Limba

Rich Kruse - The art of effective networking
2008-10-03 00:00 (America/New_York)
Rich Kruse is the creator of Execuleaders, an outstanding organization that uses process to achieve effective networking. Rich Kruse has given a lot of thought to the process of networking. According to Kruse it is not a haphazard endeavor, but rather, a thoughtful set of strategies. When you walk into a room of people you would like to network with, you may feel a little ill at ease, but you can still make quiet one-on-one encounters. These encounters have to be many because your odds of meeting some person who immediately needs your product or service is small. The process becomes more comfo! rtable as you do it more and more.
Appearance is very important too. We can’t all look like Robert Redford and Sophia Loren, but we can dress nicely, and make sure our shoes are shined. Good personal grooming makes us more attractive even if nature has not blessed us.
Thoughtfulness and being a good listener. – In the process of listening to a new aquaintance you may find that you have information that can benefit that person. Make a note and mail him a copy of an article, or name a website that will be useful to his efforts, or send him a book. Will you get business from this behavior? Possibly, possibly not, but you have established yourself as a quality person. Rich quoted an old sales axiom that says, Nobody cares how much you know, until the know how much you care.
Kruse advises to always carry a pen. In fact carry several pens. Be ready to give that pen to your new friend so he has one for the rest of the day. The give away of an inexpensive pen costs you little, and may make a very favorable impression.
We all can have a bad day and be less than enthusiastic from time to time, but avoid people who are "wet blankets," They are bad news, and sales is a business of attitude. Listening to a littany of negative comments does not help that person, nor does it do anything positive for you.
And probably the most important tip- Be consistent. Going out to a network event once never to return again will do you little good, regardless of the number of business cards, you collected, or gave out. Choose a few networking groups and visit those groups on a regular basis. You’ll get better at the process when you can create a smile on a persons face when you walk in the room.

Kevin O'Neill - John Engeman Theater in Northport
2008-10-10 00:00
Today we had the pleasure of hearing from a passionate advocate of fine Theater experiences in a local jewel setting – The John Engeman Theater. Mr. O’Neill, an ex bond trader turned theater impresario, plays Bloom to Richard Dolce’s Bialystock, filling the house and running the infrastructure, where Mr. Dolce concentrates on staging Broadway quality productions in a luxurious four hundred seat theater space. The seats are roomy, and the ladies will appreciate the more ample bathroom facilities, long a bane of the Manhattan theater scene. The only year round Actor’s Equity house on Long Island, the renovations that took the single screen seven hundred seat movie theater to its current stage incarnation included the previously mentioned bathrooms, and a warren of dressing rooms underneath the building, to make its New ! York based troupes more comfortable. Casting and Rehearsals are done in the city, with a cast shuttle bus to make sure everybody makes curtain.

The business angle is to cultivate the season subscriber, with seven shows a year, flexible seating and scheduling. The reasonable price of $355 per seat per season makes it a low-risk purchase. Reviews have been consistently good of all the productions, and surrounding restaurants like Skipper’s are running dinner + show packages. The theater is a great complement to the village, a beautiful physical presence, and a vital social component. The inviting piano bar, "The Green Room" is open to ticket holders an hour before curtain, closed during the first act, reopens for intermission, and then opens to the public after the show. You may get a treat from a cast member who hangs around to belt out a couple of specials from time to time.

Mr. O’Neill used a sports venue analogy to the marketing of the theater. Season subscribers, single ticket purchasers, and groups are the three target markets. Quality, entertaining theater in a luxurious environment are the drawing cards. Angst-ridden Chekov plays will probably not find themselves staged here. Flexible plans for groups are available for fundraisers and such. Corporate rewards or entertainment programs can arrange a private performance of the current run based on the size of their audience.

The Q&A was threaded throughout the discussion, focused mostly on the differences between the Engeman and other Long Island houses, and the merits of quality theater without the schlep into Manhattan. Once again, another well-spent Friday morning at LIMBA.

Recap Written by Craig Plunkett of cedx.com.

Sub note; John W. Engeman was a 28 year veteran of the military when he was killed in Iraq. Mr. Engeman is the brother-in-law of theater founder Kevin O’Neil. The theater bears Engeman’s name as a tribute.

