CEDX

Time to get involved in local Town Politics

I've often been tempted to get involved and active in local politics.  One of the things that has always made me wonder is why there are no assigned areas that town council folks are responsible for.  When the opportunity to push for council districts in Huntington arose, I signed on, especially because it was easy to do with Facebook.  The organizers are social network savvy.  I've also thought  that Huntington itself was a pretty progressive town, and I am generally happy with the way that the town is run, but I think that some things aren't great, and they might get better through increasing accountability with districting.

The petitions were organized, signatures collected, and I fully expected the issue to be put to a vote.  I didn't really expect that the Town Board would object, but I guess I shouldn't have been surprised.  I believe it is time to change the status quo and introduce districting.  I've quoted Mark X. Cronin's letter about what is happening with the petitions now that they've been submitted. Please read the below, and if you're in Huntington, and you care about fair representation, support the push for districts.  Join our group on Facebook.

Same Old Politics Try to Deny the People the Right to Vote

Late this afternoon, Michael Kearns of Northport filed objections to the petition with the sole intent to deny the citizens of Huntington to right to vote on this issue. We do not know Mr. Kearns except to know that he is acting as a front for the Town Board. How do we know that the Town Board is behind this insider political ploy? 

• To file an objection, a person would need to see a copy of the petitions. While anyone could request a copy from the Town Clerk, Mr. Kearns has not requested a copy of the petitions, so he must have had another source for a copy of the petitions. The only people with copies of the petitions are the Town Board members and the Town Attorney (the Town Attorney’s office has four copies of the petitions). The Town Board must have provided the information to file the General Objections.

• The general objections must be followed by specific objections; preparing specific objections would require having a copy of the petitions. Mr. Kearns did not request a copy of the petitions. Again, the only people with copies of the petition are the Town Board members and the Town Attorney so they must provide the information to Mr. Kearns. 

We believe these facts demonstrate that the Town Board is now trying to stop a vote on the issue. We had asked the Town Board to put the issue of Council Districts on the ballot. Had they done so, the issue could have been on the ballot this November. They refused to do so. Now the Town Board is working to block the rights of the voters to have this issue placed on the ballot through the petition process.

We want to know:

• Why is the Town Board hiding behind Mr. Kearns? 

• Who is working with Mr. Kearns to block the right of the people to decide?

• Who provided the petitions to Mr. Kearns so he could file an objection? 

• Was an attorney working for the Town or doing business with the Town involved in preparing these objections?

We support Town Council Districts because they lead to better representation, more accountability and more openness in government. In their action to block the petitions, the Town Board is proving our point. They are denying the voters the opportunity to decide on representation. They are denying accountability by working through Mr. Kearns instead of filing the petition in their own name. And they are opposing openness in Town government. Shame on them!

LIMBA - Carol Ash, NYS Commissioner of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation

Members and Friends,

We had the pleasure of hearing from the NYS Commissioner of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation, Carol Ash.  Pro Image Studios recorded the video of her talk and the Q&A, which can be found here:   Ms. Ash is a long time champion of downstate parks and the environment.  Her most recent past position was Executive Director of the Palisades Interstate Parks Commission, and her full biography can be found on the NYS Parks website.   Commissioner Ash, a tireless advocate for the parks system and it’s constituency, gave us a rundown of what is happening with the state park system, that was both sobering and optimistic.  The 28 parks and one state historic site ( Walt Whitman’s home ) on Long Island are some of the jewels in the system.  Mentioning Ken Burns’ newest epic on the formation of the National Parks System,  she let us know that the model for the NPS was the Adirondack State Park, created by then Governor Teddy Roosevelt, and that New York state has always been a pioneer in the development of parks and historic preservation.

