Limba

Steve Bellone -Supv -Twn of Bbylon -GPI engineers spnsr
2010-01-22 00:00 (America/New_York)
Mr Bellone is an innovative leader in local government. Please join us for an interesting insight into local government.
Ernie Fazio

Greenman-PedersenI shall be pleased to sponsor this LIMBA breakfast meeting scheduled to Friday, October 8th.
Mayer Horn

energy panel for homes business and transportation
2010-01-21 00:00
This week we will have a panel of energy use innovators that will talk about zero fossil fuel heating and cooling of homes as well as commercial and industrial buildings. One of the panel members will address low and/or no emissions transportation ideas.

No Meeting MLK Holiday
2010-01-15 00:00

OPEN Forum Round Table Discussion
2010-01-08 00:00

No Meeting New Years Day
2010-01-01 00:00

No LIMBA meeting Christmas day
2009-12-25 00:00

LIMBA -Former Congressman Rick Lazio in governors race
2009-12-18 00:00
Today our speaker was an ever-youthful former congressman, Rick Lazio. At age 51 he is a little bit wiser and appears to be as determined as ever to serve in the political arena. Mr. Lazio will be running in the Republican primary to run for governor of NY State
According to Rick the state government is dysfunctional, no one in the room disagreed. He then proceeded to tick off a number of things to make his point.
In the measure of school performance Lazio stated that we were 37th among to 50 states.
25% of our young people leave the state.
The governor has no power to control the budget process.
Mandates are decreed by the state, but not paid for by the state, and lower level governing bodies are stuck with the task of making things happen.
He alleges that legislation is purposefully pursued so that matters cannot be resolved, resulting in the three kingmakers delivering the final decisions. Rick had other criticisms as well, but he felt that there are some positive actions that a governor could initiate.
Taxes must be reduced.
Mandates must be paid for
Enact aggressive jobs strategies, such as, building infrastructure that will later make us more competitive.
Reform the state pension funds by changing all new pensions from defined pensions plans to defined contribution plans, saving billions.
Lazio suggested that we could do a lot better with our universities by making them a catalyst for economic growth.
He would increase the tuition costs for out of state and foreign students and using the surplus to create low-income scholarships for local people.
Rick admitted that these measures might get him an early retirement from politics, but that would be Okay with him.
To see entire meeting go to this link http://proimagegroupinc.com/limba/12-18-09
***
Ernie Fazio

Holiday Party
2009-12-11 00:00
Jimmy Graseck on his fabulous violin and Vintriloquist Vince Dantona and his sassy puppet make the Holiday Party a well attended and enjoyable event.
Please join us for a real fun time. It’s early in the morning but it’s a great day to begin with a smile.

Hon. Ed Romaine Suffolk County Legislator (cancelled)
2009-12-04 00:00
Due to the death of Mr. Romaine’s son Keith, he has cancelled all appointments. there will be no meeting

NO MEETING Thanksgiving week
2009-11-27 00:00

John Waffenschmidt- Covanta Power
2009-11-20 00:00
This morning we had a presentation from John Waffenschmidt, Vice President of Covanta Energy. Covanta is an energy from waste
operator. The plant in Hempstead is a state of the art facility that converts some of Long Islands waste stream into energy. The recovery of electric power from waste has been done successful elsewhere. In Europe they are way ahead of us in various conservation measures. According to John, the pollutants from energy to waste are substantially less than that which would be emitted by trucks if the waste stream were carted off-island and landfilled.
The plant is able to segregate metals and recover them. One of the most cost effective recovery of metals is aluminum. Making new metal from recovered aluminum uses 85% less energy than making aluminum from bauxite ore. But other metals are successfully and profitably recovered as well, and metal coins are found every day in the recovery process and that too is part of the salvage stream.
The co2 that is emitted in burning is of course a by-product of the process, but no methane is created. This is important because landfills do create methane, and methane is many more times more damaging to the atmosphere than co2.
Mr Waffenschmidt did not limit his talk to his project but spoke about the larger problem of global warming and the potential for improvement. The United States has the potential of reducing greenhouse gasses by a giga ton. That’s a huge amount, but it also tells us that we have not been doing as good a job as we could. Waffenschmidt made these remarks after going through the dangers of global warming, and the exposure this area has to it.
Covanta is building an extension to it’s present operation and made reassurances that the new plant as well as the old one will not contribute to producing odors in the surrounding area. The plant contains odors by creating a negative pressure inside the plant. As air is sucked into the building it is fed to the burning process. The air leaves the plant after the burning has taken place.
The existing facility creates a net of 600KW/ton and the new facility will produce 675KW/ton. The plant itself uses a lot of power to operate all its equipment, but these figures are net after all that is considered.
To see this entire meeting on video go to http://proimagegroupinc.com/limba/11-21-09

