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Fuming Over the Sound
By Brian Brennan
Mar 21, 2008 - Officials and activists on both sides of Long Island Sound lost a significant battle this week in a war they’ve been fighting for several years. The defeat came in the form of an announcement by the Federal Energy Review Commission (FERC) that it would not stand in the way of the Broadwater Energy Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) terminal.
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A Taxing Problem
By Brian Brennan
Mar 7, 2008 - The New York State Commission on Property Tax Relief was created by an executive order by Governor Eliot Spitzer in January, with Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi as its chairman. A series of meetings on and off Long Island has demonstrated that the commission's 17 members have their work cut out for them.
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A Tower of Issues
By Brian Brennan
Feb 29, 2008 - A small but determined group of Bayville residents is not giving up on blocking a T-band, digital turnkey radio system from being erected on the water tower at 34 School Street, or on existing commercial antennas removed from the tower.
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The Smithers Property
By Brian Brennan
Feb 22, 2008 - Area environmental activists are leaning on the Nassau County Legislature to vote Monday to purchase the 25-acre Smithers property in Mill Neck with funds from the 2006 Environmental Program Bond Act before it is put back on the market and possibly sold to developers. Advocates say that it is the most significant property on the list, and that it is in danger of being lost to partisan politicking.
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Minding the Gap
By Brian Brennan
Feb 15, 2008 - The Long Island Railroad's public hearing on safety at the Syosset train station this week was largely a symbolic gesture on the part of the railroad to demonstrate that they are taking the issue seriously. The railroad has been attempting to find the right balance in demonstrating its commitment to increasing safety while also stressing that, more than anything, riders simply need to watch where they're going.
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Sunny Propositions
By Brian Brennan
Feb 8, 2008 - A coalition of clean-energy advocacy groups from Long Island and the rest of New York State has released a report declaring that the state lags behind surrounding states in its energy policy. According to them, technology has advanced to the point that solar power is now a workable energy alternative; and it is up to the public to make elected officials take notice.
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The Railroad Museum: Chugging Along
By Brian Brennan
Feb 1, 2008 - The museum trustees intend the preview center to showcase their vision for the museum, and to honor their commitment to making the museum planning process a transparent one. The museum's varied restoration work, meanwhile, continues piecemeal, as grant money, donations, or the know-how of volunteers allows.
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The Tunnel Proposal: Sounding It Out
By Brian Brennan
Jan 25, 2008 - Those who attended the public hearing on the proposed Long Island Sound Tunnel were warned not to expect a lot of answers. Assemblyman Charles Lavine (D-Glen Cove) said early in the proceedings that the day would be a success if more questions were raised than answered. Seen in that light, the day was a triumph.
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The Museum Meetings
By Brian Brennan
Jan 18, 2008 - Two public meetings have been held on the subject in the last two weeks on the proposed Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Museum and Research Center. Among community leaders, the difference is more in tone than in message.
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Mariner’s Walk: Realtor Says They’re Beginning to Sell
By Brian Brennan
Jan 11, 2008 - Upscale, owner-occupied townhouse living represents a departure for the hamlet, and there has been some debate surrounding the development’s potential for success. Indicators show that walkable communities may have a place in the Island’s future, but they have a ways to go.
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Albany to Oyster Bay-East Norwich Schools: Shape Up
By Brian Brennan
Jan 4, 2008 - If the state can be believed, then not only do the workings of the district allow a wide berth for graft on the part of district employees, but the district has been guilty of hiding a surplus totaling nearly $1 million for the sake of increasing the yearly budget. The comptroller claims that public knowledge of this supposed surplus might have prevented a 4.5 percent tax increase last year. The district has denied the allegations.
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A Very Bully Christmas: How TR Liked to Celebrate
By Brian Brennan
Dec 21, 2007 - TR's love for Oyster Bay was well-known in his own time, and at no time was this more apparent than at the holidays. Every Christmas, papers would report on the gesture that the 26th President would make to his adopted hometown, knowing that there would be one.
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Extended Dialogue: Town Board REALLY Wants Opinions on Hamlet Study
By Brian Brennan
Dec 14, 2007 - The deadline for public review and comment on the Build-Out and Cumulative Impact Analysis: Oyster Bay Hamlet has been extended yet again. This marks the third extension the town board has given since it accepted the study from the engineering firm Cashin Associates at an August meeting.
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A Taste of Things to Come: Hamlet Water to Remain Chlorinated
By Brian Brennan
Dec 7, 2007 - Those serviced by the Oyster Bay Water District may have been detecting the taste of chlorine in their water this past month. Though the district is taking steps to improve the taste, the presence of chlorine in the water will remain. The high quality of its water has long exempted the district from having to fulfill chlorine disinfection requirements. Federal guidelines allow for such waivers to last up to three years. When Oyster Bay’s expires at the end of 2007, it will not be renewed.
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Digging New Ground
By Brian Brennan
Nov 30, 2007 - Some Long Island senators are indicating that, though it has a projected completion date of 2025, the proposal to build a privately-owned commuter tunnel beneath Long Island Sound needs to be taken seriously right now. A look at the proposal and the man behind it.
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While Leaders Urge Objectivity, the Public Begins to Attack Museum Proposal
By Brian Brennan
Nov 16, 2007 - The East Norwich and Oyster Bay civic associations held a joint meeting last night to discuss the national Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Museum and Research Center that may be coming to the Hamlet of Oyster Bay. Though the civic associations’ leaders stressed that they are not taking positions just yet, the tenor of the meeting indicated that supporters of the proposal have their work cut out for them.
