Limba

NO Meeting -Beginning of Passover and Good Friday
2012-04-06 00:00 (America/New_York)
Most of our members will be preparing for the holiday
Happy Easter and Passover to all

LIMBA Round table Discussion
2012-03-30 00:00
We had a "Round Table discussion this morning and the purpose was to see what we could do to advance some ideas we are supporting.

One of the projects we believe is a good idea is the Hub at Ronkonkoma. That project can happen but sewer infrastructure needs to be planned. According to Bob Bender the existing plant’s capacity could be increased by employing some bio-tech solutions. Bob will be making a presentation to the Suffolk legislature to explain the technology. Bob can be reached for comment or assistance r_bender@msn.com

Dan Tomaszewski spoke about volunteerism. His experience is with the schools and he has suggested a closer relationship with students and staff at the high school level. Dan will be thinking of ways that LIMBA can be helpful. Getting the education system working in concert with the business community is the goal. He can be contacted dantski@optonline.net

LIMBA has had presentations from the Port Authority in the past. Now that Pat Foye in a leadership position we thought that he may make himself available since some of us know him quite well. I will be working with Mike Cooney on that, and mike Cooney will invite United Way Director Theresa Regnante to speak on several aspects of United Ways efforts including an outreach to returning military. mcooney@unitedwayli.org

Energy sources were also a topic of discussion. Alternative energy needs to be developed even while the cost is still higher than fossil fuels. The reliability factor needs to be considered. Encouraging municipalities to move forward on alternate energy creates a large market. When manufacturers have a steady and increasing stream of new business, better and less expensive alternative energy will emerge. Tim Harris has expressed an interest in bringing to the organization his experience on that topic. Tim.harris@lipangrid.com

We have expertise in our midst and we should be tap into it as much as we can.

Next week we will be celebrating Passover and Good Friday so there will be no meeting the week after April 13th County legislator, Kate Browning will be addressing LIMBA. We look forward to hearing from her
Enjoy the holiday

Steve Levy- Concepts of government reform
2012-03-23 00:00
Our speaker this morning was Steve Levy. While in office he pushed very hard to reduce costs and while he was sometimes successful, he often was not. The tide and pull of forces on an executive are difficult to overcome. Vested interests have a way of wearing down your efforts.

This valuable experience has made him come to the conclusion there needed to be a new approach. Perhaps it is better to be outside of government in order to effect change. Levy has embarked on an effort to counter the forces that perpetuate the inefficiencies that make living here so costly.

He has assembled an array of Long Island leaders that is impressive. None of those he mentioned are presently in public office. They are owners of formidable businesses and respected organizations. The formal name of the organization is "Center for Government Savings". Mr. Levy discussed several situations that he felt were good places to start. One of them was a fire district, Gordon Heights. That fire district has a cost that averages $1500 per household. Bureaucracies once entrenched are difficult to get rid of. They’re many people in that fire district that want to consolidate with another near-by district, and those that benefit directly want it to continue. Changing things means having the foot-soldiers canvassing the neighborhood, informing the people of a better option, and signing petitions.

Another example he gave is a water district in Farmingdale with its own bureaucracy. Each of these fiefdoms have there own administrators being paid over a hundred thousand dollars for a part-time job, a job where little work needs to be done. Levy poses the question of "why not take these small, but egregious examples and marshal the resources of many communities"; including "good government" groups and solve one problem at a time.

As successes mount up, bigger problems will be addressed. When asked about school consolidations Levy felt that item was a big fish, better left to when the group matures. The MTA tax will be revisited and completely removed, but that is down the road as well.

In the meantime much thought and preparation has been started. An arrangement to have the group headquartered at Tauro Law School will be conducive to having law students volunteer their time getting real-life credits and guiding the efforts of the various organizations.

LIMBA will work with Mr. Levy and provide an update in about six months. Steve can be reached at Steve@commonsensestrategies.com

Ernie Fazio

LIMBA-Mark Grossman NYS Labor “New York Youth Works”
2012-03-16 00:00
Today’s LIMBA program featured a New York State Labor Dept initiative created in January. It is called "NY Youth Works." Mark Grossman is the regional representative for the NY State Labor department and he was here giving the presentation.

Long Island suffered a job loss demonstrated by a graph that looks very much like the national job loss. And like the national picture jobs are recovering, but many young people are still unemployed. This program is directed at the younger workers ages 16-24 and that number can be stretched.

There are $25 million dollars in tax credits going toward the effort and another $8 million in job-readiness funds. There is a certification period for job applicants and prospective employer, but the window is short June 1, 2012. Once certified you have one year to complete a program

The actual allotment is $4,000 per employee @ $500 per month. At that point the employee will be deemed employable and be retained or let go. It’s a great opportunity for employing a new hire while minimizing the financial risk of doing so. For the employee it is an opportunity to prove himself.

The program has targeted areas where unemployment is more severe. That target area pertains to the job seeker, the employer can be out of the target area as long as the travel distance is one hour or less.

We had Eastern Suffolk BOCES representative, Dean Lucera in the room. BOCES does an excellent job of training young people and there seems to be a natural symbiosis with this program, and the business community.

A question came up about helping non-profits and municipal entities, and of course they cannot benefit from tax benefits, but they can have the training portion of the program. Mr Grossman indicated that some additional thought is presently going into doing even more for those entities.

