Letters: Disappointing Coliseum history
The Brooklyn-based company redeveloping the Nassau Coliseum is selling pairs of seats from the county-owned arena for $500 on a sports collectibles website. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Thank you to Randi F. Marshall for a very well-written column ["What might have been at Coliseum," Nov. 6]. It's tragic that a great vision for that plot of land has been diminished and a Long Island sports team forced to move away. We lost an opportunity for jobs, housing, a larger facility for entertainment, a Hub where we could gather -- all taken away because of political power.
It saddens me to think of what could have been. It's reminiscent of the Rye-to-Oyster Bay bridge that was also trashed by the rich and powerful. We pay among the highest taxes in the country, but our voices are squelched by those in political power. How sad is that?
Barbara Gilman, Old Bethpage
First, Hempstead Town Supervisor Kate Murray blocks the privately funded Nassau Coliseum Lighthouse Project, thus selling out the Islanders and their fans and losing a tremendous amount of revenue for the county.
Now County Executive Edward Mangano makes a deal allowing Steiner Sports to profit from the sale of the contents of the demolished arena, such as seats ["County shafts taxpayers on Coliseum seat sale," Editorial, Nov. 11]. This sacrifices more revenue for the county.
Voters were recently able to rid our cash-strapped county of one of these two fiscally foolish Republicans. Here's hoping we can finish the job in 2017.
Bruce M. Resch, East Meadow
The article "Coliseum renovation begins" [News, Nov. 6] and the opinion piece, "What might have been at Coliseum" [Nov. 6], seem to ignore several real issues.
Blaming former Supervisor Kate Murray and the Hempstead Town Board for the Islanders moving to Brooklyn is analogous to blaming Dodgers owner Walter O'Malley for taking the team to Los Angeles. In fact, years later, it became obvious the real culprit was Robert Moses.
Charles Wang wanted a Taj Mahal. The town regulates zoning and put a few basic questions on the table, such as: Where would the project get adequate water and how would it manage sewer waste? The town asked for an adequate traffic control plan, but no sufficient answers were forthcoming. Rightly so, the town questioned the enormity of the project, which included two 30-story towers.
To add insult to injury, County Executive Edward Mangano later wanted to sell bonds for a new Coliseum and minor league baseball park. The income generated from the agreement with the Islanders might not have been enough to pay off the bonds, cre
