Limba

LI MacArthur Airport Commisionor Robert Scheafer
2013-01-11 00:00 (America/New_York)
Mr. Robert Schaefer is the recently appointed commissioner of the LI MacArther Airport and he was our guest speaker thus morning at LIMBA. Bob Schaefer has been deputy commissioner for several years before assuming his present title. His airport management experience goes back to the twenty five years he spent with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

He began by telling us that the airport has been losing the volume of traffic that it had in earlier years. The decline has been going on for some time and Bob gave us some insights on measures that could improve the situation.

The airport needs demand to increase in order to attract airline service, and carriers need to have confidence in the fact that there will be demand if they elect to operate out of LIMA. It’s a chicken and egg situation.

Schaefer is approaching the airlines in a way that is a little different. Instead of “we have the customers who want to fly from this airport” to “we have the customers, but we are also a desirable destination.” Among the regional attractions are the East End vineyards. The weekend entertainment at these places continues throughout the year. The aquarium, the business opportunities and beaches are all good reasons people might consider flying to Long Island. He pointed out that Long Island has a fairly robust film industry and many enticing venues for people who make films, but the films that have been made here offer visitors a chance to see the villages, homes and public buildings that have been featured in films.

Signs and murals promoting valuable asset that we have on Long Island can be displayed in the airport. The science researchers that come to our universities and places like Cold Spring Harbor Labs, and Brookhaven Labs should be informed that while they have come to Long Island to embark on serious projects, there are reasons to come back later with their families to enjoy what we have here.

Schaefer suggested that we have areas in the terminal area that would be attractive to children. There are now a few events in place that tends to draw people into the airport such as the “returning heroes” notices. When an injured military person is coming into the airport a notice goes out to the community to have a welcome home for that person. That can be very touching and has the effect of the airport being perceived as being part of the community, while doing that soldier a lot of good.

The commissioner also wants to create an aviation display of the essential parts of an aircraft, perhaps a wing detail or a cut-away engine.

Commercials are being made on and around the airport campus. This creates revenue for the airport.

He wants to create a Viet Nam commemorative station in the terminal, something that will honor those previously forgotten soldiers.

During the Q&A portion of the meeting the audience offered more ideas. Including live entertainment from time to time.

The ultimate goal is to increase awareness of Long Island to people who will come into the area, and awareness of our own residence of this very functional facility that is available. LIMBA once embarked on a “Use it or lose it” campaign. That might work again.

There is much to be done to achieve the goal of attracting airlines and attracting local customers and there were many ideas that were discussed. I only touched upon some of them. Commissioner Schaefer appears to be a man who is open to new ideas.

LIMBA-BOCES in Oakdale
2013-01-18 00:00
Today we were hosted by Eastern Suffolk BOCES at their Edward J. Miliken Training Center in Oakdale. The program emphasized the importance of career training. There are skills that are being taught at these various training centers that prepare for fields of work that do not always lead to college.
The purpose of this meeting was to showcase the skills that are available to industry and the benefits to the community in general in terms of developing a workforce. The most important objective is to satisfy the needs of an important segment of our population.

The perception that these workers are less important than the populations that enter college was addressed. These skills that this society needs are also very often good paying jobs. These occupations in auto mechanics, carpentry, electrical installation, and electronics gave earlier generations pride in the work that they did. They are jobs that allowed a family to educate their children, take vacations and live in adequate housing.

In addition to building skills that create a viable income stream, these occupations sometimes allow a student to pursue college degrees in engineering and science that was first introduced to them as talented craftspeople.

There should be recognition that to be a good mechanic you need to have an appreciation for the engineering that created the machine you are now fixing. In order to build a house you need to understand mathematics. The architect that designed the house will stymie the craftsman that is attempting to bring that project to reality, if there is a mistake. Competent carpenters are able to understand the strength of materials and structural limitations of a plan. That craftsman is often the difference between a safely competed project and a disaster.
Food preparation is among the skills that are taught at BOCES. An elaborate breakfast was prepared by the students at the Miliken facility. The food that was prepared was all made from scratch and the results were excellent.

