Limba

NO MEETING THANKSGIVING
2005-11-25 00:00 (America/New_York)

Sarah Lansdale Exec Dir, Sustainable Long Island
2005-11-18 00:00
Members and friendsThis morning’s speaker, Sarah Lansdale was a font of good information. Sarah is the Executive Director of Sustainable Long Island. This conscientious veteran of the Peace Corp took us through several scenarios where SLI has had an impact.
In New Castle Sustainable Long Island engaged the community and asked what they thought they needed. The concessus of need was that a pharmacy, a bank, and a supermarket would be most important. SLI put out a request for proposals. They were pleasantly surprised by the number of proposals that were received. Which makes you wonder why the private sector needs to be goaded into participation in the first place. Perhaps they just needed a catalyst like SLI to make things happen.
The Port Washington peninsula has six mayors. In an atmosphere where the NIMBY phenomenon is such an impediment to getting anything done, SLI was able to move the community to action. Ms. Lansdale, and Sustainable Long Island’s approach is to gather the players and ask them what they think should be done. After getting the interested parties to agree on a plan of their making, it is a lot easier to move to the action plan. SLI has funds and expertise to begin the plan.
In Wyandanch the main road is Straight Path. This road has had a terrible record pedestrian deaths. In addition it is an area in disrepair and other problems stemming from being a low income minority area. SLI went into that area and tried to identify the core of concerned citizens and found that there was no identifiable group. Their first chore was to bring out those citizens that would speak for the community. That’s what they did, knowing any solution that did not come from respected members of that area would go nowhere.
Sustainable Long Island has also been helpful in identifying brownfields.. There are 68 of them in Nassau and Suffolk. Where a developer can show a new and economically important use for an identified brownfield, Sustainable Long Island can provide the remedial funds. Sarah is an excellent spokesperson for a worthwhile organization.
### December 9th Our Holiday Party will be held at the regular time. We want to book this in advance because it has been a sellout in the past. The entertainment has been topnotch in the past and will be again this year. Hold the date. Previously I sent out a message saying the time would be changed. We are changing that back to the same time 8:30AM. This will be a full breakfast and the gate fee is $30 for members and non-members. This event sells out every year so make your reservations early
We are planning on having four sponsors for this event, with banners displayed. We have three sponsorships signed and one available.
Please bring an unwrapped toy for the Christmas Magic effort.
Next week I’ll write my Thanksgiving thoughts, meanwhile, have a nice weekend. Ernie Fazio

NO MEETING Holiday
2005-11-11 00:00

Nassau Legislator, Roger Corbin, School Consolidation
2005-11-04 00:00
Members and friends

Today’s speaker was Roger Corbin, Majority leader in the Nassau County Legislature. His focus was on the cost and complexity of our many taxing districts. His perms is that leads to duplication of departments and services.

According to Corbin, the city of Great Neck has six police departments, and none of them have the resources to properly investigate a serious crime. Therefore they turn over those crimes to the Nassau County Police. There are too many school districts, with each of them having an overburden of management personnel. He cited many other examples including sanitary districts, fire districts etc.

He is anti ‘big box.” Corbin says these big box stores bleed the economic life out of the downtown areas. He gave the example of Steinway Street in Queens as a functioning business district. People in the area are near the stores they need to visit. Money tends to recalculate locally and feed back to the indigenous stores.

Mr. Corbin would like to see tax revenues distributed countywide instead of the way it is used now. He gave an example of the large tax revenues that are collected in and around the Roosevelt Mall, and most of it does not go to Westbury, and Westbury suffers.

There are islands of poor districts that have very little commercial tax revenues while neighboring areas have an embarrassment of riches. Roosevelt was given as an example of that. In the case of Roosevelt there should be no school district at all, according to Corbin. Roosevelt is only one mile square, and could easily transport the students from that locale to the surrounding schools. Roger is not shy about telling you that the racial factor is the reason that does not happen.

I pointed out the politics of his proposals are difficult, but his attitudes. “Do what Reagan did, take it to the people.” Moving his agenda along will be difficult, but he is energetic and I wish him luck.

Action Item. LIMBA would like to see the proposal that addresses transportation issues passed. This proposal will, I believe be good for Long Island

Next week there will be no meeting because of Veterans Day.
Have a nice weekend.
Ernie Fazio

Marc Allessi
2005-10-28 00:00
516 503-5836

Frank Russo, School reform
2005-10-21 00:00
Members and friends
This morning’s speaker, Frank Russo, who is affiliated with a group called Long Islanders for School Reform (LIFER) website, lischooltax.com was a font of information.

Long Islanders have complained about the high school taxes for many years. We appear to have thrown up our arms in surrender. Now this group emerges and they are showing us that there are ways of making our school taxes lower without the prospect of compromising the quality of education.

Mr. Russo pointed out to us that the school boards have powers that they simply do not exercise. For example the board has a lot of say over salaries. Each district maintains they must keep salaries high to be competitive in hiring able teachers. This argument loses credibility when each job opening in almost any school district on Long Island has between 100 and 130 applicants. Surely there are capable candidates among a pool that large.
Mandates are often cited as constraints on board decisions, however building budgets and salaries are the largest part of the budgets and school boards have control of that. Of course there are mandates that have to be met, and they comprise about 15% of the budget, but state aid always more than covers that portion.

One of the factors in personnel cost is the pensions. Overtime and extra assignments in the final years of employment are used to calculate the pension amounts. This results in pensions that nearly as high as their working status pay. Only in government employment will you find this, and no where in industry is this done, according to Russo.