One of the misconceptions that Ms. Ash came to dispel is that the expense of Parks is a drag on the economy, and that investment in them performs poorly.  Citing a University of Massachusetts study, she posited that parks are linchpins of local economies, that produce a 5-1 return on dollars invested in park improvements.  On Long Island, that translates to a $410MM boost to the local economy, supporting about 4000 private sector jobs.  The Long Island region has the highest parks attendance of the state.  40% of park revenue is generated by tourists, the US Opens in 2002 and 2009 brought in over $10MM to Long Island’s economy, in spite of the dismally rainy conditions in ’09.

With that, she began her pitch for continued investments in park infrastructure to keep those tourists coming.  Times are tough, money is tight, but upgrades need to be done.  There is an estimated $650MM backlog of deferred work overdue in the parks to keep them in shape.  This year, the legislature has allocated $200MM towards that.  Later today, she will attend a ribbon cutting at Brentwood State Park, where part of that $200MM will go to create state of the art professional quality soccer, baseball , and lacrosse fields, in an economically disadvantaged community.  Disappointingly, the NYS parks system is not eligible for Federal Stimulus Funds, but in a creative partnership with the Department of Labor, the Parks department was able to obtain $3.3MM to start a Civilian Conservation Corps in the Long Island and Niagara regions.  The first phase was to put 90 kids through a training program where they did basic maintenance projects throughout the regional parks.  The second phase will take the stars of that phase, and move them into a more skilled trade learning program, having them work on more sophisticated tasks.

Despite these tough times, the Parks department was able to hold the line on the $8.00 per car entry fee for the parks, and the $56.00 Empire Passport is still a good bargain.  In this time of staycations, park usage is going up.

The Q&A portion of the program was lively, with some advocates from the Kings Park community and allies of the Trump at Jones Beach project in attendance.  One of the great things about LIMBA is the ability for local folks to talk to people of influence and hear their opinions and concerns, and in turn be heard.

Ms. Ash couldn’t say much about the Trump project due to the ongoing litigation, and it was clear from the audience questions that they were much in favor of the project.

A question about which parks paid their ways, was met with the response that the Golf Courses  and Campgrounds are the revenue stars, supporting the rest of the system.

The discussion around Kings Park was summarized by her stance of embracing the local advocates and taking a long look at the issues, and finding the real costs of remediating the site.  The first phase of the study is done, the second is due to complete in about 18 months.

On the question of raising revenue, the department is trying to find sponsorships for the Empire State Games, working with the “I love NY” people to market the parks more, and looking at creating public-private partnerships similar to the California Parks Foundation, and the Central Park Conservancy.

Yet another productive Friday morning at LIMBA, where regular folks get to meet movers and shakers that directly affect our lives.

LIPA's LIMBA update on Smart Grids - Bruce Germano

As always, I find LIMBA meetings an excellent place to meet people that have a great deal of influence over the Long Island region.  The value that I have gotten from these over the years is incalculable, in both learning how things work, and meeting new friends.  Some topics are political, some technical, and lots are both.  An overview of Smart Grids was given by a long time member of LIPA and its predecessors, Bruce Germano, the man responsible for LIPA's retail operations.

Bruce opened his talk this morning by recounting his experiences with Smart Grid technology dating back to 2002.  Back then, we were thinking Smart Grids, but there wasn’t a name for them.  With time, new definitions emerged, of a power network that has intelligence built into it, with the ability to control pushed further out to the edge of the network.  Currently, there are limitations in the power system that prevent that control  being extended.

According to Bruce, a smart grid is a communications network overlaid on to the power network, giving customers the ability to decide the best time to use power based on price signaling.  A Smart Grid helps bring down peak load demand.  It enables a customer and a utility to understand and control demand on a real-time basis.  In 2002 this was just a dream, but advances in technology are making it possible.  Utilities are looking for ways to provide customer choice and one of these ways is to introduce a Smart Grid.

