Monthly Archives: July 2011
The latest major developments in the Islanders-Nassau County arena saga with just eight days before the referedum:
1. The Lighthouse Project had its arch-enemy in Kate Murray. Who is the top rival of the 2011 deal between Charles Wang and Republican Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano? New York State Democratic Chairman Jay Jacobs, who appears prepared to do everything in his power to see this proposal squashed. It it doesn’t fail in the Aug. 1 referendum, Jacobs will focus his efforts on NIFA and the super-majority needed in the Nassau County Legislature. If all of the Republicans on the legislature approve the deal, Mangano and Wang need thumbs-up from two Democrats. Democratic Nassau County legislator Judy Jacobs carved up the deal on Saturday in an interview with News 12.
2. The Association For A Better Long Island, directed by Desmond Ryan and featuring powerful developers such as former Wang partner Scott Rechler, are launching an ad campaign this week against the deal for a new Coliseum.
3. A Newsday poll declares that Nassau residents want the Islanders to stay, but 51% are against using tax dollars to fund the project. An additional 12% of residents are undecided.
4. Charles Wang tells Newsday that if he does not get approvals and a shovel in the ground by June of 2012, it will be “the end of the road” in his efforts to develop the Coliseum property. That’s the major headline. Otherwise, his interview reads like re-printed quotes from 2005. Not his fault, but sad just the same that it’s taken this long.
5. James Dolan, the owner of Newsday, Cablevision, Madison Square Garden and the New York Rangers, is appearing in an Islanders-funded ad urging Nassau residents to vote YES.
6. The Tea Party Republicans and other opponents with clout are beginning to talk a big game about fighting the Coliseum proposal hard. Whether they can get the large turnout to vote NO a week from Monday still remains to be seen.
What should you take from these latest news items?
Jay Jacobs and the Democratic Party are not going away. Jacobs will fight this to the end and he has plenty of power. Anyone waiting for (Democratic) Governor Andrew Cuomo to step up may be waiting a while.
(By the way, we’re still waiting for Republican Nassau presiding officer Peter Schmitt to retract his criticism of the deal. We’re still waiting for Kate Murray, who hasn’t said diddly since Wang and Mangano let her take a bow two months ago at the initial press conference, to say something about the deal.)
The Dolan TV spot for his friend and partner Wang, on the heels of support here for the Islanders from four Rangers, should mercifully end the waste-of-time, misinformed complaints about perceived agendas from MSG. Okay, it probably won’t, but it should.
The poll results are a positive for the Islanders. They should serve as a wakeup call. Also, just because 51% of 620 people polled say they don’t like the deal, it doesn’t mean they will all make the effort to vote against it.
Through some fault of their own, and in some cases no fault of their own, the Islanders are in a bit of hole with eight days to go. The referendum could be a little closer than it ever should have been.
The Islanders have some plans this week – more interviews, the parking lot rally – but will they be enough to make a significant impact?
The rally may not be at the most convenient time for some, but it is a crucial moment in this campaign. There will be plenty of media coverage. Political proponents and opponents will be hovering or will send staffers to monitor the proceedings. A low turnout at the rally would cause a thud that could reverberate at the worst possible time – five days before the vote. The standard thousand or two union guys yelling “Build it Now”! just doesn’t get it done.
One more time (but not one last time): Nassau County registered voters who care about the Islanders and about finally getting a new arena – do not want to take this vote for granted.
Comments welcomed.
“Hockey” talk continues below, but we’ll attempt to put the focus back where it belongs. In Part 1 of a two-part interview recorded Friday afternoon, Charles Wang’s Renaissance Properties president Michael Picker responds as I put complaints by some of the arena deal’s biggest critics before him. We also address the Arenaco issue, which I see as good for Islanders Country. In Part 2, Picker and I speak about the Aug. 1 referendum.
2:05 pm: I want to be very clear here. No matter what the Islanders are trying to pull, I do not understand how Garth Snow can go on the record – with so much on the line in the final days before the Aug. 1 referendum on the future of the franchise – and confirm he has had discussions about bringing Alexei Yashin back to the team.
I know Charles Wang and Alexei Yashin are the closest of friends. I’m very fond of Yashin as well and respect his ability as a hockey player. That is neither here nor there at this moment.
The Islanders are in a real battle with this Aug. 1 referendum. This is serious business. You will hear about polls that will be published in the coming days that say the vote on Aug. 1 is very close. One poll will project that NO will win.
