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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ernie Fazio

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ernie Fazio

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

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

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

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

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

698

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

LIMBA Doing business with India -Pradeep Gupta
2012-06-15 00:00
Our speaker this morning, Pradeep Gupta, gave us an overview of the nature intricacies of doing business in India. Mr. Gupta is an accountant by profession but has built an expertise in American / Indian Trade.
India has been on an unprecdentent growth pattern, as have the other BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) countries. Each of these countries have various strengths and weaknesses. Mr. Gupta’s objectives included showing us the areas that are open to partnerships. India is the 4th largest economy in the world, of the $450 billion in imports 5.7% come from the United States. The implication here is that, that number could be considerably higher. On the other hand 12.6% of India’s exports are destined to the USA.
India is an attractive place to invest for several reasons. India has numerous dialects, but English is almost universal (less so in the rural areas). American brands are respected because we are considered innovators and that desirable trait is valued. The MADE IN AMERICA is a big plus. In the minds of the Indians, American made implies quality. Intellectual property is generally respected. Architectural and engineering are among the desirable services that are used by the Indians.
Here are the key sectors in the Indian economy;

Automotive- American brands are being built in country- they are also creating replacement parts.
Clean Technology- That would include wind and solar technology as well as alternate fuels among others.
Defense- This sector is protected and there may be limited opportunity
Education
Financial Services
Pharmaceuticals
Media and Entertainment- Including a big movie industry “Bollywood”
Retail & Services
Transport and Infrastructure – This sector includes India’s extensive rail system, probably the world’s largest system.

Americans should pay attention to the fact that the population is growing wealthier, and as wealth grows this large populace (1.2 billion people) will demand more and more consumer goods as this youthful nation develops. We could benefit from that upward shift.
Navigating- Local relationships and cultural knowledge is essential

Find local partners
Attend Trade Fairs or Road Shows
Set up Liaison Office or Branch Office

As resource information Mr. Gupta offered the following;

USA / India Chamber of Commerce http://www.usaindiachamber.org
US Embassy in India. US Commercial Service, Minister Counselor for Commercial Affairs
Indian Consulate Office, NYC http://www.indiacgny.org
Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) http://www.ficci.com
Export Import Bank of the United States http://www.exim.gov and http://export.gov/india
Story of India documentary www.pbs.org/thestoryofindia

We are pleased to present this interesting topic and will create more programs in this vein in the future
Ernie Fazio

Theresa Regnante- United Way
2012-06-22 00:00
Theresa Regnante is the Executive Director of the United Way of Long Island. Theresa was our speaker this morning. The United Way has a 48-year history on Long Island and while the mission remains the same the elements that need attention do vary. However the range of services has always been quite extensive.

The mission pays a lot of attention to programs that foster access to healthcare, providing financial information, family counseling, and education for children.

One of the items that concern the United Way in addition to providing immediate services is the preparation of younger people to avoid the trap of need in the first place. That means vocational training to obtain skills that are in demand and are fairly compensated for. While pondering this need the United Way decided that instead of creating their own training unit, why not partner with BOCES. BOCES has programs that have been developed over the years and the partnership works well.

United Way investments in the community are prioritized. Having limited resources means care must be taken in selecting programs. The entire budget for Long Island United Way is $18 million. Really not a lot of money when you consider the breadth and scope of the units demands. There are 38 people on staff and the net flowing to the programs is 88 cents of every dollar after paying staff, insurance, utilities, and all ancillary costs.

The agency has created other partnerships to deal with various problems. Project Warmth gets the support of National Grid and LIPA. National Grid will provide direct help as well advertising for the program in the bills. LIPA bills contain envelopes for contributions by the public to help support that program

We were reminded of the corporate sign-ups that in the past were directed at the regions largest employers. Grumman, NY Telephone LILCO were all big contributors through their very broad based employee enrollment plans. That still exists in many companies today, but some very large companies have shrunk or disappeared. Republic Aviation, and Fairchild, gone. Grumman is a shadow of its old size and these dramatic business changes has made funding needed for programs that much more difficult.

There is federal money that is dispersed through the United Way but the formulas for distributing those funds are convoluted and usually bear no semblance to need and logic. Areas that can certainly use the funds may not be getting it, while on the other hand an equally deserving group is. This is one of the problems that the United Way is hoping to make some progress on. This inequity is governed by the way an area is structured. Incorporated villages will do better than unincorporated areas.

