Brookhaven Rail Terminal - Next phase
2011-11-18 00:00 (America/New_York)
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

Thanksgiving No Meeting
2011-11-25 00:00

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.

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.

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

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

LIMBA Holiday recess- NO MEETING
2011-12-30 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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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-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.

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 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

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

Legislator Kate Browning
2012-04-13 00:00
Our speaker today was Kate Browning, a member of the Suffolk County legislature. Ms Browning was born in Ireland when peace was a distant hope. She left Ireland to go to Germany where she met her husband, an American military officer. Subsequently she came to the US and became a citizen.

As a legislator her area includes Yaphank and Gordon Heights. In her efforts to bolster business in those areas, she became aware that economic opportunities were being stymied by the lack of essential infrastructure. An important part of that infrastructure is sewers. Without sewers an application for building a Starbucks was rejected, as was an Applebee’s. This began a discussion in the room focused on how sewers could be funded. Going to the feds may be like Waiting for Godot. The federal and state governments don’t have the money. This was all very strange to the legislator because in Belfast, where she lived as a child every neighborhood had sewers.

A suggestion from Harry Davitian was that interest rates are so low it is almost like free money. Of course that presents another problem and that is debt is already quite high.

Bob Bender deals in environmentally friendly bio products that can increase the capacity of present sewer plants. Another observation was that regardless of whether we have the money to actually build sewers the planning and engineering should be done anyway. They could be built when the funds do become available.

There is a large development project being pursued by Rose- Bresiln. They have stated that can pay for any sewering that is needed for their development. That’s helpful but it is only a small part of the answer.

The Q&A became more of a brainstorming session than a traditional Q&A.
The speaker was quite impressed with the level of discussions in the room.

Ernie Fazio

Congratulations to Frank Boulton co-owner of the Long Island Ducks. He is being honored this week as an outstanding citizen for his achievements by his alma Mata Villanova. Frank is a great friend of LIMBA and of Long Island. His Long Island Ducks are a masterstroke of community building. His work with the Boulton Theatre and the Bay Shore YMCA are further tributes to his love of community.

Mark Alessi
2012-04-20 00:00
Our speaker this morning was former NY Assemblyman, Marc Alessi. Since leaving elected office, he has embarked on a venture that is geared to helping tech companies get funded. He has assumed the position of Executive Director of Long Island Angel Network. Of course, this is not a new idea, but what is new is the structure and size of the funding. In the usual structure the venture capital is provided by a panel of investors that make a determination to fund a business or a technology, and the venture group secures an interest. In Marc’s model, the group is a not for profit entity and the amount of investment is much smaller. An additional difference is that one or more investors may invest and take an interest, but the entity does not. They are interested in companies that can launch themselves with $1Million or less in start-up or additional cash.

Marc has in the past advocated for inexpensive upstate power for Brookhaven National Laboratory’s supercomputer here on Long Island. That effort was resisted by upstate political people who were representing the interests of their local constituents. Marc successfully made the case that the upstate technology companies will benefit from having access to that computer capacity. Development of batteries require computer modeling and that can only be done effectively where there is enormous computer capacity. There are many other applications that are now available to up-state companies. Brookhaven Labs share their equipment with many other private ventures.

He pointed out that NY State is the greatest generator of patents in the world, yet we do not have the same record of creating high- tech companies as Boston or places in California. The reason, according to Alessi, is that we have not developed a culture of nurturing those efforts. Accelerate Long Island, Long Island Forum for Technology, LISTNET and others are now trying to bring us to that culture.

The Q&A was lively because most of the people in the room were directly involved in technology development. We will follow the progress of the Angel Network and invite them back sometime in the future. The possibilities are too big to be ignored.

698

Laura Shabe Port of NY & NJ Authority
2012-04-27 00:00
Our speaker this morning, Laura Shabe is a professional city planner that has taken on the responsibility of the Cross Harbor Float facility that was purchased by the NY, NJ Port Authority. Laura comes to NY-NJ Port Authority with a formidable background in city planning here in the United States and previously in Germany where, according to Laura, planning and building was more of a rational process.

This facility that she is shepherding to operational status is designed to carry rail freight cars from Greenville Yard in Jersey City to Brooklyn. In Brooklyn the cars will be assembled into trains to service the freight needs of Long Island.

This connecting point is important because there is a robust network of tracks already in place in Brooklyn. On the Jersey side the tracks are directly connected to the national rail system.

There was $100 million set aside for the tunnel and was not being used. That money is now being used to study and repair the existing float system. The float system can be fully operational in a relatively short time. When it is done it will be able to move 900 freight cars per day. Ms. Shabe told us that full capacity would be reached almost immediately. We expect a 137% increase in need by 2035 by calculating population projections

This is approximately the same place that Congressman Nadler proposed the Cross Harbor Tunnel. The tunnel, if built, would be able to handle for more traffic than the float system, but the cost may be proportionally much more. We discussed at length the benefit of a tunnel as well as different ways it may be configured. Would it be a train only? Would trucks be accommodated? Would it be able to handle diesel, or would the ventilation requirements make it an electric only connection? Actually this would be a perfect application for Maglev because there would be no emissions and the electric power requirements are completely contained and safe.