Ed Romaine Brookhaven Supvr- Sponsored by Brookhaven Rail
2013-01-25 00:00
"This has been the longest recession in history." That is the sentence that our speaker, Ed Romaine began his formal remarks. Mr. Romaine won a recent election for Town Supervisor of Brookhaven. He will have to run again in one year
As a result of the recession there has been a cut-back of town personnel, and that has created other problems. Ed cited the fact that there was no one on staff that had the legal capabilities to pay the bills, not even the supervisor himself. He went into a little detail on how the problem was resolved. I believe the point was that you cannot cut costs in a willy-nilly fashion.
Romaine stated that town had too much retail and not enough manufacturing and that unbalance is not sustainable. He noted a few examples that could be opportunities such as the abandoned Kmart location in Middle Island, and the UA Theater. These properties can be converted to higher uses and those places need to be examined.
Brookhaven is a councilmatic town. Each councilman defends his local turf rather than taking the overall benefit of the entire town to influence policy. This political structure is an impediment to good planning and governing.
Among the ideas that the supervisor discussed was the Ronkonkoma Hub. The mix of residential and commercial would be transit-centric and attractive to people who work in New York City. The tax revenue created would benefit Brookhaven and Islip.
Years ago when the airport was expanding Romaine and LIMBA advocated vigorously for the building of the new terminal adjacent to the Long island railroad. Having lost that direct link to the rail system he is now advocating the building of a light rail link from Ronkonkoma station to the terminal. He even suggested that a maglev system could be built with the idea of demonstrating the viability of the technology.
The supervisor then went on to discuss the landfill. That landfill is now a regional land fill having all of the others closed. There is a need for us to consider new technology in handling waste. Ed suggested that system called single stream recycling be implemented. That merely means that the homeowner is the one responsible for sorting the garbage. He claims that there would be an efficiency to be had by doing so.
The town has had eight years of unbalanced budgets that were supported by a large surplus. That surplus is now below the legal limits of the statute that created it. Romaine now has the daunting task of working within the limits of the revues that the town is able to raise through taxes. To make matters worse that tax base has not been growing while the needs of the town have. He has already taken steps that will abandon the short term, interest only, debt that Romaine refers to as "paycheck loans" and resort to long term debt that costs a little more because interest and principal must be paid. This has resulted in a superior bond rating, AAA.
During the lively Q&A many of the issues were explored further.
Ernie Fazio

LIMBA & LIFT Goes To Broadway in Northport
2013-01-30 00:00
The John Engeman Theater is showing "Wait Until Dark" in January. LIMBA has secured a number of tickets and we hope you can be there to enjoy, h a high quality theater exprience LIMBA and LIFT will be offering tickets to their friends and memberships. We have a limited number of tickets so I suggest you register early
We are planning a networking hour in the lobby with light fare for the event starting at 6PM- Sponsor this event
The John Engemann Theater is located at 250 Main Street Northport, NY 11768
(631) 261-2900

Dr John King Commissioner NY State Education
2013-01-31 00:00
Dr. John King is the New York State Commissioner of education and president of the University of the State of New York. We made a request that he appear at LIMBA and he was with us Thursday morning.

Dr. King began by telling us that many students are deficient in basic skills when they leave high school. He stated that only 33.5% of students are being adequately educated. Raising that result to 34.5% would be a boon to the society. We could raise the economic output by a trillion dollars if we improve our education to the same level as Canada’s.

The education/income gap in our country is presently large and is growing worse. This gap is not limited recognized challenged communities. That gap can be narrowed by having more people trained in good craft jobs and career paths such as medical technicians Dr. King addressed our questions about technical education, but he went further. He lamented the fact that reading skills are not geared to reading technical material. Our schools emphasize fiction reading assignments. He has no quarrel with that, but thinks that the ability to read non-fiction material such as a service manual can be more difficult.

Writing skills are important as well. All occupations are better served by practitioners that can accurately describe the workings of the technology they are engaged in.

Mathematics are also important to the mechanical skills, Carpenters, machinists, automobile mechanics are among the trades that rely heavily on the understanding of mathematics. That knowledge is well understood by masters in all of the crafts. Mastering the skills of math, writing, and reading, elevates the status, as well as the income of the practitioner.

LIMBA has been a supporter of BOCES and their efforts to train students in skilled crafts. That is why we invited the commissioner. We asked him to speak on that topic specifically. He accepted our invitation and we took the opportunity to ask many questions on technical training

Scott Bronson - Next Generation High Tech Workforce Force
2013-02-08 00:00
The weather threat had a serious effect on our attendance so we had a very truncated meeting.
Scott Bronson, BNL Manager of K-12 Educational Programs, Spoke to a very small group at the LIMBA meeting today. He gave an overview of the programs at Brookhaven National laboratories and how they are working with educators on every level as well as other research giants such as Cold Spring Harbor Labs, and Stony Brook University.
We have very valuable assets on Long Island that are working together and these assets will create a better future. Mr. Bronson has a very encouraging message.
This recap is short because we have asked Scott to come back on March 1 to make a complete presentation.
Ernie Fazio

NO Meeting Presidents Day Weekend
2013-02-15 00:00

Steve Levy Consolidation of government agencies,
2013-02-22 00:00
Our speaker this morning was former County Executive Steve Levy, and now the Director of “Center for Cost Effective Government”

Steve Levy has created a group that endeavors to streamline government. As most of us already know there are myriad districts controlling schools, fire districts, library districts, and various other entities that are squandering our regional wealth due to duplication of efforts and other inefficiencies.

Political people have shown themselves to be unwilling and/or unable to attack theses resource draining duplications of effort. To overcome some of that political impotence they have mounted a campaign to have certain items put on the ballot. Under the terms of that initiative 10% of the electorate can petition for a ballot resolution. That resolution can now be addressed in a general election. This is a substantial win, but does not quite get us “home.”