A question came up about using this state program in tandem with any available. It was not entirely clear, but Mark got back to me later in an email and the answer is yes. Here is that communication. Please note there is a link that can get you to the program for more information

Dear Ernie,

Thank you once again for allowing me the opportunity to present NY Youth Works to LIMBA this morning. The feedback from those who attended was very positive.

To answer the question that was raised about stackable tax credits, I have good news. The answer is "yes," a certified employer can receive both NY Youth Works tax credits and additional tax credits such as Work Opportunity Tax Credits (WOTC) and Workers with Disabilities Tax Credits (WETC) if a worker also meets the eligibility requirements for one of those programs. Information about WOTC and WETC can be found at http://www.labor.ny.gov/businessservices/PDFs/p438.pdf.

The reason is that NY Youth Works in state-funded and WOTC/WETC is federally-funded.

This morning’s meeting was been sponsored by LIFT. The Long Island Forum for Technology has been promoting technology and helping technology companies for as long as LIMBA has been around.
Through the years they have developed many programs that help fledgling companies take root.

LIFT Executive Director, Bill Wahlig was on hand with us this morning to give a little more depth on the organization.

We thank LIFT for their support.

LIMBA -LICA Meeting OVERSUBSCRIBED
2012-03-09 00:00
This meeting is oversubscribed- no additional sign-ups under LIMBA
If you sign up now the money will go to LICA and the price is $50 for members and non-members
Our speaker, Savio Chan, has postponed his scheduled meeting at LIMBA to a later date. On that date Long Island Contractors Association is having a breakfast meeting on March 9th that LIMBA is supporting.
LIMBA,s purchase is oversubscribed- no additional sign-ups under LIMBA– All money collected now will be sent to LICA and LICA’s price is $50
The speakers at the LICA event will Senator Schumer and State Senator Dean Skelos

To register on line use the usual method at LIMBA.net. The system will not accept $0 so there is a $1 charge.
You can also call 631 757-1698. Pre-registration is an absolute requirement
Ernie Fazio
This meeting will be held at Fox Hollow 7725 Jericho Tpke, Woodbury. Meeting begins at 8:30AM adjourns at 10:30AM

LIMBA -Gary Bixhorn- Vocational Trainning at BOCES
2012-03-02 00:00
Eastern Suffolk BOCES hosted the LIMBA meeting this morning at the Edward J. Miliken Training Center in Oakdale. In recognition of the symbiotic relationship BOCES has with the business community they opened their doors to us for a tour of the training facilities.

We began by being served breakfast that was prepared by the students. The room was beautifully decorated with flowers on each table. Full arrays of breakfast foods were available.

The Director, Gary Bixhorn, gave an overview of the services that BOCES makes available to students that are not motivated to a regular college curriculum. The purpose of the training is to give the means of a livelihood to people with good craft aptitudes.

In the past young people who wanted to work in the crafts such as electrician, carpenter, auto repair or nursing did so by apprenticeship. Those apprentice opportunities are not readily available these days and employers need to have productive workers on day one.
BOCES has been fulfilling these needs for many years yet most of did not know what they did. Most of us have the image of special needs children being schooled at BOCES. It does do that too, but that role is actually much smaller.

Our LIMBA group was divided into smaller groups and taken to the various shops. The equipment the students are learning to use is at the level you would find in a good production shop. The tools they have, and the training they are getting, is at least equal to industry. That is very important because it makes no sense to teach them yesterday’s technology

When we were leaving the people in the group were making comments that indicated that they were pleasantly surprised by the quality that they witnessed.

These facilities are expensive, but we are getting a lot of value for the money spent. Industry needs this and the craft oriented youngsters need the training

Mr. Bixhorn, and the school’s administrators, Dean Lucera, and principal, Tom Mcgrath suggested we do this tour on an annual basis and we agreed to do that

(This program was suggested by BOCES board member and LIMBA president Bill Miller)

Ernie Fazio

Jack O'connor- Where's the Comm Real Estate Market?
2012-02-24 00:00
This morning’s program was a bit unusual. The speaker that was on the announcement was Jack O’Connor. Jack assembled some people for a panel and they were important and knowledgeable people that helped round out the subject.

Among them were Andrea Lohneiss, an economic officer with NY State.
Peter Curry, Attorney with Farrell Fritz PC
Jim Carpenter Sr VP NY Community Bank
Tom Murray Managing Partner (moderator) AVZ CPA’s

The commercial and industrial real estate business does not operate in a vacuum. Each participant verbalized what effect they were seeing from their point of view. And the fact is while the economy is improving there is still sluggishness in the recovery.

The good news is that properties are relatively cheap and the banks have plenty of cash to loan. In addition interests are at historically low levels. According to O’Connor properties that would sell for $125 per foot can now be bought for $70 per foot. On the other hand buyers must be very credit worthy and be willing to put up substantial down payments.

Another factor is pent-up demand. The long recession has frustrated any forward motion, yet demand continues to build. As business improves and confidence builds recovery should accelerate.

Andrea Lohneiss told us that the low end of the market is not improving as fast as the high end real estate

Jack pointed out that the statistics on vacancies is skewed by the way vacant space is measured. Spaces of less than 20,000 feet are not counted.

Jim spoke about non-judicial foreclosures. The process where it can be used, is quicker and cheaper to execute. The goal is to clear up most of the foreclosures so they don’t undue weight on the market.

The question of available money for multiple family dwellings came up. Good news, here again. The bad news is that there is often opposition to workforce housing that are usually provided in these rental properties.

