Botta on the Lighthouse

Charles Wang's on-the-fly TV appearance on Saturday was not without an agenda. Point Blank has learned from political operatives and media insiders that the Town of Hempstead is preparing to release unflattering details about Lighthouse negotiations to some of its media favorites.
 
Wang may have acted surprised and faux-annoyed when Howie Rose asked him about the Lighthouse Project, but something must be understood. A major league sports team owner does not hastily request an interview on his team's broadcast, and then go on live TV without knowing what will be asked. (Worth noting: Wang did not speak with any other reporters in the press box - those he does not have some control over - just his friendly broadcast rightsholder).
 
Wang knew the interview would be about the state of his team's rebuilding project and the Lighthouse Project. For anyone to pretend otherwise - even as Wang told Rose, "I thought we weren't talking about this" and "You shouldn't be asking me this" - is foolish.
 
In the interview, the Islanders owner said there have been no discussions with the Town of Hempstead since a public hearing in September. He also said he did not know if Ed Mangano supports the project because there haven't been any talks with the new Nassau County Executive.
 
As documented by reporters and bloggers since September, the Lighthouse has not paid Town consultant FP Clark and communication has been primarily non-existent between the developers and the Town.
 
Since I'm not on the Christmas card list of Hempstead honchos Kate Murray, Joe Ra or Mike Deery, I will not get their talking points and will gladly sit out the Hempstead affair.
 
I spoke with a high-ranking County official late Saturday night who argued that Wang is misleading Islanders fans by saying he hasn't heard from Nassau. "The County Executive has reached out to Wang and has not had his calls returned," said the source. Following Wang's edict for a media blackout on the future of the Islanders in Nassau or anywhere else, Lighthouse officials did not return my calls seeking comment.
 
If the Town of Hempstead was looking a wise PR time to fire back, it has arrived now that the Islanders' recent positive momentum has been derailed by a depressing seven-game losing streak. The life of an Islanders fan is never easy.
 
If there's any good news in all of this, the darts expected to be thrown by Hempstead - and possibly returned by the LDC - sure beat the silence. Although the pacifist Islanders have engaged in as many on-ice fights in the last two months as Brandon Prust did last night (two), the gloves are coming off in the battle for the Lighthouse Project.
 
Even to the most casual observer it has been apparent for a long time that the developers are not going to get close to 100% of their massive project. They have their options - Queens, Brooklyn - but have been curiously hesitant to pursue them. To be sure, and with no pun intended, the next move is Wang's.
 Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since 1982. Visit my blog: forever1940.blogspot.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick

Stat Trick errata (Tampa)

Niittymaki actually has four career wins against the Isles.  His first, not most recent win, against the Isles was in 2005.  He last beat the Isles in 2008.
 Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since 1982. Visit my blog: forever1940.blogspot.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick

Stat Trick: Carolina 3, Isles 1

Justin Peters made 34 saves to record a victory in his National Hockey League debut, as the Hurricanes defeated the Isles 3-1, handing New York a season-worst seventh straight loss.  On to the Trick...

1. Jussi Jokinen scored the only goal of the first period, off a bad rebound allowed by Rick DiPietro.  It was the 20th goal of the season for Jokinen, extending his point streak to six straight games. It's the first time in his five year career that he's reached twenty goals.

2. The Isles tied the game midway through the second period on a shorthanded goal by Frans Nielsen.  It was the second career shorthanded goal for Nielsen, who scored shorthanded in Detroit last March.  It was also the Isles' fifth shorthanded goal, but their first since December 26th. 

3. Patrick Dwyer scored the winning goal midway late in the second period; Joni Pitkanen added an empty net for the final margin.

... a few more...

4.  Di Pietro finished with 22 saves, as he dropped to 2-5-0 on the season.  He's lost four straight starts.  Since winning six straight starts in February, 2008, DiPietro is 4-15-0 in his last 19 decisions.

5.  The Isles failed on all five power plays, including a 26 second 5-on-3.  The Isles have gone five straight games without a power play goal for the first time since last February/March.