Mr. Levy spoke about the repeal of the MTA tax that began its life at LIMBA when Bill Schoolman brought that item to our attention (you are still paying that tax while it is being appealed). Winning that round with the help of the law firm he is presently affiliated with, Levy is encouraged that much more can be accomplished. He gave an egregious example of the Gordon Heights fire district that was costing about $2,000/year per household. There has been some progress on consolidating that district to a neighboring district. The group did that by fielding its own candidates in the fire district. That board is now charged with voting for consolidation.

Levy went on to discuss the out of control public pensions, and cited the various problems that defy cost containment

1. Allowing overtime to effect final payments in the last few years of a working career, making it possible in some cases to have an annual retirement greater than the base pay.

2. Step increases that allow for annual raises despite the fact that a union contract has expired. This creates a situation where the union has no incentive to negotiate.

3. Arbitration – This provision in the law comes into play when the unions and management cannot come to an agreement. The arbitrators simply give more than an adjacent police department or school district or whatever the issue is. The arbitrators don’t have any skin in the game so they do what is easy.

4. Disability fraud. With disability you receive 75% of your salary, and they are finding numerous cases of already retired workers are retroactively claiming disability so they can get a higher payout.

Reserves make up the difference when a government body runs out of money. The problem becomes acute when those reserves run out. We are at that juncture.

During the Q&A possible solutions were discussed. Legally some things will be extremely difficult to change. Others remedies could be implemented with leaders with political will. Levy warned that we should be leery of the feel-good remedies that kick in 20 years down the road. “We need changes that will make a difference next year.” This recap hardly scratches the surface. There is so much more to discuss.

Mr. Levy is holding a symposium on these and other topics at Dowling in the Conservatory next Wednesday at 1PM. This meeting invitation was extended to everyone in the room. All who would like to attend must register.

Phone: (631) 877-0940

or email Info@CenterforCostEffectiveGovernment.org

Ernie Fazio

BNL's Scott Bronson "Next Gen High Tech Workforce force"
2013-03-01 00:00
Our speaker this morning was Ken White from Brookhaven National Labs. Ken is in charge of a unit that works with educational institutions that are outside of the lab. There are programs in place that encourages students to gear their learning to the sciences. We have been hearing a lot about the STEM programs. The acronym stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. The number of jobs that are available to members of the workforce without those essential skills is very limited. There are four times more workers than jobs. On the other hand those people in the workforce that have those skills are in demand. The idea is to better match the workers skill sets to the jobs that are available.

Mr. White began his talk emphasizing his own basic understanding of technology through the efforts working with his father. His father was a general contractor in Vermont and routinely engineered the jobs he was working on. That experience propelled our speaker to get an education that would further his engineering knowledge. He reasons that putting our young people in an environment that demonstrates the possibilities made available through science and engineering we can direct a lot of youngster to high paying and rewarding careers.

The fields of science that have been explored at BNL over the years have ranged from nuclear science to medical technology. Energy production, transmission, and storage are all very much in the news and currently being researched at BNL. Nano science is being advanced at BNL. The ability to build machines that ultra small has many applications in just about every field of endeavor. High school students are being exposed to all these sciences.

The National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS) that is nearing completion is a significant upgrade from the old light source facility. This unit is the largest of its kind in the world, and 10,000 times more powerful than the existing technology. NSLS promises to provide a leap in the research being done at BNL. It is capable of analyzing viruses and materials at the molecular level. Having that ability is key to new medical knowledge and new stronger lighter materials, and myriad other applications. The research equipment at the lab is available to scientists around the world free of charge as long as they can come up with a written research project that has been approved. The STEM students have the same availability to the facilities as if they were journeyman scientists.

BOCES is an educational unit that is helping fill some of those positions and they are working closely with Ken and BNL. They were represented in the room today. As long as we continue to fund forward-looking educational opportunities such as these examples, the future will be bright.

David Wolkoff- Heartland Development
2013-03-08 00:00
Friday morning we had developer David Wolkoff speak at LIMBA. Mr. Wolkoff’s family has been planning an enormous development that is essentially a new village. The plan was conceived over 12 years and the SEQRA process has been tedious, along with some opposition to the effort. David began by stating that the Long Island region is dying. He pointed out that we are losing our young people and the trend does not bode well.
Heartland is the name of the development and it encompasses 400 acres. The plan is to have 9,000 rental units of which 10% will be affordable housing. These will be one bedroom apartments. However larger apartments can be configured by combining two or even three units. There will be commercial space and lastly there will be retail space. The idea is to have a walkable community with much of the needs of the residents being met within the confines of the area. This will be a place where many people who work there will also live there and shop there. The plan calls for some buildings being 13 stories. That provision is acceptable in the amended code. Wolkoff foresees the establishment of frequent public transportation using an electric bus system.
As far infrastructure is concerned the property falls within the service area of the Southwest Sewer District. Other infrastructure will be built out in phases, as will the entire building program. This is long term plan with the total build-out expected to take 30 years.