JUly 4th Recess No Meeting
2012-06-29 00:00

JUly 4th Recess No Meeting
2012-07-06 00:00
Meeting will be held at the Holiday Inn 3845 Veterans Memorial Highway, Ronkonkoma hotel phone 631 585-9500 Room opens at 8AM Program begins 8:30 and adjourns at 9:30AM Member fee $15 non member fee $25 Register on-line https://limba.net/breakfastform.php or call 631 757-1698

Frank McKay National Leader of the Independence Party
2012-07-13 00:00
Our LIMBA speaker this morning was Frank McKay. Frank has a wealth of knowledge about politics, but he is far from one-dimensional. His varied experiences in music, communications and politics give him the ability to weave an interesting story. He is the national chairman of the Independence Party. The Independence Party is still small compared to the Democrats and Republicans, but it is the largest “third party” in the country and they are established in every state in the union. There influence is much larger than their physical size. Locally it is difficult to win an election in either party without the endorsement of the Independence Party. The party endorses Republicans and Democrats with no special loyalty to either one.
Frank did not create the party but he is credited with making it the force that it is. When questioned about the philosophy of the party, Frank told us that they are not at all involved with social issues. Gay marriage, abortion rights, and other social issues that a candidate may promote are not part of the litmus test that determines the support of a candidate. When they look at a prospective officeholder overall effectiveness is judged. The party has been criticized for not having the constricting viewpoints that other parties demand. In other words they have no catechism. He said some refer to them as the “Seinfeld Party”
In his interesting raconteur style McKay told of encounters with colorful political people he has had contact with. Among them was Mike Blumberg who he tried to lure into the last presidential race. Blumberg assured him that if he thought there was a real possibility that he was prepared to commit $2 billion to a nationwide race
Beyond politics, Frank’s enjoys communicating. He has a television interview show called “Turning Point” The programs are created in Out of The Box Studios in Bohemia and air an NBC affiliate and will soon go to a few NPR markets. The topics vary but politics and scientific discoveries are among the topics. The tapings avoid the news items of the day or local disasters in order to retain an “evergreen” nature. In other words a show produced today may have a long shelf life and can be shown in different parts of the country, and in different times of the year. For example you’ll hear no references to the snowstorm they fought getting into the studio. Recently we taped an interview with Maglev inventors Drs Gordon Danby, James Powell.
This was a particularly animated and informative meeting where the audience and the speaker remained and continued to chat for about a half hour.

No Meeting Summer Schedule
2012-07-20 00:00

LIMBA Randy Altschuler
2012-08-03 00:00
Our LIMBA speaker this morning was Randy Altchuler, the Republican congressional candidate for the 1st congressional district, a seat that is presently occupied by Tim Bishop.
Mr. Altchuler addressed the audience stating that job creation would be of paramount importance. One of the impediments to higher employment according to Mr. Altchuler was regulation. I pointed out to the speaker that there are some regulations that are beneficial to the public as protection. When asked about the Glass- Steagal Act he was not sure. (Glass Steagal Act separated banking and investment houses since the days of FDR) It was disassembled over the past three presidents. Its removal has been cited as one the causes of our recent financial debacle.
Mr. Altschuler told us that he could work in an independent bi-partisan way in congress. During the Q&A Mike Cooney asked if he signed the famous Grover Norquist tax pledge. He said he had. The follow-up from the same person then asked, “Where is your allegiance to Norquist or the Constitution? Randy said the pledge also reflects the wishes of the people he expects to represents.
Altschuler spoke about the Affordable Healthcare Act otherwise known as Obama Care. He stated that there were some desirable aspects of the legislation but he objected to the size and scope. He did not say he would try to repeal it. He left us with the impression he would look for some modifications, but was not specific.
The topic of size and scope began a new area of discussion. Most legislation is too large and generally incomprehensible. The audience was solidly with him on this point. We all know why omnibus bills are presented and that is to hide all sorts of “goodies” for one or more special interests.
Randy stated that infrastructure funding was essential and he would support it. It was pointed out to him that the Republicans in the house have not voted for infrastructure projects. I asked since the party was committed to making Barack Obama a one term president, how would that happen? Randy said ‘that’s a loaded question”. I agreed, it was a loaded question, but I wasn’t making it up, those were Mitch McConnell’s words. Altschuler insisted that he understood the issue well enough to know investments in transportation and other projects were essential.
Chris Garvey, a Ron Paul supporter, was in the room and asked if the candidate would join in abolishing the Federal Reserve. He stated that he would not support such an effort.
Victor Yannacone posed several items, one on taxing people such as hedge fund operators the same as most other people. Another was revising corporate taxes to encourage investment while discouraging debt, and still another to re-instate the penny tax on stock transactions that would discourage the mega-trading that has disrupted the stock market. (That tax if it did not discourage the same behavior would raise many billions of dollars.)
This audience was very active during the Q&A and it was clear that that they are not bashful about asking pointed question even if they were politely phrased.
Greenworld Marketing a company that promotes the use and installation in the most efficient compact and safe wind energy technology sponsored this meeting. Greenworld also owns technology for the building of high-speed ferries.
Thank You Gerry Fitzpatrick for your sponsorship

