Limba

Mary Scott "Wings of Their Own"
2004-11-19 00:00 (America/New_York) | NY
This week we had Mary Scott give a presentation on the documentary that she produced with her co-producer Abby Dress. The film is “Wings of Our Own” and will be shown for the first time Monday Nov 29th. Their will be a reception with cocktails and the details are below. The film is about women aviators and the contribution that women have made to aviation over the years. The film features many Long Island women. Mary revealed some statistics that were new information to most of us. For example, in the early days of aviation 6% of the pilots were women, and almost all of them were not proffessional pilots. Today that percentage remains the same, but 85% of them, are proffessional pilots. On the other hand the majority of the male pilots are not proffessional pilots.

Best to allErnie FazioRemember to bring an unwrapped gift to the Holiday Gathering for the benefit of “Christmas Magic” on Dec 17th.ANNOUNCING
The World Premiere of “Wings of Their Own”directed by Mary Scott, produced by Abby Dress & Mary ScottMonday, November 29, 20046:00 to 9:00 p.m.at the Cradle of Aviation IMAX theateron Charles Lindbergh Blvd.Garden City, NY 11530Tickets are $20 and include a reception before the screening.For information and reservations call 516-572-4066or e-mail wings@makebelievetv.comfind out more about the film, go to www.WingsOfTheirOwn.com

HAPPY THANKGIVING- NO MEETING
2004-11-26 00:00

Tom Kohlman, CEO Suffolk County National Bank.
2004-12-03 00:00
The president and CEO of Suffolk Banklcorp, Tom Kohlman was our speaker this morning. Suffolk County National Bank is the entity that is familiar to all of us.
Tom gave us an overview of how community banks differ from money market banks. Essentially these community banks have more control over the funds that they work with and the operate at better profit margins than the larger banks..
Mr. Kohlman was optimistic about the survival of community banks because of the services that they can give, and still be profitable.

He went on to say that consolidation of banks would continue, and given an economic opportunity that Suffolk Bankcorp would consider purchasing other banks "at the right price," even though they have not completed any purchases so far.
Tom Kohlman is a clear spoken man that has no trouble connecting with an audience. As usual we closed the meeting on time, but many of the audience stayed to ask additional questions on a one to one basis. Tom gratiously obliged.
Next week we will have as our speaker Major Charles Killian from the 106th National Guard Air Wing at Gebreski Airport. He will be telling us the function of the unit. More on that next week.

Major Charles Killian 106th Rescue Wing
2004-12-10 00:00
Today we had the pleasure of having the commanding officer of the Air Wing 106, National Guard. Col. Michael Canders gave an overview of the unit that works closely with US Coast Guard as well as local police. The unit is available for various search and rescue missions as well as it’s primary purpose of national security. It is reassuring that this organization is here for our safety. The colonel answered many questions after his prepared remarks and even stayed longer to speak to people on an individual basis.

LIMBA Holiday Gathering
2004-12-17 00:00
This morning the meeting room at the Hilton Garden was so festive with lots of delicious breakfast fare. Just the right setting for what was to take place.
The LIMBA Holiday party was held this morning in lieu of the usual speaker program. This morning’s program began with the beautiful violin music of James Everett Graseck. Jim began with "God Bless America" inviting everyone to sing. I had seen Jim play at a party given at Computer Associates two weeks ago. I described Jim, not as a musician, but as music itself. He is versatile, funny and enormously talented. I dubbed him "the Victor Borge of the violin"

After that an old friend of LIMBA, Harry Freedman got up and did a comedy routine that lasted about 1/2 hour. For those who may remember Harry, he did our Holiday Party in 2002. This time he brought two other talented people with him. Harry had the crowd up to full speed and turned it over to John, a man with a wooden dummy. John did some very clever lines with the dummy, and had us in rails of laughter.
There was one more comic, Chris who was also excellent, but by that time we were laughed-out. We brought Jim back with the violin and closed out the entertainment. The positive comments were numerous and the compliments to the entertainers was well deserved.
The next meeting is scheduled for January 7th and we will be hearing from Vincent Polemeni. He will discuss his proposal for a tunnel connection to Connecticut.