No scheduled meeting
2009-11-13 00:00

LIMBA Networking and Karaoke night at Dave & Busters
2009-11-12 00:00
This event is always a big hit. The last time we had John Kominicki and Richard Kessel sing. They rocked the house. John will likely sing again and we have a surprise celeb waiting in the wings.There will be some of the great singers in our midst that you did no know existed.
The media room at Dave & Busters works great for this event. there will be a buffet and soft drinks as well as a cash bar
We will have the always enertaining and vivacious Anita Bloom guiding us on our Karaoke songs. What a knockout, Holy Cow!
LIMLong IslanBd Metro BAusiness Action
Presents the
3rd Annual Karaoke Night
When: Thursday, November 12, 2009
Where: Dave & Buster’s
1856 Veteran’s Memorial Highway, Islandia
Time: 5:30 to 9:30 p.m.
Donation: $35 LIMBA Members, $40 Non-Members
Long Island Metro Business Action is hosting an entertaining
evening of networking, food and fun!
This after-hours event of singing & karaoke will be held in
the showroom at the Dave & Buster ’s in Islandia.
You and your colleagues are invited to get up and belt out a tune!
Guest singers include some of Long Island’s most recognized
business leaders including John Kominicki, publisher of the
Long Island Business News.
For pre-registration: 631-757-1698, e-mail info@limba.net, or
pay on-line with paypal at www.limba.net.
Become a sponsor for only $300:
Includes premier event recognition and two event tickets. Call 631-757-1698
for more information.

Gary Bixhorn Chief operating officer Eastern Suffolk Boces
2009-11-06 00:00
This morning our speaker was Gary Bixhorn. Mr. Bixhorn is the Chief Operating Officer of Eastern Suffolk BOCES. We generally think of BOCES as the special education arm of our education system. That was its original function, but over time it added the vocational training, then the buying cooperative services was added. Today BOCES has a substantial mission in many areas that service the school districts in that area. It has no separate tax base for funding its operations. All funding comes from the school districts on an apportionment basis.
Mr. Bixhorn spoke about the cost of schooling on Long Island and stated that the Long Island region was not getting its fair share of state revenues that are allocated to all schools in the state.
As the conversation about costs were explored the questions from the audience asked; Why in hard economic times, do the schools maintain their budgets as if all were normal?
The discussion revealed some important ways that savings could be realized. For example; there is little doubt that consolidation of districts would save some money when most of the $200K plus administrators would not be needed.
While industry has changed the way pensions have been funded, the school personnel have the same high cost defined benefit plans they have always had. Modifying pensions would provide additional savings. Another problem that is directly related to the multiple school districts is labor contract negotiations. Each school district negotiates its own contracts and those contracts are jack-sawed by comparing their salaries to the last contract that was signed. Each new contract is incrementally higher than the last. The solution to this never-ending escalation in costs is to have salaries and benefits. negotiated on a regional basis.
Unfortunately no politician has had the courage to fight back. Each year goes by and the tax burden gets worse. Now we are at a juncture where we have an angrier taxpayer than anytime in my memory. The education industry has held these politicos in check by virtue of their vast campaign resources. Maybe the taxpayers will just fire these elected officials now that we are a lot angrier.
See video of todays meeting http://www.proimagegroupinc.com/limba/11-6-09/

Intermodal Freight in Brkhvn Gerald Drumm & Andrew Kauffmann
2009-10-30 00:00
Presentation by Andrew Kaufman and Gerald Drumm – Sills Road Realty and US Rail
This morning we had two speakers that gave us information on the new intermodal yard that has been proposed and permitted at Sills Rd and the Long Island Expressway. Andrew Kaufman and Gerald Drumm brought a large design plan for us to see as they spoke.
The facility has partners that are in the asphalt business and presently move 340,000 tons of stone and aggregate onto Long Island. This is done using mostly trucks. This facility is designed to remove that truck traffic from the roads when this project is finished. The site has the benefit of having the LIRR tracks close-by. A short spur will have to be built to service the yard.
The yard will be operated by a midwestern company, US Rail, that has a lot of rail experience. It will still be serviced by NY & Atlantic Railroad, the company that owns the freight franchise on Long Island.
One of the reasons that this site was chosen is the American Power and Light had purchased it to build a power plant, and had spent $7 million on an extensive environmental review. They did not win the bid to build to service LIPA,so they were interested in selling the property. Having that extensive review behind them made the property that much more attractive. It, more importantly, is in a strategic place to receive and distribute freight.
The aggregate business will be the anchor tenant, but the facility will also be able to bring in lumber and sheet rock as well as other heavy loads. These heavy loads lend themselves to movement by rail. Removing trucks from our roads will save our roads from considerable wear and tear.
The facility is large enough to be able to accommodate a large train and off-load it quickly.
This facility is one of several that will be needed to accommodate future rail projects, including the rail freight tunnel from Bayonne to Brooklyn that congressman Gerald Nadler spoke about when he came to LIMBA awhile back. The Port Authority of NY & NJ has expressed interest in making that link a reality and is appropriating funds to design it.
All of this fits into the picture that was outlined by LIMBA a few years ago of moving up to 10% of our freight by rail instead of the present 2%