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Taking the Hit: Not Everyone Happy to See Birches Resolution
By Brian Brennan
Nov 9, 2007 - With Nassau County poised to enter into an agreement with the Town of Oyster Bay to jointly install a $6-million sewage treatment plant on Meleny Road in Locust Valley, county officials are congratulating themselves and area residents on finally having an end to what has long been a controversial issue. The residents whose homes are closest to the site of the proposed plant, however, feel that they are being forced to bear the brunt of a quick-fix solution that is not a solution at all.
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Wired Issue
By Brian Brennan
Nov 2, 2007 - The Cerro Wire Coalition, comprised of 26 area community organizations opposed to the mall proposed by Taubman Centers, Inc., has released the findings of a study that the group claims bolsters its position. In releasing the study before an election, the coalition makes clear that it regards the mall as a political issue.
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Lines of Defense: Bayville Meeting Addresses Child Safety
By Brian Brennan
Oct 26, 2007 - Registered sex offenders live in Bayville, Glen Cove, Locust Valley and Sea Cliff. Protecting children from sexual predators was the subject of a public information meeting in Bayville this week, where special emphasis was placed on internet safety. DA Rice was among the speakers, and spoke of the approaches her office has taken to combat dangers to children, including some for which she has come under sharp criticism.
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Elemental Mistake
By Brian Brennan
Oct 19, 2007 - When James Watson left Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory for a book tour of the UK last week, it was as an elder statesman, as notable for his personality as for his Nobel Prize-winning collaboration on identifying the DNA Double Helix. But as Dr. Watson returns home to Cold Spring Harbor today he returns to a life that has seemingly been made unrecognizable, and with a speed and absoluteness that has made even the man himself appear shaken, contrite and humiliated.
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Hopes for the Harbor: North Shore Shellfishing May Expand
By Brian Brennan
Oct 12, 2007 - Bringing Hempstead Harbor back to life commercially has been a joint mission between the county, state, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the local municipalities that touch the harbor, as well as some grassroots environmental groups.
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Overlapping Purposes
By Brian Brennan
Oct 5, 2007 - The Oyster Bay Town Board announced this week that it has extended the period for public review and comment on the Build-Out and Cumulative Impact Analysis: Oyster Bay Hamlet. Also this week, the board voted to enter into a Memorandum of Agreement with the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA) that tentatively makes the town (and hamlet) the location for a museum dedicated to the late president. Both proposals will be examined in light of their potential impact on the hamlet’s commercial health and quality of life. Each proposal could prove a significant boon to public support for the other – or a significant obstacle.
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The TR Museum: Oyster Bay Moves Closer to Getting It
By Brian Brennan
Sep 28, 2007 - The competition was Washington and Boston, but it tentatively appears that Oyster Bay will be the site of a museum dedicated to Theodore Roosevelt. The Theodore Roosevelt Association’s (TRA’s) site planning committee has voted to put the museum in the town that was the 26th president’s home. At a Town Board meeting on September 25th, Town Supervisor John Venditto voiced his support for the project coming to the town, though the signing a memorandum of agreement between the two parties was tabled.
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Act III: Another Bond on the Ballot for Oyster Bay
By Brian Brennan
Sep 21, 2007 - When Town of Oyster Bay voters go to the polls on November 6th, they will have the option of voting for or against what would be the town’s third SEA Fund bond. SEA Fund III would allocate $30 million for the acquisition of open space and another $30 million for parkland improvements.
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Down to the Wire: Town Reaches Deadline on Mall Response
By Brian Brennan
Sep 14, 2007 - After a setback in court, the Oyster Bay Town Board announced today that there will be a special meeting on Monday to make what might prove a last stand in a 13-year battle against Taubman's mall proposal.
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The Birches: Deadline for Resolution Approaches
By Brian Brennan
Sep 7, 2007 - Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi has made the end of next week the deadline for a final solution to the decades-old problem of shoddy cesspools in “The Birches” neighborhood in Locust Valley. Mr. Suozzi wants the plans for a new wastewater treatment system for the 49-lot development to be finalized by September 15th.
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The Hamlet's Future: The Public's Turn to Weigh In
By Brian Brennan
Aug 31, 2007 - “In recognition of the considerable development pressure that is confronting the hamlet of Oyster Bay, the Town Board sought to determine what the potential cumulative impacts of future build-out in the hamlet might be,” Town Supervisor John Venditto said in a statement. “The Build-Out and Cumulative Impact Analysis will be a valuable tool for the Town Board in making future decisions regarding the hamlet as it provides information that is key to ensuring that development and redevelopment are compatible with the existing community and that any potential adverse impacts are minimized.”
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Kayaks and Causes
By Brian Brennan
Aug 24, 2007 - What was sparked by two guys’ unwillingness to back down from a bet has, seven years later, evolved into a hip annual event with high-profile corporate sponsors and hundreds of donors and participants. At this year’s event, 316 people were game enough to kayak from Calf Pasture Beach in Norwalk to Crabmeadow Beach in Huntington to raise money for five selected charities.
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The Glen Cove Ferry: Floating Ideas
By Brian Brennan
Aug 17, 2007 - Funding is in place to begin the first phase of the “The Glen Cove Ferry Terminal and Boat Basin”, the facility that – if and when it takes shape – is expected to provide 41-minute service from the City of Glen Cove to downtown Manhattan. Few, if any, dispute the desirability of a ferry service that provides a shorter commute, takes cars off the road, is conducted in an eco-sensitive way, and helps revitalize Glen Cove’s downtown. The dispute lies in the feasibility of a third attempt to implement a sustainable ferry service, and of the attempt’s real cost.
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The Congestion Pricing Debate
By Brian Brennan
Aug 10, 2007 - Congestion pricing, under the plan considered for New York, would mean charging motorists a fee if they enter Manhattan between the Battery and 86th Street (for most, the projected fee would be $8). Its proponents, including Mayor Bloomberg, claim that it would go a long way towards accomplishing the $50-billion transportation component of PlaNYC, his plan for creating a significantly greener, more sustainable New York by 2030.
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Thanking Friends
By Brian Brennan
Aug 3, 2007 - The day was a testament to the organization’s having achieved a place in local affairs that few envisioned twenty years ago. “After the battle was won, they realized there was a need for this organization to work on a wide range of issues to confront inappropriate development, but also to work on water quality issues and address sewage treatment issues,” the organization’s current executive director, Kyle Rabin, said
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Phase One: Enterprise Gauges Popularity of East Norwich Proposal
By Brian Brennan
Jul 27, 2007 - The proposal, made by Scotto Brothers Enterprises, is to erect an upscale shopping center, with office space, on four acres at the northwest corner of Route 106 and Northern Boulevard. Currently the property is dominated by the East Norwich Inn. It is also the site of Rothman’s Steakhouse, the East Norwich Cottage, a small office building housing a State Farm Insurance branch, and a nursery business.
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The Shared Services Initiative: Levy on Levies
By Brian Brennan
Jul 20, 2007 - A plan was announced this week that Steve Levy insists would finally begin to weaken local taxes’ stranglehold. Already, Tom Suozzi and many of the school folks are on board. For a complicated problem, they propose a complicated solution.
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Brainstorming
By Brian Brennan
Jul 13, 2007 - Reading the news this week, one possible impression is that the county governments have been complacent on this issue. But when Long Island first responders and elected officials weigh in, one possible impression is that Long Islanders need to take a look at themselves before starting the blame game.
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Commemorating the Commute
By Brian Brennan
Jun 29, 2007 - Until it ceased to be used for passenger in the late 1990’s, the Oyster Bay Train Station saw events of every description. Most were important to the community, but commonplace. There were, however, a significant number of events that could be called momentous, and at least one that could be called disastrous.
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A Tale of Two Theme Parks: Adventure Park Set to Open
By Brian Brennan
Jun 22, 2007 - The park has two identities. Both have as their backdrops the intricate saga of Bayville’s apocryphal founding family – the Bays. Every attraction is framed by some chapter in this outrageous family history.
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All Ears
By Brian Brennan
Jun 15, 2007 - Tuesday night’s hearing was the first of at least two such gatherings. The Oyster Bay Town Board has promised from the beginning to make the process of planning the waterfront’s future a transparent one, in which community input is key.
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Drunk Driving: Old Crime, New Penalties
By Brian Brennan
Jun 8, 2007 - Every aspect of the case was arresting. Katie Flynn had just served as a flower girl at her aunt’s wedding, and media reports carried a winsome photo of her in a party dress, presumably taken the day she died.
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For the Birches, a Solution May be Coming
By Brian Brennan
Jun 1, 2007 - The chlorine levels are checked daily, but mandatory NCDH reports filed for years with the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) have shown that the sewage treatment does not meet DEC standards. Chlorination kills germs, but does not effectively reduce sewage mass or prevent cesspools from overflowing. Thus, the county has regularly exceeded effluent limits set by the chlorination facility’s permit.
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Meet Mariner's Walk
By Brian Brennan
May 25, 2007 - For the hamlet, upscale, owner-occupied townhouse living represents a departure. It remains to be seen if Mariner’s Walk’s uniqueness will mean success or failure.
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School Daze: Funding Education
By Brian Brennan
May 11, 2007 - In a nutshell, these people feel that Long Island’s property taxes are too high and that irresponsible spending on the part of school districts is at the root of it. And while it was a very rightward leaning panel, the criticism they expressed was bipartisan.
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The Sentinels: Local Coalition Keeps an Eye on AvalonBay
By Brian Brennan
May 4, 2007 - “There are increasing signs that AvalonBay is now focused again on this proposal in Oyster Bay,” says Kyle Rabin, executive director of the environmental group Friends of the Bay, a coalition mainstay. “We can see the writing on the wall that they’re ramping things up again so we just wanted to give the community an update.”
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Costly Castoffs
By Brian Brennan
Apr 27, 2007 - “We’re hoping once Long Island looks all neat and pretty that people will realize it’s a pretty nice place to look at and let’s try and keep it that way,” the DOT’s Eileen Fisher says. “It’s really not that hard – just keep a plastic bag in your car and when you get home, throw it in your own trash.”
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To the Tower
By Brian Brennan
Apr 27, 2007 - Bayville Village Hall’s stuffy meeting room was filled to capacity on the evening of Monday, April 23rd. Residents had turned out to witness the Village Board of Trustees determine if the Nassau County Police Department would be allowed to install a new, T-band, digital turnkey radio system on its water tower at 34 School Street in Bayville.