No Meeting Summer Schedule
2012-08-10 00:00

Michael Hervey -LIPA
2012-08-17 00:00
Mr. Michael Hervey, President of LIPA was our speaker this morning and he covered a lot of topics. He explained the considerations that LIPA was making when it came to the workforce that makes it all happen in the new contractor selection

But there were other options that LIPA had.

It could have become a true municipal power company
It could have continued with National Grid with a newly negotiated contract
It could select a new contractor

The issues that were involved with true municipal were concerns over the nature of the workforce and how that would be handled
As far as generation is concerned not much would change. LIPA would still have to buy the power from outside vendors.
They chose to select a new vender under what we could gather, was better financial terms. That vender turned out to be PSE&G (Public Service Power & Gas)

The transition is actually quite complex and much of the complexity is the workforce. Some of the workforce was dual purpose serving National Grid’s gas division and also the electric power division. None of the PSE&G people will be in the gas division. That will still be in the hands of National Grid. Then there is the issue of management PSE&G can absorb the union labor but the management will be theirs. It was not clear to us what would happen regarding the management employees.

Hervey talked about the “storm hardening” measures that have been taken. The system was upgraded to withstand winds of up to 130 MPH. There has been a considerable amount of new equipment to support that effort and Hervey claimed that LIPA’s readiness was credited with being the best overhead system in the state.

The renewable energy plan has been installing solar at train stations parking lots and other places. These systems are performing, according to LIPA’s Mike Deering, at about 30% higher than the projections when the plans were made. These installations are capable of recharging electric cars that are parked in the lots while introducing excess power into the grid. With the small number of electric cars presently, most of the power generated is going into the grid.

Another area where LIPA tells us they have been aggressive is energy conservation. The main benefit of conservation is the avoidance of building more capacity because more capacity means the commitment of resources for a long period.

There has been some relief in the cost of power. We have seen the cost of power rise considerably in the past 10 years, but now the there are more plants designed for gas, and gas has been at a low price. The lower generating costs are being seen in our bills. The long term prospect for having low cost for gas seems to be pretty good.
We do not benefit from the low cost of Hydro-power from Canada because we simply do not have an energy trunk that can handle the power we need. The Governor has been working out the obstacles to moving that power to lower New York State and that would include Long Island.

Ken Daly Pres National Grid NY
2012-08-24 00:00
Our speaker this morning was Ken Daly, President of National Grid NY; this was a good follow-up to our last week’s speaker from LIPA. The major players in electric energy are in flux, and the audience was very interested in what we could expect.

Mr. Daly began by stressing that the corporation considers safety to be an important aspect of their business. Hurricanes and winter related failures are of primary importance. Now that National Grid no longer has the LIPA distribution contract, but it will still generate 2/3 of the electric power. And they will still be supplying gas just as they did in the past.
PSE&G will be LIPA’s contractor. The good news is that the workforce will remain the same.

National Grid will continue to build out the gas supply distribution system. According to Ken it is a slow and costly process, but there are plans to serve a lot more people. After these last two weeks presentations we can appreciate some of the complex issues that these entities are dealing with.
National Grid is building a gas supply line that will cross the water coming from Brooklyn to the Rockaways near the Marine Parkway Bridge. It will travel down the Rockaway peninsula and emerge in Nassau County. This will be an additional source of natural gas for Long Island.

Keeping rates low requires a concerted effort to keep company operations efficient. In addition they are working on efficiencies that are on the customer side. He also noted that the gas itself has never been less costly as it is presently. That may fluctuate a little, but Daly thinks the long-term prospects of low price gas are excellent. He based that prediction on the fact that we are producing a lot of gas at the wellhead and there appears to be an enormous amount of gas in the ground. According to Daly a home gas conversions from oil reduces pollutants that are equivalent to removing 45 cars from the road.

Ken then spoke about the many community involvements that National Grid addresses. The Girl Scouts and United Way had representatives in the room and both of them praised National Grid for the assistance they provide. National Grid’s school speaker program encourages students to pursue STEM. This acronym stands for Science Technology, Engineering and Math. This education formula leads to well paying and interesting jobs, and industry needs these people. Encouraging students in this direction is good for the Long Island region and it has long-term benefits to business. In other words we all win.
The Cinderella Project was first developed by the Brooklyn Union Gas Company National Grid’s predecessor in 1966. That community initiative revitalizes areas that need to be rehabilitated. The modern Cinderella program is a more focused on green technologies when executing Cinderella projects
Q&A

It was pointed out that methane gas (natural gas) has a higher potential for greenhouse effect than CO2. How good is leak prevention and detection? Daly said the new distribution system components are very effective at providing system integrity.

Another question was on repowering old plants. Daly said that interim work has made the old generating units measurably cleaner.

Labor Day Weekend NO MEETING
2012-08-31 00:00
No meetings are scheduled on holiday weekends

LIMBA speaker- Riverhead Supervisor Sean Walter
2012-09-07 00:00
Our speaker this morning was Riverhead Supervisor Sean Walter
Today we were brought up to date on the Riverhead project known as “EPCAL” http://www.townofriverheadny.gov/files/documents/Epcal.OFB.home.pdf
This Navel Weapons Reserve Plant had been leased to Grumman. It was turned over by the Navy to the Town of Riverhead at no cost when the Grumman Company no longer needed to test planes there. The property grant was supposed to create jobs to replace those jobs lost when defense collapsed.
According to Walter “the potential is a billion dollars, if it’s a dollar.” Walter thinks the sale of the property to Jan Burman for $17 million was a mistake. Since then numerous proposals have been made, and some of them bordered on ludicrous, including an indoor ski mountain. Yes, I did say ski mountain. There are probably worse ideas, but I’m not yet insane enough to imagine them.
The property suffers from the need of multiple layers of approvals to get anything done. Approvals from the Town, County, and I believe the state. A similar property in Massachusetts was offered-up to local jurisdiction. These obstacles were overcome when various interested parties cooperated.
In Riverhead there are people who are working on introducing an overall plan and making changes in zoning to facilitate the development of this valuable place.
When municipalities have complex problems and many conflicting interests the remedy in the past has been to create an “authority.” However a good idea that may be, the term authority has a negative ring to it. Instead Senator Lavalle and the town officials are trying to create legislation that makes it more like the structure of the Pine Barrens. Here are some features they have to work with.
Air Strip
The plan at this time is quite comprehensive and the property has some very assets including an airstrip that will be preserved and used by aviation related businesses. The idea of moving airfreight at EPCAL has been roundly rejected years ago. And use as a general aviation airport will not happen either
Rail Link
There is a rail link into the property and with our more recent enthusiasm for rail freight; this becomes a very valuable feature. However it is not being considered as a secondary rail trans-load center as was built in Yaphank. The perceived value is a conduit for local business.
Maglev Test Track
The inventors of the Maglev train have created a system that makes the Maglev compatible with conventional rail. There is a TIGER grant filed with the federal government. TIGER grants need an agreeable municipal partner to be funded and Riverhead has been on board for some time. The State of New York is considering lending support as well. The track is too short, (2 miles) to demonstrate Maglev speed but what will be demonstrated is the ability to lift heavy loads and be more stable than any rail technology devised so far. Riverhead and the state do not need to come up with money they merely need to declare the idea as being useful to that municipality.
Ernie Fazio

Ed Romaine-GOP Candidate Brookhaven Supv
2012-09-14 00:00
Our speaker this morning was Ed Romaine. Mr. Romaine has been in county government as a legislator, a 5 times elected County Clerk, and in recent years he returned to the legislature.

