Ticket to ride
Development plans at Belmont Park have led to some local pushback. Credit: Office of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo / Kevin P. Coughlin
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Pencil Point
Temperature at Hofstra
Here's a sketch from Matt Davies ahead of the Cuomo/Nixon debate Wednesday night. Click here for more Matt Davies cartoons.
Final Point
What Simon said
In Tuesday’s edition of The Point, we asked you to identify the Neil Simon play title that matched a plot hatched from the American political scene.
Here are the answers:
PLOT: Hope Hicks announces that she is leaving her job as White House communications adviser.
PLAY: “The Goodbye Girl.”
PLOT: Despite intense legal differences, Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Antonin Scalia become fast friends, bonding over opera, and becoming occasional dinner and travel companions.
PLAY: “The Odd Couple.”
PLOT: The Trump administration tries to convince the Senate and the public that Ronny Jackson is a worthy choice to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs.
PLAY: “The Good Doctor.”
PLOT: In a dark comedy, Steve Bannon and Steven Miller conjure images of apocalypse at the hands of immigrants and Donald Trump talks about American carnage.
PLAY: “The Sunshine Boys.”
PLOT: Donald Trump meets Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal at the Beverly Hills Hotel.
PLAY: “California Suite.”
PLOT: More than 210 years after his death, Alexander Hamilton has a musical written about him.
PLAY: “Broadway Bound.”
PLOT: Mars, the world’s largest chocolate maker, pledges $1 billion to the effort to fight climate change.
PLAY: “Sweet Charity.”
PLOT: In the 2016 presidential campaign, Hillary Clinton needs five swipes to use a MetroCard in the Bronx, Ted Cruz says crime is rising in New York City when it’s going down, and John Kasich eats pizza with a fork in Queens.
PLAY: “The Out-of-Towners.”
Talking Point
De La Fuente faces off in Florida
The stunning results from Tuesday’s primaries in Florida set up a supercharged race for governor between progressive Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum and Trump-endorsed Rep. Ron DeSantis. But New Yorkers might better recognize another candidate who went before Florida voters: Roque De La Fuente.
De La Fuente is a perennial and state-hopping candidate who sought the Republican nomination for mayor in New York City in 2017. The Point spent a strange afternoon with him in Borough Park, where he advocated for a “people mover” on Manhattan’s main avenues and showed off a newly acquired New York State driver’s license. The possibility of him running a robust self-funded campaign meant he might actually have made a difference among the weak Republican field, despite the carpetbagging. Campaign finance records show he reported spending $357,663. But De La Fuente ended up terminating his mayoral campaign early.
On Tuesday, De La Fuente got more than 11 percent of the vote in the Florida Republican primary for U.S. Senate against Rick Scott, the current governor looking to go to Washington. It’s been a busy year for De La Fuente; in June, the businessman received 2 percent of the vote in nonpartisan primary elections for U.S. Senate in California.
As they say, if you can fake it in New York, you can fake it anywhere.
Mark Chiusano
Daily Point
Money train
Deep in nearly 100 pages of responses to comments and questions regarding Belmont Park’s planned redevelopment, the money question is buried.
Responding to questions about the potential expansion of Long Island Rail Road service at Belmont, the state’s development agency offered this bureaucratese:
“. . . While there have been discussions regarding the provision of additional LIRR service for the retail village during off-peak periods during times with no arena events, the transportation analyses in the DEIS [the draft environmental impact statement] will conservatively assess future conditions with additional LIRR service provided to Belmont Park station for arena events only.”
Translation: Empire State Development will study providing extra service only during New York Islanders games, concerts, and other events at the new arena.
When asked for clarification, ESD officials told The Point that despite the limits of the analysis, conversations about service beyond arena events are ongoing.
The community always has hoped for full LIRR service to Belmont. ESD previously has said that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s analysis of the LIRR’s infrastructure, which is expected to be completed by the end of September, would provide the answer about any LIRR expansion plans. Those expansion plans are expected to be detailed in ESD’s draft environmental impact statement by the end of the year.
That makes the draft EIS “a major flash point,” State Sen. Todd Kaminsky, who represents part of the area that surrounds Belmont Park, told The Point.
“It’s either going to have some major answers or it’s going to have a major problem,” Kaminsky said.
Randi F. Marshall
