Limba

Holiday Party Breakfast
2008-12-12 00:00 (America/New_York)
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

No Meeting
2009-02-06 00:00

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.

Good Friday - No Meeting
2009-04-10 00:00

RPA Meeting in NY - No LIMBA meeting
2009-04-17 00:00
LIMBA participates in the Regional Plan Association’s annual meeting. LIMBA members may attend. It is an all day meeting with important national speakers. Fees will be announced.

Drs Gordon Danby and Jim Powell-Maglev inventors
2009-04-24 00:00
This morning’s meeting was a little different from what we are used to. It was a presentation on MAGLEV (magnetically levitated transportation system). Along with it came a lesson in history and lost opportunity. MAGLEV is a track vehicle that has many desirable facets. It was invented here on Long Island in the middle of the last century by Drs Gordon Danby and Jim Powell. Both of these brilliant men of science, though aged are still alive, and still inventing. The system was championed by Senator Moynihan in the late 80’s. Mr. Moynihan appropriated $750 million in the Senate, but the legislation was bottled up in committee in the House, and it died there.
Dr Danby was with us this morning. He created the presentation that we used, and I helped him deliver the message. The message was far-reaching and profound. Essentially the message was, we have at our disposal a technology that can and will revolutionize transportation systems in the world. More importantly, the basic technology is a proven concept. It has been built by the Japanese and the Chinese using the knowledge that was put forth in the original invention. Those systems work magnificently, but they were, and are, expensive to build. This morning the discussion was about Second Generation MAGLEV.
The new version of MAGLEV overcomes the expense of the original system by the use of more recently invented technology that makes the new system possible. In fact the track construction cost is about the same as conventional rail and substantially less than for what is being termed High Speed Rail (HSR). In addition HSR will never carry freight because the high speed and weight factors will not support the pounding that wheels and steel deliver to the roadbed. HSR is already a nightmare of constant maintenance. The Japanese have 3,000 track workers making track adjustments every night. The MAGLEV has no direct contact with the guideway, therefore there is virtually no maintenance. Weather is not a factor either. Magnetic fields are not affected by ice because ice is magnetically transparent. All switching on MAGLEV is done electronically, and there are no moving mechanical devices to get fouled by ice or debris.
Among the cognoscenti there appears to be a belief that electrification of rail transport is the way to go, but the trend is evident in auto transportation as well. These inventors have opened doors of possibilities that were unheard of even 20 years ago, and certainly since the original MAGLEV design that they pioneered. Our only hope is that the vision that caused Senator Moynihan to support this technology is repeated in some modern day political people or we will be snookered again by China, Japan, Germany or India. Unfortunately Mr. Moynihan’s health deteriorated before he could see this through. On the other hand, it’s a new day!

This event is sponsored by Robert Bender and the Association for Facility Engineers (AFE)

Richard Kessel, President & CEO NY Power Authority
2009-05-01 00:00
Richard Kessel has had an interesting career. Today he addressed the LIMBA audience as the President and CEO of the New York Power Authority. NYPA, Kessel told us, is the largest public power company in the nation. He sees his role as a reformer of that authority.
He revisited briefly his tenure at LIPA. The original mandate for LIPA was quite narrow, but under his tenure 2000 megawatts were added to the system and alternative energy was advanced further than any other power company. Now, Kessel said, it is to change NYPA in similar basic ways.
NYPA was where Trooper-gate was hatched. NYPA has it’s own police force that was used to create that scandal. That police force has since been disbanded. NYPA has an airplane, but Kessel uses commercial flights where he can. Now the plane is used by operational employees to access places in the state that are not commercially served.
He told us that there will be a strong focus in breathing some life into the economy of upstate New York. That may not be a message that Long Islanders want to hear, but the economy in rural New York is desperate. ALCOA was all but washed up in Messina NY, and NYPA worked out a deal that allows ALCOA to preserve some of those jobs. As far as GM is concerned upstate, it’s gone!
The Economic Development section of NYPA will be completely revamped. The “Power for Jobs” program will be revamped as well. Presently a client like Fotunoff’s, which is going out of business, was a PFJ recipient cannot have its allocation transferred to another business entity. Kessel promises that will be changed.
Kessel promises to introduce wind and solar projects to NYPA. He is negotiating with the concerned communities that are adjacent to the Great Lakes to form a wind power agreement to place turbines on Lake Erie and or Lake Ontario
At NYPA Kessel wants to embark on large scale central solar, rather than the roof program. Roofs are OK, but he feels the course NYPA should take is the large-scale programs. (Sacramento Municipal Utility District did this year ago.)
In New York City a new high volume power cable will be built from Bergen County New Jersey to 49th street in Manhattan. There will probably be more such links to tie the region together, but the biggest link-up will be a robust transmission line coming from Canada. This line will use existing right-of-ways precluding a difficult permitting process. This line will make low cost Hydro-Quebec power available to downstate.
These are ambitious plans, but given the aggressive leadership he showed at LIPA, Kessel is believable.