Jim Staudenraus, 1st Assm. Karen Kerr-Ozimek9 dis. candidate
2008-10-17 00:00
This morning’s meeting at LIMBA was a little different from our usual format.
We had two speakers Jim Stadenraus Republican Candidate foe the 1st Assembly district and Karen Kerr-Ozimek, Democratic candidate for the 9 Assembly district.
Each candidate was given 15 minutes to introduce themselves, and their immediate concerns.
Jim began by outlining his program for reform. He supports the 4% tax cap proposal that Governor Paterson has put forth. He would also like to see districts amalgamating their purchases for supplies and services to increase buying power. This would not root out the many redundant administration, but it would likely reduce costs of school operations.
According to Stadenraus, the taxpayers would be better served if there were a single state teachers system. The salaries would be higher on Long Island because a cost of living factor would be built in, but the difference of salaries between local school districts would be small or non-existent. Neither Kerr-Ozimek nor Stadenraus mentioned anything about teachers salaries being too high, but they are convinced that the school system can be reformed to get the taxpayers a lot more mileage from tax dollars by virtue of better management.
Karen Kerr-Ozimek suggested that a review of the entire school system was in order. There are no effective internal checks on this enormous system, and the fruits of that neglect were demonstrated when the investigation into school lawyers was uncovered by Newsday.
Both candidates were more or less on the same page despite the fact that they are running in opposing parties, though not against each other. Jim Stadenraus quoted that old chestnut, “Nothing focuses the mind like the prospect of being hanged.” Being under the yoke of the highest taxes in the country with the real possibility of it getting worse, does not have the same severity of being hanged, but the problem has gotten us a little more focused.
The economic stress the country and this region is experiencing has given us an opportunity to reassess what we are getting for our money. Anytime we are stressed by adversity we are either crushed, or we gather the resources and imagination to do better than we ever have. Perhaps we are at that critical juncture.

Congressman Steve Israel - Energy Policy for the US
2008-10-24 00:00
Congressman Steve Israel has been concentrating on putting his efforts into creating a robust national energy plan. That plan will have a dramatic impact on business opportunities for Long Island. LIMBA has asked the congressman to address his remarks to some of the specifics that he would like to see happen. Please join us on Friday Oct 24th. Pre registration is a must for this event
Ernie Fazio

Video of the event is available thanks to MyLITV.com.

No Meeting
2008-10-31 00:00, 2009-02-06 00:00

Charles Wang- The Lighthouse Development
2008-11-07 00:00
This morning our speaker was Paul Lancey, Senior VP of The Lighthouse Development Group. The proposed building of a large multi-use site at what is sometimes referred to as the “Nassau Hub” has impressed many, and at the same time caused others to object.

Mr. Lancey went through the various elements of the plan, which included the central part of this vision. A modernization and renovated of the Nassau Coliseum, residences of varying cost and size that can be purchased and a sizeable number of rental apartments.

There is, as part of the plan to have addedional office space in the mix. These offices would lend themselves to use by people occupying the residential section. There will be open recreational areas, a canal with architecturally appealing bridges. The canal will have a promenade with café’s adjacent the canal to accommodate outdoor dining in good weather.

There will be a sports oriented business center devoted to fitness, sports medicine, and sports technical equipment. These sports oriented businesses will be useful to the surrounding universities and the professional sports teams located at the coliseum

All of the infrastructure will be tied together by being a generally walkable 150 acre complex. In addition it will be served by buses. The need for transportation links to the Long Island Railroad has not been included in the plan, but it is apparent that a light rail connector would greatly enhance the overall plan.

This proposal has been around for about 5 years and though it has been modified somewhat to answer the concerns of critics, but it still has not come to fruition. The frustration of the developers was apparent in the presentation.

William Cronin The NY Port Authority
2008-11-14 00:00
This morning our speaker was William Cronin from the New York Port Authority. Mr. Cronin’s expertise is in the shipping operations of the Port, but was quite knowledgeable on other aspects of the NYPA operations.
Bill began by giving us a little history. The NYPA was originally created to coordinate rail service from New Jersey to New York, and facilitate a smooth transfer of goods through several jurisdictions. Then the Holland Tunnel was built to create a better revenue stream and subsequently the Lincoln Tunnel was added, as was the George Washington Bridge.

Idlewild Airport, and LaGuardia Airports were owned by the city of New York and Newark Airport was owned by the city of Newark. All of these became NYPA properties. In the 70’s The World Trade Center was built and a companion project was the PATH train link to NJ

Today Port Newark and Port Elizabeth is a big part of the NYPA responsibilities and the security for all of these operations is a formidable task.

