Wednesday, December 31, 2014




Nassau Long Island

Nassau OTB chooses former Fortunoff store for video gambling parlor

Updated December 30, 2014 10:20 PM
By ROBERT BRODSKY  robert.brodsky@newsday.com
602 Reprints + -
The long closed Fortunoff store at the Source The long closed Fortunoff store at the Source Mall in Westbury on Dec. 30, 2014, the day Nassau announced it would become a gambling parlor. Photo Credit: Newsday / Thomas A. Ferrara
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Nassau Regional Off-Track Betting has chosen the vacant Fortunoff store at The Source mall in Westbury to house a gambling parlor with up to 1,000 video slot machines and table games, the agency said Tuesday.
OTB, which considered more than a dozen potential sites, has begun negotiations with Fortunoff bondholders and lenders. They took ownership of the mall in 2012 after a foreclosure auction found no buyers willing to pay off the $128 million debt on the site.
The video lottery terminals will occupy about 15 percent, or 30,000 square feet, of the 200,000-square-foot, four-story building -- roughly the same footprint once occupied by Fortunoff's houseware and jewelry departments, OTB said.
storyGambling panel picks 3 upstate sites for casinos "The remaining portions of the structure will feature first-class amenities such as restaurants and a food court, administrative offices and extensive surveillance and security," OTB said in a statement.
OTB said it will not purchase or lease the rest of the mall, which has several vacant storefronts. The rest of the shopping center will not include gaming.
Officials did not disclose the purchase price for the gambling parlor. Earlier this month, OTB officials authorized up to $100 million in tax-exempt bonds to buy and develop a VLT site, but said the project could cost significantly less.
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The Fortunoff property met a key criterion for OTB: the need for at least 1,000 parking spots. A multilevel parking structure is located in the rear of the shuttered retail store.
Nassau OTB president Joseph Cairo projects the site will generate nearly $20 million in annual revenue for OTB and the county.
Long IslandLegislation leads way for LI gambling parlors
The gaming parlor is expected to open next year. OTB still must select an operator for the facility.
OTB said the Fortunoff site was selected "after extensive considerations were given to each and every site offered. This facility provides a centralized location with ample parking and easy access to major thoroughfares as required by the New York State Gaming Commission."
Selection of the Fortunoff site has been rumored in the local community for weeks, allowing Westbury and Carle Place residents and elected officials to begin mobilizing against the plan.
Westbury Mayor Peter Cavallaro complained that Fortunoff is located within a few blocks of at least 300 single-family homes and less than a mile from three schools.
"It's not suitable for a residential community," said Cavallaro, who also detailed his concerns in a Dec. 23 letter to Cairo.

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Kim Ribarich, a Westbury resident who helped organize a Facebook page opposed to the casino plan, said "this location is too close for comfort. We are not opposed to casinos. Just don't put it there."
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Cavallaro said the gaming parlor would add to traffic on Old County Road and nearby residential streets -- including during late night hours -- and lead to an increase in crime and gambling addiction.
He plans to host a private meeting on Jan. 8 with state and local elected officials to discuss the plan. A public meeting also is scheduled for Jan. 21 at Carle Place High School.
OTB is exempt from most zoning requirements and the project would not be subject to local zoning boards, Cavallaro said.
The Mall at the Source, opened in 1997, is in one of Nassau's busiest commercial districts.
But the mall has struggled in recent years after Fortunoff, its onetime anchor tenant, filed for bankruptcy and shut down in 2009. Other major retailers have since left the mall. A Cheesecake Factory and other stores remain at the mall.
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The loan balance on The Source mall is $124 million, while Fortunoff has a separate $46 million loan that is in default, according to Trepp, a company that tracks information on commercial loans.
Records show the Fortunoff building is owned by Westbury Property Investment Company and Westwood LLC. The Manhattan law firm of Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP has begun foreclosure proceedings on the site, records show. Natan Hamerman, the law firm's special counsel, who represents the firm in foreclosure proceedings, could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
State legislation enacted in 2013 that authorized construction of up to four upstate casinos also allowed Nassau and Suffolk counties to build gambling parlors with up to 1,000 video slot machines and table games such as roulette, baccarat and blackjack.
In October, Suffolk Off-Track Betting Corp. closed on a $10.95 million deal to buy a 31-acre former Medford movie multiplex for its gaming parlor.
The move came after the board of directors of Suffolk OTB voted to borrow as much as $90 million for construction of the VLT parlor and immediately pay off OTB's creditors.
Suffolk is expected to break ground on the facility in early 2015 and to open during the year. It will be run by Delaware North, a Buffalo-based gaming and hospitality company.
Suffolk OTB president Phil Nolan has declined to estimate revenues, noting that the agency, coming out of bankruptcy, must pay creditors $17 million over the next three years.
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Sunday, December 28, 2014