Contingent school budgets are allowed to be 120% higher than the CPI. Than negates the meaning of Consumer Price Index.

There were several other anomalies cites by Mr. Russo that keep these school costs spiraling upward. One of them being, the Wicks Law which makes new construction more costly.

Mr. Russo was asked about school consolidation, and he did not think that was as big a factor. I found that interesting because one of our up coming speakers will be making consolidation his central point.

This was not a fire and brimstone speech, but rather a reasoned argument for change.

Next week our speaker will be our newly elected assemblyman Mark Allessi. More on that next week. Meanwhile have nice weekend.
Ernie Fazio

Barry Greenspan NY State Economic Dev
2005-10-14 00:00
Members and friends
Barry Greenspan gave us a very straight forward talk about the programs that are available through NY State Department Economic Development, also know as Empire State Development, the agency he represents.
Barry outlined the type of qualifying businesses that would benefit from a relationship with his office.
The agency does not help retail businesses fro example. On the other hand a manufacturer or a distributor would qualify for help. He made it clear that a business that was starting up, even if they qualify in every respect may not get help if they are far along in their plans, therefore he advises get involved with NYSED early in your planning.
The mandate for the agency is to attract jobs, or at least, prevent jobs from leaving.
My obvious question was about being blackmailed by an employer. If an employer threatened to leave could he get some the benefits of the agency based on a threat to leave? Barry reassured us there had to be a credible threat including established contacts with out of area development offices.
What kind of help? Loan participation. The agency has a direct loan program that is advanced at good rates and will support 40% of the loan. The rest of the money must be obtained through the normal banking channels.
Those companies that create high paid jobs are given preference over employers that create low paid jobs.
There is also an obligation on the part of the employers to maintain those jobs over a specified time span. Those who fail to meet the promised job commitment, or those that create jobs that rapidly disappear will be asked to return some of the help they received by a formula that the recipient accepts from the beginning.

The overriding message that I got was, get involved with ESD early. You may have a business that does not qualify, but there is a good chance that you will. In any event there is a revolving loan program that is available to some businesses that may not otherwise qualify for the core benefits of the agency.

Next week we will have Frank Russo representing “Long Islanders for Education Reform.”
This is an important topic because it affects our taxes. Meanwhile, have nice weekend.
Ernie Fazio

Dr. Matt Cordaro, Hurricane Preparedness from a utility exec
2005-10-07 00:00
Hurricane Preparedness from a utility executive perspective

NO Meeting
2005-09-30 00:00

Moke McGowan Long Island Convention & Visitors Bur.
2005-09-23 00:00
Members and friendsThis morning our speaker Moke McGowan, gave us an overview of one the island’s biggest revenue industries. Moke is president of the LI Visitors and Convention Bureau., and it was interesting listening to the perception of what this island offers from someone who is new to the region.
Mr. McGowan is a native of Hawaii, and prior to coming to Long Island he was head of a similar agency in South Carolina, where he was reputed to having boosted tourism in that state. His enthusiasm for Long Island is genuine, and he remarked to us that Long Island is a varied and interesting “product.” I never thought of the island as a product, but if that’s what you’re selling, I guess the word is appropriate. He made a big thing out of the various aspects of Long Island including the less traveled places for Long Islanders such as Fire Island, and places of the North Fork.
The revenues from tourism and hospitality in the bi-county region is $3 1/2 billion dollars. Sales taxes from this source for both counties is $70 million. Not a small industry to be sure. Mr. Mcgowan went on to explain some of the methods of selling Long Island to other areas as a desirable destination. One of the more important connections to the world is the use of the Internet. By the use of a well designed website, the islands attractions are brought to other people in a very cost effective way. The speaker reinforced what most of us already acknowledged – Long Island does have a lot to offer.
Next week there will be no meeting. Our next meeting will be Oct7th. Have a nice weekend.Ernie Fazio

Herb Healy, United Technologies- Fuel Cells
2005-09-16 00:00
Herb Healy of United Technologies’ Power division came to speak to us this morning on the current state of fuel cell technology, deployments and the Long Island fuel cell picture. As every LIMBA meeting is, this was another learning experience. UTP has several varieties of power generation technologies in a few different packages, one, a complete power, heating, and cooling plant, another is a waste heat recovery-to-electricity device, and the third is a straightforward fuel cell, with natural gas in, and 480 Volt, three-phase power out. We learned that economically practical residential fuel cells are pretty far off, due to the nature of fuel cell load characteristics. A fuel cell capable of providing the peak power needs of a single family home on long island, is just too large and expensive right now. What large fuel cells are good at is producing clean power for firms that need or want to have independence from the electrical grid, or that have a potential fuel source to recover revenue from. A landfill or farm that is producing methane gas can collect this gas, “burn” it in the fuel cell in batches, use the electricity or sell it. A hospital can use it for power insurance, heating and cooling. The Long Island fuel cell scene is currently highlighted by two projects, one in West Babylon, where LIPA is entertaining proposals to replace the existing fuel cells in its substation there, and at a Verizon facility in Garden City, where a 7 unit, 1.4 Megawatt installation is coming on line in the very near future. This facility is the largest North American fuel cell plant to date. UTP’s proposal submitted for the LIPA project will generate around 11 Megawatts if accepted. The Q & A session demonstrated that folks were paying attention, to both the technology and numbers involved. My question was concerning repowering Long Island, where do fuel cells fit, and the answer seems to be that fuel cells are a base load contributor, in small increments. I would see their primary benefit in being clean power for facilities that would be essential to social function in the event of a large power outage. A quick lesson on how a fuel cell works was also included for those members that aren’t tech heads. -Craig