Helena Williams, Pres. LIRR
2009-05-08 00:00
Reflecting its concern with island-wide issues, Chairman Ernie Fazio today announced that LIMBA is updating the words behind the acronym. LIMBA, henceforth will be known as Long Island Metro Business Action. Having grown beyond its initial mandate, it is time for the organization to adopt a more suitable moniker for its mission. In keeping with this theme, our speaker this morning was the formidable, yet personable Helena Williams, President of the Long Island Rail Road, since 2007. Since the days of Andrew Jackson, the LIRR has been bringing passengers to and fro on Long Island, and connecting it to the rest of these United States, for a hundred and seventy-five years. Helena came to give us an update on the LIRR and MTA’s situation and vision for the future. Happily this was her second consecutive! visit to LIMBA in her current position.
Whenever an LIRR president comes to speak at LIMBA, something always happens, either within the Rail Road, or its parent agency. Today was no exception, Helena speaking before us on the morning after MTA Executive Director Lee Sandler’s resignation. Usually, it’s a change in management at the LIRR, fortunately for us and wisely for the Rail Road, Helena is still batting cleanup there. Her update began with a review of the LIRR’s operating metrics, proudly pointing out the all-time record performance of 96.65% of trains arriving on time for April of 2009. The LIRR also carried a record amount of passengers in 2008, 87.4 million riders. The economic downturn has reduced those numbers recently, weekend and off-peak ridership declining by 7% from the same period last year. Customer satisfaction continues to be important with an emphasis on staff responding to customers with a courteous and efficient demeanor.

The big news was a snapshot of recent events at the MTA, with the agency’s largest source of revenue, the Mortgage Recording Tax, tanking to the tune of $230MM. Helena described the work of the Ravitch commission, and its recommendations, defending the choice of the most palatable of bad medicines, the payroll tax. Illustrating the choices between East River tolls and the payroll tax, the tolls were a non-starter. As painful as the payroll tax is, it is a necessary evil to get the MTA back on a sound financial footing.

In this environment, the LIRR faces enormous challenges to keep up it’s record setting performance, neatly segueing into a description of the next 5 year capital plan, which right now is only funded for two years. It is extremely important to keep the capital program going to upgrade the railroad so it can meet the vision of the future by replacing components like the 1910 vintage switch control system at Jamaica. This vision revolves around East Side Access, the ambitious plan to bring the LIRR into Commodore Vanderbilt’s magnificent Grand Central Terminal. Several capital projects support that vision:

Main Line Corridor third track

Double tracking between Farmingdale and Ronkonkoma
Jamaica Throughput improvements and platform extensions
New Yards/ Electrification
Fleet Expansion with M9 cars

Given the state of the capital plan, the best projects to move that vision along are the Jamaica improvements and double tracking the stretch between Route 110 and Ronkonkoma’s Long Island MacArthur Airport. Double track will improve the situation at both ends of the corridor and in between. Besides removing the obvious bottleneck that a single track brings, doubling the rails enables reverse commuting, and perhaps reopening the Republic station at Rt.110, creating the Wyandanch intermodal project and supporting Central Islip’s Heartland development. The initial electrification between Hicksville and Ronkonkoma, completed in 1986, was planned with double track in mind, so the track just needs to be built, the rights of way are already in possession, and the electrical system was built to handle the second track. This project provides the most bang for the buck, able to be implemented re! latively quickly, and with little controversy. Still expensive at $450 MM, this represents an expense of $36 million/mile with 12.6 miles remaining to be double tracked.
Helena and her staff have been working with local, state, and the federal government to develop these plans and obtain funding for them in these challenging times. Closing her remarks with an exhortation for us to share the vision of the LIRR as an engine of growth and vitality for the region, she provides a welcome optimistic viewpoint tempered with the pragmatism necessary for these times.
The Q and A was once again insightful, and valuable. LIMBA provides the opportunity to interact with the movers and shakers of the region on an intimate basis, no better way to spend a Friday morning, we always learn something.
A question was asked about whether the 3rd track on the main line would help move freight on the island, and her response was that the best way to increase freight on Long Island was to remove the bottleneck of crossing the Hudson River somehow. There are several plans afoot to improve this, from the long awaited cross harbor tunnel, to improvements on the cross harbor carfloat operation.
Competition in car building came up, and Helena reported that Korean firms were beginning to enter the market to compete with Kawasaki and Bombardier, the two existing suppliers.
The stimulus program came up, and Helena was somewhat dismayed that High Speed Rail, instead of Commuter Rail was getting the focus, but still happy about Rail travel getting attention.
The Q and A ended with more of a statement than a question. We have to keep the focus on mass transit so that we keep the region competitive. There are two important supports for economic development among many. Telecommunications and Transportation to move people easily and efficiently. Both these supports need to be accessible and affordable to the general population. San Francisco’s BART and Dallas’ DART are good examples of putting federal funds to work in supporting that vision.
Reprt written by–
Craig Plunkett-

