easter Sundas trump vhridtopher columbus
De Blasio ignores Columbus statues activist groups
columbus is as dead as nyc otb
open the church of nassau otb for the faithful before the are cast in bronze
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.
They made them an offer — and most refused.
Nearly 100 city pols — most notably Mayor de Blasio — said arrivederci to a questionnaire served up by Italian-American activists seeking their positions on the preservation of Christopher Columbus statues.
A coalition of 41 groups developed the litmus test, which was sent out to 143 “elected officials and those seeking public office.”
A mere 52 — all in support of keeping the statues — responded by the Thursday deadline, according to Phil Foglia of the Italian American Legal Defense and Higher Education Fund.
The group considers no response, as in the case of de Blasio, a “lack of support.” De Blasio last month created an 18-member commission to vet potentially “oppressive monuments.”
John Fratta, chair of the New York State Commission for Social Justice, said it was “sad that the leader of the city has abdicated leadership on an issue of importance to millions of New Yorkers. Seeking political cover behind a pretentious commission is beneath him.”
The activists “appreciated” those who “had the courage and political conviction” to support Columbus. Those who oppose the Columbus monuments or are indifferent to the issue might want to sleep with one eye open.
“The others who have not committed will be exposed and let the public decide their fate,” said Angelo Vivolo, president of the Columbus Citizens Foundation. The group also promised payback at the ballot box on Election Day.
Columbus, long revered as the heroic sailor who discovered America, is now denounced by some activists as an imperialist colonizer who slaughtered indigenous Caribbeans. There are at least five statues on city land dedicated to the memory of Columbus.
Comptroller Scott Stringer gave a thumb’s up to the Columbus statues and monuments, as did Staten Island Councilwoman Debi Rose, who attached a letter to her response because she felt “compelled to further explain why I have taken this position.”
Rose, who is African American, noted in her letter that “Columbus is celebrated by a National Holiday and has become a point of identity for Italian Americans after suffering years of prejudice, ethnic slurs and enduring association with organized crime.”
Public Advocate Letitia James and mayoral candidates Sal Albanese and Nicole Malliotakis were also among the respondents.
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