Robert DiCarlo / Ed Hennessy Repub Primary Candidates
2005-09-09 00:00
Members and friends
This mornings meeting was a a somewhat different format. We had two speakers
The two speakers were the primary candidates for Brookhaven Town Supervisor, Ed Hennessy and Robert DiCarlo. The format was an opening statement of 15 minutes each. After the opening speech, each had an opportunity to address one question to each other and then the audience had a go at it. We allotted extra time than usual for that meeting

Hennessy has the experience of 12 years in town government and is an articulate spokesman for his own campaign. DiCarlo has no record in the town, but has a record of successful elected politics in another jurisdiction, as a stste senstor in Brooklyn. Robert DiCarlo is also an excellent presenter and on those points there is a lot of equality.

Ed Hennessey was first to speak and based a lot of his address to the need for transparency in government and the need to reform Brookhaven politics. “Corruption in Brookhaven is deep,” said Hennessy, and that he would work to make the processes of government more fair. He stated that a system of accountability has been formulated by him and his advisors and he went on to explain. Under Section 75, a provision for removing people from the public payroll would be used to discard dead wood in Brookhaven town would be used aggressively.

Robert DiCarlo began by reviewing his successes in previous politics including better laws governing domestic violence. Under a DiCarlo sponsored law it is now possible for a policeman at the scene of a domestic violence call to decide if an arrest is warranted. Previously the abused spouse would have to demand the arrest, and that often did not happen.

DiCarlo also made it easier to make drug arrests near school yard sales of drugs.

Mr. DiCarlo recounted a distasteful experience with the Town when he was advocating on behalf of the related family business DiCarlo Food Service. DFS was applying for a railroad siding for their facility on Ocean Avenue. The application would allow the company to use far fewer trucks on the road, but the Town gave them a rough time because of a complaint that came from four neighbors that moved in after the DiCarlo facility was built. (Editors note; LIMBA has been an advocate of more rail freight.)

DiCarlo answered the question of “how do you reform Brookhaven?” he borrowed a phrase from another politician “Blow it up.” Dismantle the dysfunctional entity and rebuild it was the essence of his remarks. He said that means running against the Republican Party, a party according to DiCarlo has ran away from what it should be standing for.

The Q&A was interesting as well. Questions on the support of Broadwater were introduced and both candidates were open to letting the discussion of Broadwater proceed, and that Hennessy was more or less on board.

Our hot topic at LIMBA is the Homeland Security Ferry Link from Shoreham to New Haven. We asked both of them if they would also support that effort. With reasonable reservations both said that the ferry link was a good idea. After the close of the meeting the candidates stayed for at least a half hour more to answer questions with people on a one on one basis. Personally I was pleased that we were able to extract straight answers from both candidates.

Please join us next week when Her Healy from United Technologies will discuss a proposed 10 Megawatt Fuel cell powerplant for Long Island. More on that next week. Meanwhile, have a nice weekend.
Ernie Fazio

NO MEETING LABOR DAY WEEKEND
2005-09-02 00:00

Tim Knight, Newsday Publisher
2005-08-26 00:00
This morning the publisher of Newsday, Tim Knight was our speaker. Tim began his formal remarks by addressing the advertising scandal at the paper. To his credit he did not minimize the problem. Newsday had inflated its readership numbers that determine advertising rates. He then said “A crisis is a terrible thing to waste” He was candid about the problem and he explained how the rate complaints were resolved with the advertisers.

He then discussed with us the separation of news and editorial content. It may be hard for many of us to believe that a credible separation can exist. I personally believe it is possible, but doesn’t always happen that way. The Wall Street Journal for example is a very conservative paper, but the news section of the paper can be very even handed. In fact labor relations with unions at the Journal are among the best in the business. And speaking of unions, Newsday is about to embark on labor negotiations as the long term contracts are due to expire soon. He is confident that negotiations between the union and Newsday will come to a fruitful conclusion. Negotiations are beginning early.

Newsday, under Tim’s leadership is in an introspective mode. Many facets of the business are being revisited. The stakeholders, according to Tim, include the general public, the readers, and the employees. There is a need to balance the needs of all of the people that this enterprise effects. This is not easy, and during the Q&A I asked about how you keep this message going. Tim conceded that was in fact the most difficult thing to do, but at the same time, absolutely necessary.

Mr. Knight enumerated the major problems that would continue to be of interest to Newsday. Among the more important issues are education, and affordable housing. Tim Knight is a fresh face and he appears to be committed to building a paper that is worthy of a world class status. He also seems to have the credentials as a newspaper man. We wish him well and thank him for his presence at LIMBA.

In the photo:Ernie Fazio, LIMBA, Tim Knight, Newday Publisher, Mohinder Sigh, Marc Simeone, Nassau County Police

Iraq and Oil
2005-08-23 00:00
Let me begin by saying I hate this war. I have hated this war long before it began. When we celebrated “Mission Accomplished” on the deck of the carrier a friend said to me “Now what do you think, now that it’s over?” I said it’s not over, and if it is over, and the Iraqi people have democracy tomorrow, it still will not have been worth subverting the constitution to go to war.