I pointed out that workforce housing has a symbiotic relationship to industrial and commercial real estate. The needs of industry demands that employees have a reasonable cost housing. The elements go hand in glove. Most towns and villages want businesses within their jurisdiction so they can benefit from the tax revenues. The local governments, driven by organized opposition, oppose the housing that business needs for employees. The result is that an old problem gets older without signs of it abating.

The take-away for most people was that the economy is improving, but there are serious roadblocks slowing down a more robust
recovery

Presdents Day weekend- no meeting
2012-02-17 00:00

Joint Meeting Lesko & Bishop- Job Retention Initiative
2012-02-10 00:00
Our speakers this morning were Congressman Tim Bishop and Brookhaven Town Supervisor Mark Lesko.

These two leaders that have teamed to address a very important concern. Long Island companies are being lured away from this region with incentives that are sometimes hard to resist. Lesko and Bishop created a task force to go out and interview companies and see what offers they have been getting and what do they need to keep them here.

The good news is that most of the companies are not planning on going anywhere. Some of them need more help with electric power, and financing. Some of these needs can be met.

The fact that many companies need the high skilled work force, access to research and education facilities. These benefits are difficult to duplicate. Moreover many business leaders are native to Long Island and all things considered, this is where they would rather be. But Mr. Lesko told us of lures that some of us thought were humorous. One company was told that they would be given a parade if they relocated. Everybody loves a party but we do sober-up.

Mt Bishop took the opportunity to discuss the items of concern in Washington. Up for consideration is a bill in the House that would reverse a 30 year formula that was put in place by President Reagan. The highway taxes have been shared with mass transit to the tune of 20% of all those revenues. That has allowed major mass transit projects to be built. The logic of this arrangement is that ground transportation is a unit. Mass transit helps the driving public by taking autos of the road. Mr Bishop assured us that this bill will not go anywhere but it does slow down the process. There has not been an increase in the gasoline tax since the early 90’s and an increase in that tax which is desperately needed. The chance of that happening are slim to none.

The congressman addressed the deficit too. He posed the question of how do we balance the budget. He explained that there must be cuts and when cuts are made there are no sacred cows. (not his wards). All options must be on the table according to Bishop, but bear in mind how we got to the place we are in.

There was a series of tax cuts over the past ten years. None of them were paid for with savings elsewhere. There was an economic downturn that dramatically lowered income tax collections. At the same time there was a large increase in the need to pay unemployment benefits. There were two wars that were not paid for. There were dramatic increases in the need to fund veterans benefits. This was the perfect storm.

The Q&A period was enthusiastically engaged. We allowed the Q&A to run a little longer than customary. We did have to stop long before we exhausted all the questions but we did cover an enormous amount of ground.

We thank these dedicated public officials for their efforts on retaining jobs and the efforts are paying off. We thank the audience for their interest and adding thoughtful input
Former congressman George Hochbrueckner was in the audience and it was good to see him there. In the past he was a frequent speaker at LIMBA.

There will be no meeting next week, But join us on February 24th when Jack O’Connor, real estate expert from Newmark Knight & Frank will come to LIMBA. He will discuss what we have to know about this important segment of the Long Island economy.

Deepwater Wind program confirmed
2012-02-03 00:00
Our speaker this week was William Moore CEO of Deepwater Wind. A company with substantial plans for ocean sited electric generating wind turbines in the eastern shores of the United States.

Their proposal for Long Island is further off shore than the proposal that was rejected by LIPA. It is 30 miles away from land east of Montauk Point. The wind turbines that will be used are 3 times as large as the earlier proposal. They will be using 6 megawatt generators instead of 2 MW. The larger scale generators are new and they bring down the cost of generation considerably. Wind power has in the past been quite costly. The power provided by these generators will still be somewhat more costly than a clean burning natural gas generator, but considerably less costly than wind farms of just a few years ago. And they have the additional advantage of no emissions and no fuel costs which are generally unpredictable

The wind that far off Montauk is robust and reliable according to Moore. But there are more reasons than that to site them there. By placing them in those waters the electrical ties would go to Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and New York. The New York connection could conceivably come in near Montauk and enter Long Island through the South Fork.

The interconnection of two geographic areas that typically have different demands allows for flexibility and redundancy. Moreover the costly connections to shore have another way of paying for themselves. Rather than the "extension cord" model from wind generator to shore it will be another means of connecting power from one service area to another. To get the concept better; we presently have cables crossing the Sound between Long Island and Connecticut, imagine having generators in between carrying power to both sides as well.

Much of the South Fork has load demands that LIPA has difficulty meeting in the summer season. That line could augment the needs at that time of year, and serve as conduit to the rest of Long Island.

The platforms that will have to be used to shoulder these massive turbines (The rotors are 520 feet across) will employ technology that has been used by oil drilling rigs where they anchor the platforms on the ocean bottom. They can easily withstand 150 mile winds and turbines have performed well in the North Sea where winds do go that high. This is a proven technology and new R&D is not required.

This project has potential for solving several needs at once and is completely within the realm of the possible

Ernie Fazio

LIMBA-Dr Pearl Kamer at Farmingdale College, Knapp Hall
2012-01-27 00:00
Today’s experience at LIMBA was not only an opportunity to learn more about Long Island, it was also an opportunity for students to see what we do at LIMBA. This meeting was held on the Farmingdale Campus in the University Club. The students in the room were encouraged to participate in the Q&A portion and they did, enthusiastically.

Dr Pearl Kamer, Chief Economist for the Long Island Association and President of the Farmingdale College Council was our speaker this morning.