civics are not taught in NY


Education

Civics Instruction Moves Up in Class

More States Mandate Tests on the Subject Amid a Movement for Use of Citizenship Exam

ENLARGE
By
129 COMMENTS
After years on the back burner of the nation’s educational agenda, civics is making a comeback, with a number of states mandating new classes or assessments and a burgeoning national push for high-school seniors to pass the exam required of new citizens.
For the first time this past school year, a civics exam in Florida counted toward students’ grades, following a mandated class and exam instated the year before, while students in Tennessee started facing a required test two years ago. The Massachusetts Board of Higher Education mandated that the subject be a key component for learning at the state’s colleges and universities starting this school year. Both California and Illinois have statewide task forces and local projects aimed at embedding civics in schools.
“We’re seeing more rumblings of states and local districts recognizing the need for civic engagement, especially for youth,” said Paul Baumann, director of the National Center for Learning and Civic Engagement at the Education Commission of the States, a nonprofit.
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Recent national reports show students could use a lesson in civics, which generally studies the role of citizens in public issues and covers such topics as how to dissect current events or apply the Constitution to modern issues. About two-thirds of students tested below proficient on the civics portion of the National Assessment of Educational Progress in both 2006 and 2010. Only 10 states require a social-studies test to graduate from high school, according to the Education Commission of the States.
High school seniors in Oakland, Calif., have a discussion with their teacher, Ji Lee, right, about gun laws and public safety last week. ENLARGE
High school seniors in Oakland, Calif., have a discussion with their teacher, Ji Lee, right, about gun laws and public safety last week. Talia Herman for The Wall Street Journal
Recent federal policies, such as No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top, linked money to tests on math and reading, and concerns about a shortcoming in job skills has pressured leaders to focus more on science, technology, engineering and math.
A Center on Education Policy study found in 2007 that about 45% of elementary schools reported cutting time for other subjects to focus on math and reading. And only about one in three elementary teachers reported covering civics subjects on a regular basis, according to federal survey data taken in 2006 and 2010.
Proponents say enhancing civics instruction could help reverse low voter turnout—about one in five adults ages 18 to 29 voted in the 2014 midterms, according to researchers at Tufts University’s Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service—and address mounting frustration with dysfunction in Washington. They also say it can help increase engagement by minorities and the poor, who typically receive less civics education than more affluent and white students.
“There’s a stronger sense from people now that we must do something in order to be functional as a nation and at the community level,” said Meira Levinson, an associate professor of education at Harvard University who has studied civic-empowerment issues.
Meanwhile, coalitions in seven states have launched a growing movement to require students to pass the U.S. citizenship exam before they can graduate. By the end of next year, proponents aim to introduce and pass legislation in 12 to 15 states.
“So little has been done over so many years now, let’s make sure we take that one solid first step,” said Sam Stone, political director for the Civics Education Initiative, an affiliate of the Joe Foss Institute, a nonpartisan nonprofit based in Scottsdale, Ariz.
But some backers of more civics study doubt the value of the 100-question citizenship exam, arguing it is more about rote memorization than learning how to be a better citizen.
“This is addressing the right problem with the wrong solution,” said Ted McConnell, executive director of the Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools, a nonprofit that advocates for civic learning.
American high schools typically offered three classes in civics and government until the 1960s, according to Mr. McConnell’s group. More typical nowadays is an “American government” class that focuses on the structure of democracy more than the practicalities of making it work. Mr. McConnell said schools need more hands-on instruction now, not another test.
Some caution that jumping into civics instruction could invite teachers’ political biases into the classroom. “Teachers need training on how to lead discussions on controversial issues,” said Anna Saavedra, associate policy researcher for RAND Corp, a nonpartisan nonprofit, who supports greater attention to civics in the classroom. “There are ways for teachers to learn that, but it’s a learned skill.” Only 15% of civics and government teachers surveyed in a 2013 national report from Tufts University’s Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service said they had been mentored or coached by an expert or administrator.
In Oakland, Calif., about 70 teachers brainstorm together ways to help their students engage in civics literacy with social media, blogging and research as part of an initiative funded by the S. D., Bechtel Jr. Foundation and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
For a project last year on gun rights, Ji Lee asked her 12th-grade students to talk with people outside their schools and homes about the issues to become more familiar with asking questions and getting answers. This year, they are also focusing on free-speech issues and developing a blog.
“There has definitely been a push to make students be engaged,” said Ms. Lee, who teaches English, American government and economics. “It’s a significant move forward.”
Write to Caroline Porter at caroline.porter@wsj.com



