tax revenue could be garnered if their development is approved.
 
Some detractors may say the Lighthouse Project has overestimated the potential revenue stream. Just take HALF our numbers and tell me if you think they’re good. In a cash-strapped economy, even half is staggering.
 
But if two prominent, highly visible Long Islander's can’t get a project done on Long Island, what does that say to anyone else who may want to develop and improve our economy? Charles wants to create a new industry, creating good paying jobs that marry sports and technology. He is willing to invest in our economy. Is there anyone else on this short line?
 
“What permits do you need?” Mr. Picker was asked. I thought he would be able to recite them in alphabetical or numeric order. But he answered “Our application is for 150 acres. We own eight acres of land. We put forth an application for 300 five-star hotel rooms, a conference center to do mid-level conferences, 2300 residential units, 20 percent of which are next generation, 500,000 sq. ft. of retail space, which would be complimentary. This is a mix-use, SMART-use development. We’ve spent $15,000,000 on this entitlement process. We need answers. We need the P.D.P. (Planned Development Permit) approved, the lease done with the County (which they have already begun working on), Sub-division approval and DEC and DOT signoffs.”
 
Mr. Picker said something very important that I hope didn‘t fall on deaf ears. “If we don‘t work sequentially we can‘t do it. We‘re surrounded by a lot of communities with varying view points. We can‘t please ALL of them.”
 
One of these groups that were identified in Newsday is the veterans. While the veterans organizations showed up to the 180^th Community Outreach meeting and endorsed the project, a follow-up article cited complaints regarding the naming of the arena.

What was not covered in that article was the fact that the Lighthouse group had worked with the veterans in order to come up with a compromise to properly recognize them. By changing the name of the roadway where the development will be built, that would assure that the words “Veterans Memorial” would not be dropped from the Nassau Coliseum vocabulary.
 
In all seriousness, how many of us actually call it “The Nassau County Veterans Memorial Coliseum”? Find me one.
 
Certainly traffic concerns are at the top of the list. Considering how much money, time and effort have been expended studying the traffic situation, Mr. Picker made an obvious statement. “If we create an unbearable traffic situation, we hurt ourselves.”
 
There were 279 intersections covered in the DGIS. Some would need to be configured right away, and others as the project develops. Traffic is a wide spread problem. Even Ron Foley, Regional Director for Long Island, New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, admitted the annual air show over Jones Beach creates is a problem. Does anyone say “don’t do it”?
 
As one of the assemblymen took a trip down memory lane, he said something I never thought about. Years ago, on a Saturday night when Roosevelt Raceway was open with 30,000 patrons and the Islanders were playing with 12,000 patrons, and Hofstra may have had a basketball game, the roadways clogged, but they were not at a standstill.

It’s not as big a problem as people think.
 
There are ways to ease traffic problems: staggered work hours, traffic pattern changes during high volume egress of events, among others. The problems are not insurmountable.

“The peak hours are only part of the day.” Mr. Picker reasoned.
 
We have an opportunity to create a world-class leisure and recreational destination. We have the opportunity to create our own stimulus bill. We don’t have what the Lighthouse Project has to offer anywhere on Long Island. It can be a catalyst for change, or it can be a parking lot.
 
The people have to choose. The people have to be heard. The people have to tell their political representatives what they want. And they have to tell them NOW.

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