Pearl began with optimistic news about the national economy. The percentage of those without jobs has gone down. The number of people counted among the unemployed had gone down nationwide. The operative word here is "counted". We no longer count those people who have surrendered and are no longer looking for work. In addition to that we give equal status of a job that pays half as much as another job lost the same weight. So if you lose 1,000 jobs averaging $70,000 and replace those 1.000 jobs with ones that average $35,000 your stats will look the same, but the effect on the economy will be significantly different. It gets worse; part time work is also included. In other words we are getting slightly better, but we are not "out of the woods"

Dr Kamer addressed the European sovereign risk problem. She is wary of the ill effects of another European collapse. It could happen that there may be trouble ahead

She then spoke about the housing crises. She covered the causes. Banks made obtaining a mortgage insanely easy, and borrowers were irresponsible and unrealistic about their ability to pay. The overhang of foreclosures continue largely because banks are unwilling to make those reductions of principal that would facilitate some people staying in their homes. Others that are in even worse financial shape, couldn’t hold on to their homes no matter how accommodating the bank became. So the slough out will be long and costly to the society in general. Home values on ALL homes will remain weak during this readjustment.

Manufacturing was another issue handled by the speaker. Manufacturing has been in a long decline for about 5 decades and now comprises about 10% of the national GDP. That could rise with the advent of highly specialized manufacturing. The vocational schools and community colleges are already teaching many of the skills that will be needed. Again education is a long-term commitment with a long-term pay-off.

When we wrapped up the session the students understood the concept of shaping public policy by participating in the discussion with policy makers. The conversation around the room after the meeting convinced me that this was a worthy experiment. Dr Keen, Farmingdale’s president, participated in the program and he agreed.

LIMBA-Taubman Mall at Oyster Bay Property Development
2012-01-20 00:00
Dan Perkins working as a consultant to Taubman, the company that is proposing the Mall at Syosset made a presentation at LIMBA this morning

Taubman builds malls for high end retailers and they are company that builds specifically to their own standards, and they enjoy a reputation for quality. They intend to have Nordstom, Barney’s and other quality retailers in this mall

The development they are proposing will have good access to an excellent network of roads. The site was, in the past contaminated, but Taubman put the resources into the property to clean it up in 2004. While this has been termed a "Mega-mall" it is only 39 acres, a fraction of the size of Roosevelt Field, and 2/3 the size of Walt Whitman Mall.

According to Perkins the property is zoned industrial. Indeed it is surrounded by industrial users, so the impact on residential users is quite minimal. The commercial use as proposed by Taubman is the issue, but according to audience member and former utility executive Dr Matt Cordaro, that site was once considered a prospect for a baseload energy plant. An industrial use of that nature would provide few jobs and would seem to be less desirable than the new proposed use.

The mall construction would provide 3500 union scale jobs. The resulting 2000 retail jobs in high value merchandise would be quite high as well. It is expected the salaries would be about $80 million for the people working there. There would be about $5million dollars in tax revenues paid in local real estate taxes, and there would be little or no stress on the local school system. The presenter made many good points including Taubman’s reputation of being a good neighbor.

We at LIMBA are fortunate to have many experts in various disciplines. The following piece was contributed by another LIMBA member, traffic and planning expert Arvind Vora.
"Zoning laws have basic purpose of maximum utilization of land for the well being of the people in that jurisdiction, i.e. Village or Town. For the health of our body well balanced diet is necessary so is the balance use of land for the well being of our communities. For proper use of land master plan is devised and every generation or so it is updated to accommodate changes in our lifestyle and changes in the society.
The land where Upscale/Boutique Mall is proposed is currently zoned as an industrial use. Person of Taubman’s stature knows very well that buyer of property undertakes a substantial risk if contemplated purpose of the land is other than industrial. Community would have no ground to oppose any industrial use but they are well within their rights to oppose change of zoning. One can think of many creative industrial usages where traffic mitigations, community/school opposition and host of other factors commonly labeled NIMBYISM do not play a role. Newly invented chip by IBM or host of high tech product can be manufactured here.

As to traffic the land is bounded by best possible transportation network i.e. highways & railroads. Both Northern Parkway and Long Island Expressway are the best possible roadways Long Island has seen and will ever see in the near future. Both roadways carry traffic in excess of design capacity (happens to be the case for all limited access highways in and around NYC.)We traffic engineers are capable of finding mitigating measures but at what cost? Who are the best judges:
Residents who have invested their life; elected officials, in power for a short duration; investors, whose main goal is to increase profits; soft power professionals be they planners, traffic engineers, PR , consultants and so on.
Construction jobs, tax revenues and permanent jobs will be created even with proper industrial usage or for that matter any usage."

Arvind Vora, a retired traffic Engineer with 40 years of traffic experience on Long Island has not represented any party associated with the Mall in the past or at present.

Martin Luther King Jr Holiday weekend- No Meeting
2012-01-13 00:00

The newly elected
2012-01-06 00:00
Several elected officials that were victorious in November to discuss the future as they see it

LIMBA Holiday recess- NO MEETING
2011-12-30 00:00

LIMBA Holiday recess- NO MEETING
2011-12-23 00:00
Happy holidays

Vincent DeMarco Sheiff Suffolk County
2011-12-16 00:00
Vincent F. DeMarco, Sheriff of Suffolk County

Today’s speaker at LIMBA was Vincent DeMarco, Sheriff of Suffolk County, and frankly I learned few things I did not know before.

The office of Sheriff has a long history. It was established under constitution of New York State. In the earliest days it was an appointed position and today it is an elected position.