LIMBA / LICA sold out
2013-03-15 00:00
No longer available

LIMBA Participates with

Long Island Contractors Association
Annual Legislators Breakfast
Featuring casual conversation with invited members of the
Long Island Congressional and State Legislative Delegations

Keynote Address given by:

Highway Administration

Administrator of the FederalAdministrator Victor Mendez of the Federal Highway Administration has agreed to serve as the keynote speaker at LICA’s annual legislative breakfast on Friday, March 15

th, at the Fox Hollow Inn, Woodbury. As in the past, we welcome the participation of LIMBA’s members and friends

LIMBA Dr. Matt Cordaro- A Case for Municipal Power
2013-03-22 00:00
Our speaker today is a man well known to us for his knowledge and involvement with the electric utility business. Dr Matt Cordaro was vice president of LILCO. Subsequently he worked as president of Longlake Electric and then for Nashville Electric Service as president and CEO.

Nashville is a municipal power company while the others are private entities. Cordaro’s experience in those roles made us here at LIMBA conclude that he was the most credible voice in the discussion of where we should be going with LIPA.

Cordaro began by pointing out that LIPA had an organizational problem. Moreover it was a structure that was from its inception an experiment. It was a municipal system in name but the whole plant operations were in the hands of a private company. However, unlike other utilities, such as Con Edison, there was no Public Service Commission oversight.

As a result of no oversight LIPA racked up a variety of problems. Among the problems were over billing, high rates and less than stellar hurricane responses.

The governor established the Moreland Commission, which appeared to most of us as a quick way for the governor to sweep away a particularly thorny problem. The result of the Moreland Commissions work looked more like a rubber stamp for a pre-ordained opinion and the alternatives were not fully explored.

Here are the alternatives that Dr Cordaro presented;

1) Remain the same with some modifications on board selection methods, and PSC oversight

2) Privatize and deal with the additional costs of doing business, corporate profit, taxes, and finance. There is also the prospect of greater efficiencies, but that fruit has already been squeezed dry, because the only efficiencies that amount to any scale are labor costs. According to Cordaro the utility is understaffed right now, so he questions where those efficiencies would come from

3) Municipal Power was the last choice he mentioned, but he stated that it must be a true municipal. That would mean the employees would work directly for the utility. The generating equipment could be owned by the municipal company, but hundreds of municipals across the nation do buy power from private generators.

The idea that taxes would go away is probably wrong as many public power companies do pay property taxes, but they do not pay taxes on profits. There are no profits, because rates are geared to operating costs with no need to earn a profit. Muni’s’ do not have stockholders so there is no need to pay dividends. Matt pointed out that Nashville Electric generated none of its power, it merely purchased from the lowest priced provider.

One the points made by the Moreland Commission was that it would be hard to find management and workers. Cordaro wasn’t buying that; he stated that hiring competent people has never been the problem in his own experience, nor did he ever hear that complaint from other municipal providers.

Another point made was that a private company has no access to FEMA funds. On Long Island FEMA is providing 70% of the utility’s restoration needs.

The Q&A was lively and there were a fair number of people in the room that thoroughly understood the issue

Ernie Fazio

LIMBA Dr James Hayward- Applied DNA Sciences
2013-04-05 00:00
Today’s Speaker at LIMBA was Dr. James Hayward. We contacted Dr. Hayward at the urging of LIMBA member Carol Acker. Carol told me that we would be very impressed with what Jim had to say and she was right. Thank you Carol.

James Hayward is the CEO of Applied DNA Sciences originally located and begun in California. When Hayward was consulted on the nature of the science he made many recommendations for the business model and the company asked him to be CEO. Subsequently he moved the company to Long Island.

Long Island according to Jim is fertile soil for a company like this, being perhaps third largest accumulation of resources in bio-science in the nation. He cited Cold Spring Harbor, Stony Brook and Brookhaven National Labs to support his claim. Dr. Hayward comes to the arena of his work with advanced degrees in Bio-physics and Molecular biology. Before this he created Long Island companies that were sold to Dow Chemical and BSAF.

DNA identification is a growth industry. It is estimated that the annual counterfeit business amounts to $1.7 trillion annually worldwide, buy that theft of value is perhaps the smallest part of the problem. Counterfeit computer chips in American military devices that could result in massive loss of life have been found. He gave an example of an “Iron Dome” type of missile that malfunctioned. There was literally one second to spare to launch another missile that did work.

The premise of this technology is that by adding a DNA to a product it can be easily identified. The identifying DNA cannot be copied by virtue of the complexity of the genome structure. The mathematical probability of creating a DNA that would mimic the original is 10 to 29th power. Battele Corporation, a company known for its data analysis capabilities, was hired for the sole purpose of outsmarting the technology of DNA identification. After months of trying they failed to be able to replicate the DNA given to them.

Ninety five percent of American utility companies have suffered losses of copper and other materials. Each of those thefts ranged from $50,000 to $2million dollars. By being able to ID these metals the scrap dealers would soon learn that they would be in jeopardy and refuse to buy them, and thereby rendering the materials not salable.