Recently NYPA acquired New York- New Jersey Rail LLC. The purpose of this acquisition was to reactivate a, long out of use, rail link and bridge that would bring rail freight traffic to Staten Island where it could be barged across the Narrows and delivered to Brooklyn. Brooklyn has rail links that connect to Long Island. In fact these are the very same rail links that congressman Nadler referred to when he made his presentation at LIMBA for a tunnel from New Jersey to Brooklyn. Nadler has made federal money available for the initial study of this idea, but Cronin told us the NYPA was not interested, indicating that it was not a viable idea, so they refused the money.

During the Q&A portion of the meeting I asked Mr. Cronin, “If this barge link is such a good idea, why not get behind Mr. Nadler’s proposal for the tunnel?” Bill Cronin said the NYPA simply did not think it was a good idea.

I wrote this piece late in the afternoon and by the time I put my recap together I found in my Email in-box two notes dated yesterday and today, that were attached to an email from Bill Cronin. NYPA reversed their decision to complete a feasibility study on creating the tunnel that congressman Nadler proposed. The study will now go forward. This is very good news for the region and Long Island. Mr. Nadler was thrilled with the decision.

It is true Long Island can substantially increase rail freight with quicker and less costly fixes, but this is the kind of robust infrastructure the region needs to support the growing economy of Long Island. This is a scoop folks and you heard it here first. You’ll be reading about it.

LIMBA Round Table
2008-11-21 00:00
This morning we conducted a LIMBA RoundTable Discussion. There was much to report.
This week the new Advanced Energy Research and Development Center that is being built on the campus of SUNY Stony Brook held a 2-day conference at the Hyatt Windwatch in Hauppauge. There were many interesting ideas presented on alternate energy, conservation and innovation. One of the issues that have been the concern of large-scale wind and solar providers is the robustness of the transmission grid, or more precisely, the lack thereof. One of the speakers addressed that very topic. Ed Reinfurt, Executive Director of the New York State Foundation for Science, Technology and Innovation made an impassioned speech on building a power highway that will get our renewable energy plants power to our major centers of population. He claimed that the system has not kept up with the times. He will be speaking at LIMBA in January.
We also discussed the Mag-Lev train. I met with the inventors at the conference after they made a presentation on the “2nd Generation Mag-Lev” Drs. Danby and Powell have designed and built a prototype of the new concept in Florida. The new guide way system can be built at a fraction of the cost of the original design. The new design allows the Mag-Lev to operate on the same track as conventional rail when entering cities using a modified guide way between the tracks. This will make the vehicle capable of entering Grand Central and Penn station at conventional speeds and then ramping up to 350 m/p/h on its own dedicated guideways outside of the city.
Mag-Lev is important because it is an electric technology and uses 1/10 the fuel per passenger than conventional rails. The vehicle can also transport trucks in a roll-on roll-off operation. This technology plays into the new energy initiatives being promoted by congressman Israel. We, at LIMBA, intend to make Mag-Lev a focus of our efforts going forward because Long Island has the knowledge base to make it happen.
We also discussed congressman Nadler’s proposed tunnel from Bayonne to Brooklyn. All of the elements we discussed have a symbiosis and present enormous opportunities for the Long Island region. Look for a detailed presentation of Mag-Lev on the LIMBA website within a few weeks.

Thanksgiving weekend-no meeting
2008-11-28 00:00

Gerry Fitz - High Speed Fuel Efficient Ferries
2008-12-05 00:00
Friday morning’s speaker was Gerry Fitzpatrick. Gerry is a principal in SES, a company that has ownership in a new ship technology that would not only go fast (excess of 50 MPH) but would do so using considerably less fuel than a conventional vessel. Getting vessels to go fast has been done in the past at the cost of using engines with enormous horsepower, but that means using a lot of fuel. Fitzpatrick’s design actually uses less than the conventionally powered ships.

Fitzpatrick is well versed in the technology and provided an interesting and understandable explanation of how it would work. The vessel is a version of “surface effect” technology. Surface Effect vessels operate on the principle that if the hull can be lifted out of the water than the drag of plowing through the water is greatly reduced. So while surface effect technology is not new, SES’s technology is new.

I asked Fitzpatrick to cite the advantages and features that make the design desirable. The problems caused by ship wakes are almost eliminated with his design. Another feature is that because the draft (how deep it sits in the water) is much less than conventional craft, it can navigate in shallower water.

We discussed the viability of using such a craft between Shoreham and New Haven. The answer was that the trip could be a short as 35 minutes, and it would work very well. But according to Fitzpatrick it’s greater benefit may be in using it to connect places along the Connecticut shore to Manhattan, or places along the Hudson Valley to Manhattan. Using larger ships of this design may be useful in moving trucks along the ports of the east coast and removing them from the I-95 corridor.