The Sheriff’s Department controls all the County Jails that house thousands of prisoners. The sheriff’s office also has ties to Nassau jail facilities and Rikers Island. The sheriff department has many of its employees empowered as police officers and often makes arrests. More recently they have been asked to patrol the Long Island Expressway. County Executive Levy gave this task to them to the chagrin of the Suffolk County Police. According to DeMarco they are asked to be as cooperative as possible while still enforcing traffic violations. They are also asked to accommodate a stranded motorist when there is the opportunity.

DeMarco spoke about the historic failure of the "correction system" according to him they do not correct behavior they are more likely to make the offender worse. He has taken on programs that are designed to actually modify behavior. "Rehabilitation is less realistic when you are dealing with a 40 year old than when dealing with a younger offender" However Mr. DeMarco told us that even the youngest offenders have a high rate of recidivism. With programs they are using lately the record shows that positive results are possible with youthful offenders. Instead of a 70% recidivism it may now be 40%. That is far from perfect but a clear improvement.

He addressed the situation where the inmate should not be in jail at all. Mentally ill people sometimes commit crimes and they need mental health facilities, not jail, but they wind up there because no one knows what else to do with them. The care is expensive and not always available.

The sheriff department has the inglorious task of evicting people from their homes when there is a default, or the renter is evicted for non-payment of rent

The sheriff’s office is one of those agencies that are big, but largely out of view.

Ernie Fazio

Holiday Party
2011-12-09 00:00
We usually create a summary of the day’s program. That’s a little difficult to do because this was a festival of the season that unfolded for those in attendance. It was planned but what took place in that room was largely spontaneous and great fun.
We invited the great and funny violinist James Graseck. Jim is a man who connects with audience on several levels. One level is that of a superbly talented musician, another is his great sense of humor. And still another is his loving approach to an audience. There is no doubt about his affection for the people in the room.
We hired a new comic this year, NYC retired firefighter John Larrochia. John, while being new to the group, felt very much at home, and the audience embraced him. The rales of laughter were a great testament to his ability to connect. We loved it. In a conversation with John later he remarked at the responsiveness of the audience and was very happy he made this engagement.
Here are the individuals and companies we need to thank for this great Holiday Celebration. We needed an uplift and you folks provided it.
Thanks you.
Merry Christmas and a wonderful Hanukah Season to all.
Much love
Ernie Fazio
National grid Ray Homberger
Terry Townsend
D James Marketing – Doreen & Jim Guma
EMD Electromotive Designs LLC – Joseph Ambrosio & Partners
Ruskin Moscou & Faltichek-Alex Bateman
Covanta Energy -John Waffenschmitd
Holiday Inn -Donna Rizzo, Eleanor Winick & Derek
Staff
Bill Miller M&T Bank
Bonnie Cornett
Renee Hudak
Justin Savello
Frank Imburgio- Desktop Solutions
And our wonderful entertainers.

Robert McMillan-Healthcare what's new
2011-12-02 00:00
Our speaker this morning was Robert McMillan. Bob has used the experience gained in his varied career to create a series of talks on which he has expert status. One of those areas of knowledge is healthcare insurance and the business of medical practice. While not being a doctor he was on the board of the American medical Association. He was also a board member of Empire Blue Cross.

He began by giving us a little background. Teddy Roosevelt was the first president to propose universal healthcare. The topic has come up under the administrations of many different presidents.

(President Nixon had a plan that was far reaching and better than the plan we have today. That was stopped because in the opinion of Ted Kennedy it did not go far enough. Here is a case of killing the good because you are fighting for the perfect-my note not Mr McMillan’s)

What gave healthcare the nudge was wage and price controls during WWII. Employers were not allowed to raise wages, so unions bargained for healthcare. Today 61% of all healthcare plans are provided by employers. But costs have been escalating out of proportion to all other costs. Today the cost of the steel in an American automobile is less than the cost of health insurance for the employees that have assembled it. There has been a 100% increase in healthcare costs between 2000 and 2010, and there is no abatement. The total cost of healthcare is now $2.6 trillion per year. According to McMillan the cost of Medicare is higher than the revenues that are collected to fund it.

He reminded the audience that there is a law suit that is heading to the Supreme Court that challenges the constitutionality of the mandate to cover all citizens. The Supreme Court allocates an hour or less to hear most arguments that come before that body. The court has allocated 5 ½ hours to hear this case. That is a testimonial to the complexity of the legislation that they will be judging.

From Bob’s explanation of the new legislation it appears to be unsustainable. The law has requirements that may make it unprofitable, or at least less profitable. The law requires that 80 % of the premiums on private insurance go to health service and that % is going to rise to 85% in a few years.

Having knowledgeable people in the room created the fertile ground for a good Q&A session. "Perhaps we are approaching medical care from the wrong direction maybe we should be looking at the root of the cost spiral" was suggested. Electronic Medical record keeping was suggested and that when completed will no doubt be a big help. Electronic storage and retrieval of medical information such as x-rays is now a reality, and while the initial cost of conversion is substantial, the cost operation is a fraction of what it used to be.
Personally I came away from the session with the impression that the status quo is bad, but this legislation may create the impetus for a workable system.

