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Friday, January 29, 2016
vol. 65, no. 5
N E W H Y D E PA R K
tmor Publications A Blank Slate Media/Li Special Section
VaLeNTiNe DiNiNG aND GiFT GUiDe
ciVics NiX MerGer
kaiMaN iN, BosWorTh NoT
pAGES 31-38, 47-54
pAGE 3
pAGE 6
January 29, 2016
Gop nixes bill to replace otB board
SAlutiNG SiNGAS
Dem proposal doesn’t get vote amid continued casino debate By N o a h M a N s k a r Amid shouting from backers and opponents of plans for a video casino at Belmont Park, Nassau County legislators Monday declined to vote on a bill to replace Nassau Regional Off-Track Betting Corp.’s board of directors. Chanting “take a vote,” about 60 opponents of the casino plan joined Legislator Carrie Solages (D-Elmont), who submitted the measure last week, in urging Presiding Officer Norma Gonsalves (R-East Meadow) to poll the Legislature, while about 15 casino supporters decried the bill. “That bill is undemocratic. It’s bogus,” said Patrick Nicolosi, president of Elmont’s East End Civic Association and a vocal casino backer. The bill, which would have replaced three OTB board members who favor the casino with three opponents, was not on Monday’s agenda and only had seven of the required 13 signatures from legis-
lators to bring a vote. It was the Democratic minority’s latest effort to stop OTB’s plan to eventually put a 100,000-square-foot video casino at the Elmont racetrack. The plan has drawn strong opposition from village officials and civic leaders in Floral Park, Elmont, Franklin Square and other surrounding communities. Many backing the casino Monday were OTB employees and members of the Teamsters Local 707 labor union. Along with Richard O’Kane, head of the Building & Construction Trades of Nassau and Suffolk Counties, they argued a casino would create hundreds of jobs with quality benefits and provide the county with much-needed revenue, rather than let it escape to other gambling halls, such as the Resorts World Casino at Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens. “Nassau needs this. They need the revenue. I go to Mohegan Sun Continued on Page 69
PHOTO BY NOAH MANSKAR
Members of New Hyde Park’s Boy Scout troop No. 544 lead the Pledge of Allegiance at Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas’ inauguration ceremony Jan. 25. See story on page 4.
LIRR gets blow back on service following storm By J oe N i k i c
service suspensions and power outages. Gov. Andrew Cuomo deAfter Winter Storm Jonas left a blanket of nearly two clared a state of emergency feet of snowfall this weekend, Saturday, banning all travel on Nassau County residents were Long Island and New York City plagued with highway clo- parkways and expressways at sures, Long Island Rail Road 2:30 p.m. and further suspend-
ing all mass transit service at 4 p.m. The travel ban was then lifted at 7 a.m. Sunday morning, though LIRR service remained suspended. “This was a truly historic Continued on Page 69
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