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The Tower: Bayville Board to Vote on Wireless System
By Brian Brennan
Apr 20, 2007 - On Monday, April 23rd, the Bayville Village Board of Trustees will be voting publicly on whether or not to allow Nassau County to install a new, T-band, digital turnkey radio system on its water tower at 34 School Street in Bayville.
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The Birches: Sussing Out the Cesspools
By Brian Brennan
Apr 13, 2007 - Local environmental activists have long questioned why a Locust Valley development erected in the 1960’s continues to cause problems to the local environment with its sewage system.
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With a New Head, TRA Has Future in Preserving the Past
By Brian Brennan
Apr 6, 2007 - Eighty-eight years after his death, Theodore Roosevelt can still spark rumors. Or at least, the association that bears his name can. The recent announcement by the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA) that is has a new president has provided an opportunity for some rumors to flare up and to be put right.
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Fighting the Floods
By Brian Brennan
Mar 30, 2007 - Tell anyone unfamiliar with Bayville that the village touches on two creeks, a harbor and the Long Island Sound, and they could, sight unseen, expound upon the related benefits. Bayville residents would certainly agree – the community’s proximity to the water is the reason many of them chose to live there. But residents know that Bayville’s geographic location comes with drawbacks, at the forefront of which is chronic flooding.
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Their Side: Wang’s People Talk Development and Long Island
By Brian Brennan
Mar 23, 2007 - Renaissance’s representatives seem almost too accustomed to hearing the speculation to be bewildered by it. The picture they paint of Renaissance’s vision of the hamlet involves nothing more sinister than revitalizing Oyster Bay’s downtown in a way that espouses many smart growth principles and, yes, turns a profit for the company.
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Sound Judgment
By Brian Brennan
Mar 16, 2007 - The Burns Horticultural Center of the Planting Fields Arboretum in Oyster Bay was the setting for the recent Long Island Sound Summit. The summit brought together legislators and environmentalists from both sides of the Sound to discuss the possibilities of the Long Island Sound Stewardship Act of 2006 (LISSA).
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Old Plainview, Old News
By Brian Brennan
Mar 9, 2007 - In total, the Old Plainview proposal included 133 townhouses, 318 condominiums, 160 rental apartments, 185,000 square feet of office space (in eight new buildings and five renovated buildings), 87,000 square feet of retail space (including a 60,000 square-foot Shop Rite that would have moved from a smaller location in Plainview), a 6,000-square-foot restaurant, a 300-room Hyatt Hotel.
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Carousel Quandary
By Brian Brennan
Mar 2, 2007 - Some present an in-depth case for why the carousel would be a tasteful boon to the hamlet’s downtown. Others claim that erecting the carousel would be diminishing a prime parcel of open space and at odds with the spirit of the committed conservationist for whom the park is named.
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Landia Languishes
By Brian Brennan
Feb 23, 2007 - RESIDENTS for a More Beautiful Syosset argues that removing the cars of commuters from the downtown would make parking easier for the people who patronize local businesses throughout the day. RESIDENTS estimates that the Landia location would offer 2,000 parking spaces to the current station’s 1,000.
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It Takes a Hamlet: a‘70’s Revitalization Plan
By Brian Brennan
Feb 16, 2007 - In 1975, a “Townscape Revitalization Guide” was printed, detailing the ways in which Oyster Bay Hamlet could make the most of its resources and rejuvenate its downtown.
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Gap Hearing
By Brian Brennan
Feb 9, 2007 - Officials representing the MTA and two of its subsidiaries laid themselves open to some uncomfortable scrutiny yesterday morning at a closed hearing on the gaps that exist at many Long Island train stations between train cars and railroad station platforms.
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Tower of Dissent
By Brian Brennan
Feb 2, 2007 - Village Mayor Victoria Siegel and the Village trustees last night allowed representatives of the Nassau County police and fire departments to present their argument that the Village must allow the County to install a new, T-band, digital turnkey radio system on its water tower.
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Playing Nice: Open Minds on Eastern Waterfront Committee
By Brian Brennan
Jan 26, 2007 - The community organizations sitting on the Town of Oyster Bay’s Eastern Waterfront Visioning steering committee seem intent on maintaining a productive and respectful dialogue with the businesses and politicians who sit on the committee with them.
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Parallel Development: Old Plainview
By Brian Brennan
Jan 19, 2007 - Residents in and around Oyster Bay Hamlet can feel a kinship with residents in and around Plainview as both communities examine development proposals in which two names loom large: Charles Wang and AvalonBay Communities Inc.
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Uncommon Ground
By Brian Brennan
Jan 12, 2007 - The governing board of the North Shore Assembly of God Church located at 84 Orchard Street in Oyster Bay has voted to seek landmark status for their house of worship. One of their pastors, Diane Melograne, addressed the Oyster Bay Town Board at the January 9th public hearing and laid before the board a brief history of the church.
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A Towering Problem
By Brian Brennan
Jan 5, 2007 - The County Executive co-hosted a press conference with County Police Commissioner James Lawrence and accused various water districts of “attempting to put profit ahead of public safety” and demanding hefty fees from the County in exchange for permission to attach new antennas to their water towers.
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This Holiday Weekend, DA Rice Warns Against DWIs
By Brian Brennan
Dec 29, 2006 - From January 1st to December 24th of this year, there were 3,144 DWI arrests in Nassau County. This number is 86 less than the same period for 2005, which may or may not have something to do with a heavily publicized push throughout the year to come down harder on offenders.
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Shellfish Plan: Making Sure the Oyster Stays in Oyster Bay
By Brian Brennan
Dec 22, 2006 - According to Town Clerk Steve Labriola, there has been a steep increase in the number of commercial shellfishing licenses issued by his office in the last few years. His office has asked the Town Council to issue a moratorium that would halt the issuance of licenses to new applicants while a study was conducted to see how shellfish populations are holding up. The moratorium would not extend to renewals of existing licenses.
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E. Coli on Long Island: A Look at the Last Two Weeks
By Brian Brennan
Dec 15, 2006 - On Thursday, December 14th, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) posted what has lately become its usual 12-noon update on the northeastern E. coli 0157:H7 outbreak. Posted at the top of the update in red print were the words NOTE: This is the last planned daily web update on this outbreak. The CDC and the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) contended that the outbreak had ended.
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Opinion Gap
By Brian Brennan
Dec 8, 2006 - Nassau County Legislative Presiding Officer Judy Jacobs (D-Woodbury) has since August been carrying on a highly vocal campaign to get the LIRR to eliminate a 15-inch gap between the platform of the Syosset Railroad Station and trains coming into it.
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Oyster Bay Reexamines Zoning
By Brian Brennan
Dec 1, 2006 - In October of 2005, a building moratorium was implemented for an area totaling 405 acres in the Hamlet of Oyster Bay. The moratorium suspended the issuance of permits relative to the construction, expansion, and demolition of buildings; subdivision approval; and variances for lot area, lot dimensions and setbacks for new buildings. It was declared by the Oyster Bay Town Board so that a study could be conducted of existing laws pertaining to these issues in the one-family residential area studied.
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Safeguarding Against Identity Theft
By Brian Brennan
Nov 27, 2006 - State Senator John J. Flanagan (R-East Northport) has issued a reminder to anyone doing their holiday shopping online this year to take precautions against identity theft.
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The Housing Market and the North Shore
By Brian Brennan
Nov 10, 2006 - The numbers are by no means agreed upon by all. Few disagree, however, that after roughly five years of phenomenal appreciation, Long Island is feeling the sting of a decline. The disagreement centers around the causes, extent and duration of the decline.
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Trans Fat Chance: Nassau May Follow City's Lead
By Brian Brennan
Nov 3, 2006 - On Monday, October 30th, a public hearing was held at the New York City Health Department headquarters to discuss the phase-out of artificial trans fats in City restaurants. The Health Department had voted unanimously on September 26th to bring the proposal to a hearing, before putting it to a final vote in December.
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Long Island’s Sexual Predators: A Look at the Last Year
By Brian Brennan
Oct 27, 2006 - Florida Republican Congressman Mark Foley’s IM’s to underage congressional pages and the arrest earlier this year of Deputy Press Secretary for Homeland Security Brian Doyle for soliciting a minor online hardly blew the lid off of anything. Anyone who, say, has ever encountered TV news reports on a semi-regular basis was already well aware that sexual predators have always existed everywhere and come from every walk of life.
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DiNapoli Named Environmental “Legislator of the Year”
By Brian Brennan
Oct 20, 2006 - The Voters’ Guide put out by the EPL/Environmental Advocates has named Assemblyman Thomas DiNapoli (D-Great Neck) its “Legislator of the Year”. The Assemblyman was officially presented with the honor at a simple ceremony last week at the Sagamore Yacht Club in Oyster Bay.
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STAR Grazing: A little graft buys a lot of grief
By Brian Brennan
Oct 13, 2006 - A press conference held Wednesday by Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota should be a lesson to anyone tempted to get creative when filing for New York State’s School Tax Relief Exemption (STAR) program. The message: it’s not worth it.
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Blue Battles: Tensions Continue Between Suozzi and Police Unions
By Brian Brennan
Oct 6, 2006 - Tom Suozzi’s call this week for police unions to put a stop to what he says are excessive payouts to retirees is just another in the series of clashes between the unions and the County Executive’s office that began almost as soon as Suozzi took office.
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Grave Responsibility
By Brian Brennan
Sep 29, 2006 - It is mostly patriots and founding families buried in Huntington Village’s Old Burying Ground. A smattering of people were allowed burial in the twentieth century, but the graves otherwise date back to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The cemetery is currently benefiting from a restoration project funded with $45,000 from the Town of Huntington and a matching grant from the State of New York.
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Roslyn Harbor Beats Back Landmark Law
By Brian Brennan
Sep 22, 2006 - Residents of the Village of Roslyn Harbor were by and large delighted on September 13th to see their Village Board of Trustees unanimously vote against a law that many felt violated property rights, but that others felt was necessary to preserving Village’s beauty and heritage.
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A Boon for Bayville: Amusement Park to Reopen
By Brian Brennan
Sep 15, 2006 - The owners of 8 Bayville Avenue, Jekyll & Hyde Entertainment Group, who purchased the former Bayville Amusements in the fall of 2004, have revealed what visitors to the site can expect when it reopens on September 29th.
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King’s Throne
By Brian Brennan
Sep 8, 2006 - There’s no love lost between Peter King and the press. The Seaford Republican running for a seventh term as the US Representative for the Third Congressional District (and the last Republican congressman on Long Island) has been very vocal in blaming irresponsibly slanted media reporting for flagging support for the Iraq war and other PR travails of the Bush administration.
