BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//Limba - ECPv6.16.5//NONSGML v1.0//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN METHOD:PUBLISH X-WR-CALNAME:Limba X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://limba.net X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Limba REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H X-Robots-Tag:noindex X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/New_York BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:EDT DTSTART:20080309T070000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:EST DTSTART:20081102T060000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:EDT DTSTART:20090308T070000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:EST DTSTART:20091101T060000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:EDT DTSTART:20100314T070000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:EST DTSTART:20101107T060000 END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20090305T000000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20090305T000000 DTSTAMP:20090305T050000Z CREATED:20090305T050000Z LAST-MODIFIED:20090305T050000Z UID:4381-1236211200-1236211200@limba.net SUMMARY:Helena Williams\, Presiden LIRR (TBC) DESCRIPTION:Ms Williams will bring us up to date on initiatives that will have been announced at that time. Please join us. URL:https://limba.net/calendar/helena-williams-presiden-lirr-tbc/ LOCATION:NY END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20090306T000000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20090306T000000 DTSTAMP:20090306T050000Z CREATED:20090306T050000Z LAST-MODIFIED:20090306T050000Z UID:4337-1236297600-1236297600@limba.net SUMMARY:Steve Levy\, County Executive DESCRIPTION:This morning our speaker\, County Executive Steve Levy began by taking back to where he believes the problems of under funding began.  \n  \nThe county depends on having sales taxes. A 1-cent reduction in sales taxes causes a revenue loss of  $12million.  “Governments provide everything to everybody when times are good. The real problem comes when executives in politics need to make hard decisions. When that happens you need to maintain the intestinal fortitude to do what you feel is right.” \n  \nMr. Levy cited the removal of regular police from the highways and replacing them with sheriff officers. These sheriffs are police trained personnel and are now patrolling the Long Island Expressway\, but they earn about $42\,000 less than a year than Suffolk County police. That savings amounted to $8 million. It also caused the police union to launch a campaign against him. He felt he had to hold his ground and not give in. \n  \nHe likened controlling taxes as being compassionate. “How compassionate is it if taxes drive people out of their homes? He asked. According to Levy\, there needs to be sacrifices made by the public employees. It is more important to serve the much larger public. \n  \nMr. Levy also brought up the matter of the county getting out of the nursing home business. “This need can be better served by the private sector\, we’re just not that good at controlling costs” \n  \nIn general Steve expressed the opinion that public employees should be at no competitive advantage when compared to the private sector. “Handing over a check for $200\,000 to pay a retiring police officer for his unused sick days is crazy. It does not happen in business.” \n  \nMr. Levy supports the investment in infrastructure. He cited the improvements on County Rd 39\, near Southampton. CR 39 had been a bottleneck for years. It took 40 minutes to travel 4 miles. Money was not available from the state to increase the overall width of the highway. Levy said we’ll reduce the lane size and rebuild the highway with our own funds. The planned lanes of 13 feet were built to a standard of 11 feet. Now the traffic delays are greatly reduced. \n  \nAnother infrastructure issue is the bus system. He would like to expand it. The state cites low ridership of the existing service for withholding funds. His reply\, “expand service and ridership will increase” \n  \nDuring the Q&A Levy was asked if should have a payroll tax to fund schools. “If you were stating from scratch that could be an answer\, but the system in place would be difficult to replace” \nErnie Fazio URL:https://limba.net/calendar/steve-levy-county-executive-3/ LOCATION:NY END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20090313T000000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20090313T000000 DTSTAMP:20090313T040000Z CREATED:20090313T040000Z LAST-MODIFIED:20090313T040000Z UID:4334-1236902400-1236902400@limba.net SUMMARY:State Senator Brian Foley DESCRIPTION:Mr. Foley began by reviewing the origins of the revenue shortfalls. The reduction in income tax receipts derived from mega-bucks bonuses on Wall Street\, and reduced sales taxes being among the causes. We did not discuss any remedies\, because frankly\, there are none on the horizon. \n  \nThe Senator went on to review some of the positives that we have going in the state and locally. One of those bright spots is The Center for Advanced Technology\, which has been granted $120 million from the federal stimulation fund. Another helpful agency has been the Empire Zones\, which he considered extremely helpful to Long Island’s economy. He also cited the IDA program but pointed out that while the IDA program has worked well on Long Island it needs reform upstate. \n  \nThe federal stimulus plan will address the needs of the MacArthur hub. New designs are being drawn for the area to make the train and airport connections more efficient. I have no details to report here. \n  \nOne of the questions from the audience addressed the available money for energy efficiency. Mr. Foley indicated that there would be increased funds for that purpose \n  \nBrian was asked about the cost of K through 12 education costs\, and how do we support a system that is not cost conscious. The senator answered the question from the point of view that better funding methods are needed. He