Mayor Proposes Alternatives for Nassau Coliseum and Detroiters' Shinnecock Gambling Hall

Mayor Thomas J. Tweedy

MAYOR'S MESSAGE
11.17.2011

Mayor’s Message Village of Floral Park: November 17, 2011

“While stands the Colosseum, Rome shall stand; when falls the Colosseum, Rome shall fall; and when Rome falls – the world.” Those famous words describing ancient Rome were written on the office wall of the executive director of Mitchel Field when the Nassau Coliseum was being constructed in 1971 (New York Times 12/5/1971 “A Colossus Rises on Hempstead Plains”). When the Nassau Coliseum opened in 1972, built for under $32 million, that Nassau County leader understood the enormous impact the new arena at Mitchel Field would have on its Long Island community.

Today, Long Island is at a tipping point and the Nassau Coliseum is the nexus of the fiscal and emotional morass many Nassau County residents feel. The rebuilding of a new and improved entertainment center at Nassau County’s 77-acre Hub site would be a sure sign to all that Long Island will continue to be a major league community in this new century. In many ways, if the Nassau Coliseum falls, Long Island as we know it shall fall, and when Long Island falls, the American Dream that created Long Island in the first place, is in danger of being lost. It is therefore imperative that Nassau County’s leaders act decisively and boldly to make sure that the Colossus which rose on the Hempstead Plains forty years ago, does not fall and becomes a place of abandonment and lost glory.

It is obvious that creative ideas and innovative thinking are in order to make the Hub a beacon drawing people from all over to visit our region. The proposal last year by the Shinnecock Indian Nation that was initially so positively embraced by Nassau County’s leaders, to have a portion of the Hub set aside for a casino, now needs to be fully explored. Given Nassau County’s taxpayers strong resistance to any additional tax burden relating to rebuilding the Nassau Coliseum, as the referendum this past summer surely demonstrated, other ways to get this accomplished must be explored.

So the following is offered for consideration to the ongoing public debate by this public servant.
Like Yankee Stadium and CitiField, the new Nassau Coliseum should be built adjacent to the old at its current 77-acre Hub site. There is also a need to have a steady stream of revenue to finance the construction of a new arena, other than new taxes from homeowners. One way to accomplish the goal of creating a new Coliseum for Nassau County and a new casino for the Shinnecock Indian Nation is to build a new Coliseum in the parking lot of the old Coliseum, and then turn the keys to the old Coliseum over to the Shinnecock Indian Nation to use as the location for its new casino. In addition to the $14 million that the New York Islanders promised to annually provide Nassau County for a new arena, the Shinnecock Indian Nation would provide a portion of their gaming receipts to reimburse the financial costs to build a new Coliseum with the understanding that the hosting community surrounding the Coliseum are first made whole for accepting the additional burden of a casino in their midst. While the new Coliseum is being built, the New York Islanders would agree to stay in the current building and the Shinnecock Indian Nation could use that time to get their casino plans in order.

Belmont Park should be updated as a world-class thoroughbred racing facility. That can be accomplished through the use of the revenue stream for capital improvements already set aside for NYRA from its Aqueduct VLT operation. As for jobs, building a new Coliseum and casino consecutively at the Hub will certainly create more jobs than just a casino at Belmont Park alone.

The State of New York, which owns and controls Belmont Park, should support the creation of additional recreational opportunities for the communities surrounding Belmont Park. Using some portion of the 28 acre parking field south of Hempstead Turnpike for use by local residents for soccer should be explored. Likewise, the parking field behind the Floral Park-Bellerose Elementary School, which presently is being used as a make-shift tractor trailer animal feed distribution/storage facility, a trash dumpster transfer yard and a new car storage lot, should be converted to create additional sporting fields for our local residents in keeping with our vision of improving Belmont Park.

The possibility of reutilizing the old Coliseum and creating a new world class entertainment arena allowing the Islanders to stay home on Long Island, while providing a reliable funding source dedicated to debt satisfaction as well as a continuing source of revenue for Nassau County taxpayers is a win-win for everyone.

This is a proposal that should be discussed by all the stakeholders and not immediately shot down by special interest lobbyists who have their own plans for the Hub plans, which do not provide a realistic chance for either the Coliseum for the New York Islanders or a new casino for the Shinnecock Indian Nation.