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Biofuel Comes to Long Island
By Brian Brennan
Sep 1, 2006 - NABFC was founded just last year and, at this juncture, the plant is merely a pilot plant that will focus on producing biodiesel fuel. NABFC has plans to expand the facility with a research and development lab and commercial production capabilities. Suffolk County’s economic and environmental departments were closely involved in construction of the plant.
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Resurrected: AvalonBay Purchases Hallock Property
By Brian Brennan
Aug 24, 2006 - AvalonBay Communities, Inc. has confirmed through a spokesperson that rumors it has gone ahead and purchased the former Hallock Chevrolet property in Oyster Bay are, in fact, true.
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Booze, Bikes and Bonding: Moms Ride to Fight MS
By Brian Brennan
Aug 18, 2006 - About once a week Karen Johnson of Huntington gets together with other forty-something Huntington moms to have drinks. The venue is usually a lively, trendy but homey place, like Mill Pond House in Centerport with its water views; or Red Dish Grille & Martini Bar in Commack; or Jackson’s Restaurant, also in Commack and offering a pink lemonade martini that is a particular favorite among Johnson and her friends.
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DWI Changes Garner DA a Lawsuit
By Brian Brennan
Aug 11, 2006 - When new kid on the block Kathleen Rice was trying to unseat 18-year incumbent Denis Dillon as Nassau County’s District Attorney last fall, one of her campaign promises was to increase ways to combat Nassau’s Driving While Impaired (DWI) “epidemic”. It is a promise that she has made good on since taking office.
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Wrangling Over Water
By Brian Brennan
Aug 4, 2006 - On September 12th through the15th, a New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) hearing will be conducted to decide an issue that’s been the source of tension between Nassau and Suffolk counties.
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Nassau Land Acquisitions Go Forward
By Brian Brennan
Jul 28, 2006 - “Seventy-seven percent of the residents of Nassau County voted overwhelmingly to indicate their desire for us to protect open space – for the future, for future generations, for the protection of the environment,” Legislative Presiding Officer Judy Jacobs (D-Woodbury) said in a phone conversation. “And this is the first step, I hope, of many where we will move forward to try and preserve what’s left of the open space in Nassau County, because there isn’t that much left.”
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50 Years Later, Andrea Doria Survivors Gather on LI
By Brian Brennan
Jul 25, 2006 - To commemorate this week’s fiftieth anniversary of the sinking, survivors, relatives and historians gathered this past Sunday for a ceremony at the US Merchant Marine Academy in King’s Point, similar to one held ten years earlier to mark the sinking’s fortieth anniversary. Afterwards, Vincenzo de la Torre, one of the Andrea Doria’s chefs, hosted a gathering at his Syosset restaurant, Caracalla Ristorante. The restaurant has hosted many such gatherings over the years.
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Report: LI Not the Best or Worst Place to Face Retirement
By Brian Brennan
Jul 21, 2006 - While Long Islanders bemoan their high cost of living, a nation-wide study released last week has found that, as retirement approaches, Long Island’s baby-boomers are sitting prettier than their counterparts in many other parts of the country. (Photo by Paul Corbit Brown for the U.S. Census Bureau)
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FiOS: Uncertain News for Cablevision May be Good News for Consumers
By Brian Brennan
Jul 14, 2006 - On June 8th, the US Senate passed a bill known as the Communications Opportunity, Promotion, and Enhancement (COPE) Act of 2006. A similar bill, the Communications, Consumers' Choice, and Broadband Deployment Act of 2006, has passed the Senate Committee on Commerce and is awaiting a vote on the Senate floor.
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Unexpected Development: Town Supervisor Says Will Torpedo Avalon App
By Brian Brennan
Jul 7, 2006 - It looks as if the relationship between AvalonBay Communities, Inc and the hamlet of Oyster Bay is at an end. At the June 27th Oyster Bay Town Board meeting, the Coalition to Stop Avalon presented the Town Board with a formal plea to prevent the real estate developer from building a 270-unit luxury rental apartment complex on Pine Hollow Road. Town Supervisor John Venditto surprised many when he responded that he was going to prepare a resolution to the Town Board to kill AvalonBay's application for building permits and a change of zoning.
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Health Department, Health Activists Spar over Breast Cancer Report
By Brian Brennan
Jun 30, 2006 - It depends on whom you talk to, but the rate of Long Island women who will be diagnosed with breast cancer at some point in their lives is one in eight or nine. This is not the highest rate in the country, but it is higher than the national average, which is one in 12 or 13. According to the New York State Department of Health, an average of 13,800 women are diagnosed with the disease each year in the State of New York and over 3,000 die from it (approximately 150 New York State men are diagnosed with breast cancer each year and do not factor into most statistical calculations).
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Victorious Victoria
By Brian Brennan
Jun 23, 2006 - The only thing everyone agrees upon regarding this year’s Bayville mayoral election is that it was a much tougher battle than the village has seen since anyone can remember. Margaret Marchand and her youthful, novice Residents First Party (Bill Charon, Pete Johnson and Peter Bianco) set their sights on unseating longstanding incumbent Victoria Siegel and her Taxpayer’s Party (Carol Kennedy, Paul Rupp, and John Laurine). Ms. Siegel has served in village government for twenty of the last twenty-four years.
