Oceanside/Island Park Herald 06-24-2021

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_________ Oceanside/island park ________

CommUNIty UPDAtE Infections as of June 20

4,444

Infections as of June 13 4,439

HERALD Pull Out

$1.00

Vol. 56 No. 26

Resident feeds front-line workers

Students perform in Showmobile

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JUNE 24 - 30, 2021

Amazon Fresh slated for Oceanside By mIkE SmollINS msmollins@liherald.com

Courtesy Robert Perry

AN AmAzoN FRESh is slated to fill the former Waldbaum’s building, which has been vacant since the store closed in 2016.

After much speculation and buzz about what will replace the vacant Waldbaum’s building in Oceanside, Amazon Fresh is slated for the location. There are 14 such stores across the country. In May, Amazon Retail LLC applied for a grocery and beer and wine product license at the vacant site at 3620 Long Beach Road, which is now being renovated. The license is pending with the New York State Liquor Authority. The

47,300-square-foot building has been empty since 2016, after Waldbaum’s parent company filed for bankruptcy and went out of business, leaving the shopping center without a grocery store. Tenants there include Marshalls, Bed Bath & Beyond, Kohl’s, Staples and Michaels. The news of an Amazon Fresh coming to the neighborhood was met with mixed opinions from residents. “I’m not interested in Amazon anything,” Cathie Stalano said. “. . . I would much rather Continued on page 14

Pharmacists welcome legislation on oversight of PBMs By thomAS CARRozzA tcarrozza@liherald.com

For years, independent pharmacy owners have pushed state and local governments to curb the powers of pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs — companies that act as intermediaries between pharmacies and drug manufacturers and insurance companies. Independent pharmacy owners in Oceanside and Rockville Centre are excited about the oversight that recent potential legislation from Albany could provide. Four New York Senate and Assembly bills were passed in the Legislature between June 1

and 10 that could better define the roles of PBMs and level the playing field between larger retailers and independent ones by potentially establishing the same reimbursement amount for all pharmacies, as Senate Bill S3566 and Assembly Bill A5854 would do. The measures now await Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s signature to become law. PBMs have been criticized by independent pharmacy owners across the country as prescription drug costs have continued to climb. Fred Rigel, the owner of Levin’s Pharmacy in Oceanside, hosted rallies in 2019 calling for more oversight on PBMs to pro-

P

BMs will continue to hurt New Yorkers until these bills are enacted. thomAS D’ANgElo

president of the Pharmacists Society of the State of New York. tect independent pharmacies from being put out of business by larger retailers and corporations. Howard Jacobson, owner of Rockville Centre Pharmacy, ral-

lied with Rigel then and continues their fight, seeking to pass the new legislation. “The PBM and licensure bill is good because at least we can know who [the PBMs] are, what they’re doing, and have an avenue if there are issues either between patient and plan or pharmacy and plan,” Jacobson said, citing Senate Bill S3762 and

Assembly Bill A1396. State Sen. Neil Breslin and Assemblyman Richard Gottfried sponsored the two measures. Jacobson and Rigel said they believe the choice between independent and chain pharmacies is important for Americans to have. The Rockville Centre Pharmacy has administered 4,000 Continued on page 14


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