Echoes of past brawls can be heard in casino fight
Islanders fans and others listen as then-Islanders owner Charles Wang addresses the Hempstead Town Board during a zoning hearing for the Lighthouse Project in 2009 in Hempstead. Credit: NEWSDAY/Photo by Howard Schnapp
It was all too familiar.
The packed hearing room filled with passionate people waiting for a few minutes at the microphone. Elected officials seated at a long rectangular table in the front. Signs, cheers and jeers. Hours upon hours of testimony.
For those who've followed development efforts at the Nassau Hub, it might seem like not much has changed in 15 years.
Last week, Hempstead Town supervisor Don Clavin presided over the first hearings for the environmental review on Las Vegas Sands' proposal to build a casino resort on land surrounding Nassau Coliseum.
In 2009, then-Supervisor Kate Murray presided over town board hearings on the $3.8 billion Lighthouse Project proposal by the late Charles Wang, the then-owner of the New York Islanders, and developer Scott Rechler. That proposal included a new Nassau Coliseum for the team and 2,300 housing units.
Some things haven't changed. Those opposed to development at the Hub, one of Nassau County's largest open tracts, still talk about traffic, water, pollution and crime as obstacles. Those in favor still talk about jobs, tax revenue and economic growth.
“I do not want to see Long Island become Queens County,” one Garden City resident said last week, echoing 2009.
Just like 15 years ago, a county executive is firmly on board — then Tom Suozzi, now Bruce Blakeman.
But last week's hearing was not a carbon copy. Missing were the hockey jerseys and boisterous “Let's Go Islanders” and “Build it Now” chants. Missing, too, was backing from Hofstra University, which opposes the casino but supported Lighthouse, even hosting those 2009 hearings.
And those involved, too, have changed. Wang was a Long Islander and had Islanders fans fervently behind him, but he also had a bit of a stubborn streak and was less willing to adapt to opposition. Sands is new to the Island, but its executives seem — as of now — more flexible and more willing to try to address concerns like public safety and traffic.
Then there are the elected officials. In 2009, Murray, town employees and board members voiced reluctance from the start — and Lighthouse officials accused them of slowing the process. At that 2009 hearing, then-board member Anthony Santino criticized Wang and Rechler, saying the process “has been like trying to nail Jell-O to a wall.” So far, Clavin has held his cards closer to his chest while moving the process forward in a measured fashion.
The political landscape, too, is different. In 2009, Republican Party chair Joe Mondello, who was anti-housing in Hempstead, and former Sen. Alfonse D'Amato, who was angry his brother wasn't on Wang's payroll, were agitating behind the scenes. Now, former Nassau OTB President Joe Cairo chairs the party, and he and Blakeman are all in.
A lot still can change with more hearings, studies and decisions to come. But perhaps Clavin, who was Hempstead's receiver of taxes during the failed Lighthouse effort, and Sands, which is working with a still-involved Rechler, are learning lessons from past failures to help navigate the process in new ways.
The question is whether residents have learned any lessons from the past.
“We could build something else,” one speaker said last week.
“Imagine affordable housing for the middle class there,” said another.
Sound familiar?
Of all the yin and yang of then and now, perhaps nothing would be as ironic as the idea that it took a casino proposal to build at least the appearance of support for housing.
Columnist Randi F. Marshall's opinions are her own.
Randi Marshall is a member of the Newsday editorial board.