6.  The Isles have lost seven straight for the first time since losing seven straight in regulation and an eighth in overtime last January 2nd-19th.

7.  The Isles have scored only ten goals in their last eight games (1-7-0).  It's the first time since November, 2000 that they have scored as few as ten goals in an eight game stretch; they haven't scored fewer goals in an eight game stretch since scoring only nine goals in an eight game stretch in February 1973.  The club record for fewest goals in an eight-game stretch is seven, set in the eight games prior to their historical 9-7 win in Boston in January 1973.

8. In addition to their 35 shots on goal, the Isles had 23 shots blocked by Carolina.  Eight of the blocks were by Tim Gleason.

9.  Nielsen had six shots on goal, and won 12 of 19 face-offs.  He was "even" for the game, and leads tthe team with a +12 rating. His eight goals on the season are one shy of last year's total.

10. The Hurricanes earn a split of the season, two games each, and win the series on points, six points to four, as both Islander wins were in extra time.  Carolina is 6-0-2 against the Islanders in the last two seasons.

Up next: The Islanders entertain Nashville on Tuesday.  The Preds have beaten the Isles five straight times (0-4-1) dating back to an Adrian Aucoin overtime winner in October 2002.  With the Islanders' win over Detroit last month, the Isles have beaten every other team at the Coliseum since their last win over the Predators.
 Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since 1982. Visit my blog: forever1940.blogspot.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick

Stat-irical Trick: Carolina 3, Isles 1

The real Stat Trick will follow later, but tonight's Coliseum experience had so many strange events, it merits a Trick of its own...

1. The turning point of the evening was the National Anthem, or rather the introduction of it.  With regular PA guy Roger Luce not available, the Isles reached into Bridgeport for the Sound Tigers' PA announcer (who I believe is Adam Goodman, based on his Linked In page).  Goodman introduced the singers as being from "St. John the Bastard".  (We checked the tape to make sure!)

2. When Deb Placey completed her pre-game comments and sent the broadcast to Howie and Billy, the MSG+2 cameras were on John Tavares... who unfortunately started to pick his nose.

3. Islanders owner Charles Wang asked to appear on the broadcast in the first intermission...and did not want to talk about the Lighthouse Project through the media.

...wait, there's more...

4. Brandon Sutter, who was born on Long Island on a day that his dad played for the team, had his name mispronounced by the PA announcer when he assisted on the winning goal. For the record, it's Sutter, not Soo-ter.

5.  The blimp that flies in the Coliseum during intermissions malfunctioned and ended up stuck in the middle of the press box.

All in all, a very strange night.

 Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since 1982. Visit my blog: forever1940.blogspot.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick

Stat Trick: Tampa Bay 5, Isles 2

Thursday night in Tampa, the Islanders suffered their six straight loss, all in regulation, as they blew a 2-1 lead and dropped a 5-2 decision to the Lightning.  On to the trick:

1. Steven Stamkos scored 14:16 into play for the game's only power play goal.  It was the fifth straight game that the Isles had allowed a power play goal and the eighth straight game in which the Isles allowed the game's opening goal.  Matt Moulson tied the game for the Islanders 70 seconds later with his team-leading 21st goal of the season.

2.  The Islanders grabbed a short-lived lead on a Jon Sim goal , his 8th, at 9:12 of the middle session.  But Isles-killer Martin St. Louis tied the game 25 seconds later  and Vinny Lecavalier gave Tampa the lead by converting on a 2-on-0 just 36 seconds after that.

3. Stamkos' 2nd goal of the game (and 31st of the season) gave the Lightning some breahting room midway through the third; Alex Tanguay settled matters with an empty-netter in the final minute.

...a few more...

4.  Antero Nittymaki picked up the win for Tampa, making 34 saves, incuding 28 in the first two periods.  Dwayne Roloson finished with 26 saves for the Isles.

5. The Isles have scored only nine goals in the last seven games; it's their worst offensive drought since scoring seven in a seve-game span from November 20-December 4, 2003.

