What do you think of Nassau OTB being closed only on Roman Catholic Easter Sunday and Roman Catholic Palm Sunday in preference to Greek Orthodox Easter Sunday and Greek Orthodox Palm Sunday? See eg NYConst Art 1, Sec. 3.
Stop 20 shares patrons with Nassau OTB's Branch on Hempstead Turnpike in Franklin Square.
It is clear that Stop 20 may open or close any day of the year that it wishes.Simple as that.
It is just as clear to many Stop 20 customers who bet at Nassau OTB that if there is a track running that they want to bet after having breakfast at Stop 20 that Nassau OTB should be open to take their bets.
What do you think Gus.
Don't forget to tell Nassau County Legislator Carrie Solage your opinion .
Isn't it absurd that you have to pay an Attorney when the Nassau County Attorney could resolve this "complicated" legal conundrum by getting a free Opinion from the New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. Only in Nassau County is it a crime to obtain a free legal opinion from the Attorney for New York State, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.
For residents, businesses, it's Elmont-Belmont
Photo credit: Steve Pfost | Gus Serafis, part owner of the Stop 20 Diner, in Elmont, talks about the business that the Belmont Steaks brings. (June 4, 2012)
Joye Brown
Joye Brown Joye Brown has been a columnist for Newsday since 2006. bio | email
Stop 20 Diner
I'll Have Another at Belmont 
Belmont videos 
Belmont Stakes memorable moments 
Triple Crown Winners 
Triple Crown near-misses since 1979 
Every winner of the Belmont Stakes 
Where on LI to bet the Belmont Stakes No wonder. It's Belmont Stakes Week, when, come Saturday, history could be made at the track nearby on Hempstead Turnpike.
"What would Elmont look like if we had this kind of business year-round ?" said Gus Serafis, who, with his partner, are Stop 20's third owners. The diner -- so named because it's located at the 20th stop of a trolley that once ran east from Queens -- opened in the 1940s. Belmont Park opened in 1905, at a time when East End-bound city residents would first stay a few weeks of the season in tiny, brightly colored cottages in Elmont.
Most of those original cottages are gone. But the sense of excitement for thoroughbred racing's third, and most grueling, leg of the Triple Crown remains.
Alicia Munian, 27, lives one block from Belmont Park. She's lived in Elmont -- a community of 30,000 that will swell with more than 100,000 visitors come race day -- all of her life.
"You can feel that sense of something special; it's in the air," she said. The street outside her home fills with cars. "People park here and walk to the track," she said, "They're moving fast, everybody's talking and they're happy to be in my hometown."
But what about Elmont, which for years has struggled to revive its downtown business strip, which also happens to be located near Belmont's front gate?
"We'd love to see something happen in that south parking lot at Belmont," said Paul Sapienza, head of Elmont's Chamber of Commerce, who now runs his parents' business, Sapienza Bake Shop.
"Why not put a convention center there or a hotel or a sports complex that would attract visitors all year-round?" he said. "That would help Belmont, Elmont and Nassau County, too."
For many Elmont residents, the south parking lot at Belmont -- the entire park covers 600 acres that straddlesNassau County and Queens -- represents a chance to bottle this week's excitement and also bring needed jobs and long-stalled economic development.
"We have heard so much from so many politicians about doing something for Elmont and nothing gets done," he said. His sentiment was shared by other local business owners, who said they wanted action, rather than words.
Does that dampen Elmont's enthusiasm about the Belmont Stakes? Especially this year, when I'll Have Another fights to take the Triple Crown? Hardly.
Frantz Sylvain, who turned a vacant bank building on Hempstead Turnpike into a Haitian restaurant that opened earlier this year -- The Vault, natch -- will be looking for new customers among the Belmont crowd.
At Stop 20, Serafis is expecting to once again -- just as when Big Brown made his unsuccessful run for the Triple Crown last year -- send lost cellphones back to customers visiting from across the country and around the world.
Already, the community's had a parade and craft fair to celebrate the big race. On Wednesday, there's a film festival at the local library, where the high school or college winner of a make-a-business-plan-to-revitalize-Elmont will be announced.
And, come Saturday, some Elmont residents will be among the grandstand crowd, including Michaelle Solages, who will attend with family members, including her county legislator brother, Carrié. "Belmont is in my heart," she said.
HI-
Thanks for the help. The item’s below. I’d be happy to mail you a copy, if you give me a mailing address.
Claude Solnik
(631) 913-4244
Long Island Business News
2150 Smithtown Ave.
Ronkonkoma, NY 11779-7348
Home > LI Confidential > Stop scratching on holidays
Stop scratching on holidays
Published: June 1, 2012
Off Track Betting in New York State has been racing into a crisis called shrinking revenue. Some people have spitballed a solution: Don’t close on holidays.
New York State Racing Law bars racing on Christmas, Easter and Palm Sunday, and the state has ruled OTBs can’t handle action on those days, even though they could easily broadcast races from out of state.
“You should be able to bet whenever you want,” said Jackson Leeds, a Nassau OTB employee who makes an occasional bet. He added some irrefutable logic: “How is the business going to make money if you’re not open to take people’s bets?”
Elias Tsekerides, president of the Federation of Hellenic Societies of Greater New York, said OTB is open on Greek Orthodox Easter and Palm Sunday.
“I don’t want discrimination,” Tsekerides said. “They close for the Catholics, but open for the Greek Orthodox? It’s either open for all or not open.”
OTB officials have said they lose millions by closing on Palm Sunday alone, with tracks such as Gulfstream, Santa Anita, Turf Paradise and Hawthorne running.
One option: OTBs could just stay open and face the consequences. New York City OTB did just that back in 2003. The handle was about $1.5 million – and OTB was fined $5,000.
Easy money.
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