If you would like to see the entire discussion by streaming video use this link.http://www.proimagegroupinc.com/limba/10-30-09

VHB Engineering Rob. Eshbacher - Infrastructure Issues
2009-10-23 00:00
This morning our speaker was Robert Eschbacher of VHB Engineering. He and his firm specialize in infrastructure engineering. After a brief description of what infrastructure consisted of, Mr. Eschbacher read a report card on the state of repair of existing infrastructure. Roads, bridges, aviation facilities, rail, and several other categories were cited. The grade for bridges was the best at C, with an average being D.
The cost of repairing, replacing and adding the new infrastructure that we presently need is $2.2trillion. As enormous as that number is, it may be conservative.
It was a disheartening realization the America has fallen so far behind, while other modern societies are in much better physical shape, and each year we get further behind.
In the Q&A portion of the meeting questions of solving problems suggested that we are probably never going to build our way out of a road deficit. If we do not embrace new transportation and city planning we will always be behind in our needs.
This was not an uplifting and hopeful picture being painted for us. On the other hand if we don’t look at these problems honestly, we will be less likely to be successful in the future.
When we built the Erie Canal in NY State it was a boon to business. When we built the railroads we brought the country together and developed the west. When we built the Interstate Highway we facilitated commerce on a new scale. We are no longer thinking in those terms, and that’s a shame.
On the other hand all of the problems we have, present themselves as great opportunities to build great systems that work.
Ernie Fazio
To watch the video of this presentation, please click HERE.
Pro-Image Studios are having a large networking event — see http://proimagegroupinc.com/network1.jpg

Marcia Bystryn, Pres NY League Conservation Voters
2009-10-16 00:00
This morning our speaker was Marcia Bystryn, President of The New York League of Conservation Voters. Ms Bystryn explained the role of the organization to the LIMBA audience. NYLCV Education Fund examines conservation issues in a non-partisan forum creating a body of information to be used by voters when electing public officials. Among the issues are Smart Growth, Energy Conservation & Climate Action, Transportation, Natural Resource Protection, and Open Space Preservation.
Sometimes the issues have a conflict with each other. In those cases an opinion will come out in favor of the greater good. For example; we don’t want to lose parkland but if a ferry point needs to be built to remove traffic from the roads, they may opt to sacrifice a small area for that purpose.
The New York League of Conservation Voters is affiliated with a national version and Ms Bystryn is a member of the national board. Her organization has the ear of all the politically important office holders because under their charter they are able to fund political campaigns. Choosing a political figure to support has a lot less to do with party affiliation than it does with policy goals. In short if a person running for office has goals that are congruent with NYLCV’s agenda, they have a good chance at getting monetary support.
Marcia appears to be keenly aware of the needs of Long Island’s transportation needs such as; Increased rail freight, LIRR Third Track, Bayonne to Brooklyn Tunnel, and intermodal transfer yards. We brought up the possibility of supporting the building of MAGLEV and after a brief explanation she was very interested.
We came away from this morning’s meeting that Long Island has found a new ally.
To view the video, please click here: http://www.proimagegroupinc.com/limba/10-16-09/

Tom Cilmi- Candidate 10th Suffolk Legislator Dist
2009-10-09 00:00
Members and Friends,
This morning our speaker was Tom Cilmi. Tom is running for the Suffolk County Legislature in the 10th district.
That post is now held Cameron Alden. Mr. Alden is a Republican who is leaving because of term limits. Mr. Cilmi is also a Republican.
Cilmi is a political newcomer, however he did work in the campaign of Rick Lazio in 1992. Presently he owns a small printing company which he has owned for the last 12 years. He has a fairly impressive record of community involvment and he sees governing in terms of management practices that can always be improved.
The issues of Long Island are pretty much the same whether you are Democrat or Republican according to Cilmi. Taxes, bureaucracy, public safety and protection of the environment are the issues. How we improve things is the mission.
One of the issues Mr. Cilmi spoke about was public safety. We now have fewer policemen than we have had in the recent past. He would like to augment the force since the quality of life issues require adequate policing.
Taxes and bureaucracy have a detrimental effect on business, particularly small business. The small business owner simply does not have the time or the money to wade through the labyrinth of regulations.
Ultimately we must create efficiencies rather than expect government to get smaller, in much the same way that Toyota approaches their ability to improve outcomes.
To watch a video replay, click here.

