We're Number Two! We're Number Two!

Nassau County Long Island won the Silver Medal!
Westchester took the Gold!
So what was the competition?
Could it have been a Jeopardy style game?
Was it a kind of real estate Olympics?
No, it was a list of the highest ranking neighborhoods in the country in terms of property taxes!
That's right, Nassau Country taxes it's residents an average of just under $9,000 per year for the pleasure of owning property there.
But for that money residents get, uh, wait a moment, hmmm.
Well we get lots of things.
Let's see, there are plenty of potholes to keep drivers on their toes!  That's actually a good thing because it makes it necessary to keep one's eyes on the road rather than texting or putting on make-up.
Critics will argue that we on the Island have very good schools and for the most part they would be correct.  But the argument has no place in this story wince School Tax is separate from and added to Town tax.
For years there have been politicians arguing that the 'downstate' area should secede from NY State and form the 51st star on the flag.  They even came up with a name, The Empire State.  After all the cool building is in Manhattan not Albany.
If the five boroughs of New York City were to team up with the two Island Counties we would actually have a very populated state.  Empire State would finally have two dedicated Senators and several new Representatives for lobbyists to grease.
And perhaps two stories that appeared in the news on the same day would have different endings.  Those stories were about the sky high and quite unfair property tax and the fact that while Long Island's poverty numbers remain constant they are still terribly high.
Jobs have left Long Island as the politicians continue to make stupid choices in their efforts to grab a personal spotlight.  One need only look at the woman in charge of Hempstead who must think her name includes her title to see the self-serving mind at work.
Supervisor Kate Murray has continued to block 'The Lighthouse Project.'  That development would keep a professional hockey team here (I use the term loosely.)
In fact any development of the ugly blighted area in and around the Nassau Coliseum has stalled while Murray claims she wants to be sure it will be good for the county.
But when it came to her well-off retired dad she never gave the county a second thought hiring him to a cushy high-paying do-little job that could have gone to any number of more qualified unemployed available tax paying Long Islanders!
Daddy Murray quit after the nepotism became known but the intent was evident and the pig's motive was out in the open.
Then there was Mangano voiding his predecessor's cap on severance for top cops by gifting them hundreds of thousand of our tax dollars to retire early!  Those of us who were laid off and forced into a sort of early retirement without as much as a penny truly appreciated that gesture!
The Long Island Railroad has been mis-managed for so long that we don't ever expect it to work!  If the weather forecast has rain in it the trains will be late! And the rain doesn't even have to be in New York!  Ever notice the trains are considered to be on time until they are over 6 minutes late?
I could go on all day with the idiocy of our so-called leaders in government but most if this is known.
The loss of tax revenue from the stalled Lighthouse Project; the gifts of bribe money to and probably from local governments; and the increased cost to ride the rails on Long Island taken together with the high property taxes and shameful poverty level are turning Long Island into a terrible place to live.
And as soon as housing prices stabilize and move higher watch the middle class jump ship and move to more friendly climes.  At that time there'll be plenty of open jobs for daddy Murray!
The county may not win another Silver medal but when it comes to poor value for the money they sure take the cake.

Tower of Power

For all intents and purposes the Lighthouse Project that could have revitalized the area around and including the dilapidated outdated Nassau Coliseum is dead.
Admittedly it was a broad-minded large scaled project that bordered on unrealistic but since when has that stopped us from trying to make the future better than the past or present?
I'll tell you since when - since small-minded power brokers such as Kate Murray got in the way.
It is normal to want to reshape anything we own to fit our needs.  We may then say, "this is mine."
But a politician does not own a town!
A politician is in place to do what's best for the area he or she represents.
And when that politician loses sight of those simple facts it is time for that politician to slink away!
When the smoke from the war over the project clears the Nassau Coliseum may well house a Shinnecock Indian Nation Casino.  And although I doubt there will be, a room should be dedicated to Ms. Murray.  Hopefully it will be one of those housing toilets.
With Hofstra walking distance away from the inevitable Murray Casino I can envision many students being tempted to lose their loan payments on tribal tables of chance.
And using the Atlantic City Boardwalk as an example I can also envision the neighborhoods surrounding the casino turning into slums as money is siphoned out of the area and into the pockets of those few in charge.
Sound bites are the only way to grab the attention of political minds these days.  So here are a few chronological limericks concerning the soon to be former home of the Kansas City Hockey team formerly known as the Islanders.


Developers all have an itch
To invest and thereby get rich
But plan as they will
It may all come to nil
When it's stopped by a small-minded bitch.


Wasted time and potential's a sin
As no side in the battle gives in
For the project Lighthouse
Wang and Murray both grouse
Hempstead's caught in a trap with no win.


Progress has now hit a wall
As Kate Murray has just screwed us all
The Lighthouse is through
A casino is due
Power's blinded this small-minded troll.


I can think of one more limerick.  It starts, There once was a woman named Kate...
I won't continue it but it's a good bet the Shinnecocks will finish it.

And Daddy Makes 3

Newsday reported that two sides of the Long Island Lighthouse project will be meeting this Friday to discuss the plan's future.

Charles Wang, who has been pushing for the project for various reasons not the least of which is personal gain, will sit down with Nassau County Executive Kate Murray who arguably does nothing without a thought of personal gain.

Why would I say something like that about Ms. Murray? Well for a long time I actually liked the lady and thought she was doing a fair job. Naturally I am not that naive and realized that many of the projects she backed would not exactly hurt her while they did some good for the citizens of the Island. However it came to light that she hired her father for a job with the county at an obscene salary after he had retired and was collecting a pension. The money the man was collecting was tax payer dollars and he was getting a double dip of it at that. Many are out of work and not making any salaries. Why should we allow this Nepotism?

After Newsday broke the story about Ms. Murray's retired, rehired dad once again retired (should that be re-retired?) and backed out of the job. So now the question comes back into the foreground. At Friday's meeting with Mr. Wang will part of the conversation be, "Hire my dad or I block the project?"

This is a mean allegation but hey, she started it!