This is going to be one of the only times I make a post like this. This isn't my style, nor will it ever be my style. But special times call for special circumstances. For the sake of argument and from the perspective of a 21 year old resident, here is my story:
Let's backtrack to 2007. I had just committed to the University of Pittsburgh, which I decided on after careful consideration against other schools. Being the hockey fan that I am, I took an interest in the upstart Pittsburgh Penguins and their quest for a new arena. To make a long story short, I watched the Penguins all but have both feet out the door before an agreement was met to build a new arena that Sidney Crosby (and company) could play in for years. Again, as a hockey fan, I was both relieved and happy, for as much as Penguins fans have a bad reputation, there are quite a few die-hard fans that deserve the success the Pens have after all the bad years they had beforehand.
Two finals appearances and one Stanley Cup championship later, the Penguins are now home in the Consol Energy Center. How does this pertain to me? Well, really, it doesn't. I am not a Penguin fan by any stretch, but as an Islander fan, I can certainly relate to franchise uncertainty. That said, I graduated from Pitt this past April. I had the ability to explore options to settle down and make my home in Pittsburgh, which would have been a very easy choice. It is a city that is great for young professionals to live. It has a great history of sport with three very historical franchises (Ed note: my house last year was no more than two minutes behind the remaining Forbes Field wall). Quite frankly, Pittsburgh would have been a great fit for me in both the short-term or the long-term.
I decided not to pursue that route, and instead packed my bags and moved home to Long Island. I am crazy for it, really. There is nothing on Long Island that isn't in Pittsburgh other than fantastic pizza and bagels. But Long Island has been my home for my entire life, and like Charles Wang, I did not want to give up on it just yet. There is plenty wrong with Long Island, from the 30-going-on-40 year old strip malls, the incredibly high taxes, the inability to get anything substantial done, etc. Still, I decided to take the plunge and move back.
No more than two weeks after I moved home, the referendum was announced. Perfect. After a year of silence, this is what was needed. We can run through the details, but by now everyone reading this knows them. The fact is that I am in the exact demographic that is leaving Long Island and not coming back. It's essentially a foregone conclusion, given the market, that I will leave Nassau County in the next few years. That doesn't mean I won't come back - unless nothing gets done. It has been a personal wish for years to raise a family on Long Island, and to take my children to the Nassau Coliseum for Islander games just like my father did. I do not want to lose that chance.
A YES vote for me means hope. Hope for the place that I grew up in and that things can and will get better. A new arena is not going to solve all of Nassau County's problems - quite frankly, it may not even solve a fraction of them. But it will be a symbol that rundown strip malls and infrastructure will not be tolerated anymore, and that Long Island can move into the 21st century with the highlight of a new arena with a hockey team that has an extremely bright future. It means that one day I may be able to come back and raise a family and take them to Islander games. It means people who are out of work will have a job, even if it is only temporary. And it means that we can once again be proud of where we live.
For too long the Nassau Coliseum has been nothing more than a political football. Like Charles Wang said today on WFAN, if the Republicans come up with the idea then the Democrats hate it - and vice versa. It is time to do what is best for the people that live in this county. If they want to allow the bonding to occur, then who are the politicians - who represent us - to say no?
Quite frankly, a NO vote means the end of my time on Long Island. The Coliseum is a microcosm of Long Island as a whole. Nothing gets done, but it takes years to even accomplish nothing. If a project comes along, all we hear about is the usual political grandstanding from either side of the aisle. It means an entire business (make no mistake, the Islanders are a business) will pack up and leave, and they will leave a quarter of a billion dollars of revenue each year behind. It means that Long Island becomes a nothing-land in the middle of suburbia. Sure, we have Roosevelt Field and Jones Beach, but everywhere in the New York metro area is close enough to a big mall and a beach. What exactly will keep me here? It surely won't be the taxes, or the rundown infrastructure, or the politicians. I will move and I won't come back, and that is exactly what Long Island is trying to stop right now. But without any development, I won't really have a choice. Much of my age group feels the same way.
We, as residents, have the ability to jump start the re-development of Nassau County. Let's do that by voting YES on Monday.
-CH
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