Calling on Governor Cuomo to jumpstart development

Daily Point

A call for economic empowerment zones

One of Long Island’s advocacy groups for developers is suggesting that Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo could suspend local zoning laws under his current emergency powers. 

In a letter to the chairs of the state’s New York Forward reopening advisory board, The Association for a Better Long Island advocated that the governor establish economic empowerment zones on Long Island to designate areas where new development could be particularly beneficial. Each economic empowerment zone could include key community representatives and others whose voices would be important to the process, ABLI suggested. Those new superzones would supersede local control over land use in specific circumstances. 

In the letter, ABLI founder Ed Blumenfeld pointed to economist Thomas Conoscenti’s Newsday op-ed in March, which focused on the same idea.

On Monday, Blumenfeld told The Point that suspending local zoning could speed up approvals and eliminate the NIMBY response that sometimes delays or stops key development efforts. And Blumenfeld suggested that Cuomo’s extended powers give him the ability to make the change.

“It is my opinion that he has demonstrated his intent to use emergency powers not just to address health care, but to address the enormous economic recovery he knows we’re in for,” Blumenfeld said. “I don’t think we have three to 15 years to get something approved. We don’t have that luxury anymore.”

In his letter, Blumenfeld pointed to transit-oriented development and new housing as examples of the Island’s “critical needs.” ABLI estimated that new economic empowerment zones could generate tens of millions of dollars in investment in the region, and create thousands of new construction and permanent jobs.

A Cuomo spokesman did not immediately respond to requests for comment by The Point’s deadline.

—Randi F. Marshall @RandiMarshall

Talking Point

Join our Tuesday webinar on K-12 education

No part of society has been harder hit by coronavirus than schools — and parents, students and teachers are confused and upset. 

At its monthly meeting Monday, the state Board of Regents made some moves to adapt to the challenges of coronavirus by issuing a raft of directives and exemptions for the school year that allows students to graduate, schools to operate and some professionals overseen by the Regents to bypass certain licensing requirements.

One example: Schools identified as struggling or persistently struggling and schools operating under independent receivership that were hoping to improve their way out of those designations this year will be stuck with them for at least another year. But schools that had feared being hit with those designations this year will have at least one more year to improve and avoid it. 

No schools will be added to or removed from those designations for the 2020-2021 school year. Even as the Regents were able to settle some school issues Monday, most of the biggest questions remain up in the air. 

To better understand how the state and the schools look at these challenges, join Newsday for a free webinar Tuesday, when I’ll moderate a discussion on education during the coronavirus pandemic with Roger Tilles, Long Island’s representative on the New York State Board of Regents, and  Dr. Thomas Rogers, superintendent of the Syosset Central School District. This webinar will feature an interactive Q&A session and can be accessed here.

—Lane Filler @lanefiller

Pencil Point

Tantrum

For more cartoons, visit www.newsday.com/cartoons

Quick Points

• South Korea, which has handled the coronavirus better than most nations, has reopened and has published a 68-page guide offering specific advice on commonly encountered situations called “everyday life quarantine.” Anybody here listening?
• Republicans in centrist districts dealing with COVID-19 are distancing themselves from President Donald Trump’s leadership style, a process in which Michigan GOP Rep. Fred Upton said, “You have to sort of thread the needle.” And some days, the thread is just too darn big.
• Senate Republicans want to shield employers from liability if their workers contract COVID-19. So employers could decide to not keep their businesses closed, not give their workers personal protective equipment, not spatially distance them, not test workers for the virus before they return, and not be responsible if they get sick? What’s not to like about that, if you’re not a worker?
• New York, New Jersey and five other Northeastern states will join to develop a regional supply chain for personal protective equipment. That’s what you do when the federal government won’t do its job.
• A recent Republican National Committee poll showed voters in 17 swing states were equally likely to see President Donald Trump and presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden as “weak or confused.” Which candidate do you suppose was more upset about that?
• Some 70% of federal inmates tested for COVID-19 were positive. Not surprising,  given that the virus is more likely to attack males, minority members, and people living in places with greater density.
• Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday that the “best experts” believe the coronavirus was man-made, then said later he has no reason to doubt the U.S. intelligence community assessment that it was not man-made. He’s either trying to gaslight the entire world, or playing to an audience of one self-described best expert.
• Former President George W. Bush released a tender video urging unity and solidarity in the face of the coronavirus, praising medical workers while challenging Americans to put aside their partisanship. President Donald Trump responded by blasting Bush, tweeting the 43rd president was “nowhere to be found” during Trump’s impeachment. Not exactly mission accomplished.
• As the economy was battered by the coronavirus, Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate reported a $50 billion first-quarter loss. Hey, not even an oracle knows everything.
• Killer hornets. Really? On top of everything else, now we have to worry about another overseas killer?

—Michael Dobie @mwdobie