Thanksgiving No Meeting
2011-11-25 00:00

Brookhaven Rail Terminal - Next phase
2011-11-18 00:00
Our speakers today were the operators of the Brookhaven Rail Terminal, Gerry Drumm and Andy Kaufman

Many years ago under the leadership of our founder, Paul Townsend, LIMBA set as an objective the improvement of rail freight on Long Island. Two years ago LIMBA invited the BRT owners to explain what they thought they could accomplish. We saw what they wanted to do and enthusiastically endorsed their efforts. The town, under the leadership of Supervisor Mark Lesko, embraced the idea as well. The community was contacted and they expressed what concerns them. Those concerns were answered by the principals. This is the best and most successful coordination of interested parties I have seen in a long, long time. This was a text book example of smart negotiations.

How important is this rail freight installation? We at LIMBA set a goal of creating a system that would increase rail freight capacity from 2% to 10%. We thought that was an ambitious goal, and it is, but consider this. Going to 10% will remove 300,000 tractor trailers from the LIE. This installation alone will remove 100,000 trucks from the LIE in the first year. Furthermore the BRT is only built out on 28 acres. They can expand as they build their business on the remaining 90 acres. In other words they will come close to removing 300,000 trucks with just this facility. The reduced air pollution, road congestion, and the reduced need for road repair represents a major win for Long Island.

The BRT yard will handle aggregate, lumber, appliances, and generally any cargo that does not need special treatment such as refrigeration. The future plans will include refrigerated warehousing and dry shelter

There is so much more that can be done, however. A few years ago we invited Congressman Nadler to speak at LIMBA, and he has been a champion of creating a cross harbor freight tunnel from Bayonne to Brooklyn. That tunnel has seen new life recently, but that will take a number of years to complete. Meanwhile the rail freight barge that connects Bayonne to Brooklyn has been refurbished by the Port Authority. That effort also lends itself to increased rail freight to Long Island. The network of tracks that exist under Brooklyn is extensive and a great asset as we move into the future.

There has been $25million invested so far, when completed $100 million will have been invested

The other cooperating entities are the Long Island Railroad under the leadership of Helena Williams and New York and Atlantic Railroad’s Paul Victor. Yes we can get big things done with the right projects and the right efforts. Judy White was the coordinator of this effort.
Congratulations to all.

Ernie Fazio

Veterans Day - NO MEETING
2011-11-11 00:00

Islip Foreign Trade Zone- Astrid Fidelia
2011-11-04 00:00
Executive Drector of the Foreign Trade Zone, Astrid Fidelia, will be our Speaker. The value and benefits the Trade Zone to the Long Island business coimmunity will be the topic. This program will have special significance to people who have an interest in foreign trade. Learn how your business or your clients can benefit. Please join our discussion and gain from the good networking that takes place.
Meeting will take place at:
Holiday Inn – 3845 Veterans Memorial Hwy, Ronkonkoma
Meeting room opens at 8AM. Meeting begins at 8:30 AM and adjourns at 9:30
$15 members $ 25 non-members
Register on line: www.limba.net/breakfastform.php or call 631 757-1698

LIMBA Saving $ on Education with quality- Marty Cantor
2011-10-28 00:00
Marty Cantor was our speaker this morning. Cantor is an economist and has apparently has given his topic, education costs, a great deal of thought.
Marty started out by pointing out that among the anti-competitive elements we are dealing with on Long Island property taxes. About 70% of those taxes are school taxes. The effect of the high costs is lost jobs. In the last 10 years Long Island lost 70,000 manufacturing jobs. We replaced all but 1700 of those jobs, but we replaced them with much lower paying jobs.

We have virtually no chance of replacing those higher earning people and that places an unsustainable burden on the people. He pointed out that while “green jobs”
Are being touted as the replacements for those manufacturing jobs. According to Cantor they are mostly coming from the ranks of the heating and air conditioning industry. While those jobs are being saved, they are adding significantly to the pool of good jobs. Bio-tech jobs are being developed, but they are being pirated away from Long Island almost as fast as they are being developed. In addition the infrastructure has been neglected making it more difficult to do business here. That backdrop set the tone for the urgency to act.

The driving force of education is not teacher’s salaries as much as the cumbersome structure of the system.

Cantor dissected the problem after declaring that there are benefits in creating a town-wide school district. There are school boards that have inexperienced and untrained people on them except for the members that worked in the system and like things just as they are. We need a town-wide elected board that is professional and independent. The rubber stamp boards are people who are highly influenced by the local superintendent.

There are as many superintendents as there are school districts on Long Island, 126. The city of New York has one. There is a professional management of our schools that will resist this consolidation, and there are those that say consolidation will not save money. That argument just does not hold up. It defies all logic. If you reduce the number of superintendents that have salaries in excess of $275,000 and you reduce that number to 11 from 126, that has to save money. There are several other levels of management that work under the superintendents that can also be eliminated.

There is equipment that is owned by every school district that can be owned by a town-wide entity, just as a battalion supplies the military subdivisions, that it serves.

The “Princeton Plan” did not impress Cantor either. That plan segregates schools into grades such as K-3, 4-6, 7-9, 10-12. That could mean that you have 3 children in your family going to three different schools. There’s a real sausage factory feel to that plan, Cantor doesn’t like it. I don’t know how it saves money and there are social implications that are disturbing.

According to Cantor the 2% tax cap will not solve the cost problem if the schools are not forced to make significant structural changes. The tax cap will cause class sizes to increase because the established bureaucracy will sacrifice the quality of education before they agree to a structure that could eliminate their jobs. The speaker stated that the savings would be about $300 million.