Perhaps the Islanders are just doing Yashin and his agent a favor to see if there are any interested bidders from the other 29 teams. Perhaps they truly believe that Yashin would be an ideal addition to the lineup this season. Heck, perhaps they’re all just having a laugh.
I don’t get it. I cannot comprehend how they could possibly allow this to come out now, with so much at stake. It is mind-blowingly inane.
There are fans who will have no trouble with Alexei’s return on a cheap contract and without having to give up players to get him. I can understand that. But there will be plenty of others who will see this as somebody’s idea of a wicked joke.
The Islanders need 100% of their fans 100% proud of their franchise so they can rock the vote, write to the newspapers, call the politicians, pressure NIFA. Can the Islanders really be this tone-deaf to their fanbase?
I cannot believe that Snow, even if it was “suggested” to him to play along, would not stand up, be a manager and say, “This is not the time.”
This dance could have been danced in mid-August. The Islanders could sign Alexei a few weeks from now.
But to willingly let this get out now? On Friday, July 22? With Newsday ready to launch a load of positive and negative stories and editorials on the deal for a new arena on Sunday? With the Association For A Better Long Island prepared to pounce with a series of withering ads to reach the non-hockey fans?
With, oh, the future of the franchise at stake?
I cannot think of one good explanation. I’d love for someone to try.
Two news items and a very intriguing blog post highlight the Thursday morning developments as the Aug. 1 referendum for a new arena for Nassau County approaches.
1. In a recent interview with Point Blank, Democratic legislator Kevan Abrahams said his vote would be swayed greatly after he learned what the county’s Office of Independent Review thought of the deal. Well, Mr. Abrahams and the rest of us have learned that the O.I.R. has said the new arena could cost taxpayers all of $13.80 a year. This is good news for proponents of the deal.
2. We tweeted for 12 hours on Wednesday about #morecowbell, and now it’s official. Blue Oyster Cult, the Long Island band who once headlined shows at the Coliseum, will be the featured guests when the Islanders host a Vote Yes rally in the Coliseum lot on Wednesday, July 27 beginning at 4:00 pm. Speakers will include Charles Wang, Ed Mangano and the usual union leaders shouting, “Build it now.”
3. Very, very interesting, Miss Strang. Katie Strang, the Islanders’ beat writer for Newsday, rarely writes opinion-filled items – even on her blog. She usually prefers to get all the facts straight and details correct and leave the guessing for others. But on Wednesday night, Strang wrote a blog post about how now is the time for Garth Snow to make his big move. Among the highlights:
“This PR push will undoubtedly continue in the days leading up to the vote, but what else could the Islanders do to energize the fan base and mobilize the troops? Make a move.”
and…
“The Islanders will need to add salary to get to the cap floor regardless, so why not kill two birds with one stone? Fans have been lusting for some action – something, anything – after a quiet-borderline-silent free agency.”
and finally…
“Free concerts are great, but fans want to know this: If they are willing to shell out the money to help build this new arena, will the Islanders reach into their pockets to help build the team?”
Do I know of an imminent Islanders deal as of this very second?
No.
Do I think Katie Strang knows that the Islanders are working on a hockey move?
Yeah, I do.
written by Kevin Schultz
The Islanders leaving town after a failed bid for a new arena – this is hypothetical of course, for the time being – simply put would be the team following the path of the younger part of its fan base out of Nassau County.
Sure, there’s the stereotype of old New Yorkers leaving for Florida, but that’s not what I’m referring to. I’m talking about the disinterest and disconnect of young, native Nassau Countiers to the place where they grew up. The 18-30 year old demographic that flees Nassau for Brooklyn, Queens, other parts of the tri-state and eastern seaboard. This is something you may not notice if you’re a busy commuter going between work and family or are walking through the Hofstra campus. But our young adults have gone missing. They’re not spending all the money from their summer jobs and/or parents in Nassau County. They’re certainly not going to school in Nassau County (see: the rise of SUNYs and Stony Brook). They’re not buying apartments in Oceanside or Great Neck (not like there were any to begin with).
Let me back track a bit and introduce myself. I’m 24-years old and commuting to the city for work via my parents’ basement. If I could afford it, I would have my own place in a minute. I grew up in Syosset for 18 years before heading to college. I couldn’t wait to get. The hell. Out. Call it being a teenager, but I bolted for college at the University of South Carolina. Had it not been for a local economy smaller than Seaford, my other out-of-state friends and I likely would have stayed and found jobs in Columbia. That’s what my high school friends who went to school in Boston did. That’s what, I figure, I would have done if I had gone to Maryland instead. Luckily for Nassau County, I didn’t have anywhere else to go. So now I’m back. And I’m ready to leave. And if you didn’t pay attention or look hard enough, you didn’t notice that my friends and I aren’t around.