To facilitate that LIPA, in concert with Stony Brook University and SUNY-Farmingdale, is seeking stimulus funding to implement a Smart Grid technology pilot project.  There are a lot of technology gaps to be filled, but if a go, the project has the following three goals:

·         Smart Grid Demonstration – Show that the technology to connect customer s to markets in real time is feasible,  and allow them to control their demand according to price signals they receive.

·         Green Job Creation – The deployment Smart Grid technology will require specialized skills and custom assembly of hardware and software to build the sensor networks required and the software backend to communicate the information gathered and control signals sent.

·         Green Skill Training – To move beyond a pilot phase, the original lessons of the project have to be translated into repeatable steps.  Developing the work force to implement Smart Grid technology on a wide scale will require educating a large number of subject matter experts that can grow the grid commercially.

The vehicle to achieve these goals is the building of a smart energy corridor along Route 110 from the Long Island Expressway, down to the southern border of Republic Airport.  This area brings together a lot of partners and ties together many existing efforts.  A diverse mix of customer types exists along the corridor, with commercial, industrial, residential, and municipal located there.  SBU is looking into two areas, load modeling systems, and the communications security risks associated with remote control.  SUNY-Farmingdale is bringing their exiting energy research labs, plus their investigations into sensor technology.

The technology gaps are being filled, but it is an evolutionary process and all the pieces are not in place yet.  Many big players like IBM, GE and Hitron are aiming to compete in this space.  Appliances are integrating communications and control into consumer devices, allowing the owner to program the timer for the cheapest time to use electricity.  The opportunity to evolve electric meters to support this exists, but there are no standards for Smart Grids and their devices.

The Department of Energy published 15 characteristics of a Smart Grid, and the National Institute of Standards is developing those specifications for devices and systems to interoperate.  Stability of the system is paramount, as we don’t want the repeat of another 2003 blackout, which was caused by a cascading system failure of the grid’s control structures.

Bruce wrapped up by letting us know that the stimulus application was filed about two weeks ago, along with thousands of other applications, and is waiting for the federal government to get through the review process.

Opening the floor to questions, Ernie opened the session by asking if Smart Grid technology will eliminate the need for new power plants, and would Plug-in  Hybrid Electric Vehicles help our situation.  Bruce responded by reminding us of Long Island’s insatiable need for electricity, and noting that although PHEV’s may help smooth out demand peaks, they increase total demand on the grid because they are getting their stored energy from the grid rather than burning fuel.

John Howell asked if every building by default be able to participate in the smart grid.  Bruce projected that the meter connecting the business would be smart and able to participate, but it would be up to the building owner to install the controls necessary to implement variable price consumption strategies.

Pat Halpin of the Suffolk County Water Authority asked if there will be incentives for customers to interrupt their power and use off peak power.    A discussion of the various ways pricing regimes could be constructed followed, with the net result being, we’ll see when we get there.

The ensuing discussion concluded yet another well spent Friday morning at LIMBA, where you get to meet a diverse set of leaders from across Long Island industries and organizations, and learn something valuable in an hour as you start the last day of the work week.

Making Sewers Sexy - LIMBA

On May 4th, we had the privilege of Suffolk County Legislator Wayne Horsley give us a perspective of how important sewers are to the ecology and economic growth of Long Island.  Wayne apologized for picking such an unsavory topic to be the subject of a breakfast meeting, but as usual, the large crowd of LIMBA faithful ate it up.  With his perspective as a professor of Modern World History at St. John's university, we got some ancient history as well.  The earliest known sewers were found in the Indus valley, around 3300-1700 BC, but Suffolk County still is not widely sewered in this modern age.  To preserve the open space that is left by concentrating development, we need sewers.  The recent development of the Route 110 corridor's new hotel and pharmaceutical plants would not have been possible without connecting them to the Southwest Sewer District.

Newsday should back up its editorial position with the journalistic resources it has

Newsday came out with an editorial on the 5th of February, calling for the bi-county wireless effort to be "done right"  where there is a free tier of access and a significant portion of the revenues allocated to the counties.  With this pronouncement, Newsday should follow up on its interest by informing the public about the development of the program, which has largely evolved in the dark, without any outreach by the committee to the existing wireless providers in the two counties.

