What do free bus rides, new taxes on the wealthy and a stiff drink in a movie theater have in common? All three have the support of lawmakers in the New York State Legislature. Grace Ashford and Erin Nolan report in THE NY TIMES that these ideas and thousands of others were tucked into the Senate and Assembly budget proposals released this week, offering a glimpse of legislators’ positions as Albany’s annual budget battle royale kicks off. Gov. Kathy Hochul must come to a consensus with leaders in the State Senate and Assembly on how to spend more than $230 billion by the state’s April 1 budget deadline.
The fact that all three leaders are Democrats does not mean there is any less to haggle over: Taxing the rich, tenant protections and school funding are all up for debate once more as Governor Hochul, a centrist from Buffalo, will be forced to find common ground with an increasingly left-leaning Legislature.
And while those debates have sometimes become intractable — last year’s budget was a full month late, after Ms. Hochul insisted on tightening the state’s bail laws — Democrats in both houses are eager to avoid a prolonged ordeal with a consequential general election on the horizon.
In January, Governor Hochul unveiled her $233 billion spending plan, which called for significant investments in mental health care, public safety and artificial intelligence research, as well as $2.4 billion to address the migrant crisis in New York City. But she also proposed cuts to education funding and health care that have drawn criticism.
Last month, Riverhead Town posted the draft chapters for its new comprehensive plan, giving the public a glimpse into what the final plan might look like, and what possible changes to town policy could be coming down the road. Alek Lewis reports on Riverheadlocal.com that the new plan, specifically its final chapter on “future land use,” will guide the development of new zoning laws, which regulate what can be built, where it can be built and what that development should look like through the next two decades. The chapter has a lot to say about topics of interest to many, among them the future of industrial development, farmland preservation and housing.
The draft chapters are not final and the Town of Riverhead is still receiving input from the public. The deadline for comments on the draft plan is this coming Friday, March 15. Comments will be accepted by email to compplan@townofriverheadny.gov.
The individual chapters can be downloaded separately on the town’s comprehensive plan website.
There will be more opportunities to comment on the document, including the mandatory public hearing the Town Board must hold before it can adopt the plan. The Riverhead Town Board will also need to decide whether to act on changes outlined in the plan after it’s adopted. Those changes will require town code amendments, which will also be the subject of public hearings prior to adoption.
Once the butt of jokes, LaGuardia Airport’s reputation is now sky-high.
The Airport Service Quality survey has recognized LaGuardia as one of the two best airports in its class in North America in 2023, according to a study published on Monday. Maureen Mullarkey reports on Newsday.com that the airport earned an overall passenger satisfaction score of 4.24 out of 5, which was 20% higher than its score in 2018, when passengers rated LaGuardia as the worst airport in North America. As a result, LaGuardia was named ASQ’s “Best Airport of 25 to 40 Million Passengers in North America.” More than 4,200 passengers participated in the survey at LaGuardia, which was conducted near the airport’s gates throughout 2023. The survey followed an $8 billion construction project to transform the airport, which broke ground in 2016 and was substantially completed in 2022, the Port Authority said.
Suffolk County could have avoided $13.8 million in information technology spending during the Bellone administration by not making unnecessary and redundant purchases, a preliminary review by the county comptroller’s office has found. Mark Harrington reports on Newsday.com that had the county not spent that money as it did, annually recurring savings could have been $3.5 million, the several-month review by Comptroller John Kennedy’s office found, according to a letter summarizing the findings obtained by Newsday. “The degree of negligence on the part of the prior administration is unprecedented,” Kennedy told Newsday yesterday, adding that his review is in its early stages. “There’s more to come.” Kennedy noted that the county experienced a phishing attempt this weekend. “We will double down on our efforts and continue until we have every aspect of the dysfunction eliminated and systems stood back up in good working order,” he said. Former County Executive Steve Bellone, in a statement, called the comptroller's findings “factually inaccurate.” Current Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine stated, “This comes as no surprise as my administration continues to find evidence of wasteful spending and unfulfilled obligations.” Romaine called Kennedy's findings “just the tip of the iceberg, and we will continue to identify and claw back taxpayer dollars to make sure Suffolk County is a safer and more affordable place to live.” Romaine will hire an outside firm to conduct a “deep-dive audit” into the September 2022 cyberattack and money that was spent in response, his office said.