6. Rookie defender Viktor Hedman, who was a healthy scratch earlier this season, was +4 for the Lightning, while Kuris Foster was +3.
 
7.  St. Louis has a goal in five striaght games for the Lightning, winners of six of their last nine games.
 
8. The Isles were outscored 13-4 on the road trip.  Their power play went 0-14 in the four games; the Isles are 0-19 on the power play in their six road losses in 2010.

9.  Nittimaki picks up his second caareer win over the Islanders, and his first in over four years.  He beat the Steve Sitrling-coached Isles as a Flyer in 2005.

10.  The Lightning lead the season series three games to none, (and six points to zero).  The series concludes on February 13th at the Coliseum.

Up next:  For the second time this season, the Carolina Hurricanes will be the opposition as the Islanders attempt to break a six-game losing streak.  The Isles recorded a shoot-out win on October 21st to break the first six-game losing streak and lead the season series two games to one.  Faceoff is at 7:00 pm on Satutrday night at the Coliseum.

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since 1982. Visit my blog: forever1940.blogspot.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick

Senator Kate? LIBN piece on Ms. Murray

<<The unshakable Kate
by Ambrose Clancy

Published: February 5th, 2010

Aftershocks dominated the morning.

A week after the earthquake battered Haiti, severe tremors brought more suffering. But the morning buzz at Hempstead Town Hall was about the U.S. political foundation still rocking from the night before. A long-shot Republican had claimed the seat held for more than four decades by liberal lion Edward Kennedy.

"Seismic," Hempstead Supervisor Kate Murray said brightly, leaving her office for a staff meeting.

Murray's chief-of-staff Ray Mineo followed, as he does whenever the supervisor is on the move. Short and rumpled, dwarfed by the tall, imposing figure of his boss, Mineo was asked his take on the Massachusetts political game changer.

"It's not just one election," he said, citing November's upset races in Westchester and Nassau counties. "Now it's a movement."
A movement which Murray might want to ride beyond Hempstead. She didn't pause when asked about her political future. "Sky's the limit."

The proven vote-getter has won handily every time out of the gate, beginning with a 1998 Assembly bid. She's run Hempstead, the nation's most populous township, for seven years. Even Democratic political ops admit – not for attribution – that the municipality of 800,000 is a model of efficiency. In an anti-incumbent election season stoked by voter rage, Murray ran on her record, clobbering her opponent by a two-to-one margin.

Isn't she politically boxed in?

"Not at all," Murray said, greeting town employees passing in the corridor, flashing a wide, killer smile. "Once upon a time there was a guy named Al D'Amato who was a town supervisor. This is a good jumping-off point for me. This is a huge operation here."

Huge indeed, with the supervisor managing 1,900 full-time employees and a $400 million budget.

Does dropping D'Amato's name mean challenging Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand?

Murray's tone turned coy but serious. "In the pantheon of different elected positions, Washington would be intriguing."

Scott Brown's Massachusetts win and Ed Mangano's out-of-nowhere victory in Nassau gives anyone of substance a puncher's chance these days.

Working in Murray's favor for a U.S. Senate run is that few Republicans have officially thrown their hat in the ring. So far, Bruce Blakeman, a former Nassau County legislator, is the biggest name to declare for the race.

Blakeman may best be known for being the ex-husband of Nancy Shevell, a Paul McCartney paramour. Other than that, he has little name recognition with New York voters, though insiders in his own party know him well. That's not to say they approve of his candidacy.

"Dumb as a stump and arrogant," one close observer of Nassau politics described Blakeman. "Not a good combination."

George Marlin, an author and conservative LIBN columnist, snarked that Blakeman is a lightweight who looks like he's running just to meet girls.

Marlin added that if Murray got Nassau GOP boss Joe Mondello's blessing, Blakeman's candidacy would collapse.

"But if she's going to run, she has to start right now," Marlin added.

Machine operator

Taking a seat at the head of a conference table, Murray greets her top staffers: 11 men in suits.

She has nothing in front of her while everyone else has papers and files. There's no doubt: She is the smartest person in the room.