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A Word About the Bavyille Mayoral Campaign Coverage
By Brian Brennan
Jun 15, 2006 - Last week, we ran what was intended to be the first part of a two-part report on the campaign race between Margaret Marchand and Victoria Siegel for the mayoralty of Bayville. The story focused on the goals and points of view of Ms. Marchand and her Residents First Party. A parallel article on the views of Mayor Siegel and her Taxpayers Party was planned for this week.
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Marcellino Bill Calls for Greater School District Accountability
By Brian Brennan
Jun 15, 2006 - State Senator Carl L. Marcellino (R–Syosset), member of the Senate Education Committee, last week announced the Senate’s passage of legislation he sponsored that would tighten disclosure guidelines relative to the percentage of a school district’s budget spent on instructional expenses in its report card. The bill (S. 7283) is pending in the State Assembly.
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Citizen Marchand and the Residents First Party
By Brian Brennan
Jun 9, 2006 - On the evening of Wednesday, June 7, Linda and Andrew Kennedy of Bayville hosted a small gathering in their home. The gathering, or “coffee talk”, was a chance for Bayville’s voting public to meet and greet the newly-minted “Residents First Party” that is hoping to be at the helm of the incorporated village’s government after the June 20th election.
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A Piece of History Returns to Oyster Bay
By Brian Brennan
Jun 6, 2006 - It’s over a century old and has survived a shipwreck, a war and a theft. Now, it’s come home to Oyster Bay. It is a Colt revolver that once belonged to Theodore Roosevelt. It was stolen from Sagamore Hill, the 26th President’s Oyster Bay home, in April of 1990. It was officially handed over to Amy Verone, the Chief of Cultural Resources and Curator at Sagamore Hill, by an FBI agent in a ceremony on Sagamore Hill’s porch on Wednesday, June 14.
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All the Pretty Horses
By Brian Brennan
Jun 2, 2006 - The issue up for discussion was whether or not to place a carousel in the hamlet of Oyster Bay’s Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Park. The proposal is the brainchild of the Oyster Bay Main Street Association.
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Walks and Walkouts: The Avalon Debate Gets Uglier
By Brian Brennan
May 26, 2006 - A glacial silence hung over the audience as Matt Whalen approached the podium. But AvalonBay Communities, Inc’s Vice President of Development had a sense of humor about it – sort of. “I didn’t know when the applause was going to start,” he remarked dryly.
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Developmental Difficulties: More About AvalonBay
By Brian Brennan
May 19, 2006 - The next week will be a busy one, both for those who support and those who oppose the proposed AvalonBay development for Pine Hollow Road in Oyster Bay. On Wednesday, May 24th AvalonBay will be hosting an open meeting to discuss the proposal and hear public comment.
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The Tumult Over Traps
By Brian Brennan
May 18, 2006 - On December 11, 2005, Gail Murphy of Sag Harbor was walking in the Long Pond Greenbelt nature preserve in Bridgehampton with her 75-pound, three-year-old mixed breed dog, Zephyr. As she and her supporters tell it, Zephyr wandered a little ahead and made his way into the woods to drink from one of the reserve's many ponds. Ms. Murphy then heard a sound that sounded like a gun shot. Rushing into the woods, she found her pet struggling against a steel conibear body-gripping trap clamped over his head.
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Battle of the Budget:
By Brian Brennan
May 12, 2006 - Tuesday, May 2 saw the final Oyster Bay-East Norwich Central School District budget hearing before district taxpayers give the final word on the proposed 2006-07 school budget on May 16. The Oyster Bay-East Norwich district consists of three schools: Theodore Roosevelt Elementary School (grades K-2), James H. Vernon School (grades 3-6), and Oyster Bay High School (grades 7-12). As of April 2006, the district had 1,576 students enrolled.
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Stormy Issue
By Brian Brennan
May 11, 2006 - A majority of Long Islanders believe that a Katrina-scale hurricane will come to the area within the next five to ten years. This is according to The Kitchens Group, an Orlando-based polling company that found that 59% of Long Island respondents answered that it is somewhat or very likely that a major hurricane will inflict heavy damage on the Island in the foreseeable future.
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Nassau’s Domestic Partner Debate: New Issue, Familiar Pattern
By Brian Brennan
Apr 28, 2006 - In less than two weeks, John Hirsch and Herbert Leiman will have been a couple for 39 years. They are registered as domestic partners in the Village of North Hills, which is in the Town of North Hempstead, where they are also registered as domestic partners. They have contracted a civil union in the State of Vermont. On Monday, they attended the legislative session of the Nassau County Legislature where Mr. Hirsch testified in support of a proposed bill that would institute a County-wide domestic partner registry.
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The Medicaid Maelstrom
By Brian Brennan
Apr 21, 2006 - As Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi, despite unpromising poll results, doggedly continues to challenge State Attorney General Elliot Spitzer for the Democratic nomination for Governor, both candidates are making Medicaid a central issue.
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Contested Development
By Brian Brennan
Apr 7, 2006 - It's a familiar story - a rich and powerful real estate company wants to put up a development, sending the local community into an uproar, with preservationists and environmentalists weighing in and the civic-minded on both sides of the argument taking up the cause. In this case, the developer is the Virginia-based AvalonBay Communities, Inc, which owns and manages 158 apartment communities in ten states and the District of Columbia.
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Keep on Rocking?