suggested that more money should come from the state. I countered that the problem is centered on out of control costs. Getting more money from the state is nice\, but the careless inefficient operations\, along with 126 school districts and their overpaid administrators are the problem. \n  \nEditorial note; The burden of property taxes\, which are at least 70% attributable to school taxes\, has been heaped on the people of Long Island. The load is difficult in a good economy and totally unsustainable in troubled times. Yet these unchecked bureaucracies are like little fiefdoms that are answerable to no one. School boards are intimately intertwined with schools they are charged with overseeing. Teachers from adjoining districts and vendors to the schools on boards are hardly the watchdogs we need. Enough is enough\, and Atlas is about to shrug. \nErnie Fazio URL:https://limba.net/calendar/state-senator-brian-foley/ LOCATION:NY END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20090320T000000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20090320T000000 DTSTAMP:20090320T040000Z CREATED:20090320T040000Z LAST-MODIFIED:20090320T040000Z UID:4338-1237507200-1237507200@limba.net SUMMARY:Alan Doctor- CUNY Center for Advanced Technology DESCRIPTION:Alan Doctor was our speaker at LIMBA this morning. Alan is the Director for Business Development at CUNY Center for Advanced Technology. The unit assists businesses that are developing new techniques. \n  \nMr. Doctor outlined the requirements that allow a business to get assistance. The economic impact is what is important. If it can be shown that a large economic impact can be made\, than the chances of getting help is increased. For each $1 provided the return has been $30. \n  \nThere are 15 separate units of CUNY-CAT around the state. Each one has a separate focus. The one that Alan Doctor is affiliated specializes in photonics. Projects range from the mundane to the exotic. He mentioned a project that is developing “laser tissue welding\,” a process the promises plastic surgery without scars. \n  \nWhen CUNY-CAT works with a client company they find an appropriate university to work with. The level of assistance they give a company can be substantial. It usually is about 50%. For small companies it may be as high as 80% while a very large company may only get 20% \n  \nCUNY is the 3rd largest university in the country and the largest city university. \n  \nSPIR (Small Business Innovative Research) when providing funds does so in phases. In phase I provides $100\,000 to flesh out a good idea. Phase II provides $1\,000\,000 for product development. The third phase is commercialization. To be selected for Phase I\, a panel rates the idea. Because there are usually more requests than money to fund them\, the most promising technologies will survive\, and be funded. Having successfully shown the viability of an idea\, getting Phase II is a lot easier. \n  \n  URL:https://limba.net/calendar/alan-doctor-cuny-center-for-advanced-technology/ LOCATION:NY END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20090327T000000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20090327T000000 DTSTAMP:20090327T040000Z CREATED:20090327T040000Z LAST-MODIFIED:20090327T040000Z UID:4339-1238112000-1238112000@limba.net SUMMARY:Steve Dierker Assoc Laboratory director-Light Source Project DESCRIPTION:Our speaker this morning was Dr Steven Dierker Associate Director of Brookhaven National Laboratories. The topic of discussion was the new National Synchrotron Light Source II. This project has been in the planning stage for a long time. The NLSL II will be working with light in the X-ray range. The promise of the research that will be performed with this technology is mind boggling\, starting with the physical size of the instrument. \n  \nThe total commitment in dollars is just under $1 billion. Last week $170million was designated for the initial construction. This will result in 850 construction jobs. The site was already prepared for the work\, so this is a truly shovel ready project. The full time staff at this facility will be 500 high paying\, high skilled jobs. The economic impact is very significant. But the real excitement is the prospects of the work product that will result. \n  \nA few years ago I was reading that the number of these machines were being built in various other countries\, notably Switzerland and China\, and that technology was surpassing the capacity of our original research equipment. This new Synchrotron Light generator is 10\,000 times brighter than anything that has been built anywhere in the world. This machine is\, as the cliché states\, “a game changer.” The same can be said of the futures it will be bring about. The ability to manipulate matter on a nano-scale means the ability to create batteries for the energy use of future. The ability to create new materials holds out the hope that we can build stronger\, and lighter airplanes and surface transportation vehicles which in turn means that less energy will be needed to move those vehicles. \n  \nBut the Challenging experimentation is not limited to any one field. Advances in medicine are expected in studying Alzheimer’s and many other maladies. We expect to be able to arrange the structures of photovoltaic cells that produce electric current from the sun to generate many times the power than present technology will allow. \n  \nThe immediate prospects of local busnesses benefiting is encouraged by the lab. They will need the services of a wide variety of providers. The different department heads were named\, so that people in the room could contact the appropriate people that would be familiar with a particular need. \n  \nBNL needs us\, and we need them. This commitment from the federal government will advance science in a way that has not existed since the 60’s\, and we have a great opportunity. \n\nErnie Fazio URL:https://limba.net/calendar/steve-dierker-assoc-laboratory-director-light-source-project/ LOCATION:NY END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR