Eye on the Island

NY Senate’s Stakes

The way New York State is governed over the next 10 years is on Tuesday, Nov. 2’s ballot but something so consequential will have little to do with the outcome of the gubernatorial and U.S. Senate elections.

Primary Scorecard

Nassau voters can be forgiven their general lack of interest or knowledge about the Tuesday, Sept. 14 primary elections. Some of the candidates vying for their affections, and the media outlets which should be covering the prospective office holders, apparently took the summer off.

Pols Quiet on LIRR

Perhaps it was because the canceled trains and chronic delays occurred in late August but the Long Island Rail Road’s (LIRR) epic operational problems, reportedly caused by a fire at a switching tower near Jamaica station, prompted little visible outrage from the Island’s elected officials.

LIRR’s Give & Take

The U.S. Open Championship prompts thousands of tennis fans each year to use the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR), and that’s a good thing. The public’s migration to the LIRR gets cars off the road and serves as a prominent reminder of mass transit’s importance to the region.

Jets’ Hofstra Visit

True to the organization’s word, the New York Jets are returning next week for their annual pilgrimage to Hofstra University, site of the squad’s summer training camp between 1968 and 2008.

Scanning the Polls

New York State’s registered Republicans will go the polls on Tuesday, Sept. 14 to choose the party’s gubernatorial nominee and the GOP’s challenger to U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. On the following morning, the downstate media will completely discount the winning Republican candidates’ chances of prevailing in the general election on Tuesday, Nov. 2.

New Cassel Charges

The town of North Hempstead’s Community Development Agency (CDA) awarded to Stoneridge Homes in May 2004 the right to develop three of seven New Cassel parcels set aside for revitalization.

LIRR’s Train Talk

Sometimes, when I’m on a crowded LIRR train, I am reminded of the sign which greeted TV‘s The Simpsons upon visiting the zoo: ‘Born free, then caged.’

To its credit, the LIRR recognized in the July 2010 edition of Train Talk, the newsletter circulated on board its trains, the two biggest problems in the commuting jungle: patrons who use adjacent seats to store their belongings, and riders who insist on making repeated phone calls during their trip.

Lighthouse Retreat

I’m the married father of three sons, aged 6 to 14, so the idea of finding a cool place for Dad to spend some alone time—where no one either asks me to do anything or complains about something—occasionally crosses my mind.

So when I read in The Wall Street Journal last week that the federal government was selling via public auction the Latimer Reef Lighthouse in Long Island Sound, a place I had not ever heard of until that very moment, I needed to check it out.

GOP Family Feuds

Despite compelling evidence to the contrary, media reports abound about how Republican candidates need the Conservative Party’s nomination to win a general election.