Blank Slate Media Newspapers, Friday, January 26, 2018
15
KREMER’S CORNER
The new Nassau Coliseum dilemma
T
he Nassau Coliseum is now 45 years old but I am not sure we should hold a birthday celebration for Long Island’s biggest and oldest arena. The Coliseum as we know it, has been home to numerous sports teams ranging from hockey, basketball, wrestling and a few others that didn’t last long. It was the home of the Nets basketball team and was also home to the Islander hockey team from 1972 to 2015. In 2017, the building was re-opened to the public after a $165 million renovation. It is a newer and brighter version of the old facility but the real question is is it modern enough to survive a number of challenges that it will face in the next few years? The first and biggest dilemma is whether it can play home to the Islanders during the construction of their new home at Belmont Race Track. National Hockey League Commissioner Gary Bettman
paid a suprise visit to the Coliseum a few weeks ago to see if it could handle a major league team for what could be a threeyear period. Once upon a time, the building could handle 18,000 fans and in its prime the Islanders had many sell-out crowds. But Brooklyn developer Bruce Ratner chose to downsize the building to 13,900 seats, which just may not be enough for the team to get NHL approval. Over the years there have been numerous proposals made to tear down the existing building and replace it with a stateof-the-art structure that could accommodate a major league basketball or hockey team. Developer Charles Wang had proposed a new arena as part of his Lighthouse project but the Town of Hempstead shot the plan down for a variety of reasons. The major obstacle to the plan, beyond its size, was that a Republican Town wasn’t interested in a project that could
JERRY KREMER Kremer’s Corner
attract Democratic voters to the 2,000 planned housing units. When the competition to build or renovate the Coliseum took place three years ago, some of the developers proposed that the structure be torn down and that a brand new arena be created on the site. But the Ratner plan was approved and that resulted in a smaller size building. There is no doubt that the
rebuilt Coliseum is welcoming and bright and is now hosting a number of major attractions. But can it survive over the years if it can’t accommodate a prestigious sports team? Professional sports associations have very high standards in order for them to approve a location for one of its teams. They are concerned about the number of luxury boxes, concession stands and bathrooms. Teams have to make money and every inch of space inside has a dollar sign attached to it. If the arena can’t make enough money than it won’t pass the test for approval. The creation of a new Islanders arena at Belmont is an even bigger challenge to the Coliseum. There is no doubt that a second facility less than 20 minutes away will have its own series of attractions and will be in direct competition with the Coliseum. The Belmont facility will have the backing of the Madison Square Garden organiza-
tion, which will go head to head in competition with the Barclay Center’s attractions. That promises to be a bruising contest. Can Long Island support two entertainment facilities? I think it can but additional money has to be spent at the Coliseum to help it keep pace with Belmont. Barclays has to bring many more big names to entertain local ticket buyers and a few more concessions and bathrooms wouldn’t hurt. No developer likes to throw money after a completed project but some new amenities could spell the difference between success or failure. The approved plan for the Belmont site is a major economic happening for Long Island but the Nassau Coliseum must be kept alive and well. For too long the Coliseum was a facility that was dark many nights a year. It has to survive because the bicounty region can and will support both arenas.
A LOOK ON THE LIGHTER SIDE
March just a walk in the park – not!
I
planned it most carefully. I was at the dining room table, moving only the choicest of items from my purse to my fanny-pack: Train ticket? Check. Metro-card? Check. Asthma inhaler? Hand sanitizer? Cash? Check, check, check — but paper money, not coins, they’d only weigh me down. What was I preparing for, a South Polar expedition? Close. It was this year’s Women’s March in New York City. I never made it to any of the marches against the Vietnam War when I was in high school, and I couldn’t make it to The Big One in D.C., last year. So a mixture of guilt and curiosity propelled me to try this one, closer to home, last weekend. But I faced the age-old dilemma of all wagon-masters: having everything you need to be self-sufficient, versus keeping down the weight of the load. I knew — from extensive observation of my nephew playing Oregon Trail — that every item I took had to be worth its
weight in life-sustaining properties — except the hand-sanitizer, of course, whose entire purpose was killing life (the microbial kind), instead. I also needed room for snacks, being warned by my ever-loving husband that my temperament does not improve when I am hungry. What I did not need was any kind of beverage. No water; no orange juice; not even a morning coffee. A veteran of last year’s march warned me, “Do not let any liquid pass your lips, because even if there are portapotties, you won’t want to use them.” (There were none.) Accordingly, I began my dehydration program the night before. Carefully equipped, I actually made it to Central Park West in time to help fill up the giant “pen” that was Central Park West, from Columbus Circle on up. My friends and I stood around waiting, and waiting, and waiting, only to finally be subjected to a seemingly endless
JUDY EPSTEIN
A Look on the Lighter Side roster of speakers. It turns out, there are very few people in the world who can remain interesting beyond the second sentence. There’s “Hello, New York!” and “You are all amazing people for being here today.” After that, I can’t help remembering the dictum: “If you want to be seen, stand up; if you want to be heard, speak up; if you want to be fondly remembered, shut up.” My favorite speaker of the
day was Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand — mainly because, thanks to the government shut-down, she was trapped in Washington, D.C. and couldn’t come speak to us at all. I began to hallucinate — what was the first thing I would do, when I finally got home? Would I drink a giant glass of ice water? Or take a hot bath? On second thought, I might not have the strength to get out of a tub; I’d better just crawl into bed. Finally, we were released from our giant holding pen and began tromping our way south, along Central Park South and 6th Avenue, to Bryant Park. This is the point at which I remembered why I never do things like this: I am not a marcher. I am barely a walker. It has been borne in on me, over decades of sight-seeing and college-visit trips, that my natural pace is slower than a snail’s. I always figured it was easier for other people to slow down than for me to speed up, especially in places where hills
are involved (I am looking at you, Colgate and Hamilton colleges). But alas, my powers of persuasion were as nothing against 120,000 women marching down the center of mid-town. I rapidly fell behind. I even had a buddy, a friend who’d made it her mission to not lose sight of me — but her job got harder and harder, and sticking with me was pulling her away from the group. Finally, I did what any altruist would. “Save yourself!” I shouted to her. “I’m bailing out!” I begged every policeman along the route to let me out — and one finally did — and like a modern day Rosie Ruiz, I took the subway to the finish line, and then home. I know my friend made it home, too, from her Instagram of her first glass of water once she got there. So that was my first march — and my last one. Thank goodness I can check that off my bucket list. Just in time to drink the whole bucket.