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Bigger Game OFF the Ice on Long Island |
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**Updated 2:53 pm: As per an exclusive report by NYI Point Blank, Tom Suozzi will present a finalized lease for the property within the week leaving the entire decision resting with Kate Murray and her Hempstead Town Board. The news made me somewhat sick.
Okay, I’m still angry. Actually, I’m getting even angrier. I keep thinking about what went down on Tuesday at that rezoning meeting, or should I call it the Garden City "Just Say No" fest?
But if you believe what you are reading in the papers, you have to ask yourself, would Scott Rechler, who is well versed in developing Long Island, be involved in a project that would fail to meet his ideal of success? Would he build retail and residential space that would run the risk of being vacant?
Who in their right mind would spend $15 million on developing plans, just to have them not work? Who would spend $3.8 Billion on something so that it could be an eyesore? Would the developers come up with a plan that would make those home buyers who spend $500,000 - $1,000,000 to live in that development angry about trying to get out of the area?
Do Kate Murray and the Town of Hempstead really think the Lighthouse group hasn’t dotted their "i’s" and crossed their "t’s" (using her words)? How many more I’s and T’s can there be after spending $15,000,000 going over Traffic, Water, Garbage and sea turtles? YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!
People, I know that I may seem overly pessimistic, but I’m telling you, any change in plans now will cause this to NOT happen. Those articles saying the fans want Wang to scale it back are simply ToH tactics. You want compromise? Fine. They are worried about water? Take out the canal. Period. That’s it. Everything else STAYS.
If the News 12 poll showed that 72% (or more by now) residents of Long Island are in favor of this project in its current scope and scale, and all the prior public hearings and meetings had overwhelming support, where are these “fans” who want a smaller vision coming from?
I will tell you. They are the politicians with small vision and an eye on pushing blame off their dais and onto the developer. The Lighthouse developers have been working on this for years now. Do you seriously believe they would leave any loose ends so close to their own deadline? The deadline is October 3rd. It is fast approaching.
The time to say they didn’t like it was not just months ago, but YEARS ago. At this point in time, telling the developer to go back to the drawing board will not just mean taking out an eraser and lopping off a few floors from the Luxury hotel. What it means is going back to the drawing board and back to having to file for MORE environmental studies.
Guess who pays for that? The Lighthouse developers.
No. They’ve spent $15,000,000 on THIS project, the way it is. They took direction from Nassau County looking towards what the area needed to not just survive but move into the future. AskIng to scale it down now does nothing but make it fail. Changing the plans puts it back in time. Hasn’t FP Clarke made enough money off the Lighthouse group?
They say they won’t give into the deadline, so they stomp their feet and purse their lips like a five year old and refuse to give an answer. No answers, no decisions, just lip service to the press and campaign promises to the residents. If the deadline was the day after Election Day, would they be so reluctant?
Meanwhile, as they continue this game, 35% of the construction workers on Long Island are without jobs. Meanwhile, as they play who blinks first, Nassau County is still BROKE and looking for revenue.
Yes, maybe the developers will roll up their plans and their welcome mat and take the team to Brooklyn, or Queens, or Hartford or Hamilton. Maybe there is another township on Long Island that is SMART enough to realize the benefits of the project. The least of which is…
KEEPING THE ISLANDERS ON LONG ISLAND!
Maybe it's time to Rock The Vote in Hempstead.
(Hopefully I'll have something hockey related tomorrow if I can get into a practice or get information.)
New York Islanders Blogger • 
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