The engagement of Civitium to consult for the committee has resulted in the expenditure of taxpayer dollars, and the creation of a local development corporation foreshadows the issuance of bonds to finance something, which means more taxpayer funded debt service.  The actions of the County Executive and committee run counter to their public pronouncements of "We're not paying for it", "The county executive has said, and so have I, that this is at no cost to the taxpayers".  None of the information contained on the county's website mentions the creation of this new entity and what its structure and powers will be.  It would be interesting to see just how much Civitium is getting paid to advise the committee.  The first time I heard about all this was during the public reading of the questions submitted to the committee on the 8th of February.  It became obvious that the RFP was produced from Chicago boilerplate by the poor proofreading job done.  Mentions of Illinois and contact phone numbers in the 312 area code were still present in the public version of the RFP.  For an effort that Esme Vos says is more significant than San Francisco's project, this kind of a mistake is an embarassment.  Its significance is confirmed by a partial list of some of the heavy-hitting attendees of the conference: Earthlink, Metro-fi, ARINC, IBM, Cisco, Motorola, Nortel, Cablevision, and Verizon.  Even Berge Ayvazian of the Yankee Group was there.  All of them see the project worth at least a look see, if not something to go after.  Locally, some of the integration firms were in attendance, along with one of our competitors on Fire Island, Barrier Communications.

Good People Doing Good Works

My friends over at Housing Help ( I should really help them out with a domain name ) are sponsoring a debt management seminar on Feb 3.  Most of the blogosphere probably doesn't need it, but here's a link to the PDF for registration.

The Case for keeping the Treasurer's office in Suffolk County

At our LIMBA meeting on Friday morning we had the pleasure of hearing from Suffolk County's Treasurer, Angie M. Carpenter on the subject of what her office does and why it is important for the county to continue to have an independent Treasurer.  Angie opened up with a little of her background as a small business career before she went into public service, which is focused on making Long Island a place where we live, not leave.  After term limits pushed her out of the Legislature, she arrived at the Treasurer's office expecting to find a laid-back, slow paced office, but found herself with a dedicated, motivated staff.  She explained the different divisions of the Treasurer's office, their functions and how they interface with Suffolk's town Tax Recievers and the public.

Having laid the foundation of the function for the office, she presented her case for maintaining the Treasurer's office, by noting how the major bond rating agencies liked the way that this was constructed, and pointing out that after the Orange County, CA's bankruptcy debacle, they changed their model to Suffolk's style, with the independent Comptroller and Treasurer.  Presently, the Treasurer is an elected post, which serves to maintain that independent watchdog status over the County's finances.  She also followed up her explanation of her office's  function with her view of what the savings to the county would be if her office was eliminated.  The only jobs that would go away were her's and a few deputy positions, because the functions that the Treasurer's office performs are not currently duplicated in the Comptroller's office.

She also reiterated that there is strong support in the Legislature for maintaining the status quo, and recounting a story that affirms her conviction that she believes in the process and structure of the office.  A legislator said that they might support the move to eliminate the position, but would want it to take effect after her term was up, because she was duly elected, and to not serve out her term would be changing the rules of the game in midstream.  Angie was willing to say that if it is the right thing to do to eliminate her office, then do it now, to save the money, rather than simply playing out the string until it's end.  She strongly believes in this, and her independence was shown in the Q & A session.  One of our members fired a question asking her position on the county keeping the difference in the sale price and taxes owed on a delinquent property, and used the example of what happened to a family in Amityville last year where the difference was quite substantial, and it was a story that tugged at everybody's heartstrings.  Instead of pandering to the crowd and agreeing that this was an egregious example of greed by the county, Angie explained that some procedures were dictated by state law, and spoke to the additional costs associated with seizing a property and auctioning it off, and keeping the consequences of tax delinquency in the forefront of the public's mind.