Christmas Eve NO MEETING
2004-12-24 00:00

New Years Eve NO MEETING
2004-12-31 00:00

Tunnel to Connecticut-Vincent Polemeni
2005-01-07 00:00
At LIMBA we usually take well conceptualized idea (I think that’s a word), and present it to our audience to evaluate, and hopefully, adopt. This mornings meeting was a little different. The proposal to connect The end of Rt. 135 to Rye NY by tunnel was presented by prominent builder, Vincent Polimeni. What was interesting about this meeting was the input from the audience. The presentation was relatively short. However the Q&A period turned out to be an open conversation with the speaker. The audience raised some interesting questions that led to this more "free form" discussion. Questions about tunneling under residential neighborhoods, such as; would it be possible to tunnel without causing vibration damage in dwellings nearby? What effect on the water producing aquifers would the tunneling have? How would you compensate people for the ground rights? ( Just as real estate has "air rights" it also has ground rights). What would be the financial impact on the existing bridges in Queens? And, would the estimated $8 dollar toll be a deterrent to using it?
This is an idea that is in its’ embryonic stage but it’s worth studying. After a study has been made, and these questions are answered, LIMBA could be supportive, because the reduced air pollution and new rail access the tunnel would provide are congruent with LIMBA’s greater vision.
Next week is a holiday weekend with Martin Luther King’s birthday being celebrated on Monday. Therefore there will be no meeting on the 14th. The following week, Jan 21st, Keyspan Chairman, Bob Catell, will speak about the electric and gas business, but he also said there were other important community issues that he may want to discuss. I’ll have more on that when we get closer to the date.
We have a new cooperative arrangement with LIFT they will be notified of our meetings and they in turn will notify their members of LIMBA meetings. LIFT will select one meeting per month to advertise jointly with us. LIFT is a not for profit member of LIMBA. Both organizations will benefit by this close cooperation giving our speakers more exposure and their members will increase networking opportunities. LIMBA has a high regard for the technical services that are provided by LIFT and we are very happy with this arrangement.
Our member gate price remains at $10 going into the new year. We have changed our gate price for non-members to $20 Lift members will pay $15 unless they are also LIMBA members In that case they will pay $10.

Martin Luther weekend NO MEETING
2005-01-14 00:00

Bob Catell, Keyspan Chair will discuss Power Issues.
2005-01-21 00:00
This morning’s speaker was
Keyspan Chairman Bob Catell. Mr. Catell’s presentation addressed the growing
demand for natural gas. The demand for natural gas has been growing at a rate
that makes the supply of the commodity difficult. There are two pipelines under
consideration. Islander East is one of them. Islander East will bring natural
gas into the US through Canada, supplying points in the Northeast and
terminating on Long Island. About two years ago LIMBA made a commitment to
support Islander East. We are still awaiting approval of the facility. The other
pipeline under consideration is known as the Millennium Pipeline. The Millennium
will bring gas supplies in from the Midwest, where there is a surplus of gas.
With the way we are using gas on Long Island, both will be needed.
Bob
took an opportunity to praise the efforts of his field force for what they do in
general, but specifically how they handled the pipeline break in eastern Suffolk
recently. In that case Long Island crews had help in restoring service to
thousands of homes on the North Fork from crews brought in from NYC and
Connecticut. Bob expressed his thanks for their quick response to the
emergency.
Keyspan under Catell’s leadership has been an active part of
the community. Mr. Catell expressed his belief in community service as being the
right thing to do as well as the fact that we all live here, meaning himself,
Keyspan employees and the valued customers.
As Bob spoke about the gas
business he acknowledged his respected competitor in the person of Kevin Rooney.
Kevin is the Executive Director of The Oil Heat Institute. There was a little
banter back and forth, but what showed through was a deep mutual respect, indeed
a freindship, that these two excellent leaders have for each other.
There were several questions about alternative energy, distributed
generation and Internet access through power lines. As a result we went over the
usual time by about 10 minutes.
Mr. Catell, in collaboration with a
professional writer, wrote a book "The CEO and The Monk" I read it myself and
can tell you it is well written and interesting. Paul Townsend raised the
question about the book because he had read it too. It can be purchased on
Amazon and any profits will go the Keyspan Foundation.
This is the first
cosponsored event with Long Island Forum for Technology (LIFT) By any measure it
was successful and we will be cooperating with LIFT in the future.
Meetings like this are successful as a result of having an interesting
speaker, a timely topic, an orderly format, and an interested audience. We had
it all. I thank my associates Bill Miller, Bonnie Cornett, And Elsie Farrell.
And I thank you, the audience for being there, with your questions and your
humor.