Under the same ownership is a company called Greenworld Marketing. The company sells lubricating oils derived from animal fats. Disposal of animal fats have been an on-going problem for the meat industry. Greenworld products make use of these oils and the end product is completely biodegradable when they are eventually discarded. The added benefits are that these oils are less expensive than petroleum oils and can be used in a broader array of applications than vegetation based products. Fitzpatrick says the products are already being well received.

Holiday Party Breakfast
2008-12-12 00:00
Jim Graseck demonstrated his highly trained abilities with the violin. He played traditional music of the season and some other works. With Jim it’s not just about playing superbly, but connecting to the audience. His ability to speak to the audience in humorous exchanges while playing intricate pieces has earned him the moniker “The Victor Borge of the Violin”

Jim was there early and played for the guests as they found their friends and seating. Then he played an opening set of songs and fun exchanges with the audience.

Vince Dantona is a remarkably witty ventriloquist with a dummy named George. He did about 30 minutes of tailored routine. I gave him a list of people I knew would attend and something personal about them. That gave Vince a place to start from. While speaking to the audience, if anybody threw Vince a curve by saying something unexpected “George” had a slapdown witty reply. But I scared George when I asked him if he knew what a wood chipper was.

Vince was the opening act for Ray Romano when he worked the club circuit and LIMBA has asked him to perform in the past. Jim closed the breakfast with some additional songs leaving us all a little more uplifted that the times dictate.

It is a pleasure to have these talented individuals for our otherwise serious forum. I’ll paraphrase a bit here. Man does not live on bread alone; sometimes we need laughs and music. That’s what we had on Friday morning

Enjoy your holidays. These are precious moments
Ernie Fazio

Pictured: Jim Graseck

More photos available here….

Michael Coleman News 12
2008-12-19 00:00
Today our speaker was Michael Coleman, Sports Director with News 12 Long Island.
Michael’s mission was to tell us about the importance of local sports news. Of course there is also the larger spectrum of sports news that he covers, but News 12 is more apt to cover the local teams from high schools and colleges than the city based operations.

He gave us his personal history as it relates to being where he is today. He grew up in Kansas. When he went to college he set his sights on broadcast communications. Being an athlete, and being interviewed himself while in high school, he understood the need for athletes to be well spoken. More importantly, the person doing the interview should be articulate. Today when Michael speaks to athletes, he will often speak to the coach first, and ask him who is best able to make the team look good. Who on the team will present a good image of the team.

Mr. Coleman appears to think of sports as a great personal building tool. He recognizes that few players will achieve pro sport ability, but the lessons learned in sports can be transferred to what he calls “Plan B.” In other words being in training to be a doctor or an engineer, or a teacher has to be the goal in most cases. Being able to carry off a professional athletic career is rare and should not be counted on.

He didn’t say so, but I got the feeling that he was a pretty good athlete himself. The experience made him understand the job he is presently doing, and no doubt, he is better at doing it, in part, because of the experience he had as an athlete.

No Meeting Holiday
2008-12-26 00:00, 2009-01-02 00:00

New Years Day No Meeting
2009-01-01 00:00

Meeting with Red Line and [owell and Danby Calverton
2009-01-07 00:00
Red line RR from California is sending a rep to Calverton

Doug Mandich , President Empire Bank
2009-01-09 00:00
Our speaker this morning was Empire Bank Chairman and CEO, Douglas Manditch.

I suppose the conventional wisdom among bankers may be that the banks need to be bailed out. Not according to Manditch. Doug said instead of getting bail out money these folks should be going to jail. Paraphrasing Doug, Jail ‘em, don’t bail ‘em.

The banking system was turned on its head (my words not his) because of false expectations. Mr. Manditch said the mortgage problems were the product of false expectations. If you borrowed for a house using a low interest loan that would later go up, there would be no problem. By that time you will be making more money, and there would always be an eager buyer to take the house off your hand at a higher price. Well it didn’t happen that way, as we all now know.

As far as AIG and Citibank are concerned, they should have been relegated to the scrap heap. They are unmanageable in the best of circumstances, and any attempt to rescue them continues the problem.

Doug was generally reassuring about the way things will eventually turn out. Not that there will be no pain, but we will recover after we have paid for the sins of the past. “We’ve been there before, and while this recovery may be somewhat more painful, we will be OK again.” He did not think that the measures taken so far have been particularly useful. In fact they may make recovery slower.