No LIMBA meeting
2009-10-02 00:00
There will be a meeting of the Long Island Business Development Council at Montauk. LIMBA will be participating. Therefore there will be no meeting on Oct 2nd

Carol Ash, NY State Parks Comissioner
2009-09-25 00:00
We had the pleasure of hearing from the NYS Commissioner of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation, Carol Ash. Pro Image Studios recorded the video of her talk and the Q&A, which can be found here: Ms. Ash is a long time champion of downstate parks and the environment. Her most recent past position was Executive Director of the Palisades Interstate Parks Commission, and her full biography can be found on the NYS Parks website. Commissioner Ash, a tireless advocate for the parks system and it’s constituency, gave us a rundown of what is happening with the state park system, that was both sobering and optimistic. The 28 parks and one state! historic site ( Walt Whitman’s home ) on Long Island are some of the jewels in the system.. Mentioning Ken Burns’ newest epic on the formation of the National Parks System, she let us know that the model for the NPS was the Adirondack State Park, created by then Governor Teddy Roosevelt, and that New York state has always been a pioneer in the development of parks and historic preservation.
One of the misconceptions that Ms. Ash came to dispel is that the expense of Parks is a drag on the economy, and that investment in them performs poorly. Citing a University of Massachusetts study, she posited that parks are linchpins of local economies, that produce a 5-1 return on dollars invested in park improvements. On Long Island, that translates to a $410MM boost to the local economy, supporting about 4000 private sector jobs. The Long Island region has the highest parks attendance of the state. 40% of park revenue is generated by tourists, the US Opens in 2002 and 2009 brought in over $10MM to Long Island’s economy, in spite of the dismally rainy conditions in ’09.
With that, she began her pitch for continued investments in park infrastructure to keep those tourists coming. Times are tough, money is tight, but upgrades need to be done. There is an estimated $650MM backlog of deferred work overdue in the parks to keep them in shape. This year, the legislature has allocated $200MM towards that. Later today, she will attend a ribbon cutting at Brentwood State Park, where part of that $200MM will go to create state of the art professional quality soccer, baseball , and lacrosse fields, in an economically disadvantaged community. Disappointingly, the NYS parks system is not eligible for Federal Stimulus Funds, but in a creative partnership with the Department of Labor, the Parks department was able to obtain $3.3MM to start a Civilian Conservation Corps in the Long Island and Niagar! a regions. The first phase was to put 90 kids through a training program where they did basic maintenance projects throughout the regional parks. The second phase will take the stars of that phase, and move them into a more skilled trade learning program, having them work on more sophisticated tasks.
Despite these tough times, the Parks department was able to hold the line on the $8.00 per car entry fee for the parks, and the $56.00 Empire Passport is still a good bargain. In this time of staycations, park usage is going up.
The Q&A portion of the program was lively, with some advocates from the Kings Park community and allies of the Trump at Jones Beach project in attendance. One of the great things about LIMBA is the ability for local folks to talk to people of influence and hear their opinions and concerns, and in turn be heard.
Ms. Ash couldn’t say much about the Trump project due to the ongoing litigation, and it was clear from the audience questions that they were much in favor of the project.
A question about which parks paid their ways, was met with the response that the Golf Courses and Campgrounds are the revenue stars, supporting the rest of the system.
The discussion around Kings Park was summarized by her stance of embracing the local advocates and taking a long look at the issues, and finding the real costs of remediating the site. The first phase of the study is done, the second is due to complete in about 18 months.
On the question of raising revenue, the department is trying to find sponsorships for the Empire State Games, working with the “I love NY” people to market the parks more, and looking at creating public-private partnerships similar to the California Parks Foundation, and the Central Park Conservancy.
Yet another productive Friday morning at LIMBA, where regular folks get to meet movers and shakers that directly affect our lives..
Complete video of this meeting is available