Dr Jon Gibralter Pres, Farmingdale Univ.
2005-01-28 00:00
Today’s speaker was Dr
Jonathan Gibralter, President of Farmingdale State University. Farmingdale was
an agricultural school, as times and needs changed, so did the
curriculum.The school has adopted many new programs, and redirected it’s
focus to technologies that are needed for today’s world. At the same time
standards for admission have been made more stringent. Remarkably this
approach has increased the size of the student body. Among the programs that
were strengthened was the aviation program. The school now has 13 aircraft to
use in the pilot training course.
The automotive development has been
created under a program with Diamler Chrysler. The automotive field is now high
tech. It is appropriate that the technology be taught at the university level.
This is the approach that is used in Europe, and Germany in particular.
Farmingdale, under Dr. Gibralter’s lead has built a strong relationship
with the business community. Medical innovator OSI, maintains offices in the Bio
Science Complex. The Bio- Science facilities are a big success and phase II is
going forward.
We had a lively Q&A and I know that the questions
could have gone on longer, but in keeping with a certain amount of disciple we
had to end it, more or less on time.

Roundtable meeting
2005-02-04 00:00

Mathew Cordaro PhD. Update on Repowering
2005-02-11 00:00
There are new considerations that bode well for repowering

Presidents Day weekend NO MEETING
2005-02-18 00:00

Broadwater-Liquified Natural Gas Depot
2005-02-25 00:00
This morning, despite the snow we had our regular Friday morning meeting. We ordered a cake to celebrate Paul Townsend’s birthday. Paul and Terry could not get out of their driveway, so we wished him a happy birthday in absentia.. The topic was the Broadwater proposal to create a liquefied natural gas depot in Long Island Sound. John Hritcko, who is the spokesperson for this effort, asked for us all to keep an open mind. Let the process unfold and explore the pros and cons. was essentially his message.

John discussed the history of this technology which goes back forty years. In that forty years there has never been a failure of any system in place in the entire world. Presently there are four LNG installations operating in the United States. All of these LNG operations are on land, which pose a larger risk to population than a platform 9 miles from the closest shore. According to Hritcko the Broadwater facility will be so far away from shore that even the worst case scenario would not be a threat to anyone on Long Island.I posed the worst case scenario to Mr. Hritcko. I asked what if a “Kohl” type attack Took place, what would happen. According to John the ship would have a double hull that would be a much less vulnerable than the Kohl. In the event that the hull was penetrated the liquid natural gas would quickly change from a liquid state to a gas. The gas is lighter than the ambient air and would rise. The rising gas would probably ignite creating a spectacular flame, but there would be no explosion. And there would be no effect on Long Island.John pointed out that there is a need that for diversification of supply, and that by increasing supply there would be a downward pressure on the price of natural gas. He also noted that because the facility would be offshore, real estate taxes would not have to be paid. Nevertheless Broadwater would pay a voluntary tax to the surrounding local governments. Two weeks ago we had a presentation on repowereing Long Island’ generators. While repowering is very attractive, it wont happen without a substantial increase in gas supply. Broadwater would easily create the supply needed for those projects.Next week out topic is “rehabilitating brownfields” Michael Posillico of Bluewater Environmental, will make that presentation.

Michael Posillico-Restoring brownfields
2005-03-04 00:00
Another friday morning, another stimulating LIMBA session, worth rising early for. Today we had Michael Posillico speak on the utilization of Brownfields sites as starting points for redevelopment. Michael, a scion of one of the families that built out the island, has his own firm, Blue Water Environmental, specializing in remediation of these sites. Along with the recent Rauch Long Island Index report, and Senator Clinton’s meeting on the housing problem here, density, one of the third rails of LI politics, looks like it may be starting to have its voltage turned down.Michael spoke at length about the need to educate our community and encourage leadership on this issue among our government reps. He gave us some detail on the scope of the Glen Cove project that is underway and the degree of co-ordination necessary among the diverse federal and state agencies that have hands in environmental projects. Michael sits on the board of Vision Long Island, one of the foremost advocates of planning out here.Now that more and more open space is being taken off the market, the cheapest raw material for building will be brownfields sites. Density must be increased on these sites in order to make it economically feasible to build.. Without acceptance of higher density done well, Long Island is doomed to stagnation. We need local leaders that are willing to be political risk-takers in this. First among them is Tom Suozzi over in Nassau, but he has no bench on his team. Yet.