Will the tunnel be built? It probably will have to be built someday, in the mean time this operation can and will operate. The tunnel when it is started will take a number of years to complete. Until then this will be an effective stopgap measure. The rail float was "state of the art" when it was originally built, but needs considerable rehabilitation.

LIMBA Dr. Matt Cordaro- Governors Energy Highway
2012-05-04 00:00
Our Speaker this morning, Dr Matt Cordaro has been a constant voice on energy matters since the 1970’s. His experience in the utility field is matched by very few people anywhere. With the level of expertise he brings to the table you can expect the presentation to have some depth, and it did.
Cordaro’s topic was the Governors Energy Highway. The idea is to knit together a wide system of generation coming from various sources in the state. More pointedly, bringing generally low polluting, low cost power from upstate to downstate. Presently there is an abundance of available power from Hydro Quebec and wind generation in New York that cannot efficiently be moved to the so-called load pockets such as Long Island
Matt stated that there are a large number of generators locally that “were already old when I was young.” 40% of the power plants are over 40 years old and 22% are over 50 years old.
Last month an advisory board was formed to create an unclogging project. The panel will address; Efficiency, Renewables, and Repowering, The underlying objectives are to lower costs, create competitive rates, and develop new technologies.
The grand idea of building a 1000 megawatt had broad initial support. The environmentalists liked it because it would tap non-polluting sources such as wind and previously built hydro. Already on the planning boards is the Champlain-Hudson Express planned for the northern part of the state. That will cover the area coming down from Canada toward Albany. The overall plan is very complex and just refining the connections is going to cost about $2billion. The other elements are new generation facilities, repowering old power plants, and abandoning old inefficient plants, particularly high polluting coal burning power plants. Some of the repowering efforts will be right here on Long Island.
During the Q&A which was quite lively due to the level of expertise in the room, the question of vulnerability came up. Would we become too dependent on this new system if that power link was sabotaged, or broken? The answer is no because we would still be required to have 80% of the needed generating capacity in place. In other words we would still have generators in place that could be fired up if needed.
The question about carbon based energy still being an important component of the energy mix was raised. Cordaro agreed that the natural gas plants would still be used, but any new plants would be combined cycle gas burning plants that pollute very little.

Tom Croci- Islip Town Supervisor
2012-05-11 00:00
The new supervisor of Islip, Tom Croci was our speaker this morning. Every changing of the guard has surprises that appear after the transition. Islip was no exception. But Tom went into this election knowing that hard decisions would have to be made.

The problem with cutting costs is that there is usually a good rationale for creating a service or a department. Therefore cutting something out of the budget means hurting good programs. Mr. Croci has taken the stance that in many cases you can strip a program of some if the administration costs and still retain the program by consolidating departments. That is what he has done in some cases.

Revenues on the other hand can be enhanced, not by raising taxes, but by marketing useful services that bring revenues to business such as the Free Trade Zone. The utilization has risen to 80% from 14% in a few short months.

Creating awareness that there is urgency in solving problems is useful in getting things to change, according to Croci. Doing so with a team approach where people feel that they are part of a big picture helps create the right attitudes. Whether they are appointed or unionized public service workers, adept leadership will get you where you need to go. Croci told us that so far the unions are cooperative, and seem to understand the urgency as well everybody else.

Another area that can be made to be more of a municipal contributor is the airport. “This will not be another JFK or LaGuardia but the level of service we had in the past should be maintained.” We have one major airline, Southwest, and while that has been a good service the planes have been packed and other airlines could come in and take on direct routes that Southwest is not interested in serving.

LIMBA - Jeremy Brown PhD - Dowling President
2012-05-18 00:00
Dr. Jeremy Brown, president of Dowling College, was our speaker this morning, and he got our attention when he stated that more information was made available last year than in the previous 5,000. The implication is that this avalanche of information is likely to continue. Moreover that information is available worldwide and America no longer has the natural advantage. The competitiveness of other regions of the world will force us to think anew on how to remain the economic leader.
Accord to Brown, training for specific skills may still be appropriate, but the expected reality is that a student will encounter opportunities that require quite different skills. Therefore the training of student should address that probability. Specific training should be looked upon as a platform from which to grow, according to Brown. Change being a constant is what we need to adapt to, bearing in mind that we may have numerous jobs over a lifetime.
College needs to be entrepreneurial, and the arts may be as important as hard sciences. In other words creativity is nurtured by more than an assemblage of “facts.”
Dr Brown thinks failure has a bad and undeserving name (my words). Failure is the process that helps us discard the ideas that are unworkable and leads to solutions.
As far as non-academic pursuits such as sports are concerned, they have value too. Dr Brown told us that he has learned much playing basketball that gave him knowledge that was converted usefully in his serious endeavors.
The feeling I got from the meeting was that we are in a new world. We are grappling with new concepts of learning and working, and we are learning all the time about the new chapter. Moreover that new chapter will help write the next chapter. The future may be a bit scary, but scary can also be exciting.