By Brian Brennan
Mar 24, 2006 - They say Long Island was once a great place for live music. 'They' being many a middle-aged music enthusiast, who were young before MTV existed, when people apparently had to leave their homes to see music performed. While it's no secret that live music has waned on the Island, there are still places that feature it.
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Live from Melville, It’s Friday Night!!!!!!!!!!!!
By Brian Brennan
Mar 17, 2006 - Nothing falls flat as hopelessly and depressingly as bad comedy. So when I sat down with 500 other spectators in the ballroom of the Hilton Long Island/Huntington in Melville on Friday night to watch the Huntington Art Council, Inc.’s (HAC’s) 3rd annual “Laff-Off”, I was a little wary. The Laff-Off is a competition between 16 standup comics; some professional, some amateur, most somewhere in the middle.
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Chelsea’s Ugly Cousin? The Visual Arts on Long Island
By Brian Brennan
Mar 9, 2006 - The Long Island art scene – a few antiquated museums for the benefit of schoolchildren and a lot of old ladies painting pictures of their cats, right? ... Wrong. The art scene on Long Island has never been anything to turn up one's nose at, either in terms of artists who have lived and worked here, or in the art that comes here from elsewhere. And in recent years, the quality of the art to be found on the Island has only increased.
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Celluloid Island
By Brian Brennan
Feb 15, 2006 - About halfway through 1942’s Now, Voyager, Bette Davis’s heiress steps off an ocean liner onto the New York pier after a literal voyage of self-discovery that has taken her from mousy spinster to confidant woman. A dapper man rushes down the gangplank after her to exchange a fawning goodbye and say beseechingly, “Don’t forget! Glen Cove – the races!”
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Legislature in Limbo
By Brian Brennan
Jan 31, 2006 - Nassau County Legislature’s Presiding Officer Judy Jacobs (D-Woodbury) is waiting to see if she still has her job. Her fellow legislators decided on Wednesday, January 25 that she does not. Jacobs responded by going to court and asking the judge to decide. The judge granted a stay in the voting results, and so – for the time being – she does.
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In the Zone
By Brian Brennan
Jan 30, 2006 - After a large, bipartisan effort, Nassau County is finally benefiting from Governor Pataki’s Empire Zones Program. The program, signed into being in 2000, is an updated version of the Economic Development Zones Program. Nassau County is one of the last counties in the state to become a designee.
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“A for Effort”: School Boards and County Officials Meet to Plan District Strategies
By Brian Brennan
Dec 16, 2005 - On Wednesday, December 7, the presidents and vice-presidents of the school boards for all 56 districts in Nassau County were invited to meet with County Executive Tom Suozzi, County Comptroller Howard Weitzman and County Assessor Harvey B. Levinson at the Police Assembly Hall at the Nassau County Police Headquarters in Mineola.
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Geek Chic
By Brian Brennan
Dec 16, 2005 - In August of this year, the word “podcast” was officially inducted into the Oxford English Dictionary. On December 5, the New American version of the venerable volume selected “podcast” as its Word of the Year.
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Exodus? Poll Shows Many Long Islanders Ready to Vote with their Feet
By Brian Brennan
Dec 9, 2005 - Exodus? Poll Shows Many Long Islanders Ready to Vote with their Feet. The Nassau and Suffolk County Executives’ Offices were quick to prepare responses to last week’s news that the Long Island Index had found that a majority of Long Islanders consider themselves “somewhat or very likely
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Landmark Viaduct to be Replaced
By Brian Brennan
Dec 5, 2005 - Replacement of the Roslyn Viaduct, which carries Route 25a over the head of Hempstead Harbor at Roslyn, is set to begin in Spring of 2006.
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Typhoid Mary: A Footnote to History, or a Clue to the Future?
By Brian Brennan
Nov 28, 2005 - Imagine this: the year is 2007. The feared mutation of the avian flu virus has happened, human-to-human transmission of the disease is a fact, and on Long Island scores of cases have been confirmed. Authorities quickly act to take over some hospital wards, setting up quarantine stations, forcibly confining infected patients, burning contaminated items from their homes and dragooning doctors and nurses from private practice to treat the sick.
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Marsh’s Men’s’ Store of Huntington: New Owners, Traditional Values
By Brian Brennan
Oct 27, 2005 - The well-known Marsh’s Men’s Store in Huntington, established in 1925, has finally passed out of the Marsh family’s hands. The new owners are a shrewd retail family that have come to Long Island in a bid to demonstrate that smart marketing can combine with continued commitment to quality to keep the small business alive.
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Wheeling and Dealing
By Brian Brennan
Oct 27, 2005 - The US Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis said in its statement for the month of August that disposable personal income was down $7.4 billion, or 0.1 percent. Personal consumption expenditures were down $47.2 billion, or 0.5 percent. The University of Michigan Consumer Survey has reported that consumer confidence in September was at its lowest level in 12 years, and had seen its greatest single monthly decline since 1978. Vehicle and home buying plans fell to their lowest levels in ten years.
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Fraud Allegations Shadow Local Politician's Supporter
By Brian Brennan
Oct 27, 2005 - When Long Islanders are motivated by their sense of civic duty to contribute money to a local political candidate, whether they realize it or not they are making a public statement of support. Their contribution becomes public record under the Freedom of Information Act, accessible to anyone capable of phoning the State of New York Board of Elections. Each public office holder must release cumulative disclosure statements for the periods lasting January 12 to July 11, and July 12 to January 11.
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