Talking about Queens and Brooklyn as if they were true options is nothing short of ridiculous.

Wang can free himself, free the Islanders and STILL make billions with a LI hub.

You imply that Wang wants to move the team. You say he needs an excuse to move the team, and the failure to get financing will be the reason.

Why would he go through all of what he’s going through, paying millions of dollars for studies, for a staff, for public relations, etc. if he’s going to move the team? He’d do that just to have an excuse?

If the financing falls apart or the town blocks the Lighthouse, these won’t be excuses for moving. They will be the REASON for moving.

As far as thinking of something else: there is no something else. This is it. Get used to it. The model you are proposing — well, actually, you really aren’t proposing anything now, are you? — doesn’t work, if I assume your model to be the stand-alone arena surrounded by a parking lot. I’ve said before that I think the only place where that works has been the Palace at Auburn Hills. I really can’t think of one other one.

Also: the team has not been horrible since he got here. They finished fifth in the east in ‘01-’02, made the playoffs the next two years, made the playoffs the second year post-lockout. It’s not a great record, but it certainly undercuts the idea that they have been horrible the entire team he’s been here.

(Note to self: Why am I wasting my time arguing with these people?)

I think Charles has to do what he’s doing. He’s got to keep pressure on the TOH and Nassau County. If he doesn’t, this project will continue to stall. And he has every right to want a decision expeditiously. He and the other developers have a lot at stake with this project, and they’re already millions deep in the project before a shovel has even gone into the ground.

The best thing going for the Project right now is the state of the economy. People are losing their jobs and this project guarantees 19,000 permanent jobs, as well as thousands more during the construction phase. Plus, the Project will provide the TOH and Nassau County with tons of new tax revenue.

I think the people of the TOH are going to get behind this project and once they make that support verbal, the politicans will approve it as soon as possile, so long as the environmental study doesn’t contain any drastic problems.

This website http://www.dec.ny.gov/permits/6189.html has a lot of good information about the SEQR process. The specific timeline: The lead agency (the ToH) has 45 days after receipt of the draft environmental impact statement to declare whether it’s acceptable for public review. That triggers a 30 day public comment period. There is a non-mandatory public hearing that may be held; this needs to happen sooner than 60 days after the completion of the draft EIS. The final EIS must be prepared within 45 days of the final public hearing or within 60 days of the filing of the draft EIS, whichever comes last. Finally, the Town needs to submit a their findings within 30 days of filing the final EIS.

Altogether, the maximum time under the law it can take is: 60 days (until a public hearing) + 45 days (to file the final EIS) + 30 days (for the Town to give its deadnuts yes or no). So, we’re looking at five and a half months, if the Town drags its feet.

Keep in mind that the DEC timeline lists the scoping at 60 days, where the Town took something like five months (if I remember right, the draft scoping was submitted back in September).

I need to strongly disagree with DPS. Calling the lighthouse a joke and saying Wang has tricked us is pattently ridiculous. You reference places like Columbus and Pitt. The difference is that those arenas like many many others are downtown. in Colubus for example an entire shopping and dining district has grown around their arena. What does NVMC have? Papa John’s across the street. Wang has lost staggering sums of money since buying the team. I have no problem with him making the money back. To suggest that a refurbished coliseum could be done without the lighthouse is silly. It is unlikely that a building renovation on its own will drastically increase gate receipts and it is even more unlikely that the increase receipts offset the cost of renovation. The entire package: arena, housing, office space works in a synergistic way, otherwise the coliseum will remain sitting in the middle of an asphalt desert. Furthermore, how could you not prefer going to a game in a nice area like the lighthouse sketches show where you can get food or go to a bar than the desolate hole where we currently play? If you think that just doing the coliseum makes any sense from an economic perspective think again. That is just some farce Kate Murray has fed you to make it look like she is being cooperative.

QUESTION FOR CB OR NICK CLASSIC

How long typically would it take a municipality to review and approve a document like this review?