The company’s success in the United Kingdom has been remarkable. While robberies of cash transfer companies such as Brinks are relatively rare in the US (about 50 per year in the whole country) there have been over 1,000 per year in London alone, partly because these services do not carry weapons. These crimes have decreased dramatically because the money is “fogged” with a distinctive DNA. That DNA identification happens on three levels, one of them is visible, but subtle. The merchants are trained to know the visible markings and alert police, rendering the money useless, and the thief vulnerable to arrest.

Dr. Hayward gave an example of a shipment of premium grade cotton that was sent to China to be woven into cloth and made into garments. The garments came back with seventy percent of the cotton being an inferior grade. The shipment was refused.

But probably the worst danger of all is the counterfeiting of drugs. This is not merely a case of getting an ineffective dose, but more dangerously, a product that can kill you. He gave us a real life story of a young liver transplant recipient from Setauket who was given a medication that was supposed to help the new organ function. The young man went into a coma that required heroic efforts to keep him alive and a new liver transplant was required. The story had a happy ending, because the man did survive.

The myriad examples that were presented by the speaker indicated the wide spread uses that this technology will eventually will be adaptable to. While Hayward was giving us his information he was able to conduct a running conversation with the audience which made for an excellent presentation.

Thank you Dr. Hayward

Rebirth of the Suffolk Theater
2013-04-12 00:00
The speaker this morning was Bob Spiotto, the Executive Director of the newly restored Suffolk Theater in Riverhead. Bob is an enthusiastic man of the theater. He was the director of the Adams Theater at Hofstra for many years, and now he is having a good time creating this new experience in theater. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=V47FIJ5oCNw#!

The Suffolk Theater opened originally in 1933 and was used as a movie house. It has been closed since 1987 and the state of disrepair grew progressively worse. The structure was a candidate to meet the wrecking ball. That is until the present owners Dianne and Bob Castaldi purchased the theater in 2005. There were political obstacles in the effort to restore and re-open the theater but they persevered. Below is a quote from the theater website.

”The Suffolk Theater opened on December 30, 1933. According to newspapers of the day, more than 2000 people attended the opening night festivities. When the theater opened it was hailed as, Long Island’s prettiest and most complete playhouse. State of the art air conditioning attracted special raves for the ‘ever cleaning of the air.’ An opening review in The Riverhead News on January 5, 1934 states “No matter which way one turns, there is luxury and comfort, this is exceptionally true in the reception corridor and ladies room as well as in the entrance lobby.”

Suffolk has been restored to original beauty. Today the theater has carved out a niche that appears to be unique. The audience area is made up of arranged tables and chairs, http://www.suffolktheater.com/your-event and if the spirit moves you, can get up and dance. http://www.suffolktheater.com/theater-map

The diversity of events makes this a venue that is not competing with the other great theaters on Long Island. This, according to Mr. Spiotto, is another layer of the arts. They are producing show, featuring comedy, drama, music of every genre, including, rock, jazz, rockabilly, and big band. They will be showing movies and using the space for weddings and other special occasions. The theater has its own restaurant and food is available as you watch a show. This is an exciting addition to Long Island’s cultural life.

Ernie Fazio

LIMBA -James Coll- Hosted by Ken Bayne
2013-04-19 00:00
James Coll, was today’s guest speaker. Mr. Coll is the Founder of Change NYS, a nonprofit organization for educating the voting public about the November 7, 2017 Ballot Question concerning whether or not to hold a Constitutional Convention. The Ballot question is required every 20 years. There are 14 states including New York that require a voter approved Ballot question. There has been 233 State Constitutional Conventions since 1787; 9 Conventions in New York State. The last Convention that was approved by the voters and held was in 1967. If a Constitutional Convention is approved by the voters in November 2017, three delegates in each of the State Senate Districts shall be elected, with 15 at large delegates, or a total of 201 delegates are sent to convene in Albany. Mr. Coll reviewed the myriad of changes that could be made to the Constitution for the benefit of the people versus the benefit of special interests. Historically, the voter turnout for this question is an abysmal 39% of eligible voters. In 1997, 33% of the electorate did not vote on the question, which had a visible, first position on the ballot. Mr. Coll concluded that Union and other special interests engaged in a negative campaign to reject a Constitutional Convention. In 1997 of those who responded to the question about holding a Convention voted 1/3 in the affirmative and 2/3 in the negative, and the measure went to defeat. In 2017, Change NYS is hoping to provide education through social media (Facebook, Twitter, Belongs and E-mails) to educate the voters about the pending ballot initiative and encourage a vote, yes or no, on the issue. Mr. Coll did not have enough time to cover all the issues that he wanted and was invited to address the group in the future.