Fred Krebs Pres NY & Atlantic Railroad, Freight Progress
2005-03-11 00:00
Fred Krebs, the president of Long Island’s freight rail system spoke to our LIMBA audience this morning. Fred started by telling us those facts that he is, and should be, proud of. That is the fact that the number of freight cars on Long Island has more than doubled since he and his company, NY & Atlantic began operating in 1997. Thousands of trucks have been removed from our roads, with a subsequent reduction in air pollution. However Mr. Krebs, is frustrated by the senseless and arbitrary actions taken by the LIRR that inhibit the use of freight trains on Long Island.

One bone of contention is the prohibitive charges made for the construction of siding switches needed to accommodate freight customers. Krebs cited example after example of situations where the MTA wanted $500,000 or more to install a switch that the contractor could build for under $80,000. Another source of his frustration is the relicensing of cars that are oversized again and again. He gave an example of a rail car which has been on the same route numerous times and the tolerances are known, and approved, having to go through the same cumbersome approval process even though everyone knows that car has been approved many times before.In a meeting at the transportation committee of the LIA earlier this week, I brought up the question of the overpriced switches with Jim Dermody, president of the Long Island Railroad. Dermody denied that there was such a problem. We, at LIMBA, know differently, since two of our members have complained of this problem.This was a meeting that was rich with information, and in no way can I do justice the spirited discussion that took place after Fred’s formal remarks, but nobody in that room was satisfied that our public officials in the MTA are concerned with the very real problem of overcrowded highways that is being made worse by not moving more freight by rail. We move less than 2% of our freight by rail, the rest of the country averages 40%. That’s a disgrace! With a little help we can remove hundreds of thousands of trucks from the roadways each year and breathe easier too. LIMBA is committed that goal. Thank you Fred Krebs for your successes so far. Thanks to our very interested audience as well.

David Kapell, Mayor of Greenport
2005-03-18 00:00
Our speaker this morning was Greenport mayor, David Kapell.
In my promotion of this morning’s meeting I promised an interesting meeting. I can reassure it was an understatement. The audience was impressed.. Comments like “Mayor Kapell should teach a required course on governing to the rest of Long Island’s elected officials” were heard. Mr. Kapell is an understated man, with lots of content and no bombast.

Here is a man with a sense of adventure that lets him see opportunity to improve the village, where others see unnecessary risk. When Grumman closed its’ nearby facility there was a picnic ground that included a carousel. Mayor Kapell is a romantic. He likes carousels, so he asked Grumman if the village of Greenport could have it. Grumman agreed, and through LIMBA board member Dick Dunne the transfer was made. The carousel is now a charming addition to the village. It is located in Mitchell Park which is another coup for David and the village. The blighted area which was the location of Mitchell’s Restaurant, a famous landmark before it burned down, was an eyesore for years until the mayor persuaded the village board to buy it for what turned out to be “peanuts,” one million dollars. There is also a skateboard park and an ice skating rink at that location.

There must still be a child inside the mayor. His philosophy is that “if it’s good for children, its good for the village. But beyond this romantic image is a man of enormous resolve. After he first took office the village was being written about in the newspapers because of corruption in the police department. He realizing that the surrounding town must legally provide police protection if the village just got rid of the police department. He showed the leadership to bring the issue to a vote and the people dismissed the police in a 2 to 1 landslide. This move saved the village millions of dollars.

Another controversial, but very successful move was the legalization of auxiliary apartments in all parts of the village. This relieved pressures on housing and increased the value of home ownership in the village. It also helped retired people with limited income to remain in the village that they loved.

After the meeting new member, and AMSOIL dealer, Jim Baumert, asked if he could donate the lubricants for the carousel. The mayor graciously accepted. David stayed in the room for at least another 1/2 hour to answer more questions and to interact with the people who attended.

(John Howell helped with the notes for this report.)

