Blakeman goes to D.C. to pitch Vance on visit to LI

Daily Point

County exec attended police week celebration at VP’s official residence

With his travel back and forth to Washington lately, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman may need his own Qatar jet.

Blakeman attended President Donald Trump’s April 2 "Liberation Day" tariff announcement, as previously reported by Newsday’s editorial board.

On Wednesday, Blakeman and his communications director, Chris Boyle, were at Vice President JD Vance’s Naval Observatory residence for an event commemorating Peace Officers Memorial Day and Police Week.

Blakeman may have been trying to raise his profile by attending the event and encouraging Vance to attend an upcoming ceremony opening a county police training academy.

But Vance, in a YouTube video of the event, seemed less than enthusiastic about traveling to Long Island.

In the video, Vance greets people around the room at Number One Observatory Circle at the United States Naval Observatory with typical handshakes. When it was Blakeman’s turn, the video shows, Vance displayed some true Long Island elbow. The county executive was the only person to interject audibly when Vance asked how he was doing.

"Good, Mr. Vice President. We’re looking forward to you cutting the ribbon at our new training village for our police department."

As Vance walked away, he said, "Yeah, we’re looking forward to it, too."

Boyle, in a text to The Point Thursday afternoon, said: "County Executive Blakeman was in Washington DC for Police Week, and meetings concerning issues important to Nassau County. He was grateful that the Vice President and Second Lady hosted him at their home for a breakfast with police heroes."

However, Boyle didn’t respond to The Point whether he had received a commitment from Vance about when or where the ceremony would be held.

But did politics seep into the rationale to attend the event? According to a partial guest list obtained by The Point, only a few non-law enforcement officials were at the affair. 

Blakeman, who is running for reelection, may not really need Vance to come to Nassau County, after garnering an endorsement earlier this month from Trump in a social media post.

"Bruce is MAGA all the way, and has been with us from the very beginning," Trump posted. "Bruce Blakeman has my Complete Total Endorsement for Re-Election — HE WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!"

— Mark Nolan mark.nolan@newsday.com

Pencil Point

Flying off the handle

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Final Point

Amtrak takes the press on a tour of the aging East River Tunnel tubes

Amtrak took its heated battles with state officials and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to the public late Wednesday night, taking a group of 16 journalists on a tour of one of the East River Tunnel’s century-old deteriorating rail tubes badly damaged by Superstorm Sandy.

By showing the press — and therefore the public — the corroding concrete and steel, extensive water damage, exposed cables and wiring, cracking ceilings and damaged benchwalls, Amtrak officials told The Point they hoped to explain why shutting the tubes one at a time to make the extensive fixes was a better strategy than working only on nights and weekends. The MTA, Gov. Kathy Hochul and Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman have advocated against taking the tunnel entirely out of service.

Arriving at Amtrak’s East River Tunnel offices in Long Island City late Wednesday night, the small group of journalists, including The Point, was given an overview of the damage wrought by time and saltwater — and how Amtrak hopes to fix and upgrade the tunnel tubes. Officials pointed out corroded high-voltage cables and emphasized that the tunnel is "failing with increasing frequency," underlining the project’s urgency.

Then the group waited as Amtrak readied Line #2 for nighttime closure. The process of shutting the power off and readying the tube for work takes time, so it wasn’t until after 1 a.m. that the group descended into the tunnel.

We traveled in a small flatbed truck through much of the tunnel’s 2½-mile track, which revealed cracking walls, water-damaged third rails, and dripping ceilings. One official dislodged a piece of corroded steel with just a touch of a hand. Officials noted the narrowness of the tunnel, its decrepit and precarious state, and the weight and size of the cables and other equipment to explain the difficult working conditions.

"The long-term closures we’re proposing would be the best and most effective way to do what we need to do," said Liam McQuat, Amtrak’s vice president of engineering services. "We are confident we are going to leave you with a good product."

Amtrak officials also promised they will have mitigation strategies in place in case one of the tunnel’s working tubes has a problem during the planned outage, including having workers and equipment in place to help to minimize delays.

"We’ll continue to work with the MTA and all of the partners. But the contract is awarded. The project is underway," said Derick Hallahan, assistant vice president of major programs for tunnels and systems. "If there are additional conversations to be had, additional protections to protect service, we’ll have those conversations. We feel pretty confident we have the right plan for this project and it’s our intent to move forward with that plan."

By just after 3 a.m., the group was shuffling off the truck and out of the tunnel, so Amtrak could start the power back up and ready the tube for rush hour. The limited time frame, officials said, highlighted one of their arguments: Such night work gives workers a very short window to get anything done — and opens the possibility that if they can’t clear out in time, the morning rush could be affected, as it was last week when the tube had power trouble.

Amtrak officials told The Point early Thursday morning that they’re still aiming to start the tube closures on May 23.

But by later Thursday, the MTA was throwing cold water on that idea.

"I think the May 23 date is in question," Long Island Rail Road President Rob Free told The Point. "I don’t believe that May 23 is realistic."

In part, that’s because there’s other work the MTA is finishing that it says has to get done before the tube can close. Free and other MTA officials assured The Point they wouldn’t slow-roll the end of that separate project. Nonetheless, they also continued to emphasize their own doubts regarding Amtrak’s plans for the East River Tunnel, noting that the national railroad hasn’t provided the authority with answers to its questions.

"I need to hold Amtrak’s feet to the fire to make sure they’ve done everything humanly possible to protect every aspect of this infrastructure so we can provide reliable service," Free told The Point. "What I’m asking for is details ... and I still haven’t seen them." 

— Randi F. Marshall randi.marshall@newsday.com

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