Grabner Signs for Five!

This has been a very busy week for Islander fans. Hope again springs eternal in Islander Country. We are all extremely excited that Michael Grabner and the NYI's have come to a five year contract agreement. The Calder  finalist, with 34 goals (6 shorties) in his rookie year, is by far a fan favorite, and all are very excited. Grabs is excited too, not only for his new contract, but the whirlwind year he has had. He is a new dad, now has a lengthy deal and is looking foward to playing in a new arena on LI. I hope the latter is not a disappointment.

Politics in Nassau county is a very tricky business, as I mentioned in my last post. This is a GOP initiative, and as a DEM I do support it. We do not need a black hole of hopelessness in the middle of our county. Neither Dems or NIFA were included in this process, which has made a lot of folks angry. I do think that this referendum can pass on August 1st, but I think it will require more than I have seen thus far from Mr. Mangano and the Islander organization.

Primarily, I think that this announcement on wednesday was premature, given the facts. To me it was a glorified pep rally, with not much to back it up. As a lifelong Nassau county resident, I expected that there would be answers to questions asked. That was not the case. Mr. Mangano had no numbers to speak of, no answers to the what if's, really no specifics at all on how this would happen without costing taxpayers more dollars in Nassau. He did, however state several times that it is not their "intention" to cost taxpayers a dime. WAY TOO VAGUE.

In the meantime, I would have liked to see a huge PR campaign by Mr. Wang and the Islanders, immediately following the presser. Signing Grabner is great, but you need the whole county behind you. My neighbor, has no idea who Grabner is, but does understand that you always vote NO in Nassau. Many residents here are so sick of politics and do not wish to invest in anything except their next meal.

All of this being said, I support this referendum. I pray that Mr. Mangano is truthful when he says his intentions are not to cost Nassau taxpayers more dollars. In my thoughts; this is a leap of faith. A faith in the county I have always lived in, and a faith in a team I have always believed in.

New Arena Would be Great, However..

I have lived in Nassau county my entire life, and have seen it go through many changes. When I was younger, Hempstead Tpke. was a 2 lane road with many mom and pop shops along the way. I have watched the county blossom and grow, and then start its decay. I live in East Meadow which has had its share of empty store fronts, but they fill up rather quickly with new excited business endeavors. Levittown, is another story on the pike, given it seems to be owned exclusively by one realtor, and major businesses leave and the properties remain empty for years.

I would certainly welcome anything that would bring much needed revenue to our county, right?? Maybe not so fast. I drive past empty lots every day such as the old Kmart site and the Waldbaum's across the street. I tend to blame this on the landlords, who obviously charge ridiculous amounts of rent. Or do they? I really don't know, but I do know that all this empty real estate is not good for Nassau county. These properties do not seem to have upkeep either. I am disgusted with the TOH and NC. Taxes are unbearably high; seniors on a fixed income cannot stay and neither can their grandchildren. Middle class, or what once was middle class in Nassau cannot survive.

I am a huge Islander fan, and have been since the inception of the team. Ed Mangano's announcement today of the plans to build a new arena for my beloved Isles has many people excited. However, many of these excited folks do not live in Nassau county as I have been reading all day on twitter. They all feel that this is a great deal, many of them commenting that they don't care because they are not Nassau residents. Problem is, they need to care, because this will only happen if the county residents want it.

I think this will be an extremely hard sell for residents as we have some of the highest property taxes in the nation. Also, NIFA seems to be upset as they were not "in" on this proposal. Dems seemed to be behind Lighthouse, and this plan is the Republican baby. When you have lived here for 40+ yrs, and still cannot understand the politics here, there is a huge issue. The Pols will fight with each other just for the sake of the fight and nothing will get done.

I hope that this referendum will go through. I feel as though it is not only the last hope for my Islanders, but perhaps the county as well. We need to turn this town of Hempstead around, create a place where people want to come, and a place where professional hockey players would wish to call home. Politics has long played a role in TOH and NC progress, I hope we can all come together on this plan.