With the vacancy created when Brookhaven Town Supervisor resigned to lead Accelerate Long Island, The GOP asked Mr. Romaine to run for the position, and Ed accepted.

The funding of government services was addressed by Romaine. The practice of one-time fixes such as selling off assets has no sustainability. The real sacrifices that must be made are difficult but needed.

When Mr. Lesko made his budget he made substantial cuts on items that he called "non-essential." Romaine disagrees with some of those service cuts that Lesko termed non-essential.

Looking at the revenue side there are landfill fees and mortgage taxes. Romaine wants to explore the possibility of using the methane gasses produced by the landfill. He is very much in favor of alternative energy produced by wind and solar and this could be part of that mix of energy production.

"It is difficult to tie together a region that is so spread out with public transportation" Brookhaven is physically the largest county in the country, and the population is the second largest. That statement brought us to the topic of The Ronkonkoma Hub. By concentrating residential, business and industrial components in close proximity to each other, it is easier to serve that community with transportation, power, and sewers.

As far as sewers are concerned there has been much trepidation by the county in building sewers due to the Southwest Sewer District scandal of the 70’s. Today where there are sewers they are isolated from each other and many by now are old and failing. Mr. Romaine thinks we should recreate a large-scale sewer district under a single management team. This way efficiency of scale can be achieved and quality standards can be applied.

There are several goals that Romaine has in mind and they range from rail infrastructure to more emphasis on vocational training, such as that provided by BOCES

Business can be given incentives by tax abatements, IDA loans, and allowing industrial density, and Romaine said he would bring those incentives about.

During the Q&A portion I asked Dr. Matt Cordaro to comment on the experience he had as the president of Nashville Electric Nashville where they consolidated several layers of government into one more efficient body. According to Cordaro approvals for major work was facilitated by this structure of government

Ernie Fazio

Paul Pontieri, Mayor of Patchogue
2012-09-21 00:00
Our speaker was Mayor Paul Pontieri of Patchogue

“I’m a mayor that likes to say yes, when people approach me with ideas to develop the assets of the village.” That was the essence of this morning’s talk by Mayor Paul Pontieri of Patchogue. By being open to new ideas there has been much development in the village.

Patchogue is an old village with many business establishments dating back to the turn of the last century. The changing times left Patchogue with old derelict hotels when the railroad was extended east. There was a large textile mill on the west end of town that was abandoned years ago and was an eyesore. When Pontieri began his first term the vacancy rate of the retail establishments were about 35%. There was very little activity on the street.

Patchogue needed a sense of community, a place where people want to be for entertainment, dining and shopping.

What was needed according to the mayor was the rebuilding of a community. An old vaudeville theater in the heart of town had been used as a movie theater and was in poor condition. A suggestion to knock it down was rejected, and instead it was fully restored into a state of the art theater for live performances. The theater is booked for shows about 200 nights per year and is profitable.

Fortunately the village had previously built a sewer system that was geared to handle 800,000 gallons per day. A capacity that allowed new structures and restoration of the village. The village still has a lot of excess capacity.

By using funds that were made available through congressman Tim Bishop( about $1.5 million) and the then County executive Steve Levy (who happened to be in the room) the village moved forward on many fronts. Residential housing, retail space, the theater, were all part of the grand vision that is now Patchogue. Rental dwellings are in short supply on Long Island, and affordable rental property for residential use is essential for the housing of a young population. Now 50% of the housing in Patchogue is rental. I believe it is about 17% for the rest of Long Island. Paul told us that Suffolk County had about $15 million for use in the downtown areas. Patchogue got about half of it. Levy volunteered “ He got it because he asked.” Another contibution for lighting came from Caithness Power, about $½ million.

Density is not a problem, it’s an asset. Density gives a village a pulse, but it must be well planned and have the infrastructure to support it.
When asked about the school taxes and the objections raised by school boards he told us that the added value gave the village the needed tax money to address the increased needs for services.

During the Q&A someone asked what advice he would give to other mayors, Pontieri said spend the money quickly before it goes away and take a lot of pictures for the press with the person who helped you get it.