NO MEETING_Good Friday
2005-03-25 00:00

Cliff Sondack- Land Use Institute -Planner
2005-04-01 00:00
I had the feeling that this morning’s presentation had the potential for leading to an interesting debate. Our speaker was Cliff Sondock, President of the Land Use Institute.
The premise advocated by Sondock is that the market should dictate the use of land, and not restrictive zoning.
That theory is antithetical to what we have espoused on Long Island. Obviously there are going to be sharp differences of opinion. And believe me, there were. When radical ideas are presented, and I categorize any idea that is diametrically opposed to what we have been doing as radical, then expect a spirited debate. Well! Spirited is putting it mildly. What I needed to control that meeting was a whip and a chair.

One example of a debate inciting idea was the notion that land preservation was a complete waste of money. Sondock said that the allocation of $225,000,000 for land preservation had the effect of making Long Island even more unaffordable. Actually that makes sense, since preserving land reduces the amount of buildable land and drives up the price. But that would beg another question. Do we really want to live in a completely affordable rotten place?

Having a discussion of this nature, lets us look at new ideas and select from them, that which is workable. When the question of population density came up, someone, you’ll never guess who, asked “How do you deal with that higher density? After you allow higher density, do you then, build the infrastructure that you need”? Sondack said yes, you could. Well, wouldn’t it be better to plan?
In other words allow for greater density under a comprehensive plan while at the same time infrastructure is incrementally and simultaneously built.

At one point there were various simultaneous conversations going on in the room. What that told me was that this was a hotter topic than I expected. It probably would be suited to a more in depth discussion. As it was we went overtime by about 20 minutes.

According to several people in the room, the topic needs more time, maybe we will do that in the future.

Joe Gergela' Ex Dir. LI Farm Bureau
2005-04-08 00:00
Each week people at LIMBA learn surprising facts. This morning was as good an example as any. Our guest was Joe Gergela, Executive Director of the Long Island Farm Bureau.
Agriculture in Suffolk County is the largest revenue producer of all of the counties in New York State. I knew that was true in 1988, but I was surprised that it was still true today. The Farm Bureau’s interests are broadly defined and encompasses fruits, vegetables, aquaculture, greenhouse growers, fflowers, nurseries, and other related industries. while Suffolk it is credied with being the largest agtriculture county in the state, it is grossly under estimated. According to Mr. Gergela the gross product may be close to a billion dollars.

Joe spoke about the effort to maintain the value of the land by keeping it in line with all other land uses. He pointed out that by zoning farm land in a way that is unfavorable to farmers it deprives them of what may be the only lasting value for a lifetime of work.

There was a creative solution involving transfer rights that was worked out with the farmers, and while I did not exactly understand the mechanics of the planning, the resulting benefit to the public was 200 acres of prime Keyspan property on Long Island Sound being converted to parkland.

The farm bureau gets into the issues that effect farmers viability. Gergela made a case that the economic security of the farming community has a net positive effect on the rest of us. Having a functioning farming industry keeps a certain amount of open land, which in turn retains some of the rural nature of Long Island.

One of Joe’s important issues issues is “grown on Long Island” This copyrighted label is enforced by the farm bureau and is currentlly being embraced by one of Long Island’s biggest grocers, namely, King Kullen. The emphasis in the label is more than local loyalty, it is better quality.

At LIMBA we appreciate the diverse nature of our economics,and this was an enlightening discussion. Thank you Joe Gergela.

Bob McMillan-Health Care
2005-04-15 00:00
Bob McMillan came to LIMBA this morning and soke about the state of health care. He pointed out that medical technology is the best in the world. He also pointed out that universal availability continues to elude us. These fact are becoming a familiar theme now. A few months ago Michael Dowling, President of North Shore LIJ, said more or less the same thing.

According to Mr. Mcmillan there are 45 million uninsured people in the country. Of that amount, 25% of those people are employed at incomes of greater than $25,000. This is no longer a problem relegated to the desperately poor. And like the Titanic, the band plays on.

The stats are appalling, and getting worse every year. In terms of quality care the gap between large city facilities and rural America continues to grow.

The problem of delivering quality health care is challenging. As it is the cost of long term care is consuming 80% of the Medicaid budget. Twenty-three million Americans do not speak English. How hard is it to administer medicine to people who cannot tell you what bothers them and have trouble responding to care they don’t understand? He predicted that the cost of healthcare would consume 20% of the Gross National product in 20 years. And finally, productivity in healthcare is growing at half the rate of industry in general.

McMillan gave a little history on attempts to put a health care program in place. Starting with Teddy Roosevelt through Hillary Clinton. Since Clinton’s failure on the issue, no one has been courageous enough to rejoin the battle.