Senator Ken LaValle
2009-05-15 00:00
The economic news from our speaker, State Senator Ken LaValle, was not particularly good. On the other hand, we knew that the economy is in stress. We asked the senator to talk about taxes and he did. The tax cap that was introduced under the last Albany administration resulted in property tax increases that ranged from between 2% and 3 ½ % instead of the 4,5.and 6% increases we saw in the past. This is good of course, but not good enough as the economy declines dramatically.
I posed a question based on a situation discovered by a LIMBA member. It was the case of the Fire Island school district comprised 78 children. The superintendent of that school district has a salary and benefit package of $228,000. That works out to approximately $3,000 per pupil, before you buy the first pencil. I asked the senator how we could tolerate that insanity. He shook his head in disbelief and admitted that was troubling.
Mr. LaValle thought that were easier fixes that did not require school consolidation, but rather services consolidation. That has been done to some small degree, and probably will expand. School consolidation, according to LaValle’s constituents would result in the loss of the local identity as far as teams and bands are concerned. To me this argument does not ring true. The teams and bands could continue to exist, but the multiple administrative beaurocracy would be trimmed down.
LaValle said school costs and other issues can be changed for the better by employing a process that was similar to the one used to create the Pine Barrens. That would be the process “Dispute Resolution.”
He then spoke about reduced revenues. Revenues are so reduced that the hospital at Stony Brook will receive about $50 million less this year. The effect will be reduced programs, and some services could be terminated. In addition to that loss there has been a loss of funds available for “Empire Zones.” These empire zones create businesses that would not otherwise survive, and gives them an opportunity to grow.
An important mission for the senator is to strengthen the institutions that Long Island is noted for, such as, SUNY Stony Brook, Brookhaven National Labs, and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. Presently there is an effort to tie these gold mines of intellectual activities into a cohesive unit, thus creating a technological juggernaut.
He reported to the LIMBA audience that the new Energy Center at Stony Brook will be named as a “Center of Excellence” These institutions have an economic impact that is enormous. He stated that impact was about $4.6 billion for Stony Brook. It becomes easy to see why education is so important to Long Island.
Ernie Fazio

Mark Alessi NY State Assemblyman (TBC)
2009-05-21 00:00
Topic – not confirmed

No meeting- Memorial Day Weekend celebrated
2009-05-22 00:00

Brookhaven National Laboratory- on site meeting
2009-05-29 00:00
This morning’s LIMBA meeting was a little unusual. We had an off-site meeting that was hosted by Brookhaven National Laboratories at their location.
BNL is an enormously important research center that prides itself as being the home base of 6 Nobel Prize winners. This is more than any other National Research Center except for Lawrence Livermore in California and they include Nobel Laureates from Berkeley
We started off with a video overview of the facility at Berkner Hall. The past scientific accomplishments and important international cooperation was discussed. The Laboratory is open to scientific research that comes from around the world. The science that is discovered there is open for any one to see, except for projects that are wholly reimbursed to the Lab by the research companies that frequently use the lab’s equipment.
In the days of my schooling microscopes that can see things on a molecular scale were thought to be impossible to build. Today we take it for granted, although an electron microscope does not come cheap, about $1.3million.
We visited the new Nano Center where nanotechnology is being developed in various fields. Nano will be important in medicine, material development, energy, and applications that have not yet been thought of. When I asked; “Where is all this science taking us? Our guide, Dr Sherman answered “If we knew exactly what we were doing we wouldn’t be scientists”
When the new National Synchrotron Light Source II is built it will be a valuable asset in developing nano- science. (We recently had Dr. Steve Dierker visit us at LIMBA to discuss the possibilities of that machine) This new light source will be 10,000 times brighter than any other similar machine that has been built in the world.
On the campus there is an accelerator building, which consists of a large ring, where matter is accelerated and guided by magnetic fields and destroyed under precise conditions to learn more about the nature of the universe. This apparatus has been in service for many years and has been the source of many important discoveries.
Out of these continued efforts, which have been going on here since 1947, we can expect to see developments in science that will allow us to produce lighter and stronger automobiles, advancements in medicine, building technology, energy technology, and materials development.
I cannot be anything but optimistic about the future, as long as we keep putting resources into the science we find here. Long Islanders have a gem in their backyard.
Ernie Fazio