As always, it was another jump start to our Friday morning, with a substantial breakfast for the mind and an exchange with an important public official on a timely subject.

Mr. Nadler goes to Ronkonkoma

Congressman Jerrold Nadler visited LIMBA this past friday, to inform us amateur policy wonks about the project to build the Brooklyn to New Jersey rail freight tunnel.  The Congressman, who is fond of saying his district runs from Nathan's to Zabar's, has been a champion of mass transit for his entire career in Congress and the NYS Legislature, opened his remarks with a recounting of how the opening of the Erie Canal lead to the explosive growth of the New York City region, due to it's becoming the lowest cost gateway to the interior of the country at the time.  The canal was followed by the Erie-Lackawanna railroad, which continued New York's rise.  However, we've stopped that innovation in transportation during the last half of the 20th century, and New York as a region has suffered for it.  The Congressman was quick to point out that the tunnel would not only benefit the city, but also Long Island.

Suffolk County Wi-Fi Buzz

In this article by Emi Endo, I get the last word in, but it oversimplifies my position on the idea of having a county-wide wireless network.  One of the great things about blogs, the web, and search engines, is that if you feel that your ideas haven't gotten across or your position has been misrepresented, you can respond, and be your own editor.

I'm not totally opposed to the county doing a wireless network.  I do question the need and feasibilty of creating a network almost ten times the size of Philadelphia's that will cover a population far less dense.  I certainly wouldn't want to see public money used to build the network, when we have so many more pressing needs and the most choice in broadband of any region in the country already.

I'd also like to see at least one member of the current group of existing WISPs named to the county's study committee, because the group of firms that have built out what exists today, have largely done so by the sweat of their brows, and strains of their backs, rather than have Google-sized investments aid their building and operation.  I certainly wouldn't like to see a well-connected campaign contributor waltz in and have access to prime real estate at a bargain price. 

Since we have plenty of available residential broadband, I think the focus on this effort should be to address the underserved, and to address our choking traffic issues.  The point shouldn't necessarily be to build a thin wi-fi edge to the network with the barest of coverage, but to build a next generation mobile backhaul network that leapfrogs the speeds currently offered by the wireless carriers and would give intra-island commuters a compelling reason to use wi-fi enabled intra-island mass transit.

What I envision is a mash-up of Google Maps+Hot or Not, and Wi-RAN, a service to create ad-hoc commuter bus/van routes, where groups of locals find each other with a common work area, and can have an internet enabled ride to and from work, a compelling reason to leave the car at home, or at least at a local park and ride lot created in the abundant vacant strip retail centers that we have.

We need to focus on applications for the network that serve the public good, rather than just network connectivity for its own sake, because we have plenty of that here.  It's expensive, yes, but as I said in my letter to the editor in LIBN (see below), you can't beat the performance available.

Charles Wang Pitches the Lighthouse

Charles Wang visited LIMBA on the 16th with his Roadshow for the Lighthouse on Long Island.  Introduced by LIMBA board member and former Suffolk County Exec Bob Gaffney, Mr. Wang presented a very nicely produced DVD describing the project.  The arc of the presentation covered the decline of the Coliseum as an event venue, which led to the development of a plan for that area, and his subsequent partnering with Reckson Associates to integrate his plans with the surrounding area.  The vision for the project is a mixed use developement focused on sports.  As an avid amateur hockey player, my favorite part was the plan for a 4 rink complex.  The development's emphasis was on the creation of a sports technology center, and the creation of a round-the-clock destination and community to replace the acres of cracked, wind-swept asphalt that presently exists.  One of Mr. Wang's stated goals for the development is the creation of an icon for Long  Island, a signature property.  The centerpiece for that has been the 60 story tower called the Lighthouse, which has become a lightning rod for critics.