The thinking that Manditch did like was a true energy plan, and building infrastructure He noting that it will provide jobs, and it will improve efficiencies for later growth, but it may not make the recovery any faster. He also said that a floating tax on gasoline that would stabilize the cost at $4 per gallon made sense. The excess revenues should be directed to alternative energy research.

Mr. Manditch spoke about Madoff and said a charity that he had been a board member of was invested. He didn’t understand the investments and motivated the charity to get out. They did, despite some grumbling from some board members. He pointed out that financial statements are often obscure, these were totally opaque. I pointed out that those investors should have gotten a clue with a name like “made-off’.

These are matters that affect us profoundly and many bankers are running their operations using sound principles, according to Manditch. That’s the good news.

This was a meeting rich in content and a lively Q&A.

Martin Luther King Holiday weekend -No Meeting
2009-01-16 00:00

Roger Corbin, Nassau County Legislator
2009-01-23 00:00
We had a much bigger agenda this morning. Our speaker, Nassau County Legislator Roger Corbin, was delayed by an accident on the Expressway.
To fill the time we began an in-depth discussion on MAGLEV. The information is below.

When Mr. Corbin did arrive he was his usual font of information coupled with his usual lack of reticence when discussing Long Island’s tax problems. According to Roger we could better manage tax revenues, and at the same time create a better outcome for everyone. The problems are several.
We segregate communities in terms of wealth producing industries, and industry poor sections of the both counties. If we all participated in the gross revenues derived from taxes, no disparities in education caused by low revenues would exist. As it turns out, the wealthiest communities have the vast majority of the industries; therefore the taxes in Garden City with all of its industry will pay lower taxes than a place like Uniondale where many of the people are quite poor.

In addition the multiplicity of school districts creates an overburden of bureaucracy. This layer of management justifies itself on the basis of keeping local control. Yet, as Corbin points out, this local control failed to control the many $millions in fraud that was written about in Newsday last year. Nor did it prevent the phony pensions that were created by various professional doing business with the districts. Facing these issues, as they did in Montgomery County Virginia, will take desperate times and courageous leadership. Corbin thinks we may have arrived at that juncture where the fraud, multiple layers of management and spurious claims on the taxpayers dollars can no longer be tolerated.

Montgomery County Virginia has a demographic that is roughly similar to Long Island. They were where we are now. They junked a system of managing schools that is sadly similar to what we are dealing with. After successfully making that change, they began to look at other facets of their municipal structures. The Fire department sanitation, and other services were later consolidated. We can and must address this stupidity.

My friend, and mentor Paul Townsend beat this drum for years to little avail. Maybe now the pain is severe enough.

Pictured : Terry Townsend, Ernie Fazio, Roger Corbin and Bill Miller

MAGLEV Train Transportation Technology

The concept of magnetically levitated vehicles has been known for a long time. In the 1960’s Drs Gordon Danby and James Powell at Brookhaven National Laboratories pursued the invention. Their basic design was developed in Germany and Japan and small lines were built in those countries and in China. The Chinese adopted the German version of the technology.
In the United States there were several plans to build out a system and those plans are still out there. Senator Moynihan was a champion of these systems and had he lived they probably would have been built

In the meantime the original inventors never stopped perfecting the design. The result is that the system that could be built today is more economically viable than the original designs, or the designs that were actually built in Germany, Japan and, China.

The original designs required a small clearance. That small clearance of 3/8 of an inch dictated that the guideway be constructed with very precise tolerances. This design was expensive to execute and it was inherently incompatible with conventional rail. The present design has clearances of 4 ½ inches and this allows the construction pieces of the guideway to be mass-produced, reducing the production and construction costs. It appears that the cost of the Chinese system was $90 million/mile. The new design would be in the order of $22 million/mile. That is still not cheap, but it is economically viable.

The MAGLEV is powered by linear sequential motors that drive the vehicle forward at the same time powerful magnets levitate it. Because there is no rolling stock friction, the only impediment to motion is air resistance, which is negligible at low speeds. At high speeds in excess of 300 miles/hour there is considerable resistance moving through air at sea level. Therefore while the theoretical speed may be much higher, as a practical matter the energy needed to go faster than 300 MPH would diminish the inherent efficiency of this mode of transportation.

Three hundred MPH is quite fast, and while it does not match the 550 MPH achievable by aircraft at 30,000 feet in rarified air, it has the advantage of being closer to the final destination of the traveler. In other words a traveler leaving Grand Central Station in New York going to Union Station in Albany, would have a travel time that was similar to air travel. However, without the trip to and from the airport on each end of the journey, and departure delays, they would reach their destination sooner.

