Please get today's Newsday SUNDAY 9/27/2009
I wonder why my father didn't tell me about the Armand D'Amato part of all this. I called him up at 6:00 AM this morning to confirm Newsday's report ---which we all know is true. My old man is probably still sleeping.
Well, let me begin with this: I don't agree with Charles Wang on many of his policies. I thing he is a megalomaniac. He has made a many number of curious and reckless decisions running the Islanders alone that make me wonder. I have only met Charles Wang once and it was very briefly. I doubt that he realized that my father is xxxxxx because I am sure he might have engaged me a bit more instead of treating me like some fan that hated Mike Milbury. Anyway, he was pretty dismissive in our brief conversation. I am not a fan of Charles Wang.
That being said, he is 100% right about the Nassau Hub project. Something has to go there. It is 80 acres of concrete and asphalt. There is a dilapidated building in the center of said 80 acres. Nassau County needs something. Long Island needs something. This HAS to get done.
I am not a Charles Wang apologist. But his idea makes sense.
As for Al D'Amato, I will go out there and let you know that he is a very distant relative. My great grandmother was a D'Amato. He attended her 80th birthday in the late 1970s with his mother. I ran into him in the late 1980s when he spoke at my high school (and his alma mater). I told him who I was and that I was related to his aunt. He glad handled me like a politician. There was something very creepy and very unsettling about him. His lisp, his cologne, there was something eery about him.
Anyway, Ranger fans will remember this one from the late 80s and early 90s, when Cablevision refused to show the MSG network and the entire region of LI/Cablevision subscribers was blacked out from Ranger and Knick games. He screwed over an entire population of Ranger and Knick fans because of a pissing match he had with Chales Dolan of Cablevision. All because his convicted crook, lawyer brother had some deal go wrong with Cablevision. I voted against D'Amato every chance I got, relative or not, becasue I never forgot what he did to his Ranger fan constituents. Yes, I VOTED Democrat at least 2 x in my life. I vote for Schumer. I voted for Abrams before.
And now I read this article in today's Newsday. And I should ahve known. Again, I am surprised my father hadn't mentioned it to me. I was with him on Tuesday and Wednesday and actually saw him with my kid yesterday. This D'Amato is a no-good son of a bitch. A crooked poitician. As bad or worse than Bill Clinton. Fuck, just go back to the HUD housing and Island Park fiasco. You read up on that, you hate D'Amato for that alone.
And now, holding up the progress of Long Island. Holding LI's future in the balance because of the slight of his brother --- and believe me, Wang should probably have hired him just to get the deal done --- well, does D'Amato really care about Long Islanders? About the people he supposedly represents?
And all of the Town of Hempstead political hacks. On bended knee, thanking Al for their jobs and their perks and their positions. Well, I live in Queens, but I am a registered voter in the Town of Hempstead. And I am proud to say this: I will vote straight Democrat in every local election there is for the rest of me life!
Vote Democrat, Long Island. Your Rebublican politicians are going to be responsible for higher taxes -- as the HUB would actually lower local taxes. Your Republican politicians are going to be responsible for NOT hiring thousands of workers during the construction of the project. Your Republican politicians are going to be responsible for the only major league franchise on the Island to relocate.
And do I blame Wang for moving the Islanders? Absolutely not. This is 100% on D'Amato and his political hacks in the Town of Hempstead. Today's Newsday is required reading for all Long Islanders.
Gavy