LI groups have hope, concern on Cuomo plans
New York State Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo gives his State of the Budget speech in the Empire State Plaza Convention Center in Albany. (Jan. 17, 2012) Credit: Newsday / J. Conrad Williams Jr.
Islip civic leaders listened to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's representative champion expanded state gambling and a massive convention center proposed for Queens.
Afterward, they had one main question: What about us?
A recap of Cuomo's 2012-13 budget agenda brought roughly 50 people to the Central Islip Public Library Wednesday, and while the governor's ambitious regional pitches were met warmly, the crowd's real concern was local.
"This meeting is in Central Islip, and the people who are sitting here today care about Central Islip and what kind of economic development help we can get," said the Rev. Roderick Pearson, who leads Islip's NAACP branch.
Port Authority executive director Patrick Foye gave Wednesday's presentation and pointed out that Long Island received nearly half of the $200 million in state aid awarded last month to jump-start local job creation.
Nearly $3 million of that, he added, will go to road improvements near the proposed Heartland mini-city in Brentwood.
"Long Island was far and away the real winner," Foye said, noting that local projects again can receive aid in a new round of awards later this year.
Cuomo's 2012-13 agenda, as recapped by Foye, includes his call for lawmakers to pass a constitutional amendment allowing Las Vegas-style casinos and his goal for a huge convention center at Aqueduct Racetrack.
Lenny Tucker, of the Brentwood Association of Concerned Citizens, worried that the racetrack's inaccessibility to the Long Island Rail Road would keep local residents from benefiting from jobs there.
Foye, a Port Washington resident who once was Cuomo's deputy secretary of economic development, said local job training would remain an administration priority, despite plans to consolidate some state programs.
He also touched on the governor's new Foreclosure Relief Unit, which offers counseling to those in danger of losing their homes.
But Nancy Manfredonia, executive director of the Central Islip Civic Council, worried that the state is also slashing aid to neighborhood groups like hers providing local foreclosure counseling.
Her group is losing about $55,000. "This is the time that people are in the most need of help," she said.
'His sacrifice made a difference': Gold Star mother honors son's memory Army Pfc. Raheen Tyson Heighter, 22, of Bay Shore, was the first serviceman from Long Island killed in the Iraq War.
'His sacrifice made a difference': Gold Star mother honors son's memory Army Pfc. Raheen Tyson Heighter, 22, of Bay Shore, was the first serviceman from Long Island killed in the Iraq War.
