open the church of nassau otb on frank stronach day
Sunday, April 1, 2018
| Track Code | Track Name | Entry | Scratch | 1st Post ET | 1st Post Local | Time Zone | Stakes Race(s) | Stakes Grade | T.V. Indicator |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GG | GOLDEN GATE FIELDS | 48 | 24 | 3:45 PM | 12:45 PM | PDT | |||
| GP | GULFSTREAM PARK | 72 | 0 | 1:15 PM | 1:15 PM | EDT | |||
| SA | SANTA ANITA PARK | 72 | 24 | 3:30 PM | 12:30 PM | PDT | |||
| SUN | SUNLAND PARK | 120 | 0 | 2:30 PM | 12:30 PM | MDT |
Claude Solnik
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.
Wandering Dago’s name hasn’t changed but its business plan has.
Wandering Dago’s name hasn’t changed but its business plan has.
The controversial red, white and blue food truck is no longer peddling truck-made specialties on Capital Region streets and it’s rarely seen at festivals. Instead, it’s making the rounds at fancier affairs.
“There is a pretty big interest in food truck weddings, so that’s kind of where we started marketing and it really, really took off. It’s just been a total shift for our business,” explained Brandon Snooks, who owns the company with Andrea Loguidice.
Their food truck began selling gourmet sandwiches, soups and salads in 2012 and soon drew the ire of local Italian-Americans because of its name, which some consider an ethnic slur.
Loguidice and Snooks were denied a food vendor license at the Empire State Plaza in May 2013, then told to remove their truck from Saratoga Race Course at the beginning of the summer 2013 meet due to complaints about the name.
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Last August, they filed a lawsuit against state officials over their ouster.
The litigation has yet to be resolved, but in the meantime, business is booming, according to Snooks.
Working with a clientele based heavily in the Hudson Valley, Wandering Dago is now a hybrid service that offers traditional, sit-down catering as well as the line-up-and-place-your-order-at-the-truck variety. The business now serves beer and wine and is looking into getting a full liquor license. The menu, originally heavy on barbecued foods, has evolved to include lighter, healthier fare. Vegetarian and vegan dishes are now offered.
Business is so good, the owners are considering investing in a second food truck.
Loguidice and Snooks still live in Schenectady, and Snooks said there will always be a place in his heart for the town where their business began, but the couple won’t sell food there due to the fracas over their company’s name.
Snooks said their truck has received a warm welcome in other areas.
“People love our name. We could have booked 100 weddings this year if we had the time. People love it. Ironically, we just have to leave the Capital Region,” he said.
The couple are looking at spaces in the Hudson Valley to house their growing business.
“It’s way more us,” Snooks explained.
The buzz about the business’ controversial name has died down since the truck is no longer operating around town and there has been no court action on the lawsuit.
According to Mike Hawrylchak, an associate in the office of Boies, Schiller and Flexner, which represents Wandering Dago, a motion was filed May 23 to add four defendants to the case.
That motion is pending.
No matter what the outcome of the case, Snooks said he has no intention of changing the business name.
“We are a little bit rogue,” he conceded. “I’ve never really been someone that followed all the rules and fit in with everybody, and some of it is my personality. It’s not like I woke up one day and somebody said, ‘You know, you’re a little abrasive.’ I’ll be 40 in November. I’ve known that for about 37 years. The truck is me. It’s my personality, and some of me is really proud of that. Some of me wishes I could maybe just keep my mouth shut sometimes. This is who I am.”
Cuomo will raise $1 billion in 'revenue actions' for 'challenging' 2018 budget
ALBANY – Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo is slowing down spending in some areas of the proposed 2018 New York State budget, while turning to $1 billion in “revenue actions,’’ including tax hikes on health insurers and freezing breaks given to New Yorkers enrolled in the STAR property tax program.
Cuomo this afternoon also called for the creation of a state panel to advise him on the possibility of legalizing marijuana for recreational use. Only a year ago, Cuomo ruled out such legalization of what he called a dangerous “gateway drug.” Cuomo did not specifically embrace a legalization effort, and said the advisory group, which will include State Police representation, is meant to get a the "facts" of the issue.