The new system is compatible with existing rail. The same example of a New York City to Albany would be economically and logistically impossible without the ability to travel on existing roadbeds. By placing the operating pods on the outside of existing track the vehicle is lifted and propelled down these modified tracks at a more modest speed (approximately 120 miles/hour) when approaching and leaving the cities. When it reaches a point outside the city it would transfer to a dedicated elevated guideway. When the MAGLEV emerges into open territory, it can travel at its recommended speed of 300 MPH

What is probably most significant is the economic viability of the new system because it will be able to transport trucks. The cost of moving freight by trucks is substantial. With the new system, tractor trailers can drive on and drive off the MAGLEV after traveling hundreds or thousands of miles at 300 MPH using less energy than the truck at 60 MPH. The MAGLEV would have to capture only a small percentage of these trips to pay for itself in 5 years.

Frank Petrone, Huntington Town Supv.
2009-01-30 00:00
This morning Huntington Town, Supervisor, Frank Petrone discussed his administrations efforts to create a better Huntington. He credited the work of the then, town councilman, Steve Israel, and himself for forging an alliance across party lines. Israel was and is a Democrat and he was a Republican. They both saw the benefit of working together in a problem-solving mode. (Years later Petrone changed his affiliation to Democrat)
They began a process of pre-planning to anticipate opposition and meet the demands of the affected communities. Under that effort Canon was attracted to Huntington and set up their North American headquarters in the town. This R&D facility creates 2000 jobs. More importantly, it attracts thousands of other jobs.
In order recapture some of the picturesque qualities of the past, what is referred to a Huntington Village, installed ornamental lighting, brick sidewalks, and other amenities. The positive image has attracted many merchants to the Main Street area and vacancies are hard to come by.
Huntington Station on the other hand represented a much bigger challenge. There were changes made there in the past that exacerbated this poorer area. Huntington Station area has always been the residence of working class African Americans and immigrants from various places. In blighted areas, such as Huntington Station crime and drugs root themselves easier than in upscale areas. The program to “take back the blocks” was inaugurated. According to Petrone, the residences were informed and consulted and the quality citizens of the area have more recently prevailed. The fact is that a program like this could not succeed without the cooperation of the local residents.
Every effort in new housing will value the concept of a walkable community. There is a plan for more concentrated multiple dwellings that will allow for a community center and a substantial park area.
There is an effort to build out the infrastructure of sewers to accommodate growth, and that has been a daunting task. However there should be an opportunity accomplish that under a federal infusion of infrastructure money.
During the Q&A, a question about the LIRR proposed rail yard was asked. The yard will help maximize the use of the East Side Access that is currently being built. When trains from Long Island can go directly to Grand Central Station, these yards will be needed to store the additional rolling stock. This yard has caused some people to object, but they will likely be placed where the old landfill was located. This is actually in the Town of Smithtown, and while electrification to that point will be expensive, most agree that the added expense is worth it.
Ernie Fazio

Presidents Day weekend-No Meeting
2009-02-13 00:00

Thomas DiNapoli NY State Comptoller- Confirmed
2009-02-20 00:00
With the state budget resraints and the accumulated needs of the state, how are going to move forward? This and other questions will come up at our meeting.
We need to know what sacrifices can and will be made. Please join us to hear from Mr. DiNapoli. Tom is a hard working and thoughtful elected official. Please join us.
Ernie Fazio

Ginny Fields- 5th Dist & Mike Fitzpatrick 7th dist NY Assem
2009-02-27 00:00
This morning we had a slightly different format. The speakers gave us their take on the state of the schools and what a perverse effect taxes have had on our region. 5th Assembly representative Ginny Fields and 7th Assembly representative Mike Fitzpatrick gave us opening statements on school taxes and the reason for out of control costs. Presently Long Islanders are the second highest taxed citizens in the nation.

They pointed out to us that 70% of our property taxes are used for schools. That percentage has risen from about 40% back in the 70’s. The schools will tell you that the cost is high because the quality of education is high. At the same time Suffolk Community College and SUNY reports that 30% of new students need remedial reading. Obviously there is an inconsistency in these numbers.

The speakers were asked about the driving forces underlying the increases. The reasons are many. One of the reasons is that all of the education employees are still in Defined Benefit Plan pensions. The economic realities have caused private companies to abandon DBP pensions years ago. To satisfy the needs of these plans in economic bad times means considerably higher costs to the taxpayer, and as a result we can expect another whopping increase in school taxes next year, according to Mr. Fitzpatrick.