Mayor Disappointed that Shinnecock Failed to Include Floral Park in Community Outreach for Belmont Park Casino Scheme

Mayor Thomas J. Tweedy
Floral Park, New York

MAYOR'S MESSAGE
10.13.2011

Mayor’s Message Village of Floral Park: October 13, 2011

The 10th and final principle relates to oversight and transparency. This principle speaks to more than just a measure of trust; this is a requirement that must be memorialized into law. The State of New York, its governor and elected state representatives, has a moral obligation to fairly and equitably represent the interests of all New Yorkers. Our 2007 Statement of Principles speaks to the fundamental issues of fairness. The analysis of this 10th principle articulates the apparently deliberate yet inequitable treatment the surrounding communities of Belmont Park are subject to when compared with other — state owned; NYRA operated — thoroughbred racing facilities.

TRANSPARENT RESPONSIVE OVERSIGHT CREATES COMMUNITY TRUST

X. The neighboring communities must be involved and considered in any significant change of operations or activities at the facilities. The facilities must be subject to formal local oversight and review to consider all proposed additions, renovations or demolitions at the sites. There should be the establishment of a corporate ethics compliance official and a local community liaison who will be available to the surrounding communities to ensure implementation of both the letter and spirit of this Statement of Principles.

One of the most disappointing aspects of the State of New York’s taking over effective control of the 435-acre Belmont Park from NYRA has been the continued lack of transparency associated with its current and future operations. As one of Floral Park’s elected representatives, it is frustrating to learn that the Shinnecock Indian Nation was holding informational meetings about their plans at Belmont Park without any representative from the Village of Floral Park being invited to participate. We have made our displeasure known, however, to representatives of Senator Jack Martins, NYRA, as well as those knowledgeable about the Shinnecock Indian Nation’s proposal. While we are optimistic that promises that representatives from the Village of Floral Park, in recognition of our status as a host community of Belmont Park, will not be “inadvertently” omitted from any future discussions concerning Belmont Park, we would be more at ease if those assurances were written into law rather than merely expressions of apparently good intentions.

Ironically, when the State of New York passed the legislation in 2008 to take over control of Saratoga, Aqueduct and Belmont Park from NYRA, and while a new local community advisory board was created for the communities surrounding Saratoga and Aqueduct, once again the communities surrounding Belmont Park were unbelievably, left out in the cold! Despite the submission of our Statement of Principles in 2007 to the State of New York, which clearly expresses Floral Park’s interest in participating in such an advisory board for Belmont Park, the governor signed the bill on Feb. 13, 2008 without establishing a similar advisory board for Belmont Park. We immediately raised the issue with Senator Craig Johnson, who represented our community at the time. Thereafter, he introduced an amendment to establish a 15-member advisory board for Belmont Park, of which four members were to be designated by the mayor of Floral Park, with the approval of Floral Park’s entire board of trustees. In addition to the four designees from Floral Park, four would be designated from the Town of Hempstead (three of whom reside within the Hempstead hamlet of Elmont); four would be designees of the Elmont Community Coalition of Civics and three would be designated by NYRA itself.

Once again the mysterious ways of Albany resulted in a failure to pass bill S.766-2009 creating a local advisory board for Belmont Park. Now that representatives of the Shinnecock Indian Nation have proposed construction of a casino and hotel facilities at Belmont Park, along with who knows what other changes the backroom discussions in Albany may be scheming to foist upon the communities surrounding Belmont Park in the future, the need of Floral Park to have a formal role as host community of Belmont Park is now greater than ever. While we would want any group overseeing the developments at Belmont Park to include a corporate ethics compliance official and a local community liaison who will be available to the surrounding communities to ensure implementation of both the letter and spirit of this Statement of Principles, at least having a formal board would be a good start. Why the neighbors of Saratoga and Aqueduct have been given a formal voice in what takes place there, while the State of New York continues to ignore the neighbors of Belmont Park begins to look more like an act of commission rather than an inadvertent act of omission. Even a barnyard dog at Belmont Park knows when it has been accidentally tripped over and when it is purposefully kicked; so do the communities surrounding Belmont Park. It’s about time the State of New York demonstrates that they will treat us like a member of the family rather than being left out in the cold in Belmont Park’s barnyard doghouse. They should know by now that our bite will surely be worse than just our bark!

Shinnecock Roll Out Plans for Casino Development at Belmont Racetrack

Developers Roll Out Preliminary Plan for 
Casino At Belmont Racetrack
7.29.2011

by Melissa Argueta

Senator Martins, Local Leaders Weigh in on Impact of Project to Nassau County Communities

Representatives from the Shinnecock Indian Nation recently gave Nassau County residents a sneak peek into a conceptual development plan for a casino at Belmont Racetrack during an Elmont Coalition for Sustainable Development meeting held at the Elmont Library.