Talk to anyone about Murray and they'll confirm that. But detractors maintain that being brainy doesn't conceal a machine politician interested only in power.

A product of Mondello's superbly greased machine, Murray rose through the ranks by paying dues and waiting her turn. An assistant attorney general in Gov. George Pataki's administration, she was appointed to run for the Assembly seat when Charles O'Shea resigned to become Nassau County assessor in 1998. She was elevated to Hempstead supervisor from town clerk when Richard Guardino resigned in 2003.

Murray never takes for granted that Hempstead is a Republican fiefdom – the last on Long Island – built on patronage and never forgetting where you came from. Take her 83-year-old father, Norman. He retired from a six-figure job in the town attorney's office with a $49,000 pension on a Friday. By Monday he was back on the payroll as a part-time clerk, making $40 an hour.

And there's Katuria D'Amato, Senator Pothole's wife, who Murray appointed to the town's zoning board of appeals. No matter that Ms. D'Amato's total knowledge of zoning came from a dust-up with neighbors about a wildly ostentatious beach house the D'Amatos felt entitled to build. Murray merely said she was the right person for the job. And that was that.

At the head of the table Murray runs through resolutions with her staff on the next town board agenda, closely questioning them about finances before adjourning the meeting.

It's time for a trip to the beach.

To the Lighthouse

Murray rides shotgun in a gray Jeep Cherokee while executive assistant Reid Berglind drives like it's Sunday at Daytona, not the Meadowbrook.

The supervisor is rocketing toward Point Lookout to inspect a beach erosion project and check up on a shellfish seeding project.
Mineo sits in the back, hanging on as Berglind barrels along. Mineo's been with Murray since her first term seven years ago. But he got close to her when she was town clerk and he was top aide to Guardino, the previous supervisor.

Mineo knows where all bodies are buried, correct? He smiles, yanked into a curve by the Cherokee.

"I just know I'm not buried."

Mineo is not a man to underestimate, just like his chief. Murray's intelligence, energy, focus and superb political skills have never been more evident than in her taking control of the Lighthouse Project.

Kicking around for five years at the county level, Charles Wang's $3.8 billion plan hit a wall when it fell into Murray's hands two years ago. She's taking her time on approving modernization of the run-down Nassau Coliseum and development of nearly 80 surrounding acres into 2,300 residential units and more than a million square feet of retail and office space.

The developer has railed at Murray and threatened to move his Islanders out of Nassau unless the project is fast-tracked. Unions, some with unemployment running up to 35 percent, urge the supervisor to think of the social calamity of joblessness.

She's been accused of pettiness, arrogance, purposely missing meetings and refusing to talk because of partisan rigidity.
Nassau County Legis. David Denenberg, D-Merrick, has thrown up his hands.

"I don't know what page she's on," the legislator said.

Murray has said from the beginning that the enormity of the project, traffic concerns, density, water and energy usage call for caution.
But by being deliberate, Murray has also taken charge of the project. Over time she has won over many Hempstead and county residents who at the start were loudly calling for no delays in kicking off the project.

Murray proceeds with caution because she knows the Lighthouse, in political language, is a "legacy project." No matter how it turns out, a development of this size and importance will be mentioned at the top of her obituary.

Four days before the election in November, Wang and Murray met one-on-one, she said. "I told Charles, 'You have to scale this back,'" Murray said. "I told him, 'There's no way, as presently constituted, this is going anywhere. The public is waking up.'"

Murray said she informed the developer that after a Sept. 22 environmental hearing, e-mails to the town were running 60-40 against the size of the project. Wang, through a spokeswoman, refused to comment for this piece.

The developer badly underestimated Murray, according to a union official.

"My people are being hurt because of the lack of movement and Kate is the only one who can make it happen," the official said. "But I told Charles, 'Remember that Kate Murray doesn't work for you. You can't treat her like she plays on your hockey team.'"

Coming home

The Cherokee rushes into an empty parking lot. Beyond is the Atlantic, with tankers lining the horizon like toy boats. Raucous sea birds wheel above the beach. Murray seems at home. "I love it here," she said, walking up over a dune.