Robert Yaro, Pres Regional Plan NY
2009-06-05 00:00
We had the pleasure of welcoming to our June 5th meeting, Robert Yaro, head of the Regional Plan Association. Robert gave a talk and engaged in Q & A about the important role that Long Island plays in the tri-state region, and the RPA’s goals for the region in general. Introducing the RPA to the meeting, he described its mission as a mix of about 80% NYC regional, and 20% national issues, where the RPA is promulgating the notion of Mega-Regions, linked together by metropolises, such as the Northeast Corridor from Boston to Washington, connected by efficient transportation and
telecommunication systems.
Rail, both commuter and high-speed intercity, is an important component of the RPA’s planning toolset. Founded in 1922 with the goals of improving mobility within the NYC region, it has expanded its view to meeting global and regional environmental goals around the transformation of urban and suburban centers. The RPA’s first plan, published in 1929, envisioned the George Washington and Verrazano Narrows bridges, JFK Airport, the Merritt Parkway, and the Long Island and Palisades Parks and Parkway systems.
The next plan, of 1968, called for the restoration of mass transit systems, through the creation of the MTA, put forth ideas for open space preservation, and the revitalization of urban areas through the focus on a network of centers, both urban and suburban.
The third plan of 1996, called for seamless mass transit and a greensward network through the region. It contained concepts for the JFK and Newark AirTrains, East Side Access to Grand Central Terminal for the LIRR, and the completion of the 2nd Avenue subway.
In talking about Long Island, it is important to remember that it is tied to NYC, physically, economically, and geo-politically. The last 50 years of its development has been car-centered, and it needs to refocus on mass transit. The RPA’s past work for Long Island has involved the Parks and Parkway system, the original concept of a Nassau Hub, LIRR electrification to Ronkonkoma, and the promotion of East Side Access. The current work includes continual support for the completion of ESA, the Pine Barrens commission and management plan, along with the newly created Long Island Sound Stewardship Act.
Mr. Yaro described some of Long Island’s assets as an excellent quality of life, safe communities, and a superior education system from elementary through graduate institutions. A highly skilled workforce, extraordinary natural beauty, the nation’s largest commuter rail network and membership in the NY metro economy that is larger than the GDP of many large developed countries round out the lineup.
The long island paradox, is that there is a brain drain of this skill, and 901 units of government at all levels, one for every 3,000 residents. He posited that it is the last remaining medieval English system of governance left in the Western Hemisphere. Long Island is also out of developable land, suffering from job losses, at the mercy of climate change, hamstrung by housing expense, choked by traffic, and is one of the most segregated areas of the United States.
As a non-profit regional think tank, the RPA promotes long-term, regionally centered planning among elected officials, and planning development agencies. To that end, they have developed Long Island 2035, a vision for Long Island based on the successes of Salt Lake City and Portland, Oregon. It is a plan to help deal with the expected 460,000 new residents and 250,000 additional jobs. It is promoting this plan by working with many regional players, such as NYMTC and the Long Island Regional Planning Commission. Long Island must acknowledge the need for higher density development and get its
politicians to develop a regional focus, rather than hold to the traditional parochial ways. The Empire State Transportation Alliance is an important vehicle to move the plan forward, components of which include the LIRR’s third track program, East Side Access, and regionalizing the balkanized bus systems existing.
Closing with a description of the Nissequogue Action Plan as a blue print for protecting other environmentally significant areas, it contains a set of 110 concrete goals and actions for implementing groups, geared toward incrementally improving the area, which can be replicated across the region.
As usual, the Q&A was pointed, leading off with questioning whether ESA was in jeopardy of not being finished. Robert’s response was that there’s a paradox, if you don’t finish it, then billions in Federal funds already spent towards its construction must be returned to Washington. What the real issue is here is the lack of a complete 5 year capital plan.
The RPA’s opinion of the Lighthouse project was asked. The answer was in general it is a good concept, but incomplete without transit connections.

Once again, another well spent Friday morning with an engaging speaker that is influential on our daily lives and in the directing of our region.
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Written by Craig Plunkett