The question is what do we do now? The president says “Stay the course” What course? Senator Russ Feingold says set a timetable, and the rest of the democrats are saying some variation of what the president is saying. Meanwhile I’m thinking of the warning called the Pottery Barn scenario issued by Colin Powell, when he said, “Mr. President if you break it you own it.” I’m afraid I have to agree with Mr. Powell. But there is a way out of this mess.

If we mobilize this country to be self-sufficient and be able to function without imported oil we could break the back of this insurgency. Impossible? No, Expensive? Yes! But how expensive is running a war? $5billion per month? Forty soldiers per month? Hundreds of Iraqi civilians per month? What about the unfathomable lost humanity of our young soldiers. What about the legion of homeless, broken men and women that will eventually return and roam our streets aimlessly, the way many of our unfortunate Viet Nam era soldiers are doing right now.

Many, or perhaps most, of the fighters are native to these other Arab states. I believe that they are watching this struggle with some degree of satisfaction. These insurgents are being supplied by some of our so-called allies.

By creating an alternate scenario we can seriously depress the price of oil. When the Saudi’s, the Kuwaiti’s and the other oil producing countries realize that we are serious and are willing to sacrifice, they will participate in the pacification of Iraq. They will step up to the plate and intercede in Iraq. They will provide some of the wealth that is needed to bring that country the peace it so sorely needs. They could begin by sealing the borders of Iraq. But what kind of a situation will bring them to the table?

Here is what I envision
War on Oil

I would like this country to declare war. Not the kind of war we are used to. The kind of war we need to engage in is much more difficult. A war without blood and guts, but a war that will require real heroism.

The war we need to declare is the one against oil, oil, not the countries that produce it. How do we begin? First, use all of the present technology we have, and then go on from there.

Most of the steps we can, and must do will work over a long planning span, and I will mention them, but the steps we must take need to be immediate.
During WWII the allies were very successful at depriving the German military machine of its oil supply. The Germans began synthesizing oil from other sources. It was costly but it worked. With today’s technology we can do much better than the Germans did, and it would still be costly but compared to war it would be cheap. Moreover the results of our efforts would be a permanent part of our matrix of energy supply, and would be achievable on a basis that would be very competitive with the oil we buy from abroad. That’s what we could do immediately. The Middle East oil producers would see their major oil customer shrinking and work very hard to quell the instability inside Iraq.

Going forward we need to do many more things to bring down the usage by conservation, and here are some of them.

Buildings
The best building codes in the country have heat transfer guidelines that are woefully lower than what we’ve known to be possible for at least 40 years. We must double the requirements on homes and commercial establishments. We can do this with no new technology. The additional cost of a $300,000 home is about $10,000. The annual savings is about $1575 estimated on a 700 gallon savings at $2.25/gallon. Payback will be less than 6.4 years. If the cost oil increases the payback period will be shorter.

Motor vehicles
At the same time double the required gas mileage on trucks and personal cars. At the moment the only technology that can achieve this is the Hybrid engine design. The cost of driving a car 20,000 miles that gets 21 miles per gallon, using gas that costs $2.80 per gallon is $2,667. Presently the hybrid costs about $3,000 more. The payback is less than 2.24 years if your gas mileage is raised to 42 miles per gallon, and maintenance costs are lower.

Electric Power
Conservation
Electric power is wasted in this country in ways that other countries find hard to believe. The litany of possible improvements is enormous, but let’s starts with conservation.
Light Emitting Diodes (LED) use about 3% of the power that is used by an incandescent lamp. Presently they are suitable for traffic lights, exit signs, and numerous other 24/7 applications. (Traffic lights have four 150 watt lamps on at all times, that is 600watts 24 hours per day 365 days a year. The total kilowatt-hours per year are 5,256 @ 12cents /kWh costs the municipality $630 per traffic signal. The annual cost of operating an LED traffic lamp is $19 plus the cost of operating the controls about $18)
That’s one example but there are many.
Solar Photovoltaic Generation
Solar photovoltaic is still relatively expensive, but there are many applications for solar PV that does make sense right now, but if you put solar PV in a context of a war effort, that changes everything. With the building of a vibrant solar PV industry, advances in its use and new product development will come. In industrial parks on Long Island and throughout the nation there are millions of acres of rooftops suitable for collecting solar power.
Wind Generation
The advances in wind generation have been dramatic. We are now at the point where wind generation is only slightly higher in cost than the most economical fossil fuel plants.

Distributed Generation
Distributed generators are no more efficient than central station power plants. Their advantage is that they use the power they create on-site. That means there is no additional distribution line loses getting to the point where it is used. Therefore distributed generation is 11% more efficiently than central power production. There is an additional efficiency if the waste heat can be used for heating, laundry, and even cooling. And, of course, if properly designed, from failures to the power grid.

Development of super strong lightweight composites. The cost in fuel to move a vehicle is directly related the weight of the vehicle. Making lighter cars will further increase gas mileage. Lighter, but stronger materials in cars will also make them safer.
Developing a first class efficient rail system that will move people and freight at high speeds. A modern rail system made of super strong lightweight materials using MagLev technology will make the United States the leader in transportation systems. These transportation systems could be the next generation’s jobs as we produce this technology for the world.