The Town of East Hampton has agreed to purchase a Montauk property less than one-sixth of an acre in size with a dilapidated cottage on it for a little more than $1 million. Michael Wright reports on 27east.com that the Town Board last week approved the purchase of 71 Navy Road from its current owners, William and Maryann Bailey, for $1,050,000. The deal requires that the Baileys tear down the existing cottage and other structures and any other signs of development, at their expense, before turning the land over to East Hampton Town. The lot the cottage stands on is just 6,800 square feet, or about .155 acres, wedged between Navy Road and the Long Island Rail Road tracks in Montauk. But it sits just feet from the beach and the waters of Fort Pond Bay. The property is seen as high risk for flooding and all of Navy Road was spotlighted by a recent town study of its coastal development as a problematic area for structures to remain as sea levels rise. Scott Wilson, the head of East Hampton Town’s Department of Land Management and Acquisition, said that removing structures from such properties allows coastal wetlands and habitat to retreat as sea levels rise and also reduces problems of nitrogen pollution from septic systems. “Since this is a flood-prone area, redevelopment and the ability for sanitary systems to meet minimum separations to groundwater is an issue,” Wilson told the Town Board last month.
A new task force will focus on snaring drivers who use phony or doctored license plates to dodge tolls, red light and speed cameras, and to flee crime scenes undetected, officials said yesterday. The announcement comes less than two years after law enforcement personnel announced in July 2022 a crackdown on "ghost cars," and fake and adulterated plates. The problem persists. Alfonso A. Castillo and Matthew Chayes report on Newsday.com that the task force comprises about 150 members representing several agencies, including the NYPD, MTA Bridge and Tunnel Officers, New York State Troopers, Port Authority Police, the New York City Sheriff’s Office, and the Department of Motor Vehicles. The different agencies will share intelligence and strategies, and coordinate on monthly sting operations at various tolling locations, according to officials. “We’re going after the ghost vehicles because we’re sick and tired of people taking advantage. And everybody else feels like a sucker, because they’re paying their tolls like law-abiding citizens,” declared New York Governor Kathy Hochul speaking from RFK Bridge in N.Y.C. on Tuesday.
News that a kayaker had been overturned and sucked out of Moriches Inlet into frigid ocean waters last month shocked many in the local boating community. The surprise was not just at the seemingly foolhardy venture of kayaking, especially near the inlet, in wintertime, but, for many, was also at the revelation that the U.S. Coast Guard station that sits on the bay’s northern shoreline, just a mile and a half from the inlet, is not manned with emergency response crews or vessels in the off-season anymore.
Michael Wright reports on 27east.com that the East Moriches Coast Guard station is now officially manned by a single USCG rescue vessel and crew only on weekends during the summer months, deploying one of the boats otherwise assigned to the Coast Guard station in Shinnecock Bay, known as Station Shinnecock. The rest of the time, the East Moriches station is purely an administrative office.
To fill the gap in marine rescue emergencies, six local fire departments have formed a joint response team that trains with the Coast Guard and drills twice a week on water rescues and searches and a wide variety of scenarios. With a half-dozen vessels and more than three dozen volunteers, the Marine Incident Response Team, or MIRT, responded to 21 emergency calls in 2023.
The removal of the rescue deployment from East Moriches is part of a service-wide struggle with staffing levels within the Coast Guard that has plagued the service in recent years and is the second trimming of Coast Guard crews on the South Fork this winter. In December, the Coast Guard announced that it would be removing the cutter assignment from Montauk Harbor as personnel shortages have forced it to reduce the cutter fleet.
Coast Guard brass have blamed the shortages on recruiting and retention difficulties, especially since the 2020 pandemic. Currently, the Coast Guard is more than 10 percent below its target personnel level, forcing a consolidation of services.