David Calone “LI venture capitalist and Suff Cnty Plann Chr"
2012-09-28 00:00
David Calone was our speaker this morning. Mr Calone has had extensive exposure on the workings of LIPA. He is also the chairman of the Suffolk Planning Commission. Today he was talking about infrastructure, energy and also talking about venture capital

He began by citing the cost of doing business on Long Island in terms of electric power and stated the power plants were grossly over assessed. Under the new contract with PSE&G there may be repowering of old plants. The way this would be done is that entirely new modern generating facilities would be built next to antiquated plants on locations that were already approved for power plants. Upon completion of the new plants, the old ones could be dismantled. Whatever we do new power sources must be built including wind generators and solar.

He spoke of a 10 town agreement on solar. Getting that done was like herding cats.
He advocates for a professional certification process that is uniform throughout the bi-county area and can be completed on-line. This would help business expedite viable plans.

Sewers are another hot topic with Calone and to build out the parts of Suffolk that can be built out practically. Calone suggests that a Tax Increment Finance (TIF) could be the vehicle to accomplish that. A TIF would create a tax that would provide for the building of sewers and the revenues from the new business and residents that they would accommodate would pay for it. Clustering of business and residential would create efficiencies and preserve open space.

Innovation and enterprise zones were discussed and Calone cited Boise Idaho as a place where venture capital flourishes. The reason that place attracts venture capital money is because there are many like minded people and they tend to be more adventures. That is to say- less risk averse. The mentality is that there will be failures, but there will be home runs as well.

We must create the environment. David used the term “economic gardening” helping established business flesh-out their plans for growth. “no worker left behind’ was another term I picked up this morning.

Long Island certainly has the wealth, what we lack is the imagination and the culture that creates the symbiosis that is required to marry people of ideas with those that have the means to invest.

Calone seems intend in changing that culture.

LIMBA Helena Williams LIRR Pres- Sponsored by GPI
2012-10-05 00:00
Long Island Rail Road president, Helena Williams was our speaker this morning. Ms Williams comes to report on railroad issues almost every year. The LIRR is a very large commuter rail system and there is usually something to report.

We began today with the second track from Farmingdale to Ronkonkoma. The preliminary plans have been completed and build out has begun. This is an important link that will improve service and is expected increase ridership. Fortunately when the electrical system was originally laid in the ground it was built robust enough to handle the additional service. Now they merely tap into what is currently there.

Ms. Williams said that the better service would probably include a Bus Rapid Transit link connecting Farmingdale station to Huntington.

East Side Access is several years away, but there is a serious commitment to completing that link. That work is very complicated inasmuch as three working rail systems have to operate while the work is being done. Construction on the Queens side has to work with soft dirt. This requires special equipment and the work is dangerous. Drilling through granite in the bowels of Manhattan is actually easier and safer because the granite is self-supporting. I believe the new goal is 2019 completion.

The topic then turned to Penn Station. Helena brought a couple of pictures of the original station before real estate interests decided destroy it and build Madison Square Garden. The original structure was magnificent. (Fortunately Jackie Onassis was around to save Grand Central Station from the same fate).

Ms. Williams wants to restore some of the greatness that was the original structure. I asked if that was even possible, and Williams said that there are ways of making the station more spacious and having access to daylight streaming into the station. The task of doing that would be large and expensive. In the meantime there are ways of making the station more user friendly. Signage for ease of navigating the station is among the small interim changes that could be made. Among the final thoughts on Penn Station was that this newly renovated station could be the hub of a much greater development effort.

Lastly we discussed train safety and the use of modern signal systems. Positive Train Control otherwise referred to as PTC. PTC is a very effective train safety system. It is also very expensive. This self-monitoring system will override the human operator if he fails to execute an avoidance maneuver. Over time it will be installed.

LIMBA Prog CHANGE Assenblyman Dean Murray
2012-10-12 00:00
Our speaker this morning was Assemblyman Dean Murray from the 3rd district. Mr. Murray led off with the governor’s initiative known as "NY Youth Works" program. The program is designed to help create jobs for young people that are lacking saleable skills. Employing tools such as BOCES and training available through industry the goal is to make more productive lives for this segment of the population.

School districts in the past provided ample funds to train vocational skills, but as their budgets tightened up they reduced the funding that they provided for training students. BOCES gets most or, perhaps all, of their funds from the school districts that they serve. If that money doesn’t come in the entire system is threatened.

This training would be a formidable task in the best of times, but with diminished resources it is infinitely harder. "You can’t abruptly change the course of young people’s lives," stated assemblyman Murray, but that is the job that needs to be done.