The tentative proposal calls to build a 500- to 600-unit hotel, a gaming facility and entertainment complex, which includes restaurants, a renovated Long Island Rail Road Station and a soccer field.

In a roundtable discussion at Anton Newspapers earlier this month, Senator Jack Martins advocated his support for the potential project as part of the Elmont revitalization initiative, and offered insight into how such a project could affect constituents living in the 7th Senatorial District.

Martins confirmed that the Shinnecock’s development proposal is not a done deal and still has to be approved on the state and federal levels. “Just because they announce that they are looking at Belmont, doesn’t mean it’s going to happen. It may never happen, just because of all of the different hurdles that they have to overcome, but the fact that the Shinnecocks are willing to take on that possibility, let them go ahead and do it,” Martins said.

Last month, Martins met with officials at the Empire State Development Corporation to discuss the state’s commitment to move forward with the Belmont casino. Regardless of whether the proposed plan is approved, Martins said the Elmont community will still proceed with its own revitalization efforts.

“The reality is, the odds are against there being a casino there. But they [the Shinnecock Nation] know that, and they are willing to try, so let them try. In the meantime, my job as I see it is to work with the community, look at the state’s resources and see what’s available to move the process forward for their own visioning,” Martins said.

Sandra Smith, chairwoman of the Elmont Coalition for Sustainable Development, has had direct meetings with Shinnecock Nation and said the Elmont community has embraced the idea of a casino in the area. The Coalition reached out before the Shinnecock got federal recognition in an attempt to foster a smooth dialogue in the future, which Smith says is working quite well.

“From my standpoint, the community as a whole is accepting the idea,” she said.

Furthermore, Smith has had unending conversations with Martins about the proposed casino and that both have been working to remedy the idea of it coming to fruition. Smith, through the coalition, has held “revitalization meetings” concerning Hempstead Turnpike in Elmont and the Belmont property has been on the table for the last “four or five years.”

“We spoke about this idea a lot,” Smith said. “He’s for it and so am I. He’s been very supportive in helping shine the light on this to move the process forward. The coalition reached out to the Shinnecock Nation before they received federal recognition to show that Elmont was interested in having something at Belmont.”

Smith met with the New York Racing Association (NYRA) in recent weeks and addressed having a proposed casino on the south lot at the racetrack. She said at the meeting, she notified NYRA that the coalition has been discussing the plan with Shinnecock Nation.

In an effort to get additional feedback on the project, Smith said the Shinnecocks will be hosting a series of meet-and-greets with local residents. Earlier this month, approximately 60 people attended the first information session and asked Shinnecock developers questions about the plan.

“It was quite positive,” Smith said. “It was an opportunity to have a community to community meeting. Their representatives wanted to meet the people of Elmont and have an informal conversation.”

The construction project could generate anywhere from 5,500 to 12,000 jobs from white-collar to blue-collar positions, according to Smith.

“Belmont is part of the Triple Crown; it’s a world known brand,” Martins said. “Our effort is to try and incorporate Belmont into the local community to provide economic opportunities.”

According to Martins, New York State owns the Belmont property, which is located in Elmont. However, the backstretch portion of the land is situated in the Village of Floral Park. Mayor Tom Tweedy and other village residents have publicly raised concerns about the additional traffic that may be produced in the village and surrounding towns.

In his Mayor’s Message printed in the July 22 Floral Park Dispatch, Tweedy estimated that a proposed casino at Belmont could draw as many as 51,000 visitors per day, including gaming visitors, racing fans and Belmont employees.

“One need not be Nostradamus to know the impact this will have on our village, especially our police. This year’s Belmont Stakes alone had an attendance of 55,779. That day, the Floral Park Police Department worked a double-staffed shift with additional overlapping shifts to cover traffic and other public safety issues due to the large number of visitors and the nature of the day,” Tweedy wrote.

Martins maintained that the surrounding towns will not be impacted negatively by development. “If a casino becomes a viable possibility, it will be located in a way that it does not interfere with Floral Park or areas that don’t want to see that kind of activity,” he said.

Smith stressed that the representatives from the Shinnecock Nation will hold future meetings with Floral Park officials to discuss their concerns as well. She also emphasized that the plan proposes aiding Floral Park’s water and flooding problems by building a drainage area to pull out water from the backstretch area and using it instead for decorative purposes.

Rich Forestano contributed to this story.