Light House Project part one

I decided to contact some experts who are good friends of mine to discuss the lighthouse project. I am very proud to call them my friends.  They are the best and I am indebted to them. Thanks very much, guys. This blog will be broken up into two blogs.

Part One

Today I am  interviewing two different gentlemen, Nick Giglia and BDGallof, just to give my readers an update on the Lighthouse project.

First of all, I thought I would like to ask Nick: What is the latest how is the project going?

Nick

The Lighthouse Project is currently stuck in the very long review process that is required by New York State. We are currently looking at the environmental impact for the project, a process that has been going on since last June and is under the control of a local body, the Town of Hempstead. I hope we can move out of this in the next month or so, into a final lease agreement with Nassau County (owners of the Coliseum and the land surrounding it) and a final re-zoning approval by the Town of Hempstead. Our County Executive appears to have lost his bid for re-election, and his party lost control of the County Legislature, so right now we are in a holding pattern until the implications of that become more clear.

I hate paper work but I guess it’s a necessary evil, but it sure slows down the process. I just hope it’s not too long before the process ends.

BD: What about the feeling from the fans? Are they sympathetic towards the Islanders?

Well, the word “fan” automatically puts forth a disposition of sympathy and interest in the Islanders. That said, are they sympathetic towards Charles Wang and the Lighthouse Project? By and large, many are. But there are pockets of those who are frustrated by the whole thing. There is not a doubt there is some well-deserved ire towards places like the Town of Hempstead, who really didn’t want to help smooth the process or sort out issues. But from mid-summer onward, some of that can now be put on the Project and Charles Wang, who did not want to negotiate or scale anything down . . and now faces a likely changeover to Republicans to the Nassau Executive, as well as the Legislature, to which now ties to the Town of Hempstead.

My guess is many are starting to realize that mistakes were made by both sides in this process, and are a bit more wiser and less sympathetic.

As a fan, I would love to keep the Isles, as I have discussed before in a earlier blog.  I really hate to see them leave. To me, this affects all of us as fans, losing the Isles is losing a piece of history.

Nick and BD: I have heard so many opinions on whether the owner is just holding the area hostage until he gets what he wants.  What do you think?

Nick:

People are welcome to their opinions, but this situation is much more complicated than that. The Lighthouse Project doesn’t exist because Charles Wang had a whim; it exists because our local government doesn’t have any money to contribute toward a new arena, and figures cited by sports economist Andrew Zimbalist (who I interviewed on my blog) say that the average public contribution for a sports arena is currently 65%. At the same time, the Islanders have a few inherent disadvantages: they don’t own the arena (Nassau County does) and the Coliseum has to compete with arenas like Madison Square Garden, Izod Center, and the Prudential Center for events in this region. I’ve done a few pieces on my blog about this; simply building an arena will not make money for the owner, so unless the taxpayers put up money a development like the Lighthouse is the only option. You’re seeing this all over the US and Canada; the Staples Center was partially financed by a development called LA Live, and there are similar proposals in Miami, Ottawa, and Philadelphia. Unless something changes for the Islanders, they are not staying in this area unless the arena is financed by some kind of development.

BDG:

Well, in a lot of ways, he holds the fanbase hostage. Many fans were asked to “speak up” and “come out” to support the project from March onward. But at the hearing, and especially at the October 3rd self imposed deadline, it became a lot clearer that we would not get back what we gave. It became a staredown, with the Isles fans swinging precariously between two unmoving sides. So, there can be blame applied to both sides, but the result is . . . yes, fans are now held hostage because a rundown and poorly allocated area that has been mishandled for years sits in limbo.

I know there are always two different sides. I really did not know why we were in this position at all.  I thought there was a just an owner who was being unreasonable. I know now that there is a lot more to it, that there is no real bad guy in this situation. There is more to this more than meets the eye.

I really want to thank both of you for helping me understand the situation better.  Tomorrow will be part 2 of the blog.