Need a summer job? Call the Gov.

Gov. David Paterson has announced today that the state is giving out $35 million to 45 counties and New York City for the 2008 Summer Youth Employment Program.
The program is designed to provide jobs for 14-20 year olds during the summer. Last year, almost 27,000 teens were employed through the program.
“Education does not end in [...]

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Nassau Centre, Hauppauge need transit help

The New York Metropolitan Transportation Council identified two Long Island regions among its 10 desired growth areas during its annual meeting Thursday, which was Webcast online.
Nassau Centre in Nassau County and Hauppauge/Brentwood, including the Sagtikos Development zone, in Suffolk County, were among areas the council sees growth occurring by 2030, along with Hudson Yards, Lower [...]

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Suozzi on Spitzer

Updated: Suozzi released an official statement this afternoon after Spitzer’s resignation press conference. It included much of the same wording from his speech Tuesday night, along with a few more comments. Here’s what he said:
We are all shocked and saddened by the revelations regarding Governor Spitzer. My sympathy goes out to the Spitzer family as well [...]

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The kids are alright. Designers … not so much

When the math homework is done, perhaps your kids could whip up a logo for Tom Suozzi.
The Nassau County Department of Public Works launched a contest for children between ages of five years old and 13 years old to design a logo and slogan that will be used to educate the community on the negative [...]

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Mr. Reed is looking out for you

We’ve all seen the fake e-mails: A letter comes from a foreign someone who wants your help in bringing a large sum of money into the United States (of course you get a cut), PayPal needs you to update your info, your bank wants to confirm your account numbers, etc. The question is, how many [...]

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Nassau comes out on top

Nassau Comptroller Howard Weitzman had some good news for his county today. Even though the nation’s economic climate is approaching the single-digit range of the Kelvin scale, with the local housing market stalling and sales tax receipts lacking, Nassau managed to record a $23.8 million surplus in 2007.
That’s the sixth year in a row the [...]

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Web site wars: Levy vs. Suozzi

LI Biz Blog loves feedback. From important debates on top issues, to making witty captions for photos, this blog won’t stop until every reader has at least commented once, or participated in one contest.
So here’s a new contest, one you’ll see more of. It’s called “Web site wars.”
We’ll present two Web sites of either politicians, [...]

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Nassau, it’s not that bad

The credit crunch is hurting the entire country, as home prices slip and sales slow down in places from Caribou, Maine to San Bernardino, Calif. — and everything in-between.
But Nassau County doesn’t have it that bad, according to a feature in USA Today.
Sales are down 0.9 percent last month in Nassau, compared to 21.6 percent [...]

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Nice, but not that nice

The renovation of Nassau County’s historic Mineola courthouse may have been a bit too overzealous, considering the project is funded by taxpayers.
According to a brief on WNBC.com, lawmakers are upset about 19 new, 32-inch liquid crystal display televisions installed in the legislators’ offices, each costing $1,000.
And it seems even Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi was [...]

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Protect and serve…Nassau

Low salaries are leading to an exodus of New York Police Department cops. And they’re headed east.
The Daily News reports that 56 of the 99 officers in Nassau’s Nov. 2 academy class worked for the NYPD, but left to join the Nassau County police force because it pays better.
From the News:
But Browne said the NYPD’s [...]

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First suburb will be first green one

News from the eco-friendly green front is just sprouting up everywhere these days.
Today, Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi announced plans to dub Levittown, America’s first suburb, the first “green” suburb. He will announce, at a press conference to be held tomorrow,  a public-private partnership that will take measures to reduce Levittown’s carbon footprint by a [...]

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Slowdown in Nassau sales tax

To state the obvious, people are about as confident in the economy today as they are a magical blue whale will make a castle out of sea shells in the Sound and from his tower fire jellyfish at any unlucky energy company that tries to build a floating liquid natural gas barge out there. Or [...]

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Suozzi says, take your appeals online

Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi, who recently got a flu shot, told county residents today that rather than signing up with expensive grievance firms in order to appeal tax assessments on their properties, just go to the county’s Web site and save a few bucks.
Nassau has set up Assessment Review on the Web, where county [...]

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Stop the presses, big news from Suozzi

The LI Biz Blog just got a press release announcing, in as bold and large a print as can fit in an e-mail message, that Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi … will get a flu shot today.
He’s getting the shot as part of a program that provides flu shots to county workers.
If you’re not too [...]

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Suozzi gives shellfishing another chance

Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi has come up with a way to dump a few clams into Hempstead Harbor … by dumping 2 million clams and oysters into Hempstead Harbor as part of his ongoing “Healthy Nassau” initiative. His goal is to reestablish the harbor’s shellfishing activity by 2010.
Hempstead Harbor once supported a vibrant oyster [...]