Where are we?
We’re going to off-Long Island colleges, especially since the county’s flagship school is asking for private size dollars, a large factor in my decision. We’re renting apartments in Brooklyn. We’re living with our parents in Nassau, but working and drinking playing in the City when we’re not tanning in the Hamptons. Isn’t this the stereotypical Nassau upbringing? Have fun but do it somewhere else.
Why should it be that way? Why should we have to go elsewhere and spend all that money in other municipalities?
Why is it that when I walk around the mall, go to the movies (and to a lesser extent) the beach, all I see are families, high schoolers and retirees?
The fact is, there isn’t a good enough reason for my friends and I to stay in Nassau County. And what’s giving us an incentive to come back when we decide to settle down? Certainly not the property taxes and the housing prices. Definitely not the crowded beaches and highways. Whole Foods is nice, but that’s not exclusive. I’ll sure miss Bagel Boss, but I’ll survive.
But let me get to the main point. My vote will count on August 1st and it is a definitive YES. I’ve been going to Islanders games with my father since I could walk. That got me to collecting cards, which Dad credits my learning to read. Now I blog about hockey which has honed my writing skills and even landed me a paid gig at FanHouse. To say the Islanders have had a profound impact on my life would be an understatement. I’ve asked a lot of questions in this post but here’s the million-dollar one. If the new arena gets vetoed and the Islanders leave when their lease runs out, what reason do I have to stay in or come back to Nassau, aside from family?
Is there nightlife I can’t get anywhere else? No.
Are there beaches unlike anywhere else? I hate to break it to you, but there are beaches outside of the overcrowded Jones and TOBAY. And they have concerts and fireworks!
Are there quaint suburbs that I won’t find anywhere else? There are, with comparable schools and better tax rates.
So why should I come back to Nassau County?
Seriously. Why?
I’m not sitting here picking apart my home because I’m some jaded emo kid. Believe it or not, I like my home quite a bit. Sometimes to wake people up to the consequences of their actions, they need a little tough love. Right now, my county needs some tough love.
You can’t beat All-American Burger in Massapequa. There are beautiful parks all over that I love taking pictures of. And, oh yeah, my beloved Islanders. But the point is, there’s not a lot here you can’t get elsewhere – and for less money.
Lost in all the political games and partisan politics that are driving this County off a cliff faster than Thelma and Louise is the fact that the future of Nassau County isn’t as bright as its present.
Think about what’s starting to happen.
At possibly the top of the economic troubles in Nassau, 1,500 teachers lost their jobs during the recession. Not only hurting them, but that has trickled down to my generation fresh out of school who can’t beat teachers 10 years their senior for jobs, if there are even any jobs out there. Add that to everyone else just out of college, and only 55% of us nationwide are working in jobs requiring a degree (source).
OK, so the economy is tough. It’s tough everywhere, but there’s no reason not to create jobs in the hub of Nassau County by building a new arena. If the Islanders leave, it’s a double negative in that it puts everyone working in the Coliseum and probably some in the surrounding area (restaurants, bars, the Marriot) out as well.
Aside from the economics, the fun is leaving Nassau County as well. We’re already talking about how great the Jones Beach Fireworks used to be. What happens when the Nikon Theatre at the beach gets old and needs repairs? We’ll be talking about all the great concerts we used to go to.
What are we building for the future? What reasons are we giving our kids to stay here? We already don’t keep the majority of them here for college – Hofstra’s website posts a 48% out-of-state rate (Remember, that doesn’t account for enrollments from upstate). That’s an awful lot of lost kids if they’re not choosing the smaller Adelphi or CW Post. None of these schools have an undergrad class greater than 7,000 by the way. We’re outsourcing our college students not just to Maryland, Boston and Delaware but to in-state cities like Ithaca, Albany, Rochester and Stony Brook. We’ve always lost the youth to the city but in a global world where you can Skype, FaceTime and then fly across the country, we’re not keeping up. That’s a lot of kids leaving every year and we’re not giving them a good enough reason to come back.
