Town Of Hempstead Lighthouse Scoping Meeting -- Take 1

After having been to the other meeting at the Bennett Pavilion a few weeks ago, I decided it would be very interesting to attend this meeting on May 22nd as well. Heck, I’m just skipping out of work for an extended lunch -- starting at 9:30 am. Big Angry Man is getting even angrier every time I pull one of these stunts, but I go anyway.

I get there at 10:03 am, learn my lesson about making note of my parking spot before I hit the funky little parking meter machine. Pay $1.00 for two hours and run like crazy in high heels across the street and over to the pavilion, glad that it stopped raining.

The hall was crowded, more so than last time with about 200 people in attendance. I hurried to the second to last row in the back, but had a clear view of the speakers from there. I inadvertently sat next to the Newsday reporter of the moment, who seemed far more interested in her blackberry than her note pad and was extremely chatty with the Newsday photographer that walked in after I did.

Are you supposed to applaud at these things after someone speaks? Can they hand out a list of rules for this? No. But we did get a list of topics on the Environmental Impact Statement. And then I realized… I’m in over my head, and this is going to take forever.

There was a large contingent of representatives from the Lighthouse project and its various committees, which Mr. Wang would later introduce one at a time. Each group has a task at hand; each consultant comes with the highest credentials. I knew that this project was tremendous, but you don’t realize how tremendous until you hear what it takes to actually develop Long Island’s largest parking lot into something spectacular.

Scott Rechler gave a power point presentation identifying the phases of the project. I’m sure he can do this in his sleep as he has already attended the 100th Community outreach meeting only the day before. The phases are as follows:
Education Phase: What the community wants & needs.
Issue Identification Phase: And for some reason, today’s issue was affordable housing.
Solution Phase: How to solve the issues.

$10,000,000 has already been spent in studies on the impact to Long Island this project will have. They have been studying the traffic situation for years and collected data and assembled consultants with regional and national expertise.

Would you believe there are consultants that just study parking? That’s all they do. I never thought of such a thing. But if you check the Lighthouse website, you will see the various groups of consultants retained and what their specialties are from traffic and water to landscaping.

I will tell you that when Mr. Wang addressed the audience, he invited everyone to be there for the ground breaking ceremony in July of 2009 “… right after we get the Stanley Cup for the NY Islanders.” For this group, he didn’t have to say that. The people in this audience were all there with their own agendas and none of them were hockey related. But he said it, because I really think it’s what he wants.

Without describing each speaker’s points, let me give you a brief overview:
Affordable Housing! I thought I was going to beat my head against the seat in front of me. Each group lobbied for their piece of the affordable housing pie. Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but with the 2,300 residential units this project will create, and only 20% being required to be “work force” (I guess that’s the new word for “affordable”?) housing, if you do the math, that’s 460 units. Not bad, but everyone wanted a piece of them.

They want retirement housing, minority housing, developmentally disabled housing, low income housing, and there could have been a group there representing animals too, but I could only stay for the first two hours! What I didn’t realize is that the 20% of the “workforce” housing could actually be developed off-site of this 150 ace proposal which led my cynical, non-politically educated mind to wonder; Hey! Are they looking for the Lighthouse to build a new apartment building in downtown Hempstead? What else are they looking for them to build for the “community” in order to get this grand plan to come to fruition? A new school, a library and a church? As one speaker mentioned “… Hempstead is the HUB of Nassau County and it has been left out of the process.”

Secondary to the housing question are the traffic questions. I found these very interesting, because even though there was talk of collecting traffic data, one speaker said that “… no where does this scope list counts of cars on the Meadowbrook and Southern State Parkways.” Uh oh.
Also, as trucks are not allowed on those parkways, they have no way of getting into the area except through local streets. Also, a big Uh Oh. The transportation study ALONE could take five to eight years. If they think this is going to be completed in 10 years, they better have solutions quickly.

Following the traffic concern was waste disposal and other like environmental concerns. What about new landfills? What above safeguarding residents from contaminants from the mountains of trash that would be generated each day? What about the solid waste and sewage treatment plants that need to be built or renovated in order to accommodate this project? Good questions, all of them. This is all what the Scoping session was designed to go over.

I will say that no one seemed against the plan; they just want it to be thought out properly. But in Nassau County does thinking it through properly mean 25 years of studies? Or can this process actually MOVE along? And can Long Island finally do something about their problem transportation system now that gas is at a premium and none of us can get anywhere without a car? The original design of Long Island as a suburban paradise is choking us to death now with traffic and air pollution.

No one asked how many jobs this would generate during the building phase or after its completion. No one asked how much tax revenue it would generate to stimulate our shrinking economy. On my way out, I heard one really good environmental question posed: Can they utilize solar energy in any way?

Considering the design of the roof of the renovated Coliseum, I thought that was a great question. Why not? Disney utilizes so much technology to make their theme parks self-sufficient in so many ways. Why not the Lighthouse project?

This is going to be a long, tough road people. Now, never once has Mr. Wang said that he would pull the plug on the Islanders should this not happen but one speaker did stand up and ask if the five acre Coliseum and 72 acres of asphalt would be a viable instrument for the County should the NY Islanders LEAVE it??? I’m certain that question was posed more to the Town Board than to Mr. Wang. The answer is clearly… NO.

BTW: More than 50,000 jobs would be generated during the construction phase and 20,000 permanent jobs would be created after its completion. And with this Island’s current 5% unemployment rate, and declining population, those are pretty good stats in themselves.

A second meeting will be held on May 27th at 7pm. If you can make it, try to.