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We’re number two

The following will not shock you.
When it comes to property taxes, Nassau County residents pay the second highest bills in the country.
According to the Forbes list of America’s Priciest Property Taxes, the Nassau median is $7,706 a year, beat only by Hunterdon County, New Jersey’s median of $7,999 a year.
From the article:
In fact, New [...]

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No more trans fats in Nassau

There’s a new outlaw in Nassau, and it is one greasy bandit.
Nassau’s board of health said it voted unanimously to ban the use of trans fats from county restaurants. Trans fats, or hydrogenated oils, are a particularly unhealthy fat that not only raises the body’s level of bad cholesterol, but lowers the level of good [...]

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Nassau courthouse shuts down

A family court building in Westbury, which happens to be where the parents of Lindsay Lohan settled on their divorce, was shut down by Nassau officials today after the building’s alarm system malfunctioned.
According to an Associated Press story, the building’s alarm went off several times, prompting several evacuations.
From the story:
The Nassau County Family Court building [...]

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Elmo’s world takes off

It could be the best five minutes of television this year. In fact, I will DVR it - and no I’m not kidding.
This Monday’s Sesame Street will include an Elmo’s World with members of the New York Jets, including the team’s Garden City-living coach, Eric Mangini and quarterback Chad Pennington, who is involved in [...]

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The great golf cart debate

It seems like fair enough logic: Golf carts move faster than your average bag-laden golfer. So it makes sense that if every golfer rode a cart, the game would move faster, making the course able to accommodate more golfers.
But what if you want to walk?
Tough. That’s the line from Nassau County, which in July mandated [...]

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Levy wants T.R. museum on LI … or Suffolk

Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy said today he would indeed like to see the Theodore Roosevelt Association build the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Museum on Long Island.
The association last week said it was considering building the museum, which would be a replica of the former president’s White House, in Oyster Bay.
But I wonder where Levy would [...]

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Where’s Suozzi? He’s in Virginia, pledging green

Tom Suozzi’s Healthy Nassau initiative led him to Richmond, Va. today to pledge his county’s commitment to reducing its global-warming emissions 80 percent by 2050.
The county executive joined leaders from King County, Wash., Miami-Dade County, Fla., Cook County, Ill. and Shelby County, Tenn. to sign the “U.S. Cool Counties Climate Stabilization Declaration.”
The “cool” counties also [...]

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Mean, New York

We’re accused of being unfriendly drivers and sports fans. Now it’s official: We’re also unfriendly to business, according to the latest Forbes list of The Best States For Business.
Forbes placed New York 33rd.
The magazine broke the list out into six categories: Business costs, labor costs, regulatory environment, economic climate, growth prospects and quality of life. [...]

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Voldemort’s the size of a bus

Here’s the newest news from Tom Suozzi in Nassau … and it’s magical.
The immense IMAX theater at the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Garden City will begin playing full-run feature films (that means Hollywood movies) at night.
Before, the films, many of which are made just for IMAX theaters, were only played in the afternoons.
First, for [...]

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Another week, another awesome podcast

The newest edition of LI Bizcast, the official podcast of Long Island Business News, is live with a behind-the-story look at this week’s features.
First, David Reich-Hale reports on Nassau County’s sales tax struggles.
Then, Ross Daly dishes out the moves at Meyer, Suozzi, English & Klein, Laura Theis tells us about how online eBay stores are [...]

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Anti-war verse not welcome in Nassau

Nassau’s search for a poet laureate seemed close to an end, but a few verses on the Iraq ruined the writer’s chances.
According to a New York Times story, poet Maxwell Corydon Wheat Jr., a writer known for his poetry about Long Island’s plant and animal life, had the nomination in the bag. But a few [...]

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Mejias wants Schmitt to pay

The bad blood between Dave Mejias and Peter Schmitt boiled today.
Meijas, a Nassau County legislator, demanded that Minority Leader Peter Schmitt pay back taxpayers the $160,000 in legal fees that accrued when he was sued for defamation by a Glen Cove law firm.
In 2004, according to blog Peter Schmitt Watch, Schmitt accused the firm of [...]

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Suozzi shears

Hopefully, Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi has a steady hand. If not, I’d hate to be a sheep in Old Bethpage today.
At 1 p.m., the Nassau leader will shear a sheep at the Old Bethpage Village Restoration in order to promote all of the Memorial Day activities scheduled to take place at the restored village [...]

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East Side access, the tunnel will save us

The Gothamist is featuring a map of the proposed East Side Access project, a plan I’m sure many commuting and NYC-visiting Long Islanders can’t wait for.
A big part of the project is the tunnel that will be bored from the existing 63rd street tunnel to Grand Central Terminal. The machinery that will be used to [...]

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Nassau getting to work today

It looks like the Nassau County Legislature filled its plate today with a pile of juicy bills, bans and a even a bus accident.
The Legislature will hold nine committee meetings on the following:
First, they hope to make a bill that would require anyone wanting a body piercing in Nassau to sign a consent form that [...]

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