When I asked for responses from Twitter users the other night, I got more than a few sharing my sentiments:
“You should have tons of material. #Isles and [lacrosse] only two things keeping me here. #ForReal”
“High property taxes chase away young homeowners.”
From Daniel Wernau:
“I’m a 25 year old engineer, making a significant amount more than the median NY household salary. I live in a basement apartment for the same rent I could be paying on a mortgage somewhere else. I hear about friends from college and departed colleagues about making more (25% more) money and living in areas like the Gulf coast and Houston and living in full apartments with amenities for much less than I pay. Why do I stay? The two resources nearly exclusive to Long Island: Lacrosse, and the New York Islanders.”
Others were more vocal like David Cohen, Tufts Class of 2011.
“If they move, will I ever watch hockey again? Doubtful. Will I ever come to Long Island for more than a week at a time? Probably not. But why would I? New York City is 45 minutes away. All of my friends will be living there. My brother lives there. My parents are moving there when they retire. At that point, when I have no family ties to LI, and no friends living here, why would I come back? However, are the New York Islanders, perennial laughingstock of the NHL, worth driving an extra hour to see? ABSOLUTELY.”
One of the main points these responses have in common is that the Islanders are a unique and defining characteristic in the middle of a typical American suburbia.
There’s one quote that I’ll never forget from Kate Murray, used in her effort to block the Lighthouse Project.
“Kate Murray, Hempstead’s town supervisor, cited a desire to keep the ‘suburban character of surrounding communities.’ ” – NYTimes
Regardless of whether it was just political verbage or if she truly wanted to preserve some aspect of the area that has long been lost – long gone since they built the Source Mall, Roosevelt Field Mall, Hofstra’s basketball arena, Hofstra’s upgraded football stadium, that gun shop on Hempstead Turnpike, the massive Aquatics Center in Eisenhower Park, the McMansions on top of the old Roosevelt Raceway, Target, Starbucks and Best Buy – Murray’s words speak to a larger problem, a fear that she was trying to strike in her constituents.
The impression that I get from a lot of people in Nassau County that we shouldn’t let this or that in. That we need to keep things the way they are or get back to the way they were. That we’re keeping one foot in the past while being willfully ignorant of the future all the while pretending we don’t notice the next time a Walmart goes up down the street. Maybe it goes back to all of William Levitt’s developments and the stereotypes that are associated with them. Houses all looking the same, lawns nicely cut and anyone saying or doing anything slightly out of line is looked down upon. That sure doesn’t paint a picture of a place where a sore thumb like the Islanders should be allowed to stick out.
The point is, when we lose the Islanders, we lose one of the things that makes us unique and unlike every other suburbia with endless box big stores, strip malls and a Starbucks on every corner. When the dust settles, you won’t be able to say you didn’t have a voice. In America, we usually don’t get to vote on rules and laws, only to pick the people who decide them for us. Nassau County: on August 1st, it’s your decision.
Kevin Schultz is an occasional contributor to Point Blank and has blogged about the NHL for the defunct FanHouse. Comments, questions, praise and scorn can be directed at him on Twitter @schultz88.
The heat is on – two front-page stories in Newsday with profoundly negative quotes and positions in a three-day span (see the post below). So let’s take a step back and review some of the positives of the deal between Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano and Islanders owner Charles Wang for a new Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
I’d like to, however, start off with an opinion – this being a blog and all. I do not think the deal is perfect. I do believe this process was rushed, starting with the embarrassing tweets of “Great News!” from Islanders media pals followed by the awkward pep rally/press conference at the Coliseum. Then again, Wang has owned the Islanders for more than eleven years. Then again, Bill Torrey said in this space that the first conversation about the future of the Coliseum property took place in the nineteen hundred and friggin’ eighty-three. Hard to blame anyone involved for being in a rush.
As many of you may know, I worked in the Islanders organization for twenty years – the final eight for Wang. I was colleagues and am still friends with many of the people that have worked for Wang in putting together the Lighthouse Project and this deal. Most of all, I feel I have a pretty good handle on what makes Charles Wang tick and how he has become an overwhelmingly successful entrepreneur. In good times and challenging ones, I got a peak behind the curtain at how the man operates and how he treats people.
I believe the deal with Mangano will undergo some changes by the time this referendum/NIFA/Legislature supermajority process is completed – likely not for several months. I believe the deal, which I estimate to be 80% done (to Mike Picker’s 99%), still has plenty enough in it to earn the YES vote from anyone who cares about the New York Islanders, Coliseum events, the development of the property and the future of Long Island.