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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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uranium discovered under

Fortunoffs?



Editorial: Glimmer of stability in Suffolk budget

Updated September 28, 2014 6:19 PM
By THE EDITORIAL BOARD
41 Reprints + -
Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone Friday proposed a Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone Friday proposed a $2.88 billion for 2015 that he said shows the county "has turned the corner" on its fiscal woes, and raises police taxes in the five western towns by 2.4 percent. Photo Credit: Newsday / J. Conrad Williams Jr.
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It's counterintuitive to find good news in a state comptroller's report that describes Suffolk County's finances as being under "moderate fiscal stress." But a report released by Thomas DiNapoli's office last week was good news for Suffolk because a year ago, the comptroller rated the county's finances as under "significant fiscal stress."
County Executive Steve Bellone recently proposed a $2.88-billion budget for 2015. Recurring revenues still won't meet expenses for the year, but the budget is a straightforward accounting of a brightening situation. It would use only about $85 million in one-shot, non-recurring revenue, a big drop from $229 million in 2013. While police taxes would rise in western Suffolk, the budget does not count a penny of income from speed cameras or video lottery terminals.
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Nassau's budget, in contrast, is dependent on these iffy revenues.
Bellone inherited a tough situation, and it is still tough. The county is projected to have a $170-million deficit through 2015, but two years ago that deficit was projected to be about $500 million. The measures Bellone has taken, such as the sale-leaseback of the Dennison county office building, have been uncomfortable and unpopular, but critics have rarely supplied better ideas. In fact those critics, often members of both major parties in the Suffolk legislature, have frequently reacted to each dire financial announcement by demanding more spending to hire cops, add services or keep open a county nursing home that was bleeding cash.
Bellone's financial acumen hasn't been perfect: He approved a very expensive police contract, and his attempts to save money through office consolidations and other changes have at times been mishandled. But his plans have been reality-based, and his budgets are improving.
 




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Friday, December 26, 2014

UNLV OTB










The Opinion Pages | Op-Ed Contributor

Your Waitress, Your Professor

By BRITTANY BRONSON



Roman Muradov



LAS VEGAS — ON the first day of the fall semester, I left campus from an afternoon of teaching anxious college freshmen and headed to my second job, serving at a chain restaurant off Las Vegas Boulevard. The switch from my professional attire to a white dress shirt, black apron and tie reflected the separation I attempt to maintain between my two jobs. Naturally, sitting at the first table in my section was one of my new students, dining with her parents.
This scene is a cliché of the struggling teacher, and it surfaces repeatedly in pop culture — think of Walter White in “Breaking Bad,” washing the wheels of a student’s sports car after a full day teaching high school chemistry. Bumping into a student at the gym can be awkward, but exposing the reality that I, with my master’s degree, not only have another job, but must have one, risks destroying the facade of success I present to my students as one of their university mentors.
In class I emphasize the value of a degree as a means to avoid the sort of jobs that I myself go to when those hours in the classroom are over. A colleague in my department labeled these jobs (food and beverage, retail and customer service — the only legal work in abundance in Las Vegas) as “survival jobs.” He tells our students they need to learn that survival work will not grant them the economic security of white-collar careers. I never told him that I myself had such a job, that I needed our meeting to end within the next 10 minutes or I’d be late to a seven-hour shift serving drunk, needy tourists, worsening my premature back problem while getting hit on repeatedly.
The line between these two worlds is thinner here in Las Vegas than it might be elsewhere. The majority of my students this semester hold part-time survival jobs, and some of them will remain in those jobs for the rest of their working lives. About 60 percent of the college freshmen I teach will not finish their degree. They will turn 21 and then forgo a bachelor’s degree for the instant gratification of a cash-based income, whether parking cars in Vegas hotels, serving in high-end restaurants or dealing cards in the casinos.
In a city like Las Vegas, many customer-service jobs generate far more cash (with fewer work hours) than entry-level, office-dwelling, degree-requiring jobs. It can be hard to convince my 19-year-old students that the latter is more profitable or of greater personal value. My adjunct-teaching colleagues have large course loads and, mostly, graduate-level educations, but live just above the poverty line. In contrast, my part-time work in the Vegas service industry has produced three times more income than my university teaching. (I’ve passed up the health benefits that come with full-time teaching, a luxury foreign to the majority of adjuncts at other universities, to make time for my blue-collar work.)
Indeed, for a young academic like myself, the job market is bleak. I’m pursuing advanced degrees and a career in the academy despite the lack of employment prospects, because my first and true love is learning. However, it will take earning a doctorate — and thus several more years of work — before I can earn a sustainable income in my chosen pursuit.
Living these two supposedly different lives, I’ve started to see their similarities. Whenever I’m trying to meet the needs of my more difficult guests (“Do you have any smaller forks?” “You don’t carry wheat bread? What kind of restaurant doesn’t carry wheat bread?”), I recite, along with my colleagues, the collective restaurant server mantra: “I need a real job.” The same thought gets passed among adjuncts in my department: “I need a real teaching position. I need to publish a book.”
I know this path takes time, and I’m trying to do it right. So why do I still experience a great feeling of shame when clearing a student’s dirty plate? Embarrassment is not an adequate term to describe what I felt when those parents looked at me, clearly stupefied, thinking, “This waitress teaches my child?”
It is a shame I share with many of my blue-collar colleagues, a belief that society deems our work inferior, that we have settled on or chosen these paths because we do not have the skills necessary to acquire something better. It is certainly a belief I held for the majority of my undergraduate experience.
But not all my restaurant co-workers are college dropouts, and none are failures. Many have bachelor’s degrees; others have real estate licenses, freelancing projects or extraordinary musical and artistic abilities. Others are nontraditional students, having entered the work force before attending college and making the wise decision not to “find themselves” and come out with $40,000 in debt, at 4.6 percent interest. Most of them are parents who have bought homes, raised children and made financial investments off their modest incomes. They are some of the kindest, hardest-working people I know, and after three years alongside them, I find it difficult to tell my students to avoid being like them.
My perhaps naïve hope is that when I tell students I’m not only an academic, but a “survival” jobholder, I’ll make a dent in the artificial, inaccurate division society places between blue-collar work and “intelligent” work. We expect our teachers to teach us, not our servers, although in the current economy, these might be the same people.
If my students can imagine the possibility that choosing to work with their hands does not automatically exclude them from being people who critically examine the world around them, I will feel I’ve done something worthwhile, not only for those who will earn their degree, but for the majority who will not.




