WE DO!

Thank you Newsday editors for a headline that finally made me read the main part of the paper before I headed straight to the comics. Sensationalism at it's best, eh?

Wang's Regret: Sorry he bought the team. That's a good one too. I really enjoyed that one with my Sunday breakfast.

While both articles by Jim Baumbach and Liz Moore are far more fair and equal than some of the previous articles, those who chose to give them a careless glance may NOT come away with the full picture.

If all you read are Wang's Options and The Next Steps, you may come away with the conclusion that this is a done, dead deal. Please hold off printing the obituary while there is still a pulse.

Okay, big picture: We have a political pissing match in Uniondale over Republican vs. Democrat demographics.

Bigger picture: Our economy on Long Island is suffering greatly as a whole and can ill afford a setback in growth and stimulus at the hands of one township.

The innuendo in the Dark days for the Lighthouse article that really pushes my buttons is the possibility of Democratic voters moving into those proposed 2,306 residences being part of the underlying effort to hold up the process.

Dear Town Of Hempstead: Please be advised that since the Lighthouse project will be built in stages, you have a few years before you have to worry about WHO or WHAT will move into your neighborhood. But let's think about this, by the time those residences are ready to be occupied the political make up of this country may be quite different.

The Democratic government that is currently in power may find themselves with a huge backlash against them attempting to turn the US of A into a socialist "Canada Light." I wouldn't worry about where the Democrats will live. I'd worry about FIXING THE REPUBLICAN PARTY ITSELF!!

Continue on into today's Newsday to the Editorials section and read 'Heavy lift' defined regarding a different multi-use development in Brentwood. It states the obvious, the Island is in desperate need of housing as well as jobs.

If residents don't have affordable places to live, they will leave. If they leave, there is no tax revenue from them to fund the government and its services. If there are no services or work force, the businesses will have to leave. If the businesses leave, Long Island will eventually be a nice memory and a dying community. Where will your perfect vision of suburbia be then Town Of Hempstead?

My favorite line in today's newspaper is also in that editorial as it closes with:

"Instead of shooting at each other in the tall grass, everyone needs to pay attention to the big picture, which is much the same as at Pilgrim: the need for sensible, economically and environmentally healthy development."

The LighthouseLI Project can be completed in it's multi-staged build-out to be beneficial to all of Long Island AS WELL AS be environmentally sound. Solutions for all possible problems exist. But to blindly dismiss an entire project because of perceived concerns is a death sentence.

No one left on this Island will care in 10 years who is a democrat and who is a republican because our best days will be behind us.

Smarten up people! We have still have an opportunity to move forward, but only if you let yourself be heard.

*As an aside: I am scheduled to be on air with Inside Hockey's Brad Kurtzberg tonight on WGBB's NY Hockey Talk. Brad is subbing for Rob Kowal this evening and asked if I wanted to come along for the ride. The show is webstreamed from 9 - 10 pm and will be available on podcast. The url is: http://www.nyhockeytalk.com/. Hopefully I won't suck.