But most of all, I don’t believe for a second that Wang woke up a few months ago, called a meeting, rubbed his hands together and in the voice of a summer movie supervillain and said…
“What I really want to do is screw over as many people as I can. I want Nassau to be even poorer! I want to drain every resident of every penny I can get my hands on! If ten years from now, people are mocking me because I cut myself the deal of the century with Mangano, good! I want my legacy to be not about founding businesses, donating tens of millions of dollars to charity and saving the Islanders. I want to be known as the guy who ripped my fellow Long Islanders off, all so I could build an arena.”
If you believe the undercurrent and sometimes blatant hate for this arena deal, what opponents are really saying is that Wang and his staff are out to screw over the county.
When you buy a professional sports team, your legacy is at stake. After all these years, do you really think Wang followed up his I’ll-pay-for-everything Lighthouse Project with this deal without any concern for the future of Nassau and its residents?
It’s unfortunate to even have to dignify the contempt, but it’s there. So to be clear, I think Wang and his top advisors tried to come up with the best deal so the Islanders and Nassau County can thrive. It’s not perfect, will probably be tweaked and – as I’ve been telling friends for years, the Islanders may not get their new arena until the trucks are packed up and the politicians finally get the gravity of the situation and come together to strike an 11th-hour deal.
Sad, but it could still very well come to that.
*
Some of the Benefits, as Far as I Can Tell
(Feel free to add in a BS ratio of 25% in either direction. The numbers still hold up well)
- Nassau will receive $14 million in guaranteed lease payments from the Islanders annually. The county would also receive $4.9 million annually in taxes.
- The Islanders will stay in Nassau until at least 2045.
- A new, state-of-the-art arena will guarantee the continuation of family, trade shows and concerts. And, if anything, the quality of performers booking the new NVMC should only improve.
- If the Coliseum was to be closed – and it would if the Islanders left as the primary tenant – the county would lose close to $104 million in annual earnings, along with approximately 2,600 jobs.
- The new Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum will create many new jobs. (I agree that 3,000 completely new jobs sounds a bit imaginative, but even if it’s half that it’s a noble cause).
- The construction of the new arena would add 1,500 construction jobs.
- The new arena would generate over $9 million in tax revenue in its first year of operation
Good stuff. The problem, of course, is that the project is getting an ass-kicking by NIFA, the democrats in the Nassau legislature, at least one key Republican and countless faceless opponents.
Wang and the Islanders, and nobody else – not Mangano, nor his overwhelmed and underwhelming staff – have two weeks to get their messages out clearly and in grand fashion. Two weeks.
Having the referendum on Aug. 1 remains a stroke of genius. Seeing what we see now from the opposition, can you imagine how badly this vote would be defeated if it was held on Election Day?
As it stands now, the deal has enough proponents, Islanders fanatics and union laborers behind it to win on Aug. 1. But Wang and the Islanders only truly win the referendum if they win it big. Whether they can is very much in question right now. Like their young roster in October, let’s see what Islanders management is really made of right now.
Comments?
In the latest turn of events surrounding the Aug. 1 referendum for a new Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, a key Republican has done an about-face and has put some surprising heat on the deal between Charles Wang and Republican Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano.
Peter Schmitt, the Republican presiding officer of the County legislature, expressed cynicism over the deal in an article in Sunday’s Newsday. The news piece focuses on the revelation that the lease between Wang and Mangano will actually not be completed before the Aug. 1 vote, but it’s Schmitt’s criticism of the deal that’s an eye-opener.
“I don’t believe that the income, if I can call it that, will cover the debt,” Schmitt said of the projected revenues expected to be created by the proposed new arena in Nassau.
Schmitt also says voting on the Aug. 1 referendum is now based on a “conceptual” idea instead of a finalized lease agreement or specific plans for the arena. “Everything is all murky right now,” he says in the article.
Mangano has always had his fellow Republicans on his side with the Islanders’ arena deal. Now his own presiding officer is not acting like a team player.
The Islanders and Mangano need an effective final two weeks before the vote. The Newsday coverage of NIFA’s critical “fact sheet” and remarks earned front page promotion in Friday’s editions. A story detailing the financials if the Islanders left Nassau ran in Saturday’s less popular editions, and on page 16.
The last 14 days should be quite a battle. Count on the ratcheting up of the Islanders’ PR campaign on television and radio and in the newspapers and social media, and at least one special event.
Comments on the arena issue are welcomed.