Bruce Germano, LIPA- Smart Grid Initiatives
2009-09-18 00:00
Our speaker this morning was LIPA VP, Bruce Germano. Bruce opened his talk this morning by recounting his experiences with Smart Grid technology dating back to 2002. Back then, we were thinking Smart Grids, but there wasn’t a name for them. With time, new definitions emerged, of a power network that has intelligence built into it, with the ability to control pushed further out to the edge of the network. Currently, there are limitations in the power system that prevent that control being extended.
According to Bruce, a smart grid is a communications network overlaid on to the power network, giving customers the ability to decide the best time to use power based on price signaling. A Smart Grid helps bring down peak load demand. It enables a customer and a utility to understand and control demand on a real-time basis. In 2002 this was just a dream, but advances in technology are making it possible. Utilities are looking for ways to provide customer choice and one of these ways is to introduce a Smart Grid.
To facilitate that LIPA, in concert with Stony Brook University and SUNY-Farmingdale, is seeking stimulus funding to implement a Smart Grid technology pilot project. There are a lot of technology gaps to be filled, but if a go, the project has the following three goals:

Smart Grid Demonstration – Show that the technology to connect customer s to markets in real time is feasible, and allow them to control their demand according to price signals they receive.
Green Job Creation – The deployment Smart Grid technology will require specialized skills and custom assembly of hardware and software to build the sensor networks required and the software backend to communicate the information gathered and control signals sent.
Green Skill Training – To move beyond a pilot phase, the original lessons of the project have to be translated into repeatable steps. Developing the work force to implement Smart Grid technology on a wide scale will require educating a large number of subject matter experts that can grow the grid commercially.

The vehicle to achieve these goals is the building of a smart energy corridor along Route 110 from the Long Island Expressway, down to the southern border of Republic Airport. This area brings together a lot of partners and ties together many existing efforts. A diverse mix of customer types exists along the corridor, with commercial, industrial, residential, and municipal located there. SBU is looking into two areas, load modeling systems, and the communications security risks associated with remote control. SUNY-Farmingdale is bringing their exiting energy research labs, plus their investigations into sensor technology.
The technology gaps are being filled, but it is an evolutionary process and all the pieces are not in place yet. Many big players like IBM, GE and Hitron are aiming to compete in this space. Appliances manufacturers are integrating communications and control into consumer devices, allowing the owner to program the timer for the cheapest time to use electricity. The opportunity to evolve electric meters to support this exists, but there are no standards for Smart Grids and their devices.
The Department of Energy published 15 characteristics of a Smart Grid, and the National Institute of Standards is developing those specifications for devices and systems to interoperate. Stability of the system is paramount, as we don’t want the repeat of another 2003 blackout, which was caused by a cascading system failure of the grid’s control structures.
Bruce wrapped up by letting us know that the stimulus application was filed about two weeks ago, along with thousands of other applications, and is waiting for the federal government to get through the review process.
Opening the floor to questions, Ernie opened the session by asking if Smart Grid technology will eliminate the need for new power plants, and would Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles help our situation. Bruce responded by reminding us of Long Island’s insatiable need for electricity, and noting that although PHEV’s may help smooth out demand peaks, they increase total demand on the grid because they are getting their stored energy from the grid rather than burning fuel.
John Howell asked if every building by default be able to participate in the smart grid. Bruce projected that the meter connecting the business would be smart and able to participate, but it would be up to the building owner to install the controls necessary to implement variable price consumption strategies.
Pat Halpin of the Suffolk County Water Authority asked if there will be incentives for customers to interrupt their power and use off peak power. A discussion of the various ways pricing regimes could be constructed followed, with the net result being, we’ll see when we get there.
The ensuing discussion concluded yet another well spent Friday morning at LIMBA, where you get to meet a diverse set of leaders from across Long Island industries and organizations, and learn something valuable in an hour as you start the last day of the work week.
Todays recap was written by Craig Plunkett
Pro-Image Studios will tape our meetings and the Q&A that follows. That video will be available through streaming video on LIMBA’s website
Here is this week http://www.proimagegroupinc.com/limba/9-18-09