The key to every advance the modern world has known has been tied directly to energy. The electrical power industry has been very instrumental to advancing the commercial industrial and educational, advances of America and every other nation on earth. Energy is the reason we live well and the reason we are vulnerable. We need to stop acting like victims. We need to create the systems that will save this country from the unreliable dictators of the world, not by invading them, which hurts us as much as it hurts them, but making what they produce irrelevant to our survival.

Congressman Tim Bishop, Congressional update.
2005-08-19 00:00
Members and friends
This morning our speaker was supposed to be Congressman Tim Bishop. Mr. Bishop made a valiant effort to be there but was suffering from a painful, but not life threatening health problem. As a result he turned back at the last minute and went home. His representative, Jennifer Gunn, was there to read some of the points the congressman was going to make.

I will highlight some of the points;
The president’s transportation security request was disproportionately skewered toward aviation. $4.7 billion for aviation and $32 million for rails, buses, and other surface transit systems

The House and Senate passed risk based formulas for homeland security and the congressman supports that approach.

$286.5 billion will be authorizes for highway and public transit projects (there was plenty of pork in this bill but the 1st congressional district will be getting $45 million. (At least we have something to oink about).

The energy bill is an item the congressman rejected because it was heavily tilted to subsidies for oil exploration and very little went to alternative fuels and conservation.

CAFTA, the Caribbean version of NAFTA, was rejected by the congressman because of the negative effects on American labor.

After Jennifer Gunn made Congressman Bishop’s major points we began a discussion among the participants in the room. Fortunately the people in the room included some folks with real expertise and knowledge. Keyspan’s Vincent Frigeria was there to clarify the company’s position on using its property at Shoreham for a ferry point. According to Vincent all the stakeholders, including the neighbors, must have a say in the process.

Gerry Fitzpatrick was there to reiterate his belief that the ferry technology that he is advocating addresses the objections to ferries, including, wake, fuel costs and speed.

Nancy Douzinas from the Rauch Foundation was there to discuss the needs of Long Island that are better addressed if you know the facts about the demographics of the region. The Rauch Foundation has created the Long Island Index. Their work has been an excellent guideline for making recommendations based on perceived needs and known resources.

The meeting was held as a moderated large discussion and many people contributed to that discussion. As a result a lot of ground was covered on the topic of transportation, but there were other issues too. We miss the speaker when an emergency prevents him from being there, but an interesting and enlightening discussion always takes place anyway, due to the knowledge of the audience.

Thanks to all for being there and participating. Next week we will have the publisher of Newsday, Tim Knight. I’ll have more on that next week.
Meanwhile have a nice weekend.

Ernie Fazio

Felix Grucci
2005-08-12 00:00
Members and friends,
Last Friday our speaker was former congressman Felix Grucci. I asked Mr. Grucci to comment on his take on things. I thought that because he is not in elected office, he would give some opinions that were not biased by the need to be reelected. Felix began by reminding us of what he considered successes in the course of his public service. One of his initiatives was affordable housing and this dates back 30 years while in town government. As I write this on Monday morning I find this particularly interesting. I spent this past weekend in Newport, Rhode Island. In a mansion tour of Alva Vanderbilt’s home, the narrator gave as one of Alva’s causes “affordable housing” for the craftsman and gardeners that serviced the mansions of Newport’s wealthy. Hmmm…, I thought, this problem is going to be with us for a while to come. Mr. Grucci while in local office began a program called “Dress for Success.” This program was designed to instruct underprivileged women on dressing for the workplace. It doesn’t occur to most of us that this is not second nature to some people, and apparently it helped. Another initiative was “Brookhaven Classroom” This program was designed to show school children how government works. (I hope they didn’t show them everything). Mr. Grucci went on to tell us about his part in the tax relief measure brought about by President Bush. He agreed with the president’s tax policy. His rationale being that people are better stewards of their money than the government. Of course I did not take issue with the congressman on that one, because I vaguely recall in my youthful indiscretions, being in a drunkard stupor with my shipmates, and being far more responsible with my money than these folks in Washington are now. Mr. Grucci is a well practiced public speaker and it was fun seeing him again. I liked his presentation. He is confident, at the same time he demonstrated humility. As usual there were numerous questions. Mr., Grucci was his usual gracious self and entertained all of the questions and stayed long after the formal close of the meeting. Thank you Felix and we hope you can come again. This week we will have as our speaker Tim Bishop our current congressman for the district. I’ll have more on that in Tuesday’s announcement.
My best to all,
Ernie Fazio

Brian Foley , candidate for Town of Brookhaven Supv.
2005-08-05 00:00

LIMBA mtg recap 8/5
2005-08-05 00:00
Members and friends
Our speaker this morning was Brian Foley. Brian is a Suffolk County legislator and is the Democratic candidate for the position of town supervisor for Brookhaven.
Mr. Foley gave us his take on the nature and depth of the corruption in Brookhaven. The gist of his comments that entrenched political parties have little incentive to change.

According to Foley, Brookhaven political party dominance by the Republicans has led people in government to look at public service as a means to game the system and get rich. Perhaps so, as my friend Paul Townsend was fond of saying “vote the ins out” Terry Townsend was in the audience and reminded me of that sentiment from Paul. He was right of course; monopolistic power destroys good politics as much as it does good business.
Foley promised to address cleaning up politics. We wish him well.

When we went to the Q&A I started out by naming three of our four stated goals and asked Brian where he stood on the issues. I said that robust ferry links to Connecticut are not only good for business and tourism the are also essential for Homeland Security and I asked him if he was supportive. I did not get the statement of solid support I had hoped for, but I did get commitment to address all of the various interests in a fair manner.

There were questions about the immigrant housing problems, and particularly those landlords that are being closed down because of health and safety reasons. He agreed that those landlords that who were creating unlivable sanitary conditions should be criminally charged and put out of business.

On the issue of repowering he was supportive. He pointed out that the Caithness plant in Bellport was an excellent plant that should be built and used, displacing more polluting plants.

On rail sidings being rebuilt for freight operations he was not as supportive, but not closed to the issue either. He was supportive of the idea that these rail links had value in freeing up our roads and reducing diesel fuel emissions from heavy trucks. He pointed out that people close to the rails would have to be considered.

Overall it was an excellent meeting and there were questions that were asked that I did not include for the sake of brevity.

Please join us next week when former congressman Felix Grucci will be our speaker. I’ll have more on that in next week’s announcement. Meanwhile have a nice weekend.
Ernie Fazio

Sustainable development planning fo the east end
2005-07-29 00:00
Members and friends,Today’s speaker was New York Metropolitan Council Director, Gerry Bogacz, and the topic was “Sustainable East End Development”.
Mr. Bogacz began by explaining how old communities in the Bronx were formed around the new subway lines many years ago. He pointed out how that kind of development caused developers to base their building plans according to the proximity of the transportation system that was in place. We on the other hand, based our expansion into new development on the capabilities of the automobile. The enhanced mobility of the automobile has spread us out so much, that establishing better transportation systems are extremely difficult to execute. Land use now dictates transportation planning, which is just the opposite of the old model.
The Council has taken great pains to develop plans by involving the numerous communities in the “visioning process.” As a result of this extensive effort, the resistance to make changes is still there, but less hostile than most of these endeavors can be.
There are many aspects of the East end suggestions. Among them are the combined rail and street vehicle possibilities on the right of way of the existing Long Island Railroad. This is a creative design that was originally proposed by planner Dr. Koppleman many years ago, and further developed by LIMBA board member Dr. Clifford Bragdon more recently.
There are proposals for inter-hamlet transportation links served by light rails or buses, and an extensive systems of water taxis on Peconic Bay. These water taxis would be used during the late spring, summer, and fall, and would be used mostly by the tourists. Tourism is a big part of the east end economy and would benefited by such a system.
The essential elements of any new planning is to not disrupt the unique qualities of the east end. Not an easy task. On the other hand the present difficult transportation problems are recognized by everyone.
The enthusiastic and curious audience began asking questions before the formal remarks were finished, and we continued in a conversational exchange that could have gone on a long time, but with a little discipline we were able to finish almost on time. Gerry stayed around for about 30 minutes more to answer many more questions on an individual basis.
Many thanks to Gerry Bogacz for an interesting and well presented discussion.
Next week our speaker will be Brian Foley. Mr. Foley is a member of the Suffolk Legislator and is a candidate for the Brookhaven Town Supervisor. More on that next week, meanwhile have a nice weekend.
Ernie Fazio

Pictured John Hritcko, Shell- John Cusak, Speaker, Jim Baum
2005-07-23 00:00
Members and friends,This week’s program featured John Cusack, President of the board of the New York State Environmental Business Association. He titled his presentation, “Global Warming, Fact or Fiction.” Mr.Cusck’s message was two pronged. First he made a case that global warming was documentable and real by all measures. Then he went on to proclaim that solving the problem, presented economic opportunities that were available to those who took global warming serious.
We have been told by the administration in Washington that global warming remedies would cripple our economy. Cusack’s presentation debunked that notion by using some current examples. For example, a few years ago when the Durst Corporation built 4 Times Square in NYC, they built in solar lighting efficiency, Solar photovoltaic panels, fuel cells, and superior insulation. They were ridiculed in some circles. These steps added 3% to the cost of the building, but if oil remained at $10/barrel, the cost would be paid for in three years. Of course the cost of oil is now approaching $60/ barrel, so who got the last laugh here?
He cited a French company that had no interest in the environmental aspects of global warming, but undertook modification in there operations on advice from consultants because the modifications would cost $120 million, and the savings were $240 million each year. Here the message was clearly economy and new technology can make you look like a “tree hugger”and at the same time save you a ton of money.
There are also difficult to measure, other problems associated with the burning of fossil fuels. Asthma, and lung disorders have a cost. How much could they be reduced? We may not know exactly, but we do know that solving these related issues will make healthier environments, and lower demands on health care.
Fortunately, there are profits to be made in reducing green house gases and other more lethal pollutants. I say fortunately because that means it will be done. Our leaders have demonstrated the imagination of gnat and have failed us on this issue, but everything that I have been reading lately from the business world makes me confident that solutions are at hand. A good reference source is Amory Lovin’s book “Winning The Oil Endgame”
General Electric has embarked on a major campaign to create better more efficient products. This is a good business decision to remain relevant, and make money, not a feel good campaign.
Realistically, John did not proclaim that we could abandon fossil fuels overnight, but higher efficiencies and alternatives to oil have their place, and can be exploited at once.
It was, by all comments from the audience, an interesting and encouraging discussion. Our many thanks to Mr. Cusack for an enlightening presentation. According to one of our regular attendees, Irv Hansen, he regrets that we aren’t sharing these meetings with more people. I agree, these recaps don’t begin to capture the dynamics of these meeting, so come on out whenever you can.
Next week our speaker will be Gerry Bogacz from “Sustainable East End Development” his topic will be transportation issues. More on that in next week’s announcement, meanwhile have great weekend Ernie Fazio.