The bright spot is that that since a higher and higher percentage of the economy is being diverted to health care, job opportunities in the health care sector will be increasing dramatically. Otherwise, a bleak picture was presented. The good news is that we are talking about it.

Lisa Tyson, LI Progressive Coalition
2005-04-22 00:00
This morning we started a little early to get out a message delivered by our new member Irving Like and his partner Vincent Tenety. The issue Irving brought up was the way that commercial property is being exposed to a quickly escalating tax based on a new formula. There is a small window to establish your challenge that ends May 17th. Failing to do so could have dramatic effect on your taxes. Please download this file for additional help on this matter.

Our scheduled speaker was Lisa Tyson from the Long Island Progressive Coalition. The topic was a Failed Education System. She acknowledged that, while schools on Long Island are generally good to excellent, there are several places that are not providing a quality education.

Lisa cited situations, mostly upstate and in NY City, where basic tools such as books were not available. She referred to a study that said the minimum cost for a good basic education for the students of NY State is $8,000. That did not shock anyone in the room since most of the school districts on Long Island spend considerably more than that.

The study went on to say, in order to meet that threshold there was a need for an additional 5.6 Billion dollars each year. But there is more, the state of the infrastructure is in bad repair. Ms. Tyson told us that there were schools in NY City that h were still burning coal in their ancient furnaces. The cost of bringing these facilities into the modern era is an additional 9 Billion dollars. This 9 billion, however, could be amortized over a number of years.
The state was sued over this lack of funding and lost. Presently the state has asked for a stay of the court order while they appeal. Not a pretty picture, but that’s where it is.

On Friday the 29th we will have NY Times Long Island desk mgr. speak on “getting the Story”
This should be an interesting meeting. Meanwhile, have a nice weekend

Bruce Lambert, reporter NYTimes-Getting the story
2005-04-29 00:00
This morning, Bruce Lambert, lately of the New York Times, came to talk about some of the different ways that peoples’ stories wind up as newspaper stories. It turns out that Bruce is an old-time veteran reporter on the island, having worked for many of the local papers from time to time. He was also the first reporter working on the AIDS story full time for the New York Times. As is the reporter’s role, Bruce brought us some news, that Newsday’s Paul Vitello is moving to the Times.
What is the News?
There is tons of competition for column-inch space in the metro section of the NYT. For Long Island stories to make it into the metro section, they have to be of tri-state regional interest. The Long Island section of the Sunday Times, is obviously more focused on our home, with longer, more focused stories.
How do reporters get stories?
Reporters are bombarded with press releases and phone calls, having to sift through many of them to find items that are newsworthy for that day or week, but sometimes stories find reporters. Bruce recounted the story of the Gertz heiress, Alison Gertz, who was one of the early heterosexual women to contract AIDS when the disease was thought to be confined to the gay male and IV drug using communities. There, Alison’s mother called Bruce and brought him the news that the disease was breaking out of those communities. Alison went on to become an AIDS activist, forming the organization Love Heals, passing away tragically at age 26.
Sometimes personal relationships are sources. An old friend of Bruce’s introduced him to a Private Investigator that turned out to be working on reopening the Marty Tankleff murder case. Personal experience can also suggest stories. Bruce’s experience in newspaper union organizing and negotiations was helpful in doing stories on the arbitration process with county police department contracts.
And sometimes stories are just plain fun. Bruce recounted some stories on Long Island’s fractured geography, oddities that date back to Revolutionary War times.

No Meeting
2005-05-06 00:00

Les Scheinfeld- Habitat for Humanity
2005-05-13 00:00
At LIMBA we like to promote infrastructure that will have a large and lasting impact on the quality of life on Long Island. We also give voice to those people that embrace needs, even if the scale is small.

Habitat for Humanity’s Les Scheinfeld made a presentation this morning at a LIMBA meeting. Astoria Federal Savings was the sponsor of the meeting.

Habitat has been building houses around the world since 1988. They have built 88 of those houses on Long Island. They will build another 12 by 2006. Given the need for affordable housing, this does not seem to be an adequate response to the problem. But, as usual, there is more to the story.

The labor needed to produce these houses is voluntary. Astoria Federal Savings Bank helps fund the organization, and Astoria personnel give their free time to the projects. They also encourage other businesses such as Lowe’s to provide materials and labor. Unions have contributed labor and training for the volunteers. Skilled retired people give a lot of their time too. What emerges is a picture of people helping people. “Barn raising” in America is not dead.