Another problem is fraud and waste. Let’s talk about waste first. The need to have as much administration in our schools as we do is not justified by any argument that the school administrators can give us. It was pointed out the Fire Island School district has 78 students and has a superintendent all its own. That superintendent gets paid $178,000 per year plus pension, plus health benefits, sick days, personal days and all of the other benefits usually awarded. The total cost of that person is probably $228,000. If you divide that number by the number of pupils (78). That comes out to over $2900 per student before you pay for a principal’s salary, teachers, building repairs, property insurance, heat, power, and all other costs.

One of the people in the audience had a copy of the Sayville teacher’s union contract. The contract reflected a 28% increase over the next four years. This is an unconscionable disregard for the taxpayers.

Another reason for out of control cost is lack of countervailing power. Unions and management agreements work best when the parties are of similar power. The question is; who is there to tell the unions no?

The school districts will tell you that the ludicrous number of districts (126) is needed to maintain control, but recent revelations by Newsday that uncovered numerous phony pensions demonstrated that school districts have no incentive to run a clean operation. Fraud simply does not matter as long as they can stick the taxpayer with the bill.

If you were in the audience this morning you know I covered only the most salient points. The real picture is worse.

## Ernie Fazio ##

Helena Williams, Presiden LIRR (TBC)
2009-03-05 00:00
Ms Williams will bring us up to date on initiatives that will have been announced at that time. Please join us.

Steve Levy, County Executive
2009-03-06 00:00
This morning our speaker, County Executive Steve Levy began by taking back to where he believes the problems of under funding began.

The county depends on having sales taxes. A 1-cent reduction in sales taxes causes a revenue loss of $12million. “Governments provide everything to everybody when times are good. The real problem comes when executives in politics need to make hard decisions. When that happens you need to maintain the intestinal fortitude to do what you feel is right.”

Mr. Levy cited the removal of regular police from the highways and replacing them with sheriff officers. These sheriffs are police trained personnel and are now patrolling the Long Island Expressway, but they earn about $42,000 less than a year than Suffolk County police. That savings amounted to $8 million. It also caused the police union to launch a campaign against him. He felt he had to hold his ground and not give in.

He likened controlling taxes as being compassionate. “How compassionate is it if taxes drive people out of their homes? He asked. According to Levy, there needs to be sacrifices made by the public employees. It is more important to serve the much larger public.

Mr. Levy also brought up the matter of the county getting out of the nursing home business. “This need can be better served by the private sector, we’re just not that good at controlling costs”

In general Steve expressed the opinion that public employees should be at no competitive advantage when compared to the private sector. “Handing over a check for $200,000 to pay a retiring police officer for his unused sick days is crazy. It does not happen in business.”

Mr. Levy supports the investment in infrastructure. He cited the improvements on County Rd 39, near Southampton. CR 39 had been a bottleneck for years. It took 40 minutes to travel 4 miles. Money was not available from the state to increase the overall width of the highway. Levy said we’ll reduce the lane size and rebuild the highway with our own funds. The planned lanes of 13 feet were built to a standard of 11 feet. Now the traffic delays are greatly reduced.

Another infrastructure issue is the bus system. He would like to expand it. The state cites low ridership of the existing service for withholding funds. His reply, “expand service and ridership will increase”

During the Q&A Levy was asked if should have a payroll tax to fund schools. “If you were stating from scratch that could be an answer, but the system in place would be difficult to replace”
Ernie Fazio

State Senator Brian Foley
2009-03-13 00:00
Mr. Foley began by reviewing the origins of the revenue shortfalls. The reduction in income tax receipts derived from mega-bucks bonuses on Wall Street, and reduced sales taxes being among the causes. We did not discuss any remedies, because frankly, there are none on the horizon.

The Senator went on to review some of the positives that we have going in the state and locally. One of those bright spots is The Center for Advanced Technology, which has been granted $120 million from the federal stimulation fund. Another helpful agency has been the Empire Zones, which he considered extremely helpful to Long Island’s economy. He also cited the IDA program but pointed out that while the IDA program has worked well on Long Island it needs reform upstate.

The federal stimulus plan will address the needs of the MacArthur hub. New designs are being drawn for the area to make the train and airport connections more efficient. I have no details to report here.