Global Warming-"Fact or Fiction"-John Cusack
2005-07-22 00:00

LIMBA Management Recap
2005-07-22 00:00
This week’s program featured John Cusack, President of the board of the New York State Environmental Business Association. He titled his presentation, “Global Warming, Fact or Fiction.” Mr.Cusck’s message was two pronged. First he made a case that global warming was document able and real by all measures. Then he went on to proclaim that solving the problem, presented economic opportunities that were available to those who took global warming serious.

We have been told by the administration in Washington that global warming remedies would cripple our economy. Cusack’s presentation debunked that notion by using some current examples. For example, a few years ago when the Durst Corporation built 4 Times Square in NYC, they built in solar lighting efficiency, Solar photovoltaic panels, fuel cells, and superior insulation. They were ridiculed in some circles. These steps added 3% to the cost of the building, but if oil remained at $10/barrel, the cost would be paid for in three years. Of course the cost of oil is now approaching $60/ barrel, so who got the last laugh here?

He cited a French company that had no interest in the environmental aspects of global warming, but undertook modification in there operations on advice from consultants because the modifications would cost $120 million, and the savings were $240 million each year. Here the message was clearly economy and new technology can make you look like a “tree hugger” and at the same time save you a ton of money.

There are also difficult to measure, other problems associated with the burning of fossil fuels. Asthma and lung disorders have a cost. How much could they be reduced? We may not know exactly, but we do know that solving these related issues will make healthier environments and lower demands on health care.

Fortunately, there are profits to be made in reducing green house gases and other more lethal pollutants. I say fortunately because that means it will be done. Our leaders have demonstrated the imagination of gnat and have failed us on this issue, but everything that I have been reading lately from the business world makes me confident that solutions are at hand. A good reference source is Amory Lovin’s book “Winning the Oil Endgame”

General Electric has embarked on a major campaign to create better more efficient products. This is a good business decision to remain relevant, and make money, not a feel good campaign.

Realistically, John did not proclaim that we could abandon fossil fuels overnight, but higher efficiencies and alternatives to oil have their place, and can be exploited at once.

It was, by all comments from the audience, an interesting and encouraging discussion. Our many thanks to Mr. Cusack for an enlightening presentation. According to one of our regular attendees, Irv Hansen, he regrets that we aren’t sharing these meetings with more people. I agree, these recaps don’t begin to capture the dynamics of these meeting, so come on out whenever you can.

Next week our speaker will be Gerry Bogacz from “Sustainable East End Development” his topic will be transportation issues. More on that in next week’s announcement, meanwhile have great weekend
Ernie Fazio

Recap of the June 17th meeting
2005-07-17 00:00
Members and friends,
This morning our speaker was Mark Green. Mr. Green has had a long experience in the field of consumer advocacy for the city of New York, and now would like to replace Elliot Spitzer as NY State Attorney General.

According to Mark, the job of AG is similar in its purpose to the job he has already doing. By the use of legal suits and prodding, people and companies that have been cheating the public are punished or forced to make amends. I can see the similarities, but it appears that the scope of the AG’s office is broader.

Mr. Green started by pointing to the lack of confidence that has been spawned by the administration in Washington. Then he tried to tie those deficiencies to the relevancy of his candidacy. He may have succeeded. He expressed the attitude that the AG was the “peoples attorney,” and that while he admired the present Attorney General, he probably would be somewhat different in his approach.

During the Q&A Green was asked if there was a place for him interceding on behalf of the investors. He pointed out that Elliot Spitzer did, and was generally successful. He stated that the honest dealings with investors by the financial community would continue to be important to him as AG.

Mark is a good natured, self effacing speaker. His sense of humor helps him communicate as a leader and we were pleased to have at our venue. We will subsequently have Andrew Coumo speak who is also interested in the Attorney General job. And finally we will have the Republican candidate for that job when he or she emerges.

Ernie Fazio

Patrick Vechio, Supv. Town of Smithtown
2005-07-15 00:00

LIMBA mtg recap & news
2005-07-10 00:00
Members and friends
This mornings meeting featured Dr Matt Cordaro from LIU as our speaker and the topic was Disaster Preparedness. We advertised this event as hurricane preparedness, but in fact we covered more ground than that. Terrorist attacks were also discussed.
Matt began by citing the inadequacy of the local and state officials in Louisiana. A bit unfair I thought, but their were certainly some bad responses to the emergency, and that is the greater point.

His point was that the local authorities have the real responsibility and FEMA is a source of money to get things done. Even as we can accept that the position, FEMA was stripped of its previous large funding that it had in the 90’s. Of course not having a take charge type of individual is a bigger problem (Michael Brown) was not helpful, nor was it discussed.

Cordaro explained how planning for disaster is a “what if” exercise. Where the participants throw out the most devastating set of circumstances and discuss, what do we do to mitigate the disaster. He pointed out that all that can go wrong is very often beyond the reach of our imagination. We do the best we can and hope we can deal with what we have imagined with the tools we put in place.

According to Matt, the biggest problem was having an alert system that people know about. The day of the disaster is not the time that you tell people what they have to do to save their lives and property. Matt alluded to a systemic approach being required. In other words larger plans than can be followed with very little knowledge of the intricacies of the planning on the part of the citizen, because until we are faced with an emergency we are not likely to pay much attention. The trick is not having “the best layed plans of mice and men” but having a ritual of survival we all can follow. The discussion that followed was useful in firming up Dr. Cordaro’s comments.