Alexis DeToqueville, a Frenchman traveling through America in the 19th century, made some interesting observations on the way Americans behave as a community. He observed that Americans tend to create ad hoc solutions to problems as they see them emerge. That was, and is, the spirit that inspires this call to action. Habitat has, in my opinion, has been a catalyst in furthering additional community action. They portray this communal effort as fun. It is fun. Learning and building creates satisfaction, a sense of neighborhood, and, oh yes, housing.

The program this morning was inspiring and thought provoking. Adequate housing is so fundamental to our needs. Most of the people in the room either have a home, or a home is a realizable dream. I think it is important that the workforce has a decent place to live. Habitat is making their effort.
EMF

On the 26th of May the HIA is holding its trade show. THE BEST TRADE SHOW IN TOWN. LIMBA will have a display booth showing the achievements of LIMBA. Paul Townsend was justifiably proud of LIMBA, and we will continue to have an impact on the shaping of Long Island future. Please plan on attending. www.hia-li.org for details

Robert Yaro, President, Regional Plan Association
2005-05-20 00:00
This morning we heard from an old friend of LIMBA Bob Yaro. Mr. Yaro is the president of the New York Regional Plan Association.

Bob started with a challenging proposition. We can be an example of how a region will function or, a good example of how not to operate.

Yaro made the following observations;

We need new patterns of growth on Long Island because the zoning we have today is unsustainable.
The rural and natural areas of the East end can be preserved and doing so will have a positive effect on the economy. Growth Vs preservation is a non-choice
Instead of Long Island being the leader in the NY Region’s economy, it is now emerging as a drag on the region. Most of the many new jobs in New York City went to New Jersey rather than Long Island. Why? Because we need a more efficient and attractive, as well as, less costly means of transportation to the city.
There is little progress in getting the changes we need because of what Yaro calls the “pull up the drawbridge” mentality.

Yaro cited the need for the third track on the main line of the LIRR. We also need to properly fund the remaining work on the East side access to NYC.

With the region growing, the share of new jobs for Long Island should be 1/2 million. That just isn’t going to happen unless we address the problems that need attention.

After hearing Yaro, it makes me wonder if we are not just drowning in our own stupidity. Perhaps we are, but is the job of those of us who try to lead is to make the case for intelligent change.

On a positive note Yaro said that he believes the leadership of Suffolk and Nassau under Steve Levy and Tom Souzzi is excellent and therefor hopeful.

We adjourned the meeting at 9:38. Some of us went into Great Neck for a memorial service for our founder, Paul Townsend, which commenced at 11AM. I could not help thinking that Paul has been citing much of the shortsightedness that is plaguing us now. Paul always saw the opportunities for Long Island, but he was never blind to our myopia. He pressed on nevertheless. We must do so as well.

I was asked to speak at the memorial, which I considered a great honor.

Remember, there is no meeting next week

MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND-NO MEETING
2005-05-27 00:00

The Economic Impact of Film Industry on LI- Michelle Stark
2005-06-03 00:00

Michelle Isabelle Stark- Suffolk County Film Commissioner
2005-06-03 00:00
This morning we had a presentation of “The Film Industry on Long Island..” Michelle Isabelle Stark, from the Suffolk County Office of Film gave us an overview of the film industry and the impact it has had on Long Island.
Members and friends

According to Stark, filming on Long Island is a big business. Not nearly as big as in NYC, but Suffolk County is the largest revenue creating county in the state, when it comes to film making and production. She pointed out that films going back to the days of Rudolph Valentino have been made here.

The many estates, horse farms, beaches, and other unique settings makes Long Island a natural. The beach scene in the remake of “The Manchurian Candidate” where the drowning took place was filmed in Centerport Harbor. “The Sheik” was filmed in the Hamptons. Parts of “Superman” was filmed in Water Mill. Michelle asked people who think they have houses, antique cars, or other properties that could be rented to the industry to register with the film office.

After her talk Michelle fielded some questions Which tended to be focused on how individuals and businesses could participate, and perhaps make a little money in the process (a good thing as Martha would say).

Next week we will hear from Jim Morgo, who is now the Commissioner of Economic Development for Suffolk County. More on that next week.