Ken Morelly, Pres LIFT
2009-09-11 00:00
This morning our speaker at LIMBA was Ken Morelly, President of Long Island Forum for Technology (LIFT). LIFT has been the agency on Long Island that has helped the small, and not so small technology companies in their pursuit of bringing their products and services to market. The services provided has has a remarkable record of being helpful.
This morning the emphasis was on the Homeland Security Center that LIFT has been in charge of organizing. The major players in this effort are Globecom, Siemens, and LIFT. The center is an elaborate array of comunications that provide information and coordination among the various entities that would be involved in major events such as a Katrina level huricane. FEMA, the US Coast Guard, The National Weather Service, the Suffolk and Nassau Offices of Emergency Management, and fire and police departments are all part of the mix.
The security of the unit is understandably robust with three levels of security being needed to enter the heart of the operations. But this is not just an emergency center that gears up only for the "big event". It is a working research center where the participating companies and government entities are constantly talking to each other and developing stratagies and products that compliment each others efforts.
The possibilities and opporetunities that are, and will be created by this effort are in some ways obvious. On the other hand, once we embark on ambitios plans there is a serendipity that brings us to new levels of curiosity and discovery.
Mr Morelly spent some time on discussing "green jobs". LIFT is putting efforts into developing these jobs and while all of the classifications of green jobs look a lot like the crafts we have known, they are now being applied to the green technologies. A welder or an electrician working on a solar array is now part of the green technology as much as the worker who designs and invents the the green apparatus.
On a less optimistic note we are seeinfg a shortage of engineers, and that shortage has a lot to do with the cost of living on Long Island. The wages on Long Island have in the past been higher than the rest of the nation. We are now seeing a convergence where Long Islanders earn salaries that are similar to other parts of the country while their cost of living is much higher.
To see entire meeting click here

Labor Day wekend NO MEETING
2009-09-04 00:00

Peter Maniscalco-Should LIPA buy Nat Grid generating assets?
2009-08-28 00:00
Members and Friends

Our speaker this morning was Peter Maniscalco. Peter has been an energy policy analyst for more than 30 years. This and his experience as a professor of environmental ethics has honed his sense of what can happen if the right questions are not asked.
The topic was; What questions should be asked when deciding on monumental changes in policy? LIPA is considering the purchase of the old LILCO plants that were later owned by Keyspan and are now owned by the British company National Grid.
Let me begin by saying that, when LIPA VP Bruce Germano was asked about the purchase of the plants at an HIA meeting he indicated that only the Barret plant was being considered for purchase at this time.
Having said that LIPA’s financial consultant Lazard is trying to determine the financial viability of buying all the plants. They are also are in the process of hiring a firm to determine the envirnmental liabilities. The environmental section will not be completed within the time frame LIPA set. Here is the question that situation raises. How can they determine financial aspects without knowing the cost of envirnmental liabilities? With asbestos issues, the cost cold be substantial.
The question was raised about the old gas manufacturing sites. The environmental liabilities on these sites are known although the costs for clean-up are probably not known. When the question was asked about those sites being included in any sale, we had the benefit of having National Grid’s Ed Carr in the room, and he assured us that none of those sites were on the same footprint of the electric generating plants, and therefore would not be included.
To our speaker, and to some of the people in our audience, there was a disturbing lack of transparency in the process, and the time frame was too compressed to make a meaningful evaluation of the benefits of a LIPA purchase. The fear expressed is that one day we will wake up and read about the completed deal in the papers, and it may not be a good deal for the ratepayers and taxpayers.
Here are a few more questions posed after the meeting in an email from Shelly Sackstein;
What did LIPA know a number of years ago that caused them to not exercise their previous options to purchase the Keyspan power plants?

If LIPA did not previously exercise their options to purchase those same power plants, what has Grid or Keyspan done in the intervening years to make those power more attractive for LIPA to now acquire them ?
If the previous LIPA decision was to not purchase the Keyspan power plants, why did LIPA vote to spend additional ratepayer money to hire, (once again with no RFP or bid process), financial consultants to once again evaluate the same transaction?

Peter Maniscalco came to this meeting with no preconceived notion that some nefarious plan was being hatched, but serious questions have yet to asked and answered. I was encouraged by the participation of so many diverse, and well informed individuals and organizations especially Action Long Island, Shelly Sackstein, LIA Energy Committe Chairman Harry Davitian, NYPIRG’s Todd Stebbins, and National Grid’s Ed Carr.

Hon. Jon Cooper, Suffolk County Legislator
2009-08-21 00:00
Members and Friends

Suffolk County legislator and Majority Leader Jon Cooper was our speaker at LIMBA this morning. In Jon’s introduction of himself he stressed that he was a small business owner and had the sensibilities of a person who understood business. He also has been motivated to serve in public office. It is a role he savors, and would like to continue. He has been in the legislature for 10 years, but will be term limited after 12 years. Will he seek higher office? He may think about it, but not for now.
Jon has been a champion of Business Improvement Districts (BID’s), and promoting doing business locally. Money spent locally has a multiplier effect of 4. In other words for each dollar spent in the community there will be 3 additional dollars realized by other businesses in the area.
Mr. Cooper spoke about the conflicts that leadership brings. He had learned that certain drugs and supplements using ephedrine were causing deaths. He proposed a ban on the sale of these products in Suffolk County. He learned that the two largest manufacturers of these substances were in located in Suffolk. At the same time he was the charged with improving the business climate in the committee he led in the legislature. He chose to ban the production.
Jon reminded us that he was an early supporter of Barack Obama for president. I was at the meeting where Jon announced his support. I told him I just rolled my eyes in disbelief, but he thought Obama could win, and he was right
When asked what he sees as the biggest issue facing Suffolk, he did not hesitate to say that the $120 million deficit is a huge problem and getting worse due to take backs by the state government adding another $14 million to the deficit.
On the other hand he sees the great opportunity on Long Island being green technology development. He subscribes to the vision set forth earlier by congressman Steve Israel. That vision would see Long Island as The go-to place for these new and still developing technologies.
Mr. Cooper lamented the recent loss of OSI Pharmeceuticals, and without going into any detail, stated that Long Island, politically dropped the ball on that one. He also indicated that the loss will probably preclude Long Island from being a leader in that field of science
Ernie Fazio

Hon. Judge Salvatore Alamia-Topic- Restorative Justice
2009-08-14 00:00
Members and Friends
We certainly took a departure from our usual programming this morning. Our speaker was district court judge Hon. Salvatore Alamia.
Judge Alamia is engaged in the area of “restorative justice”. He emphasized the crimes arising from drug use and crimes related to drugs. Bringing these people back into society is sometimes considered “coddling”. That was his term, but not his opinion.
Judge Alamia stressed that the need to reintegrate offenders was not only possible but also practical. Citing the cost and detrimental effects on the violator and society are enormous.
The better solution to “lock ’em up and get them out of here” is having people who have broken the law, to acknowledge their crime, serve the appropriate penalty and place them back in society. According to the judge, we already incarcerate more citizens than most other nations. The goal is to limit the number of required incarcerations.
He cited the councils that existed among the American Indians. They would place all the participants in a circle and that circle expressed an equality of the participants. The elders would discuss remedies to the bad behavior they were judging and how to re-integrate the offender. In a simple society this makes sense, but there is also an application for our own lives.
In modern society there are always multiple “victims”. The family of the offender suffers the embarrassment, and cost of legal defense. The neighbors feel less secure in their homes, and of course, there is the direct victim of a crime. The perpetrator of a crime is affected by his actions too, but he is a less sympathetic figure. Never the less, he has to be considered, if for no other reason than to prevent a repeat performance. In restorative justice these interested parties are assembled for the purpose of closure of the matter, with reasonable reassurance that the crime would not be repeated.
Ernie Fazio

Dr. Matthew C. Cordaro, Dean, Townsend Bus. Dowling College
2009-08-07 00:00
Matt Cordaro has been known to the audience at LIMBA for as long anybody who attends can remember. Dr. Cordaro has assumed many roles in his life, and as the case with many talented and well educated people he keeps getting asked to do more. After many years as a high level power utility executive he went into the acedemic arena, taking a position at the CW Post campus of LIU where he created The Center for Management Analysis.
Recently he embarked on a new role as Dean of the Townsend School of Business at Dowling College. Each leader brings to a job a vision of what can and should be done. This morning Matt shared his thoughts with the LIMBA audience
The school has specialty programs in business encompassing healthcare, corporate finance, construction management and other business specialties. These disciplines benefit by having practioners of those specialties teaching in those courses. According to Cordaro, that is not always the case at other schools, but it is at Dowling.
There are benefits of an intimate learning experience to students because they are comfortable in their environment. Dowling according to Matt provides that environment.
The school also has distance learning programs, and accelerated courses. There are discounted programs that are partially supported by the area corporations. The school is also financially advantageous to the students with the cost of education being very competitive.
The business school is planning a trading center where students can learn how Wall Street works. Matt will preside over that function, having created one at LIU. As far as exporing the contoversial, Dowling has been doing that over the years, Cordaro plans to continue in that tradition, especially as it pertains to his expertise in the energy generation and distribution field. He will continue to write, and comment on those issues, in conjunction with the corriculum.

Paul Victor, President NY & Atlantic RR
2009-07-31 00:00
Members and Friends
This morning our guest speaker was Paul Victor, president of NY & Atlantic Rail road. NY&A is the freight rail company that serves Long Island. Paul is a real railroad man having worked in various capacities in railroads across the country, as well as South America and Africa
Long Island is the "end of the line" for many of the nationwide fright lines that operate in the US, and NY&A facilitates the operations of all that come here.
The products that are carried best by rail are heavy loads such as rock, building materials and construction debris. But there are also a lot of shipments in consumables too. Beer is a big item and it is transported in from as far away as Mexico.
The railroad calls itself a "green industry" by virtue of the fact that so little fuel is used to move the materials it carries, while displacing thousands of trucks. Mr. Victor told us that fuel costs are one of their smallest expenses.
And speaking of expenses, the personnel needed to run the operation is incredibly small. Thirty nine people run the whole operation. The personnel are all cross-trained. The president himself must have thorough knowledge of the system including the ability to run a train as an engineer, and he will occasionally.
He explained the relationship that NY&L has with the LIRR. They must take a second position on the rails, giving priority to passenger train operations.
In the Q&A portion we discussed the limitations the freight had in terms of weight allowances and clearances. Some of these limits have been corrected since Mr. Victor’s predecessor spoke at LIMBA. Other items are still outstanding.
The proposed building of a tunnel into Brooklyn (Congressman Nadler’s concept) will serve the freight system well, but that is many years off. More immediate benefits will be realized by the refurbishing of the "float system" that was recently taken over by the NY Port Authority. PA of NY purchased the rail company that comes to the shoreline on the Jersey side. From there cars are floated to Brooklyn where they enter the established rail system that comes to Long Island
To have a fully functioning rail system the height requirements in all tunnels and bridges must be 22′. This will allow freight cars to flow seamlessly in out of the city and Long Island and complete a journey any where in the country without having to reload on smaller freight cars. Are we there yet? No, but we’ll keep you posted. Mr. Victor said he would be happy to return next year to give us an update.
This meeting was sponsored by Brian Dolan and HDR Engineering
Ernie Fazio

vacation week no meeting
2009-07-24 00:00

Panel Discussion on the Funding of Not For Profits
2009-07-17 00:00
Today we had a panel discussion that dealt with the challenges of the not-for-profit sector. The economy has hit almost every segnment of the buisiness community and the results have created a daunting situation for charitable organizations.
Participating in the discussion were Michael Cooney-United Way, Diane Amorosa-American Red Cross, Jovanna Little- Leslie Munzer Neurological Institute, Paul Pachter- Long Island Cares, and Michael Stoltz-Clubhouse of Suffolk.
Some of these charities depend on recurring grants from government, but local and state governments have been experiencing unprecedented revenue problems of their own. Some charities have endowments funded by the benefactor and others are funding themselves through the generousity of the general public through fund drives. All of them in fact depend on each of these sources in varying degrees.
The question posed this morning asked what are these various units doing to survive these challenging economic times. We know that all of these funding channels are not what they have been in the past. Even those charities that are blessed with substantial endowments are not seeing the returns they were receivcing in the past. Indeed some lost substantial sums of money which may never be recovered. With job losses, the individual donor is contributing less or not at all.
On top of this the need for most of these services rises dramatically with a faltering economy. Between 280,000 and 300,000 people on Long Island (about 10%) needing some degree of food assistance program it is clear we are doing something wrong.
The answers we got ran from the obvious to the more creative. In one case some staff was let go. Of course that further burdens the remaining staff at a time when there is great need. Most of the focus was on seeing where they could obtain services and products more economically, relying on volunteers where possible, and jetisoning less productive programs.
In the case of Long Island Cares they have partnered with a radio station that has a target demographic that ranges from 20 to 34 years old. At first glance that would seem to be counter-intuitive since we traditionally look to the established and economicly secure segment of the population, but their plan is to engage this part of the population and keep them in the fold as they grow and prosper themselves.
In the end the conversation led us to the way we are all very much squeezed by the high taxes of this balkanized Long Island. The school districts are killing our ability to pay for almost everything else, partly because teachers are highly paid, but more because schools are over administrated. The 127 school districts and the army of administrators that are employed are redundant and prohibitivly costly.
Another drain on our overall dollars are the Taj-Mahal firehouse that abound all over Long Island and they are costing us dearly. A more rational system would dictate a fire force that was designed for the kind of fires we usually need to fight. We have fire fighting equipment to fight fires in buildings we do not have on Long Island.
These charities, that we all recognize as needed, are scrambling for what scraps are left after the politically well connected entities gorge themselves on our tax dollars. Theese taxes are forcing people to leave for cheap places to live. One man told me he’s moving to Waco Texas because he can live nicely on his social security. I guess what he meant was he could afford to eat. To most of us think living nicely means living right here on Long Island, and yes, eating too.
Man! If we only had some leadership.
