Sen. Phil Boyle's parting gift to Suffolk

Daily Point

Housing snag

It's not often that all of Long Island’s state senators quickly agree on anything.

But when they do, they apparently get results pretty quickly.

Last Friday, State Sen. Phil Boyle, who is retiring, approached the rest of the region’s senators about an issue that concerned him. Positive responses from his colleagues in both counties and in both parties, came “within hours.” The result was a letter to two state agencies, signed by the entire delegation.

The issue? A bureaucratic snafu in Albany that seemed to be stalling the development of up to 400 units of affordable housing in Suffolk County.

By Thursday afternoon, however, a resolution seemed to be in sight.

Sources told The Point that Suffolk recently added a component to its affordable housing program that would require developers to set aside a portion of their projects for “inclusionary housing” — housing for individuals with developmental disabilities. The policy came after a successful pilot that allowed an apartment complex in Riverhead to include units for 10 people with developmental disabilities. More recently, the county had committed $10 million toward expanding such inclusionary housing efforts.

Developers were on board. Advocates were thrilled. But then came the problem.

Projects that include housing for those with developmental disabilities must receive a letter of support from the state’s Office for People with Developmental Disabilities. That letter is required for developers to then apply for funding through a different state agency — Homes and Community Renewal. But while the applications for HCR tax credits are open only until early December, OPWDD has refused to issue the necessary letters of support because that state bureaucracy offers only a single six-week window annually to process such letters. And that window has already closed for 2022.

Right now, Suffolk has eight potential projects, with more than 400 units of affordable housing — 40 of which would be earmarked for those with developmental disabilities — that could be considered for HCR tax credits. Such inclusionary housing efforts are much less expensive than group homes, advocates said, and offer better housing opportunities for the individuals with disabilities.

“I thought an issue like this really needed bipartisan support,” Boyle, a Republican, told The Point. “Housing for people with developmental disabilities is so important. And everyone responded quickly.”

The letter sent Tuesday to both OPWDD and HCR requested that the two agencies “promptly work toward a solution to allow Suffolk County to leverage this vital funding.” The eight senators noted that the state, too, supports such housing, but of the 799 units funded by the state so far, only eight are in Suffolk and 12 are in Nassau. None of the Suffolk units have been built so far, the letter noted.

Early Thursday afternoon, Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone told The Point he was working with state officials to “develop a policy solution to this important issue.”

And by later Thursday, it seemed he and the state senators got results. The OPWDD announced it would be opening a second window for those who want to apply for letters of support and are applying for HCR funding, too. But the OPWDD announcement did not include specific dates, so it’s unclear when the new window will open or close.

In a statement to The Point, Hazel Crampton-Hays, a spokeswoman for Gov. Kathy Hochul, said adding to the state’s housing supply is critical to the governor’s overall housing efforts.

Said Crampton-Hays: “As soon as we became aware of this concern, we have been working across state agencies to streamline processes and help eligible projects have greater opportunities to apply for support.”

Meanwhile, to avoid future similar problems, OPWDD said it would open two windows each year in the future.

A win for Boyle, on his way out the legislative door.

— Randi F. Marshall @RandiMarshall

Talking Point

Gov greets teachers as turnout time nears

The United Federation of Teachers is forever considered a player in New York City elections, with phone banks and mailings to get out votes for those they endorse, mainly Democrats.

In this statewide election, with recent polls showing Gov. Kathy Hochul with the smallest lead for a governor in recent history, she and Democratic operatives have given the line that they are running as if underdogs against Republican Lee Zeldin. Hochul comes from Buffalo, and needs good turnout in the five boroughs and other places the UFT membership lives to offset Zeldin’s expected strengths in such GOP strongholds as Long Island and upstate.

“Of course, we’re worried,” said a party official.

In that context, less than a month before Election Day, Hochul on Wednesday accepted an invitation to drop in on the UFT assembly’s monthly meeting with about 1,000 delegates on hand and possibly another 1,000 watching online. Introduced and hosted by UFT President Michael Mulgrew, she talked about pandemic recovery and school help.