One of the questions from the audience addressed the available money for energy efficiency. Mr. Foley indicated that there would be increased funds for that purpose

Brian was asked about the cost of K through 12 education costs, and how do we support a system that is not cost conscious. The senator answered the question from the point of view that better funding methods are needed. He suggested that more money should come from the state. I countered that the problem is centered on out of control costs. Getting more money from the state is nice, but the careless inefficient operations, along with 126 school districts and their overpaid administrators are the problem.

Editorial note; The burden of property taxes, which are at least 70% attributable to school taxes, has been heaped on the people of Long Island. The load is difficult in a good economy and totally unsustainable in troubled times. Yet these unchecked bureaucracies are like little fiefdoms that are answerable to no one. School boards are intimately intertwined with schools they are charged with overseeing. Teachers from adjoining districts and vendors to the schools on boards are hardly the watchdogs we need. Enough is enough, and Atlas is about to shrug.
Ernie Fazio

Alan Doctor- CUNY Center for Advanced Technology
2009-03-20 00:00
Alan Doctor was our speaker at LIMBA this morning. Alan is the Director for Business Development at CUNY Center for Advanced Technology. The unit assists businesses that are developing new techniques.

Mr. Doctor outlined the requirements that allow a business to get assistance. The economic impact is what is important. If it can be shown that a large economic impact can be made, than the chances of getting help is increased. For each $1 provided the return has been $30.

There are 15 separate units of CUNY-CAT around the state. Each one has a separate focus. The one that Alan Doctor is affiliated specializes in photonics. Projects range from the mundane to the exotic. He mentioned a project that is developing “laser tissue welding,” a process the promises plastic surgery without scars.

When CUNY-CAT works with a client company they find an appropriate university to work with. The level of assistance they give a company can be substantial. It usually is about 50%. For small companies it may be as high as 80% while a very large company may only get 20%

CUNY is the 3rd largest university in the country and the largest city university.

SPIR (Small Business Innovative Research) when providing funds does so in phases. In phase I provides $100,000 to flesh out a good idea. Phase II provides $1,000,000 for product development. The third phase is commercialization. To be selected for Phase I, a panel rates the idea. Because there are usually more requests than money to fund them, the most promising technologies will survive, and be funded. Having successfully shown the viability of an idea, getting Phase II is a lot easier.

Steve Dierker Assoc Laboratory director-Light Source Project
2009-03-27 00:00
Our speaker this morning was Dr Steven Dierker Associate Director of Brookhaven National Laboratories. The topic of discussion was the new National Synchrotron Light Source II. This project has been in the planning stage for a long time. The NLSL II will be working with light in the X-ray range. The promise of the research that will be performed with this technology is mind boggling, starting with the physical size of the instrument.

The total commitment in dollars is just under $1 billion. Last week $170million was designated for the initial construction. This will result in 850 construction jobs. The site was already prepared for the work, so this is a truly shovel ready project. The full time staff at this facility will be 500 high paying, high skilled jobs. The economic impact is very significant. But the real excitement is the prospects of the work product that will result.

A few years ago I was reading that the number of these machines were being built in various other countries, notably Switzerland and China, and that technology was surpassing the capacity of our original research equipment. This new Synchrotron Light generator is 10,000 times brighter than anything that has been built anywhere in the world. This machine is, as the cliché states, “a game changer.” The same can be said of the futures it will be bring about. The ability to manipulate matter on a nano-scale means the ability to create batteries for the energy use of future. The ability to create new materials holds out the hope that we can build stronger, and lighter airplanes and surface transportation vehicles which in turn means that less energy will be needed to move those vehicles.

But the Challenging experimentation is not limited to any one field. Advances in medicine are expected in studying Alzheimer’s and many other maladies. We expect to be able to arrange the structures of photovoltaic cells that produce electric current from the sun to generate many times the power than present technology will allow.

The immediate prospects of local busnesses benefiting is encouraged by the lab. They will need the services of a wide variety of providers. The different department heads were named, so that people in the room could contact the appropriate people that would be familiar with a particular need.

BNL needs us, and we need them. This commitment from the federal government will advance science in a way that has not existed since the 60’s, and we have a great opportunity.

Ernie Fazio

Bob Yaro, Pres of NY Reguinal Plan Association
2009-04-03 00:00
Since 1920 The NY Regional Plan Association has been instrumental in bringing most of New York City’s major infrastructure to reality. In recent years the RPA has reached out to the adjacent areas in New Jersey, Long Island and Connecticut. to promote ideas that dovetail with the infrastructure of the entire region. I have asked Mr. Yaro to discuss some of the efforts that impact Long Island. Please join us for what should be an interesting meeting.