Follow-up on other LIMBA issues
Rail freight– Fred Krebs, president of NY & Atlantic RR, has pointed out to me that Congressman Nadler was successful in getting $100,000,000 for the planning of the New Jersey to Brooklyn Tunnel. Fred contends that is a a waste of money because it simply is not going to address the problems we have, and the final tab on that boondoggle is more than $8 billion. Moreover, if it should be built it would not have economics to support itself. A better use of that $100,000,000 would be to make the bridge and track improvements on the existing rail system and we could increase rail freight by ten times our present loads, and take 300,000 truck off the road each year. Now that would help.

Repowering-LIPA and Keyspan are talking seriously to each other on this topic. Now that we will have a little excess capacity after the newly approved cables are in place, we will have a window of opportunity to replace an existing power plant, and several others after that. I applaud the efforts of Bob Catell and Richie Kessel.

Ferries -Homeland Security Access Ferries We have come up with a plan that makes perfect sense in terms of getting funding. Supplying Long Island with commodities, medical supplies, and equipment of all kinds requires a high speed ferry that is more than an economic benefit, it is a survival lifeline. The design of this plan is done and should be available on our website in two weeks.

Next week we will have Barry Greenspan from NY State Economic Dev.
Thanks to all that attended today’s meeting. Have a nice weekend
Ernie Fazio

Village Revitalization-Mayor Paul Pontieri
2005-07-08 00:00
The mayor of Patchogue will talk about the village of Patchogue efforts to revitalize the downton.

LIMBA mtg recap 7/8
2005-07-08 00:00
Members and friends,
This morning our speaker was Paul Pontieri, Mayor of Patchogue. Mayor Pontieri has been pressing the issues that will improve the quality of life and the vibrancy of this very old and historical village on the South Shore of Long Island. But before I tell you what the village is doing at the present, I think what Paul said about ethnicity of the village now, and that of the past is worth pondering.

Paul reminded us that the Italians that were a major part of the population of the past, were equally disparaged as are today’s new arrivals, mostly Hispanic. The names of those Italians which we think of as our respected elders in Patchogue and other places on Long Island, were no less foreign to others as our new immigrants. They were poor, different looking, and struggling to be part of America. Putting that fact in perspective helps us be tolerant. As my friend David Ochoa said after the meeting, “All these people want is to get in the game.” They will get in the game, and we will be proud of many of them too.

Paul spoke about the problems of Patchogue in terms of opportunities. He quoted a fellow mayor and friend David Kapell. David stated when you approach problems you often uncover wonderful opportunities (not a direct quote). Right now Patchogue wants to expand it’s sewer plant to accommodate some changes in Patchogue. There is a joint dormitory planned for Briarcliff’s and St. Joseph’s Colleges, and there is a plan to increase downtown housing. There is a plan to better utilize the waterfront on the Patchogue River.

Earlier this year we had village trustee, Victor Yannacone come to LIMBA and speak about the refurbishment of the Patchogue Theater. Mayor Pontieri spoke about the theater too and mentioned that the theater made a new contract with Gateway Theater. The Mayors presentation was about the village reinventing itself. With some nostalgia we say good-bye to the old and familiar and welcome the new. At the same time the village is preserving it’s most architecturally sound buildings, such as the theater.

After we adjourned the meeting there was an unusual number of people that stayed longer and wanted to speak to the mayor. He graciously obliged.

Next week we will have Smithtown Supervisor, Patrick Vechio speak at LIMBA. Please plan om joining us.

Meanwhile have a great weekend,
Ernie Fazio

Fouth of July weekend-No Meeting
2005-07-01 00:00

LIMBA mtg recap of Round Table Discussion
2005-06-24 00:00
Members and friends
This morning’s meeting was a “Round Table Discussion” of a few important issues. These sessions where we do not have an outside speaker, are often productive and interesting. This morning was particularly interesting.

A topic brought by Charlie Richardson centered on illiteracy and the enormous cost that it has on business. More important is the human tragedy of lives that are more prone to crime where illiteracy is a problem. According to Richardson, the cost of properly educating children is much cheaper than incarceration. LIMBA does not have literacy improvement as an action item on our agenda. But having an articulate and knowledgeable person such as Richardson in our membership allows LIMBA to weigh in on that issue. LIMBA will lend its name to Richardson’s efforts.

An action plan for establishing a much discussed ferry service from Shoreham to New Haven was laid out. The plan would involve making the ferry system part of the Interstate Highway System. Under the plan the William Floyd Parkway would become Interstate 91 and hook up with Interstate 91 in Connecticut. Fred Hall, General Manager of the Port Jefferson – Bridgeport Ferry was in the room and suggested that a South Fork auto ferry be proposed at the same time. All of this was discussed in the context of these links being necessary to enhance Homeland Security. The premise is that Long Island would be virtually impossible to evacuate, but with adequate ferry systems we would be able to supply the Island with supplies.

John Howell, Kelly Gutradt, Gina Levechio, Jeff Levy, and several others volunteered to do some legwork for making a complete ferry proposal that is scheduled to be done by August 31. Included in the proposal will be graphics.. We may be able to use some work that has been already done, but it will need to be modified. Thanks to all for the participation and interest.

Ernie Fazio

Next week we will observe the 4th of July holiday – There will be no meeting July 1. Next meeting July 9th.
