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Uniondale Herald 05-25-2023

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UNIONDALE _____________

HERALD BEACON

Protesters have say about casino

A quiet place for Alzheimer’s

They’re running to a title

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MAY 25 - 31, 2023

FREE

It’s 50 years of Memorial Day parades here Uniondale prepares to remember By REiNE BETHANY rbethany@liherald.com

Courtesy Uniondale Public Schools

UNiONDAlE HigH SCHOOl’S Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps marched in last year’s Memorial Day Parade.

The meeting of the Memorial Day Parade committee at Uniondale Fire Department headquarters on Monday proceeded with a quiet, intense fellowship among the organizers. “I’m asking all the groups to start assembling by 9:30 (a.m.) at Gerald Street and Uniondale Avenue,” the parade chairman, former Uniondale Fire Chief Steve Doherty, said. “We’ll have a committee there, which will

be my wife and a couple of members in uniform, to direct you where you are in the parade, and who gets started when.” Doherty reviewed the basics of carrying banners, keeping the parade moving and guiding the Girl Scouts’ float into the lineup. “My girls are very good,” Troop 2570 leader Theudia Chambers said. “They know to just wave and the truck keeps moving.” Continued on page 4

Sands Coliseum development gets yes from legislators By BRANDON CRUZ Correspondent

Tempers flared on Monday evening as the Republican-led Nassau County Legislature voted 17-1 to approve the transfer of the Nassau Coliseum lease to Las Vegas Sands, advancing a $4 billion plan to build a new stateof-the-art casino and entertainment resort on the property in Uniondale. “The overwhelming bipartisan approval of lease terms with the Sands by the County Legislature affirms that Nassau County has made the right decision,” County Executive Bruce Blakeman said in a statement. “This is

the first hurdle to overcome in order to provide a world class entertainment center with a luxury spa and hotel, creating thousands of jobs and economic prosperity for Nassau County. I am very pleased with the vote.” Last month, the county reached a lease agreement with Sands that gave the company control over the more than 70-acre Coliseum site. With approval of the lease agreement, the Sands will begin paying an annual rent of $5 million to the county while it awaits a state gaming license. With the issuance of the license, the annual rent would double to $10 million. Blakeman has said previously

that the county would be guaranteed at least $25 million in tax revenue each year. The lone vote against the project came from Democrat Delia DeRiggi-Whitton, who said that although she is pro-union, she voted the way she felt was in the best interests of her constituents. Minority Leader Kevan Abrahams recused himself from the vote. Before the legislators voted, there were presentations by Deputy County Executive Arthur Walsh; county attorney Josh Meyer; two Sands officials, Michael Levoff and Ron Reese; and Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder, who

was met with both cheers and boos from the crowd. The presentations addressed residents’ concerns about the potential downsides of a casino, including increased traffic, pollution, crime, drunken driving and human trafficking. Supporters and opponents of the project voiced their opinions to the legislators, and there were

heated exchanges and chants in between speakers and even as people spoke. Supporters pointed out the claimed benefits the project would bring, such as millions of dollars in new tax revenue, local economic growth and thousands of new union jobs that would be available in workers’ own communities, instead of at Continued on page 18


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