Hosting and recap by Ken Bayne
Thanks Ken

No Meeting scheduled
2013-04-26 00:00
Mithch Paley will be speaking on May 10th register early

No Meeting scheduled
2013-05-03 00:00
Our next Meeting will be on May 10th, Mitch Pally Executive Diorector of Long Island Builders Institute will be our speaker
Long Island’s residential builders and sub-contractors have been an important part of Long Island’s economy for decades. The economic setbacks have been severe. The signs of recovery are on the horizon, but can we expect to see a robust recovery? Mitch Pally in his role of LIBI’s executive director will give us some guidance. Please join us. https://limba.net/breakfastform.php
This meeting’s guest host and moderater will be Ann Marie Scheidt PhD, SUNY Stony Brook University- Office of Economic Development

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

Mitch Pally Executive Dir LI Builders Institute
2013-05-10 00:00
This morning we had as our speaker Mitch Pally. Mitch was the vice president of LIA for many years and presently is the Executive Director of Long Island Builders Institute. He still is also a board member of the MTA and was prepared to answer questions about the responsibilities that he has in that capacity. The audience, however, was very interested in the primary topic of housing.

Mitch asked the audience “Who lives in a single family home?” Almost everyone including Pally raised his hand. His premise is that while most of us will continue that lifestyle we must adjust to a world where we have an adequate number of rental units located in places that are friendly to the use of public transportation. He compared Long Island to Westchester which has at least double the number of rental units and that mix of housing has not diminished the quality of life. In fact if multi-family housing is located near public transportation than those families can often be satisfied with only one car.

On Long Island where our drinking water comes from the ground, sewers will preserve the ground water purity at the same time making denser population centers possible and sustainable. He pointed out to us that MacArthur Airport has a septic system. He suggested that building a more comprehensive sewer system would make the ground water in that vicinity better and at the same time accommodate residential housing growth.

Mr. Pally addressed the problem of people who oppose multi-family housing. Always hanging over that conversation is the reference to “those people” when a development is being proposed. The implication that these units will be occupied by less responsible people. But that image just does not hold up under scrutiny.

In Rockville Center apartment housing that was built on a cleaned up “brownfield” is now considered a valuable addition to the community although the local residents fought tooth and nail to prevent it from ever being built. As it turns out these are valuable dwellings commanding market level rents.

The people in the room ask many questions, but they were in sync with the objectives of creating quality multi family living space

According to Mitch the process in convincing a community to accept a new plan is a slow and tedious process, but with good planning and communication it can be done. That’s what he sees as an important part of his role

No meeting scheduled
2013-05-17 00:00, 2013-06-14 00:00, 2013-07-05 00:00, 2013-08-09 00:00

Memorial Day Weekend- No meeting
2013-05-24 00:00
Our next meeting will be on June 7th
County Executive Steve Bellone will becoming to LIMBA on June 7th to give us an overview of Super Storm Sandy. What worked well and where do we need improvement. He may also speak about other topics of his choosing. We welcome him back to LIMBA. Please register early
This meeting will be sponsored and hosted by Greenman Pedersen. Thank you Mike Salatti and team GPI

Tom Spota, Suffolk County DA, Sponsor - Gershow Recycloing
2013-05-31 00:00
Our speaker this morning was Suffolk District Attorney Thomas J. Spota. Mr. Spota began by telling us that his office and the group of 188 prosecuting attorneys that he has in his unit needed to respond t0 55,000 arrests that were made last year. That number has even been higher in the past.
Spota was pleased with amount of enforcement cooperation he gets from the Suffolk Police as well as the sheriffs department and state police units. His command does not operate in a vacuum.
Gangs, drugs, and guns are causes for much of his prosecutions. Gun possession is pervasive according to Tom. He supports the police efforts to get guns off the streets. He supports the right to bear arms, but he believes that regulation is a must.
Intoxicated drivers, whether the abuse is alcohol, or drugs pose great threats to the driving public. He gave few examples of irresponsible driving, one of which was a drunk driver who was clocked at 86 miles pre hour going through Sayville. That incident ended in a head on crash while driving in the opposing lane killing one person and leaving another in critical condition. These driving offenses are now extended to drunk boating. The police marine units and the US Coast Guard are expanding the reach of law enforcement on the water.
Regarding drunk driving he has now embraced the concept of using homicide as a charge in some cases. His counterpart in Nassau County was first to use the charge of homicide in drunk driving cases and Spota agrees with the reasoning.
Mr. Spota has also perused mortgage fraud, which is a problem of no small proportions. Lastly he talked about bookkeeper fraud. There are numerous businesses and not-for-profit groups that have been victimized by someone in the company that has held a financial position. According to the District Attorney this kind of theft happens a lot.
Ernie Fazio
The guest co-host and sponsor was Gershow Recycling and Kevin Gershowitz. Bill Miller and myself devised the guest host idea with the purpose of having a group of people to perpetuate the organization as we go forward. Kevin did a great job and was obviously comfortable in the role.

Steve Bellone, County Executive-Greenman Pedersen sponsor
2013-06-07 00:00
Today’s meeting was sponsored by Greenman Pedersen Inc. Engineers

Mr. Steve Bellone was our speaker this morning and the message was that the problems we, and he are dealing with are legacy problems. The Foley nursing home was first discussed during the Halpin administration. Each administration that tried to shed the responsibilities of that facility was stymied by resistance from the public and the legislators. Resistance included suing the county to keep the nursing home open.

Deficits have been getting worse in recent administrations, but the fact is they have challenged every occupant of that office. Recently they have been reduced, but not eliminated.

According to Bellone you need to make progress on all fronts. Taxes, transportation needs, housing, industrial and commercial development are all interdependent. Housing that does not at the same time have places for business to develop is a speculative effort.

Bellone talked about a plan the he calls "Connect Long Island." The Long Island Railroad when it was built was a very forward thing plan. Those various lines can and should be better connected by light rail, bus rapid transit (BRT) and bicycle paths where practical.

He showed a map demonstrating the viability of connecting the population of Wyandanch to the 110 corridor on one end and Riverhead on the other. He outlined several cross connections including a rapid bus route on Sagtikos Parkway connecting Heartland to the north shore and Bay Shore and Babylon on the south shore. Each connection lent itself to further connections as well as easy access to entertainment and shopping centers.

When asked where the money will come from Bellone stated that planning is relatively cheap, but when the planning and zoning is in place the money is more likely to come. When it does come it is already dedicated to the plan. Therefore it makes perfect sense to plan and create a vision that business and government entities can embrace.

In an answer to a related question Bellone said if you do not have plans for housing you miss the opportunity for jobs.

Ernie Fazio

Thank you Greenman Pedersen Inc. and Mike Salatti for hosting at the meeting.

LIMBA Robert Crieghton Candidate for Supervisor, Smithtown
2013-06-21 00:00
Smithtown Councilman
Robert Creighton
June 21, 2013

Sponsored by Green World Marketing, (Innovations in Wind Turbine Technology) and Gerry Fitzpatrick

Mr. Creighton has the backing of the Conservative Party and is a candidate for town supervisor, a position that is now held by Pat Vechio.

Bob began by mentioning that there are a number of storefronts in the Smithtown commercial area that are empty. That was not the situation years ago and Creighton attributes this lack-luster business performance in the town to the policies of the present administration.
Creighton made a point to note that there are other towns that have taken aggressive steps to improve the functioning of their towns and villages, most notably, Patchogue. According to the councilman the attitude in his town is all wrong. Instead of embracing ideas, the town creates road blocks. Patchogue’s Mayor Pontieri, he pointed out tells developers to present their ideas and tries to accommodate good projects. That does not mean that every idea is a good idea that will see completion, but it does mean that if there are things that can be done, they will be done. Again referring to Patchogue he mentioned the rescue of the Patchogue Theater and the very desirable housing that has been built.

He spoke about the attitude of the present supervisor. Bob discussed the up-scale Home Depot company "Expo." The store had been closed and board members wanted to accommodate a new use of the building and land. The attitude was "leave it be, they’re still paying taxes." That was not acceptable to Creighton, they were able to over-ride the supervisor and create a new use, which by the way pays even more taxes.

He gave another example of an instance where a closed restaurant was purchased by a successful restaurateur who wanted to make a change in the front of the restaurant. The town told him that all the requirements of a brand new structure would be required. That would include 12 new cesspools, a considerable expense. These requirements are only applicable when it is new construction.

The town has neglected to maintain the physical plant of the buildings it owns and in 2010 was told to close down the libraries because they were so neglected. The libraries were the responsibility of the town and when money got short, libraries were ignored. Now the libraries have separated from the town and have been infused with $15 million dollars and a separate library system with a separate tax was created. This arrangement is common in many areas of Long Island and the arrangement allows the library to raise funds in addition to the library tax.
Mr. Creighton has plans for improving infrastructure. Importatnt road, sewer and building maintenance will draw business to the town and over time save the town money, while increasing the tax base.
Another important initiative is appropriate zoning. Hauppauge Industrial Park, for example, will be rezoned to allow six story buildings. Removing the hurdles to sensible growth seems to be Creighton’ modus-operandi
This morning’s meeting with Town of Smithtown Councilman Robert Creighton was sponsored by Green World Marketing, (Innovations in Wind Turbine Technology) and Gerry Fitzpatrick – Thank You

Ernie Fazio
In the photo: Robert McMillan, former commissioner of the Panama Canal, Robert Creighton, Smithtown Councilman and candidate for Smithtown Supervisor, Gerry Fitzpatrick, President of Green World Marketing and sponsor of LIMBA meeting, and Ernie Fazio, President of LIMBA

LIMBA No meeting Have a great 4th of July
2013-06-28 00:00

John Kanas, President Bank United
2013-07-11 00:00
John Kanas, president, Bank United
Mr. Kanas is an important figure in banking. Having started his banking career as a teller earned respect as knowledgeable person and gained status in the North Fork Bank. North Fork was a small regional bank at that time. When the president was not able to work due to illness, John was elevated to president on a temporary basis. Later that appointment was made permanent. North Fork under Kanas’ direction eventually grew to a very large regional bank with branches in all parts of Long Island and New York City. The bank was acquired by Capital One Credit card company and the North Fork named was dropped.
Mr. Kanas sold his interest in the new combined entity and subsequently bought Bank United a small Florida bank which has now expanded to New York. He is at LIMBA to talk about the new entity. Please join us.