"When we were kids, every summer we were at the beach all the time," said Anne Murray, Kate's sister and the youngest of seven siblings.

Never married, Murray is closer to her mother, father, four brothers, two sisters and a huge crowd of nieces and nephews than anyone else. She has a house next door to  her parents in Levittown, where the Murray clan was raised.

Even as a little girl, she knew her own mind, Anne Murray said.

"At 11 Katie told everyone she was going to be a lawyer," her sister added, noting that she and her sister Maureen are also lawyers.

"But at that age we didn't have any idea what we wanted to do," she laughed. "Not Katie. She knew."

After graduating from Boston College, Murray stayed in Boston, taking a law degree from Suffolk University.

Her undergraduate junior year she studied English at St. Clare's Hall, Oxford, England. The Long Island girl received more than a touch of sophistication.

"In England I could go to France or Holland for the weekend if I wanted," she said. "It was as easy as going to New Jersey."

After law school Murray became a litigator for a firm in Nassau County and then, after a stint at a New Jersey firm defending physicians in malpractice cases, she headed to Albany and the attorney general's office during the Pataki years.

At Point Lookout workers are putting 40,000 plants into dunes to keep large parts of the beach from disappearing.

Checking in on a shellfish seeding operation – "Where's the linguine?" Mineo asks – located in a house set in wetlands, Murray clearly revels in sweating the small stuff of running Hempstead.

She's asked again about her future.

"I can't see myself doing this forever," she said. "Either I'll decide to do something else or the voters will. We all have a shelf life."

Top of the hill

Berglind is pushing the Cherokee hard again as Murray answers question about her political positions. Pro-life, pro-gun control, against same sex marriage but in favor of civil unions. She described herself as a moderate Republican, while being fiscally conservative.
But party labels are meaningless on a local level, she added, noting that picking up the garbage isn't Republican or Democratic.
"Welcome to sanitation world," Murray said as the Cherokee rolls into the sprawling Hempstead sanitation complex in Merrick.
The department takes up more than a quarter of the town's $400 million budget this year, collecting garbage from 80,000 homes each day.

She takes great pride in the former Merrick landfill, which has been transformed into a 52-acre nature preserve, towering up 115 feet from the flat, densely packed suburb. Delegations from as far away as Argentina and China have come to view it and get ideas to take back home.

A Hempstead Democrat who didn't want his name used said, "I give Kate credit. I like the way my garbage is picked up, my streets are plowed and my parks are kept. Everyone does."

Joggers and walkers make their way up through the preserve, including James McKenna, who works in Nassau County corrections, and his wife Christine, daughter Kate and friend Madison.

"We love it here," Christine said. "It's so peaceful. A great place for kids."

Sanitation personnel pile into a just-delivered electric jitney. The supervisor who sits directly behind the driver, a man named Sal, seems to be learning how to operate the vehicle. After a sudden start and stop, Murray said, "It's all right, Sal. No pressure. Only your job on the line."

The remark and laughter from the passengers relax Sal, who drives effortlessly to the top, where views extend to the Manhattan skyline.

Roosevelt

Murray takes a meeting in a cramped satellite office of the town's planning department on Nassau Road in Roosevelt. Across the street a rusted hulk left vacant for generations is now a new, 24,000-square-foot medical building, while just down Nassau Road a new bank has gone up from a trash-strewn empty lot.

Working with community leaders under the direction of Councilwoman Dorothy Goosby, the town is seeing some victories removing the blighted infrastructure of Roosevelt.

Goosby, a Democrat, praised Murray for her efforts but didn't leave the ground, describing her relationship with Murray as "OK. I don't have a problem working with her."

Passing a storefront church, The Refuge of Hope, Murray said, "It's good to see the great swath of faith in minority communities, but from an economic point of view that's the bummer because all these churches are off the tax rolls."

More than 200 affordable single-family homes have replaced abandoned residences in Hempstead.

"I'd do that every day if I could,' Murray said.

In charge

A scene played out across Long Island somewhere every week – lawyers with briefcases bursting with files, people with a beef, giddy high school kids in their Sunday best and knots of gossiping politicians.