Unfunded mandates, for schools and localities were also discussed. Murray’s argument is that, while well intended, the mandates should be created and paid for at the level of government that will implement them. Ideally a school district can create a mandate they will decide on, and pay for.

In the discussion that ensued after Dean finished his opening remarks the audience had a number of observations and suggestions that were helpful. Representatives of the Longwood school board and Dean Lucera from BOCES suggested a public private partnership. Lucera spoke of a two page article in Newsday that delved into the training that was available through BOCES and as a result businesses contacted BOCES to help them with the training they were looking to implement. That influx of inquiries was temporary, and chances are if there was sustained information about programs the demand for BOCES services would remain high.

Why not create a section of the newspapers that listed skills where manufacturers and service companies would be willing to participate. Advertisers could possibly support that resource. LIMBA can create a hyperlink to BOCES training programs.

The consensus in the room was that manufacturing companies are the underpinning of the economy, and the training of skilled crafts people is essential to a vibrant manufacturing region. It is true that Long Island has a very diversified economy, but manufacturing is still important. Upstate that case is even more compelling.

Another topic was the politics of change. Murray was complementary of governor Cuomo and his ability to motivate lawmakers to cooperate. The bigger problem politically was not so much between democrats and republican, but difference in regions of the state. Each region has its own needs and they are often in opposition to each other.

LIMBA meeting Congressman Bishop, Sponsor-LICA
2012-10-19 00:00
Congressman Tim Bishop was our speaker this morning. Mr. Bishop had asked me to give him input on what we should emphasize. Infrastructure was my reply. Our sponsor for the meeting was Long Island Contractors Association (LICA). These LICA members are deeply impacted by the fact that so little is getting done.
The Congressman proceeded to give an example of the ancillary effects of building infrastructure. His example was a roadway project that lent itself to development. In Middle Island. After the completion a business complex was approved that resulted in 350 new jobs that would not have been built otherwise.
Tim reminded us of the different world we live in today. “Back in the 70’s the federal government was in for 68% of the cost. The balance was paid by local and state.” Today, of course, that money availability does not exist. There had been in excess of $6 billion in federal funds for building local infrastructure, and that was reduced to $650 million. That is about a 90% reduction. Bishop has a bill that will restore some of the money to the level $2.9 billion. That money will go to clean water resources. That trust fund will need a funding source, perhaps similar to the highway trust fund where new money is constantly refreshed.
Waste water limitations are inhibiting growth on Long Island. Bishop recited a number of locales that cannot build because the sewers in place cannot handle the demand, Southampton being one of them.
We brought up the possibility of public/private partnerships. That seems to be the route that much of the world is traveling to achieve infrastructure needs. I pointed out that the transcontinental railroad was built under this concept. In that case the federal government owned much of the land that was deeded to the rail companies. This land that had little value at the time because transportation that could serve the people was very limited. On one hand you might say that this was one helluva gift to private industry, but it gave us the transportation links that caused this nation to prosper.
The congressman than spoke of education and the continued funding of our important educational and research institutions. The SUNY system on Long Island provides an astounding 35,000 jobs. These are jobs that bring families a good living. The second biggest employer is Brookhaven National Labs. Again high end, high value jobs. Education and research that these institutions bring to Long Island are the tools that make a better future possible. Perhaps it would be better for all of us if industry was a much bigger part of the equation, but this is the economy that we have and it serves far more than the local Long Island region. Assets that we have improve the job knowledge and science that serves the state and the country.
Marc Herbst, our sponsor this morning, gave us some sobering stats on job losses in the construction industry that he represents. Ninety five hundred construction jobs lost in the past year. The job loss multiplier is three times that amount.
During the Q&A BOCES board member Dan Tomeshevsky told us that the funds for vocational training are drying up. He stated that this segment of the population is very important since every student is not motivated toward college, and yet we need these skilled workers.
St Joseph’s College professor Al Vitters suggested that there is possibly a student loan bubble looming. The congressman added that this problem is being increased by the predatory nature of some for profit colleges that are setting up “store front” operations right outside military installations. I suggested we spend little military funds for guidance counseling before we discharge our soldiers. Bishop agreed, that would be money well spent.
This session covered a lot of issues and concerns. We got the message that there is a vast difference between the idea that we are spending too much and whether we are investing enough to seed the future.