There was an idea that could save money that was voiced during the Q&A. We could settle the pension we are obligated to pay with an enormous bond issue that would be a prelude to changing the pensions going forward. There were a couple of people in the audience that have looked at that possibility and they think it has merit. The education system is not like a business that most many of us are used to. In public education we are used to increasing taxes when we run out of cash. That is no longer acceptable

Ernie Fazio

Steve Levy- Balanced Budget with tough Decisions
2011-10-21 00:00
County Executive Steve Levy requested an opportunity to speak before LIMBA this morning. He believes the budget that he has put on the table will be disturbing to many, but the measures he is taking are absolutely necessary.

Among the problems are the Medicaid bills. While they were difficult enough a few years ago they are infinitely worse now. Another issue is pensions. The pensions for County employees are funded by what is known as "defined benefit" plans. This guarantees that the recipient gets the benefit outlined in the plan, no matter what the underlying investment performance. In a market where investments are falling, the employer must inject extraordinary amounts of new cash to meet the "defined benefit". Of course we, the taxpayers, are the employers. The increased cost over the next two years is between $85 and 95 million. These plans are almost non-existent in the private sector because of this volatility.

Another albatross that was thrown at the county was a requirement to build a new $180 million jail, with an annual operating cost of $20-30 million. In addition, the occupancy had to be less dense than our children would experience in a college dorm. A sprung on the property of the old jail can withstand 135 mph winds. During the recent tropical storm, the state insisted that it should be evacuated even though wind were not expected to be anywhere near that strength and in fact did not exceed 55mph. The state is seeking to punish the county for not evacuating the sprung.

Levy has had some notably successes in reducing costs, one such case was to take highly paid police officers off PAL duties and office duties and other non-police functions and put them in the community doing real police work. Another successful move was using sheriff to police the highways. And while sheriff personnel receive the same training as the regular force, they are paid considerably less. This move saved about $11 million per year.

Last year Levy’s budget, approved by the legislature, called for the closure of the county owned nursing home and the same of the empty facility. The legislators too the money projected from the sale of the empty facility so that they could pay for member items — and then they joined in a lawsuit to prevent the closure. This resulted in a $20 million hole in the budget. This year Mr. Levy’s budget again calls for the closure of the nursing home again and, unless that is reversed by the legislature that will save the county $8 million this year and every year thereafter.

Mr. Levy does not like the idea of selling off assets that have a recurring use. The nursing home will never be needed again because there are alternatives. Selling off a publicly owned building to private parties, like the jail as some legislators have suggested, will create some money to pay the current bills, but if you have to rent that property back, it becomes a recurring expense that soon is far more costly than the temporary monetary gain. He gave the example of NY State selling Attica Prison, and now the state pays dearly for using that asset each year.

The county does have some disaster reserves. The legislature and the unions are suggesting that those reserves be used to cover the shortfalls. "No" says Levy, that makes us vulnerable and next year we may be faced with the same shortfall. Selling valuable assets that are owned by the people and using reserves are not the answer according to Levy. It’s not good management.

Levy admits that these are unpalatable measures, but it is exactly the type of measures that business people are making in a difficult economic environment.

Special Prog -Ask the Lawyer-Kaufman Dolowich Voluck & Gonzo
2011-10-14 00:00
"Ask the Lawyer" – October 14, 2011

Gary Wirth, partner in the law firm of Kaufman Dolowich Voluck & Gonzo LLP, brought to us a program this morning called "Ask the Lawyer." Gary began with pointing out the difference of approach of who pays legal fees. He compared the English system where the losing side pays the fees of both sides, and the American system where each side pays his own fees. This feature of the legal system never occurred to me. According to Mr. Wirth that system can be adopted by a letter of agreement between the involved parties. It would have to be negotiated before any legal work has begun. The question to Wirth was; "Why put yourself in the position of paying all the legal fees if you lose?" Wirth’s replied that both sides think they are going to win at inception and may therefore make that bet. The concept has the added value of encouraging settlement. I learned something new today.

We discussed the value of arbitration and mediation. Most of us didn’t know there was a difference, but according to Gary, arbitration is binding and mediation is not. With mediation you may end up in the same place you started except now you had legal fees to pay and no resolution, and those legal fees can be substantial.

We discussed fees too. It is not cut and dried as many of us thought. We may think in terms of hourly rates, or contingency fees, but there are variations on those fee structures too. First of all the stated hourly rate can be negotiated. There also can be a fee at inception that will continue as an hourly fee. Or, there can be a flat case fee. As far as the contingency fee is concerned, the percentage can be negotiated. A fairly straight forward case of liability, where the plaintiff is expected to win may be attractive to the counsel if he believes there is a very large settlement expected, and the time requirement are expected to be reasonable. That was the second lesson of the day.

Small Claims Court; Not all legal matters require a lawyer. In Small Claims Court (recent limit is $5,000) A complaint may be filed for money damages only. While Judges are very precise on the law in a court with a lawyer representing a client, a plaintiff that is representing himself is offered guidance by the court. For many cases Small Claims Court is appropriate.

Mr. Wirth touched upon other topics and then handled question.

This informative format was sponsored by the speaker’s law firm Kaufman Dolowich Voluck & Gonzo, Woodbury NY. LIMBA thanks you.

Ernie Fazio

LIMBA- Islip Supervisor - Phil Nolan, speaker
2011-10-07 00:00
Supervisor Phil Nolan – Oct 7 2011
Mr. Nolan made his presentation today by pointing out some changes that he made when he took the reins of Islip town government. He began to learn very quickly that there were some questionable practices that needed to be addressed.
The practice of confidential pay. These were payments that were made to public employees because they had to handle confidential information. Nolan reasoned that the job description did not make any provisions for this fact, and that the stated income was all that was needed. According to Nolan this was an excuse to favor a few people. Rescinding those payments resulted in a $625 K/ year savings.
He then attacked health plans that were paid in full for part time employees. An employee working 10 hours/ week would be entitled to a $13,000 health plan (now $18,000). That was ended.
At the same time tax revenues were plummeting. Nolan stated that he did not come into the job with the mind-set at reducing the size of government, but the economic emergency required, what sometimes, were heart breaking decisions. There were 1029 town positions when he came to the job, and now there 720. The downsizing was achieved mostly by attrition.
Technology use in the town was more like 1950 than a modern array of systems. He took on the job of bringing the towns systems into modernity. In conjunction with that effort, he made permitting a lot faster than in the past. Modern systems and the right attitude were needed to make permitting better on every level faster. There was a workers compensation revue that resulted in a savings of $6.5 million/year
Future Considerations
The future will include the hub at Ronkonkoma that fellow supervisor of Brookhaven Mark Lesko initiated. This 50 acre development promises to create an efficient transit oriented business grouping, that will employ many and be in close proximity to the airport, and the railroad.
There were some aspersions cast upon the commissioner of the airport by Mr. Nolan’s opponent, when he appeared at LIMBA. Nolan defended Commissioner Theresa Rizutto in no uncertain terms. This insult is an affront that I take personally. "She is a professional that rose quickly in her career due to her hard work, and dedication." Then he read a few testimonials that were written by LIA president Kevin Law, LICA executive director Mark Herbst, and ABLI Executive Director Des Ryan.
Ernie Fazio

This meeting was rescheduled to 10/21 NO Meeting 9/30
2011-09-30 00:00

Utility Grade Electric Storage- Brian Perusse, AES Energy
2011-09-23 00:00
Stored Energy System for Long Island
Our speaker this morning was Brian Prusse and the discussion was about the use of batteries to help support the grid. The age-old problem with power plants is the difficulty with matching load to production. Firing up a major power plant takes time. On the other hand, the moment you activate a switch you expect the power to be there. Loads in the system are constantly changing and these plants need to over produce or risk a brownout. By having reliable storage that can be almost instantaneously introduced, the power company can produce power closer to the projected need and be more efficient.

Nuclear was introduced to the utility systems about 40 years ago and those plants were designed to produce a base load. Nuclear plants are not easily regulated and work best when producing a steady flow. That makes nuclear suitable for the base amount of power with the peaks being met by so-called peakers that can be fired up relatively quickly. But even these peakers take a little time to meet the perceived load. Batteries can meet the load almost instantly. Utility scale storage has application for the nuclear industry even if not a single new nuclear plant is ever built.

Another strategy for load leveling is a very sophisticated and robust transmission system. Being able to move power to where it is needed employs automated systems that we have. That strategy works better in the open spaces of the country than in places like Long Island where no one wants to see the power transmission facility built, and even that strategy is not a perfect solution.

Mr. Perusse gave us a little history on the AES Company. AES has a presence in many places in the world as generating company, and began solving the problem of variable needs for their own installations. They began by solving small scale problems and as technology advances allowed they were able to tackle power systems that would have been cost prohibitive in the past.

The future may include a large scale use of batteries that are installed in cars. During the evening the cars will absorb cheaply created power and reintroduce that power at a time in the day that would be advantages to the utility company. However we are not there yet, and it may be some time before enough electric cars are in place to accomplish this kind of load leveling. In the meantime battery technology has gotten less costly and safer.

AES created a plant in Chile and that system has worked very well. There is a 32-megawatt storage plant that is being built in South Carolina and there is an 8-megawatt storage facility in Johnson City near Binghamton. The proposed plant for Long Island is much larger than the previously built storage systems at 400 Megawatts. That sounds big and it is big, but compared to the size of the Long island system it is small. We can generate 5800 megawatts if needed and about 2000 of those megawatts are produced by older, dirtier and less efficient plants. This 400 MW can be introduced almost instantly and that feature by itself creates a scenario where we actually can produce less power so the capacity will be able to serve the region.

Randi Busse- Special Program-Retaining customers and clients
2011-09-16 00:00
LIMBA program speaker Randi Busse

The program at LIMBA was different from our usual format. Instead of having a high profile Long Islander, we have a professional speaker. Randi Busse usually speaks to corporate America clients, and her topic today about building the loyalty of your customer base.

After asking her audience to participate by telling her what we thought customers valued. She created a list and turned it around asked the audience. "Isn’t this what you expect as a customer?"

The thought that the sales person is in fact "in business for himself" was explored. An employee that sells as if he owned the place is desirable trait. That sense of "ownership" is the basis of successfully connecting with the client. That ownership shows itself in the completed service the sales person is willing to commit.

Randi discussed the impersonal approach that many corporations use by employing outsourced customer service. The service employees could be anywhere in the world, and they could be reading from a book. They often speak very good English but do not know the idiosyncrasies of the American dialect.

Busse discussed the economics of retaining customers. It costs about six times more to create a new customer than to properly service an existing account. The experience of the audience seemed to agree that there is great value in selling to established accounts. There are needs that are always changing. If you as the sales person are not there to inform, and guide, you will not be around to complete sale of newly acquired need.

It was interesting to see that the audience appeared to be so receptive. Perhaps we all know how to be thoughtful and see where we can be of better service to our client base, but in our pursuit of new business we neglect one important detail. People want to be treated with respect.