LIPA alternate ideas
2013-07-19 00:00
Today’s program was very different from our usual format. Victor Yannacone was our first speaker, and he laid out the history of how we got her and the plan to extricate us from the present untenable situation. Then we had attorney, Irving Like, former utility executive Matt Cordaro, former LIPA trustee Sheldon Sackstein and then Sierra Club environmental expert Peter Gollom. Each had a valuable opinion to share.

Yannacone was one of the original people that joined hands and stopped Shoreham, but his greater recognition comes from his successful suit that was known as "Agent Orange" whereby the chemical companies had to make medical and other compensation available to Viet Nam era combat soldiers.

Now Yannacone has created an idea that will no doubt disturb the established powers. Victor began by describing the role of electric power companies as boosters for the local communities which, I for one interpreted as a positive. In contrast here is how Victor continued, "LIPA is failing the ratepayer and is strangling the economy of Long Island." According to Yannacone that LIPA was never designed to serve the public, it was designed to compensate the bond holders.

Victor cited the economic boon of the war years that, but in the end LILCO drove businesses off the island. "Without any regard for rational economics the decision by LILCO in 1973 to build a nuclear electric power plant set the stage for economic catastrophe’…

Under the rules that regulated utilities operate under it was in the perceived interest to build as expensive a plant as possible because the higher the cost, the greater the return to investors. This thinking ignores the fact that the inflated rates make the region uncompetitive. That’s exactly what happened.

LIPA was created in 1986 with express purpose of assuming the liabilities of LILCO in particular Shoreham Nuclear Plant. In 1989 LILCO sold Shoreham to LIPA for $1. LIPA assumed the debt of $6billion. Later LIPA acquired LILCO’s antiquated electric transmission system. In the same year all of the generating capacity was transferred to Brooklyn Union Gas which when joined with LILCO became Keyspan.

The ratepayers got all of the liabilities and none of the valuable assets. In January of the year 2013 Governor Cuomo proposed the privatization of LIPA. In other words here we go again. We were given the responsibility to pay off the LILCO debt. "Did anyone ask us?"

The Alternative
The alternative according to Yannacone is to create a mutual company. A mutual company would operate in a manner that is similar to a mutual life insurance company. The policy holders "own" the company and vote for the directors. No elected official would have any say in who is on the board.

The Board of Trustees must select management that is cognizant of the power company’s critical place of electric power in the economy of Long Island. This would be vastly different from the structure of an investor owned utility. Rather than an investor owned utility we will have a ratepayer owned entity with the sole purpose of supplying reliable, reasonably priced power. This will facilitate the support of economic growth. There is nothing wrong with a corporate structure as long as the ratepayers are also the stockholders. If you have an electric bill, you have a vote. "LIPA must belong to its ratepayers and its management must be accountable to the ratepayers" This differ from a municipal company because a municipal company is owned by the taxpayers and is subject to the whims of politics.

Attorney Irving Like spoke next and he pointed out that the relationship that LIPA will have with PSE&G will jeopardize the tax exempt status of LIPA bonds and make the situation worse. He also pointed out that the whole notion of the operation of LIPA may be illegal from the inception.

Mathew Cordaro PhD was vice president of LILCO and later the president of Nashville Electric he also was the chief executive of the Midwest

Independent Systems Operator a company that coordinates distribution of power for several states and provinces in Canada. His experience in investor and municipal power has given him a perspective that is unique among the participants and felt that Yannacone’s idea was more suitable to rural areas where the idea is presently being used. He did not feel the economics would work on Long Island.
Peter Gollom representsSierra Club and his concern was with the solar program that has put Long Island in the forefront of solar installation. Long Island presently has more solar power installed than the rest of New York State.

Sheldon Sackstein was once a LIPA trustee and his sentiments was with making sure we had an elected boardDuring what was a very, very lively discussion that followed the speakers.

The big question was about the debt. What do we do with it?
Renegotiate it, was Victor’s answer. The debt is held by institutional investors, hedge funds and sovereign funds. They would have to take a hit.
Q: When the solar installations syphon enough customers off the grid how will that effect the system?.

That makes the bonds even more untenable. As more customers leave the system the burden increases for the remaining customers. That is one of the reasons that the debt cannot be allowed to continue.
Would the size of the ratepayer’s bill be relevant?
No! If you have a bill, you’ll have a vote. If you own a home and a business with a separate bill you will have 2 votes.
Is it too late to act?
No, we were never asked and we did not agree to anything.
How do we stop this?
We start with an ad-hoc committee, just the way we began to close Shoreham. This entire meeting was taped and the tape will be available in about 5 days.