Faculty & Staff - English Department at UNLV - University of ...

english.unlv.edu/faculty/
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
unlvenglishgradprogram@unlv.edu | 702-895-4366; Creative Writing ... email; Bronson, Brittany email; Bussiere, Melanie email; Cantrell, Pamela: email; Carter, ...
Brittany Bronson is an English instructor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
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Thursday, December 25, 2014

John J Bonacic like Andrew


Cuomo, firmly, loudly,  and proudly supports religious preference and the denial of rights secured by NY Const. Art. 1, Sec. 3.



“Cuomo needed Skelos,” John J. Bonacic, a Republican state senator who is chairman of the committee on racing, wagering and gaming, said. “I happen to think that the OTB business is a thing of the past.”

John Bonacic should come to the Branches of Nassau OTB and talk to the people who bet there et al.

 


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.

 “Cuomo needed Skelos,” John J. Bonacic, a Republican state senator who is chairman of the committee on racing, wagering and gaming, said. “I happen to think that the OTB business is a thing of the past.”

N.Y. / Region

Long Island Could Lead in New York’s Gambling Plans With New Sites

By


The first new gambling halls in New York are most likely to be “slots in a box,” not the lavish casino resorts with hotels, restaurants and entertainment centers promoted by state officials.
For much of the past year, public attention has been centered on 16 competing proposals for elaborate Las Vegas-style casinos north and west of New York City.
But long before as many as four of those casinos are licensed, built and opened, officials on Long Island are expecting to reap a financial windfall from gamblers at new electronic slot machine parlors, known fondly if derisively in the gambling industry as slots in a box, in Nassau and Suffolk Counties.
This month, the Nassau Regional Off-Track Betting Corporation took steps to finance a gambling hall with 1,000 electronic slot machines, as well as electronic baccarat and roulette table games. It is expected to open by the end of next year.
Officials are projecting that the slot parlor will generate about $150 million in net revenue.
“We’re probably talking $19 million to $20 million going to the county each year, if that $150 million number is accurate,” Joseph Cairo, the president of Nassau OTB, said.
Farther east, the Suffolk Off-Track Betting Corporation is moving ahead with plans for an 80,000 square-foot slot parlor with 1,000 machines, along with bars and restaurants, on the former site of a 16-screen movie theater in Medford.
The company, which is emerging from bankruptcy, bought the land in October and picked an operating partner, Delaware North, which runs Finger Lakes Gaming and Racetrack in Farmington, N.Y. and other gambling sites.
“We’re looking to get a shovel in the ground as soon as we can,” said Philip Nolan, president of Suffolk OTB.
On Wednesday, the state’s Gaming Facility Location Board is expected to announce its selections for up to four resort casinos outside of New York City. The resorts, with hotels, restaurants, shops, entertainment halls and other amenities, are to be far larger operations than the slot parlors.
The developers recommended for a casino license must still be approved by the State Gaming Commission, undergo a background check by the State Police and complete an environmental review of the sites. The commission expects the resorts to be built in two years, meaning completions sometime in 2017.
New York has no shortage of gambling halls; there are five tribal casinos and nine racetracks with electronic slot machines. But in 2011, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo envisioned full-scale casinos as a way to transform economically ailing areas, by providing thousands of jobs and millions of dollars a year in tax revenue.
The Legislature agreed to license up to four casino resorts upstate, and, in the future, up to three in the New York City area.
“This is a big idea that we believe could bring economic energy to upstate New York, that needs it desperately,” Mr. Cuomo said last year.
After negotiations between the Cuomo administration and State Senator Dean G. Skelos of Long Island, a Republican, the Legislature also allowed for more modest slot parlors on Long Island. The OTBs were ailing financially and Suffolk and Nassau Counties wanted the promised revenue.
Not everyone thinks it was a good move, given the decline in the popularity of horse racing and the increasing range of gambling options, from the New York Lottery to slot parlors, casinos and Internet gambling.
“Cuomo needed Skelos,” John J. Bonacic, a Republican state senator who is chairman of the committee on racing, wagering and gaming, said. “I happen to think that the OTB business is a thing of the past.”
Nonetheless, Nassau OTB is looking at several sites in the county and hopes to strike a tentative deal by the end of the year.
One area that has been ruled out, Mr. Cairo said, is the “hub,” which includes Hofstra University in Hempstead, Nassau Community College in Garden City and the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale.
Mr. Cairo said that Stuart Rabinowitz, president of Hofstra and a member of the Gaming Facility Location Board, had expressed misgivings about putting the slot parlor close to those institutions.
Nassau OTB, which is being advised by Union Gaming Analytics, has yet to decide on a company to operate the gambling hall.
At Suffolk OTB, Mr. Nolan said he was relieved that plans for the prospective slot parlor have kept the company afloat, enabling it to repay its creditors.
“We have an opportunity to attract a million plus people a year,” he said. “We’re very certain we’re going to be successful.”
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James J Malatras

109 Fernbank Ave Delmar, NY 12054-4222
Home (518) 729-4281
Age: 35-39
Associated: Chris L Moore, Jennifer W Malatras
Sponsored Links
logo View James's Profile


 Highly educated James Malatras works for a man who does not treat holy days equally and who only treats homosexuals equally. See NY Const. Art. 1, Sec. 3. 

Per
 

N.Y. / Region

Cuomo Signals Changes for Education Next Year

By



Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo signaled on Thursday that he intended to push next year for sweeping changes to the state’s education system, with goals that include making it easier to fire low-performing teachers and increasing the number of charter schools.
In a letter to the state’s departing education commissioner, John B. King Jr., and the chancellor of the Board of Regents, Merryl H. Tisch, Mr. Cuomo’s director of state operations, Jim Malatras, asserted that the performance of the state’s students on a variety of measures, like graduation rates and test scores, was “unacceptable.” He also enumerated pointed questions about subjects like teacher evaluations and tenure.
The first question on the list, for instance, asked, “How is the current teacher evaluation system credible when only 1 percent of teachers are rated ineffective?”
The letter, which cited “special interests,” a clear reference to the major teachers’ unions, suggested that the governor planned to aggressively confront the unions, which did not endorse him in his re-election campaign.
The letter asked Ms. Tisch and Mr. King, who is leaving at the end of the year for a senior job at the federal Education Department, to respond by Dec. 31, so that the governor could incorporate their suggestions into his State of the State address.
The governor does not control the state’s Education Department: The commissioner is appointed by the regents, who are selected by the Legislature. (Mr. Malatras wrote that the setup was “unique” and asked whether it should be changed.)
But the letter indicated that Mr. Cuomo planned to use his considerable power in the budget process and clearly laid out his views as the regents prepared to select Mr. King’s successor.
Education reform groups were nearly celebratory in response to the letter.
“Governor Cuomo continues to show his genuine commitment to our state’s students and is asking all the right questions to get them the education they deserve,” said Jenny Sedlis, the executive director of StudentsFirst NY, a group that advocates tougher teacher evaluations, fewer teacher tenure protections and the creation of more charter schools, which are publicly funded but privately run. Several of the group’s board members were major donors to Mr. Cuomo’s re-election campaign.
Union leaders, meanwhile, criticized the governor for not addressing issues like school funding, class sizes and poverty, and accused him of the wholesale adoption of his backers’ agenda.
Teachers’ unions have criticized the growth of charter schools, which tend to be nonunion, as taking resources from traditional schools.
“This letter comes right out of the playbook of the hedge funders for whom education ‘reform’ has become a pet cause and who poured money into the Cuomo re-election campaign,” Michael Mulgrew, the president of the United Federation of Teachers, the New York City teachers’ union, said in a statement.
Through a spokesman, Ms. Tisch responded: “The Board of Regents is enthusiastic about continuing our partnership with the governor to work in the best interests of all our students, and we look forward to responding to the letter from his office.”
The topics of Mr. Malatras’s questions, like the process for removing poor-performing teachers, echoed the agenda of reform advocates. The letter sought opinions about the probationary period for teachers, currently three years, and whether it should be extended; whether teachers should have to be recertified every several years; and whether the cap on the number of charter schools should be raised.
The letter also asked Mr. King and Ms. Tisch what they would do about mayoral control of New York City schools, and what adjustments they would make. The Legislature must consider next year whether to keep schools under the mayor’s control, and the letter is a hint that the governor plans to use the issue in negotiations with Mayor Bill de Blasio over other matters.
Mr. King and Ms. Tisch have overseen a period of rapid change in the state’s education policies, from the rollout of standardized tests aligned to the Common Core curriculum standards to a new teacher evaluation system, both of which have caused enormous controversy and have turned Mr. King into something of a lightning rod among parents and teachers. The new, more difficult tests have caused large drops in passing rates across the state.
Mr. Cuomo, who was originally a strong advocate of both the Common Core and teacher evaluations, has at times shifted in the political winds. This year, he negotiated with the Legislature a measure to prohibit state test scores from appearing on students’ transcripts. He also agreed on a bill protecting teachers from being fired for low test scores for two years.
This week, after new figures showed that 96 percent of teachers received one of the two highest ratings on the state’s new evaluation system, and less than 1 percent got the lowest rating, Mr. Cuomo criticized the process as being too soft on teachers and suggested that he might not sign the bill. But it landed on his desk on Wednesday and, under the arcane rules of the capital, it will become law if he neither signs it nor vetoes it within 10 days.



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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Bruce Blakeman



Home / News / Real Estate / Former Fortunoff store now frontrunner for Nassau casino
Former Fortunoff store now frontrunner for Nassau casino

Former Fortunoff store now frontrunner for Nassau casino

By: David Winzelberg December 11, 2014 10 Comments
After considering several Westbury-area properties, Nassau County Off-Track Betting has picked the long-vacant Fortunoff department store building on Old Country Road for its video slots parlor, according to real estate industry sources.
OTB officials kicked the tires on a handful of properties submitted to the agency in response to a casino-site request for proposals, including Merrick Avenue sites reported by LIBN Tuesday and others nearby.
Nassau OTB also eyed its Race Palace in Plainview as a possible casino site, but dropped those plans after stiff community opposition and revelations that the building’s physical structure was inadequate to hold the 500 gaming machines targeted for the second floor. The planned gaming facility is slated to have 1,000 video slot machines.
Now the former Fortunoff has emerged as the likely site. The 208,000-square-foot department store, which opened in 1964, has been vacant since Fortunoff closed in 2009. It was the one-time anchor for The Mall at the Source, which opened in 1997, and shares a three-story parking garage with the mall – seen as a major plus by casino planners.
The two properties, which were foreclosed on in 2013, are owned by separate lenders. U.S. Bank is listed as the mortgage holder for the department store property, according to court documents, which puts the current debt on the property at around $60 million.
Lender CMAT holds the note on The Mall at the Source property, which is mostly vacant but still retains entertainment/restaurant tenants The Cheesecake Factory and David & Buster’s and a handful of retail stores.
An OTB spokesman said Monday “no decision has been made as to the site” for the slots parlor. Nassau OTB unanimously passed an “official intent resolution” Monday authorizing the agency to do prep work in advance of adopting a bond resolution to fund the acquisition and development of a casino site, the OTB spokesman said.
Meanwhile, Suffolk OTB is scheduled to break ground in February on its video slot casino on a 31-acre former multiplex movie theater site in Medford, which is also slated to open late in 2015.
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10 comments