Murray enters exactly on time and opens the town board meeting, asking the audience to keep the people of Haiti in their prayers.

Hempstead has more Haitians than any other Long Island community, and the town has filled two schoolrooms with food and other aid to be shipped to the Caribbean.

The meeting is quick, with proclamations given to the students for superior work and a list of perfunctory resolutions passed unanimously.

Residents complain of Hempstead being saturated with halfway houses. Several people want to be included on a commission studying the town's water supply.

Murray listens and answers every question, masterfully deflecting the offers to serve on commissions.

It's hard to imagine saying "no" with more charm, making the negative sound affirmative.

Or being more in control.
>>
 Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since 1982. Visit my blog: forever1940.blogspot.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick

Double Stat Trick: Philadelphia 2, Isles 0; Florida 2, Isles 1

It was a lost weekend for the Isles as they dropped a pair of low-scoring games.  On to the trick:

1. Saturday in Philadelphia, the Isles suffered their 14th consecutive loss to the Flyers (0-11-3) and their 9th straight loss in Philadelphia (0-8-1) bya score of 2-1..  Daniel Briere and Scott Hartnell had first period goals for the Flyers; Josh Bailey had the Isles' only goal of the weekend, with 5:16 remaining in the middle period.  The 14 straight victories equals the Flyers' longest winning streak against any opponent.

2. Ray Emery made 31 saves for the Flyers, while Dwayne Roloson had 30 saves for the Isles.  Emery is the sixth different Flyer goaltender to defeat the Isles in this stretch; it was his first win over the Isles since March, 2007.

3. Sunday in Sunrise Florida, Tomas Vokoun made 33 saves to record his fourth shutout of January and seventh of the season as the Cats blanked the Isles 2-0.  Both Panther goals came from defensemen and Jordan Leopold and Keith Ballard scored.  Ballard's goal was a killer -- coming with less than ten seconds to play in the second period.  Rick DiPietro made 23 saves for the Isles.

... a few more..

4.  The Isles are 0-3-0 on this road trip, and have scored just two goals.  They have scored just seven goals in their last six games (they were credited for an 8th goal for their shootout win vs. Florida on January 21). It's their fewest goals in a six game stretch since scoring just five in six games from March 28-April 6, 2006.

5.  The Isles have lost five straight games, all in regulation.  It's the first time since they lost seven straight in regulation last January that they have gone pointless in five straight games.  They have also lost four straight road games, all in regulation.

6.  Apparently the Isles have the calendar all mixed up.  After roaring like lions through their first nine January games (7-2-0), the Isles were slaughtered like lambs in their final five games (0-5-0).

7. With the Rangers' win in Colorado on Sunday night, the Isles remain in 13th place in the East, but are now three points out of a playoff berth.  The Isles are only nine points ahead of Carolina and Toronto.

8. Vokoun continued his mastery over the Islanders.  He has shutout the Isles in one of the two games played in Sunrise in each of the last three seasons.  He has now defeated the Isles twelve times in his career (including twice by shootout); he's allowed only 18 goals in those games, with includes four shutouts.

9. The Flyers lead the season series four games to none (and eight points to zero).  Three of the games have been decided by a 2-1 score.  The Flyers own nine 2-1 wins over the Isles all-time; three occurred in the Isles' first two seasons; three in the next 34 seasons, and three in the last four meetings between the squads.  The teams will meet again on March 9th in Philadelphia and on April 1st at the Coliseum.

10. The Panthers win the season series three games to one (and seven points to three). The Isles have lost seven straight in Sunrise (0-6-1) and have only three victories in Florida in the last seven seasons.

Up next: The Isles will have three days off to try and find their offense.  The road trip concludes on Thursday in Tampa Bay as they begin a final stretch of six games in eleven days leading up to the Olympic break.  The Lightnning lead the season series 2-0, winning 4-0 in Tampa and 4-2 on Long Island in a 17-day span in December.
 Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since 1982. Visit my blog: forever1940.blogspot.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick