Formulating a plan

Daily Point

Flipping the switch 

On Friday, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo gave schools the go-ahead to open, citing COVID-19 positive test rates in every region well below the 5% level he’d set as a benchmark for resuming in-person instruction. 

But he also asked that all districts post on their websites explanations of:

• How they will handle remote learning, and address equity issues.
• How they will handle coronavirus testing, with specifics, including quarantining.
• How they will do contract tracing if someone tests positive for the virus.

That’s a lot to ask, and school officials say that could doom any bid to get the kids back in their classrooms. 

—Lane Filler @lanefiller

Talking Point

Schumer's power play

There is big drama in Washington as efforts to deliver another COVID-19 relief bill before lawmakers go home for summer recess appear to have run out of power.

But that was not the kind of power on the mind of Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Democratic minority leader, when he placed an early Friday call to PSEG/LI chief Dan Eichhorn.

According to a Schumer staffer, the senator learned from a story in Newsday’s e-edition that 120,000 Long Islanders were still out of power because of Tropical Storm Isaias, and he called Eichhorn to demand to know what was taking so long to get customers’ power restored.

During the call, Schumer learned that the number was even higher because of a new problem with 5 substations in the North Hills/Manhasset area, according to Schumer spokesman Angelo Roefaro. 

PSEG later told The Point the specific communities impacted were North Hills and Manhasset and the problem is now resolved.

On the call, Schumer wanted to know whether PSEG was trying to hold down expenses by not bringing in enough out-of-town crews and demanded that “real people” answer the calls of angry customers.

On a conference call with reporters Friday afternoon, Eichhorn didn’t mention the pressure he is getting from elected officials but he did say the utility “made a good decision last weekend” to call in out-of-town crews. He said more crews would arrive this weekend after having finished repairs in their home areas.

Schumer jumped off the call Friday morning to head into a negotiating session with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. Soon after Eichhorn’s media event ended, Schumer emerged from his Capitol Hill meeting to say negotiations on a stimulus package were about as dead as the wires on many Long Island streets.

—Rita Ciolli @RitaCiolli

Pencil Point

Close quarters

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Final Point

One referendum left standing

The postponement of a statewide vote this fall on a $3 billion environmental bond act leaves only one environment-related referendum on the November ballot for Suffolk County residents. It’s a proposal by County Executive Steve Bellone to divert about $190 million from a sewer fund to plug holes in the county’s always-creaky but now pandemic-afflicted budget.

A little background is needed here to understand the state of play. Previously, the Association of Municipal Employees, the county’s largest employee union, joined local environmental groups to force Bellone to pull a second proposal to beef up his budget. That one sought to divert at least $75 million over three years from an open-space preservation program. The union, which feared job losses if both diversion proposals were defeated in November, helped derail the second proposal after enviros said they would launch a public campaign against the proposals if both were on the ballot but would walk away from the fight if only the sewer fund diversion was up for a vote. That’s because the environmental groups really wanted to target their limited resources on getting the state bond act passed.

But after Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo pulled the bond act, the question loomed: With only the sewer fund diversion on the ballot, would the local groups change their minds and campaign against it?

Short answer: Mostly no.

“We’re not going to launch an active campaign,” Citizens Campaign for the Environmental executive director Adrienne Esposito told The Point. CCE works closely with groups like The Nature Conservancy and Group for the East End. “Although if people ask us, we will tell them that we believe it’s an anti-environmental referendum. But we don’t have the funding to do an active campaign on it.”

One exception would appear to be the Long Island Pine Barrens Society, which has been an ardent foe of Bellone’s proposals and has frequently challenged his administration in court.

“The Pine Barrens Society board has to make a decision on anything involving litigation on the one hand and a campaign on the other hand,” executive director Richard Amper said. “But it’s unimaginable that the Pine Barrens Society will say we’ll do nothing.”

—Michael Dobie @mwdobie