  1. cbsondock@aol.com
    December 11, 2014 at 4:07 pm
    An OTB casino would be a terrible use for the former Fortunoff Store. The Town of Hempstead should relax the zoning on the entire property including the Source Mall for a mixed-used development (any combination and density of office, hotel, residential and retail) which would attract investors to develop a significantly more worthy development for the site.
  2. Brad Marcus
    December 11, 2014 at 5:28 pm
    Traffic is horrible on Old Country Road because of all the stores nearby including Costco, Walmart, Target, Marshalls, Home Depot & Trader Joes. The Meadow Brook Parkway is frequently backed up. Lousy idea.
  3. gkrush@resltd.com
    December 11, 2014 at 6:35 pm
    Who thinks up these terrible ideas?
  4. Observer
    December 11, 2014 at 7:01 pm
    What an insult to the memory of a wonderful store. I still miss Fortunoff’s, especially at this time of year.
    The whole lower level was filled with Dickens villages, fine holiday trimmings, music and gracious professional staff eager to help the customers. The specter of a casino on the property does have one Christmas ring to it – Pottersville in “It’s aWonderful Life.”
  5. rich$
    December 12, 2014 at 8:46 pm
    The area is domed the mayor of westbury knew about a known drug dealer on albany ave and did nothing then there was albany shooting burglary so a casino would really **** up the neighborhood
  6. Melissa
    December 15, 2014 at 10:27 am
    I really don’t see the problem with this. Long Island traffic is a disaster no matter where you go. New stores are popping up all over, adding to increased traffic issues. Business is business. the site has remained vacant for so long, it would be nice to bring in another business. It has not been snatched up by a developer yet, so this might be the best viable option.
  7. Kevin
    December 15, 2014 at 10:49 am
    Terrible idea! The social and economic impact of building a Casino next to a residential neighborhood is not worth ANY potential gains.
    “The impact on home values appears to be unambiguously negative. In the case of Springfield
    a casino would appear to have a significant negative externalities/nuisance value. The impact
    of negative externalities can be very significant, ranging in the neighborhood of 4 to 10
    percent as outlined in the report and Appendix….
    We estimate that assessed home values will most likely be negatively impacted by $64 to
    $128 million from the introduction of a casino into Springfield, although there are many
    variables that could shift the price impact to be either more or less severe. In addition,
    pathological gambling could result in social costs of $8.4 million per year, possibly significantly”
    http://uss-mass.org/documents/NationlAssocationRealtors-Casino-Research.pdf
  8. Chris
    December 17, 2014 at 2:08 pm
    What a sad state of affairs it would be if this was allowed. ~a dozen schools are within a mile of this place, the traffic has already been an ongoing problem, casinos have been shown to depreciate neighboring residential land values, and crime is already on the increase in that area. It’s so sad….
  9. Barbara Brienza
    December 20, 2014 at 2:32 pm
    Just THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU’RE PLANNING TO DO! Visit that site on any given weekend or better still at this (holiday) time of year. It’s a DISASTER in the making! That corner (Old Country Road and Ellison Avenue) is already notorious for traffic accidents. How many more will this Casino cause? Old Country Road is jammed packed with traffic-causing situations, i.e. retail, restaurants, etc. This is no place to create even more. Who thinks of these things? Certainly no one who lives anywhere near the area! Put it to a PUBLIC VOTE and see how the people who will be impacted on a daily basis feel!
  10. Bob Stelcer
    December 23, 2014 at 12:35 pm
    I think it’s a great idea. Unfortunately it will never become reality with the “not in my backyard mentality”
    Perfect example is the Nassau Coliseum Hub not being passed by Town of Hempstead. And I’m not a gambler or Islander fan!














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