NO Meeting Memorial Day weekend
2012-05-25 00:00

Savio Chan 5 Rules For Doing Business in China
2012-06-01 00:00
Today’s speaker was Savio Chan, President and CEO of China US Partnership. Mr. Chan is a native of China and uses his education and exposure to American business and culture to be an effective bridge builder for both sides of the partnership.

Savio began his talk by telling us about the call he got from Steve Jobs when Jobs was trying to do business in China. He was able to give Jobs the information on the cultural differences that impede the non-Chinese in that country. Today China represents 25% of Apples earnings

Mr. Chan gave us a relatively easy to remember set of rules;
C – Cultural complexity, be familiar with custom and hidden meanings. He told a story of a businessman that gave a Chinese executive a very expensive Tiffany clock, and was totally ignored. A clock is recognition of mortality and such a gift implies you do not wish that person a long life. As we say in Brooklyn "Who Knew?"
H -Harness the influence of government. Be aware of the need to marshal the good will and cooperation of the government
I – Intellectual Property rights are very differently interpreted. There are ways to protect your intellectual property, you must know the nuances
N – Navigate the landscape and look for partners. There are various special skills available throughout the country. He spoke of a company that wanted to create crystal pieces and was able to find a small village that was already producing work for Steuben and Swarovski.
A – Anticipate strong local competition, cloning, copying, and reverse engineering. You have to address remedies for this going in.

Register your trade name in Mandarin as recognition of the culture and use the three P’s; Be patient, Be Persistent and create Partnerships.

Deals are not made over a single lunch or diner. Relationships are slowly and patiently built.

Savio told us that with all of the changes that have taken place in China it is still a command economy. Whereas America tends to have its markets design growth.
These basic differences create challenges that can be, and need to be overcome. Chan pointed out that China is one of America’s most important trade partners. In addition Chinese manufacturers are now slowly moving factories into the United States. This moving of manufacturing facilities to the US is old policy with some European and Japanese companies, but is new for China.

During the Q&A the question of human rights came up. According to Savio those concerns can be discussed, and conditions can be agreed upon. Another question was; "How long will it be before China is no longer the low cost labor pool? Will it then be a further race to the bottom?" Chan said that in some cases China is no longer the cheapest labor pool.

LIMBA - Bob McMillan- Healthcare Supreme Court Decision
2012-06-08 00:00
Bob McMillan has had an interesting and diverse career. His profession is law but he has served in many high profile executive positions including being a corporate officer at Avon, CEO of the Panama Canal Commission, a board member of Empire Blue Cross, and board member of the American Medical Association.
This morning he took on the task of explaining the national healthcare plan that many people refer to as Obama Care. The discussion was centered on the possible outcomes of the Supreme Court as they test the constitutionality of the legislation.
McMillan pointed out that Teddy Roosevelt promised to enact a healthcare program if he had been re-elected in the early part of the 20th century. President Nixon proposed a healthcare plan that was more encompassing than this one. Mr. Nixon unfortunately had another bag of alligators he had to attend to, namely Watergate and impeachment. Hillary Clinton guided the Bill Clinton administration efforts toward a healthcare plan. Well that went nowhere as we all remember
Now that a healthcare plan is in place and has been challenged by lower courts, and the results of those challenges are mixed. So here come the Supremes. What will they do?
Bob drew for us a very pessimistic picture of the present cost of Medicare stating that the system would be kaput by 2024. He cited the cost of drugs, the duplication of testing, the cost of creating and maintaining paper files, malpractice insurance costs, end of life heroic measures and the associated costs
All of the negatives in the plan revolve on the items in the above paragraph. All of which can and should be addressed.
He went into some positive points in the legislation, such as; keeping children on the parents policy until age 26, no lifetime caps, insurance exchanges which should bring the cost down but 30 states do not have them.
The possible Supreme Court decisions run the gamut from;
1) Totally upheld – nothing changes
2) Individual mandate rejected
3) Employer mandate rejected
4) Challenge is premature- this essentially says that no harm has been done to any entity as of yet, and can only be challenged when a party can show harm.
The most interesting points were made by the speaker and by the audience after the formal presentation. The out of control elements cited above already exist. It is the reason US healthcare costs are twice as much as the next most costly system. While that is bad the cost is not justified by better outcomes. There are numerous countries that have better health outcomes.
It was pointed out by the speaker that some states have severely limited malpractice and their malpractice insurance is commensurately less. As much as 70% less.
I asked why the medical profession does not do what industry has done with workers compensation. There was a time when employers could be sued. Workers compensation has removed that sword of Damocles from employers and created an orderly no fault process that compensates every injured worker. In medicine there are outsized awards in some cases and absolutely no compensation in others. Why not create medical compensation boards with the same no-fault mentality guiding the system.
I think most of us came away thinking that this is not real good legislation, but there is nothing here that cannot be fixed if congress wanted it fixed. Let’s see!