The proposed budget, unveiled this afternoon in Albany, freezes state aid to municipalities, gives a modest increase in funding for state university campuses and holds flat the amount that state agencies spend.
"This year is going to be challenging, my friends,'' Cuomo said in a speech unveiling his budget plan at a state museum near the Capitol.
The budget also punts on Cuomo’s two ideas previously unveiled to help some higher income taxpayers deal with new restrictions on the deductibility of state and local taxes on federal taxes.
Cuomo will wait until he gets a report from his tax department -- set to be released Wednesday -- on whether to shift reliance on state income taxes to a new statewide payroll tax or to let taxpayers make donations to new state-run charities as a way to boost their federal deductions.
Cuomo made clear, though, that his administration will move ahead with at least one of the ideas to change the state's tax code to help some New Yorkers circumvent the intention of the new federal tax law. "We change it in a way that thwarts their attack,'' Cuomo said of Washington.
Overall, the state’s budget will reach $168 billion, up from an estimated spending plan this year of $164 billion. The portion of the budget paid for largely by state taxpayers will rise 1.8 percent to $100 billion, according to one of the budget documents released this afternoon by the Cuomo administration.
Cuomo proposes a 3 percent increase in payments to 700 public school districts. State school aid will hit $26.4 billion under the Cuomo plan, an increase of $769 million. Of that, $338 million is dedicated to payments in Foundation Aid, which is the main account tapped by schools to pay for operating costs.
The overall education number is considerably below the $1.6 billion the Board of Regents and the state Department of Education sought. It is one of the areas of the Cuomo budget almost certain to grow once the Legislature completes its consideration of his proposals.
The budget is due March 31. The state’s current budget is expected to end in the black, but part of that is due to a skewing of numbers brought about by a rush of New Yorkers who made state income tax payments in 2018 instead of waiting until their tax return filings by April 15. In all, the state said $1.9 billion came in 2017 by such pre-filing of state taxes.
Cuomo spends much of his time in the document characterizing his budget blaming the federal government for Albany’s fiscal problems. The deficit for the coming year is projected at $4.4 billion, which Cuomo attributes to weaknesses in tax receipts. Another $2 billion is at risk because of possible federal cuts, particularly in health care.
The state’s own spending on health care is expected to grow 3.2 percent, or by $593 million.
Here Cuomo's proposals to raise revenues:
- A state effort that will presumably encourage the conversion or acquisition of not-for-profit health insurance companies into for-profit companies, $500 million annually over the next four years.
- Tapping $702 million from “new” legal settlements between the state and various corporations.
- Creating a new tax on opioid drug sales, which is expected to total $171 million, which Cuomo said will be used to help fund anti-addiction efforts.
- Maintain STAR property tax benefits at current levels, instead of proceeding with an expected 2 percent increase, deferral of most business tax credits through 2020 and another try at an “internet fairness conformity tax” on third party sales over the internet, such as through Amazon.
- New inspection fees on privately operated passenger carriers, such as motor coaches, expanded tax enforcement efforts, and new consumer costs on prescription drugs by those enrolled in the American Indian Health Plan.
- Creation of a new prelicensing course for people to get a driver's license, and by charging users $8 as a way to raise an expected $900,000.
- Slapping a 14 percent surcharge on underwriting gains from health insurance policies. Health insurers got a 40 percent tax cut windfall under the new federal tax law while Washington is shifting more health care costs onto states like New York, he said.
Various ideas he already floated in his recent State of the State are contained in the budget, such as relaxing bail requirements for some people accused of crimes and instituting cashless tolling throughout the state Thruway Authority system.
While the governor has sought to depict the state’s fiscal challenges as extraordinary, the actual budget document released this afternoon characterized the $4.4 billion deficit as “unremarkable’’ when compared with red ink budgets during the Great Recession.
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