As these things go, it was a populist pitch. According to a transcript of her remarks obtained by The Point, she told Mulgrew he’s “a hell of a fighter and I’m proud because I have that same fighting spirit,” and recalled her blue-collar, public-school roots. Also, she said, “I have a lot of teachers in my family and I want to be able to see them at Thanksgiving. So they’re putting a lot of pressure on me, too.”

She recalled that while preparing her administration’s first budget last winter, “We had the challenge of how we’re going to get our teachers and our kids and the administrators back in school safely.” That meant getting COVID test kits to parents. She recalled Mulgrew pushing for the operation to go forward, which it did.

Hochul defended the state’s new gun laws and touted a bill she signed mandating smaller class sizes, and educational career incentives. She hailed President Joe Biden and Dems in Washington for funding technical education. The send-off was thanks for all teachers do for the kids each day.

In the New York civil-service world, it could be considered a red-meat speech.

— Dan Janison @Danjanison

Pencil Point

Poor choice

For more cartoons, visit www.newsday.com/nationalcartoons

Reference Point

A season for scandal

It only seems like there are two political scandal seasons on Long Island — when a corruption scandal is exposed, and when a corruption scandal is merely brewing.

Newsday’s editorial board had a grasp on that reality 55 years ago when it wrote about the scandal du jour — and several that preceded it — in an Oct. 13, 1967 piece called “If Rocky Won’t Get Tough, Then the Suffolk GOP Must.”

Gov. Nelson Rockefeller had refused to remove Walter M. Conlon, an influential Republican from the Town of Islip, from his post as a member of the State Tax Commission. Instead, Rockefeller ordered his special counsel to investigate allegations that Conlon had “secret” business dealings with a homebuilder who had previously been convicted of robbery and assault and had been identified by the State Liquor Authority as an illegal silent partner in a Sayville nightclub. Conlon was a former Islip Town attorney.

The board argued that in the absence of gubernatorial action, “the Suffolk Republican Party must clean its own house.”

“There is no doubt that the accepted but unwritten code for ethical conduct, which debars any responsible public official from making a private profit from inside information or from associating himself with known criminals, has been resoundingly violated,” the board wrote. “Beyond this is the fact that influential persons in the Suffolk Republican Party profited handsomely from advance information and zoning changes while an official of the party associated himself with Cosa Nostra figures.”

For context, the board recounted previous “housecleanings” in Suffolk — in both major parties, it noted — prompted by corruption.

In 1950, Rep. W. Kingsland Macy — described by the board as “long the political dictator of Suffolk County” — was turned out by voters and in 1951 driven from GOP leadership after it was revealed that while serving as chairman of the Suffolk County Water Authority the agency “bought a bankrupt water company for millions of dollars more than its appraised value and insiders reaped an enormous profit.”

Another housecleaning “took place in the 1959 elections,” the board wrote, “the result of the Suffolk scandals, after some 29 persons associated with the Republican machine were indicted.” Among them were a former assemblyman and the Republican leader of the Town of Huntington.

In 1963, Newsday stories prompted a state check of the water authority’s books which led to the conviction of Suffolk Democratic Party chairman Adrian Mason for soliciting a kickback on a contract. He was cleared later on appeal.

Newsday’s concern in 1967 was underscored by its editorial cartoon that day titled “See No Evil … Hear No Evil … Speak No Evil.” It featured three men labeled “politicians” closing their eyes, ears and mouths while looking at a Long Island map labeled “SUFFOLK COUNTY SCANDALS.”

As for Walter Conlon, he was convicted in 1973 on bribery charges in a rezoning deal and disbarred, but later convinced the State Legislature to restore his law license. But he never was thrown out in a housecleaning.

He resurfaced in the corruption annals 27 years later when, after rising from the ashes to become president of Suffolk OTB, he was forced by his party to resign after big financial losses at OTB and allegations that he had hosted expensive parties on the OTB dime and given out contracts and superfluous jobs to family and friends.

Conlon said on the day of his resignation, “I’m leaving with my head held high.”

Which recalled the lament of the editorial board back in 1967 that “the public officials involved assume the cynical attitude that ‘if it isn’t illegal, then there’s nothing wrong with it …’”

A motto, perhaps, for all Long Island seasons.

— Michael Dobie @mwdobie, Amanda Fiscina-Wells @adfiscina