Former Assistant DA Locked Up At 14 Supports Trotta On Creation Of OIG

SUFFOLK CLOSEUP

By Karl Grossman

Suffolk County has been described as the “Wild East”—because of its many government scandals and history of corruption. That’s why Suffolk Legislator Rob Trotta has been seeking creation of an Office of Inspector General in Suffolk.

Mr. Trotta, a Republican from Fort Salonga, says such an office (one exists in neighboring Nassau County) is necessary because of a “culture of corruption and mismanagement” in Suffolk County government.  Mr. Trotta should know: he was for long a Suffolk Police Department detective before being elected a legislator in 2013.

Moving testimony for an Office of Inspector General—from a Suffolk attorney who specializes in criminal law—came recently at a hearing on the Trotta bill before the legislature’s Government Operations Committee. “Four decades ago, at age 14, in a courtroom just across the street from this building,” testified lawyer Daniel Rodgers in Hauppauge, “a Family Court judge directed that I be placed in handcuffs…. and taken through an underground tunnel and into Building 77…called the Suffolk County Children’s Shelter.”

Mr. Rodgers, of Cutchogue, who was to go on to become an assistant Suffolk DA and a special prosecutor in Suffolk, continued: “For six weeks I was locked in an 8-by-10-foot cinder-block room with a steel door, an iron cot bolted to the wall and bars on the windows. Subsequently, that same Family Court judge sentenced me to a maximum 18-month sentence at an upstate reform school…You might think there was a sound, logical reason for a Suffolk County Family Court judge to do that, but there wasn’t,” he said. “You see, I had never been arrested. That was because I never committed a crime.”

“I was a PINS kid, a ‘Person In Need of Supervision.’ This, after my mother died unexpectedly when I was eleven, left my father with five children and sent my life into a tailspin.” 

“I’m mad as hell because, even after forty years, nothing has changed. Recently, the supervising judge of Suffolk County Family Court issued a memorandum to all Family Court judges, pointing out that Suffolk County detains more children than any other county in the entire state by a very wide margin. You see, Family Court operates with confidentiality, in secrecy, in darkness. I for one can tell you, very few good things happen to our children in the dark.”

“So what’s the problem here in Suffolk County? Let’s call it what it really is: powerful police unions, toxic political parties and complete lack of oversight and therefore accountability,” said Mr. Rodgers. “As a practicing criminal attorney and former Suffolk prosecutor…I’ve seen just about everything. Most cops in Suffolk are honest, decent hardworking men and women. Ask any one of those honest officers and they’ll tell you about the five percent who aren’t. But everyone is afraid.”

“Most judges in Suffolk County are honest and decent. But I’ve seen the sheer incompetency. Everyone knows judges in Suffolk County are selected not because they are good or competent or wise, or even because we as citizens of Suffolk County want them. Judicial qualifications in Suffolk County are relative to how much time you volunteer at your local political party headquarters. Nothing more. Let that sink in for a moment,” said Mr. Rodgers.

“Our system in Suffolk County is broken and has been broken for decades and will continue to be broken unless we act. Please, I’m hoping one of you will have the backbone to stand up and be a hero,” he told the legislators. “Support the creation of an Independent Office of Inspector General in Suffolk County.”

But, said Legislator Trotta last week, his measure still has not gotten out of committee. He described Mr. Rodgers as “a good guy” and said his testimony emblematic of how “our bill is necessary to expose things like this.” Co-sponsored by Anthony Piccirillo, a Holtsville Republican, the measure declares that “it has become clear that greater change and oversight is essential to identify and eradicate instances of fraud, waste, abuse and corruption at the county level.”

When I asked Mr. Rodgers last week how he was able to recover from his ordeal, he related that after being released from reform school, he spent three years at what was the Melville House in Huntington, set up by folks from Stony Brook University, to try to assist boys here. “They turned me around.” He went on to SUNY Oswego and then law school in Ohio and returned to Suffolk County. His law offices are in Hauppauge and Southampton.

He said “I will continue” to press for an Office of Inspector General in Suffolk.

Karl Grossman is a veteran investigative reporter and columnist, the winner of numerous awards for his work and a member of the L.I. Journalism Hall of Fame. He is a professor of journalism at SUNY/College at Old Westbury and the author of six books. 

SUFFOLK CLOSEUP - "No Woman Has Ever" May Become History

SUFFOLK CLOSEUP

By Karl Grossman

A century ago—in 1920—women were given the right to vote in all the United States with passage of the 19^th Amendment to the Constitution. But it’s taken time in Suffolk County and elsewhere for women to be elected to public office. The results of the Democratic primary in Suffolk this year for aspirants to run in the November election show further gains for women here.

No woman has ever represented Suffolk County in the U.S. House of Representatives.  This could now change with Nancy Goroff winning the Democratic nomination in the lst Congressional District, and Jackie Gordon winning in the 2^nd C.D. and she is an African-American and no Black person has ever been elected to the House from Suffolk.

The lst C.D. includes the East End towns, all of Brookhaven, much of Smithtown and a slice of Islip Town. The 2^nd embraces most of Islip, all of Babylon Town and continues into southeastern Nassau County. 

Professor Goroff of Stony Brook, a political unknown who never ran for or held elective office, achieved a breakthrough with a primary campaign strong on advertising on TV and social media. On leave as chair of the Chemistry Department at Stony Brook University, she won narrowly over businessman Perry Gershon of East Hampton and Suffolk Legislator Bridget Fleming of Noyac. 

As she did in the primary race, Dr. Goroff can be expected in the general election campaign to emphasize incumbent Republican Lee Zeldin’s close personal and political ties to President Donald Trump and her background as a scientist. She has repeatedly declared that the House needs scientists as members notably because of the Covid-19 pandemic and the climate crisis.

It will not be an easy political road as, according to a knowledgeable political source, polls taken have reflected Mr. Zeldin ahead of each of the three Democratic rivals by at least seven percentage points. Will Dr. Goroff be able to pull ahead with Election Day November 3?

Mr. Zeldin, a Shirley resident and attorney, meanwhile, can be expected to stress federal monies he has brought home to the district as well as his background in the U.S. Army rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel.  

Regarding military background, Ms. Gordon was a lieutenant colonel in the Army, too, and a combat veteran. She left her seat on the Babylon Town Board, which she held from 2007 to early this year, to run for the House seat. A Copiague resident, she won the primary handily over attorney Patricia Maher of East Meadow. 

Ms. Gordon will face GOPer Andrew Garbarino, a state assemblyman from Bayport, the son of Islip Town Republican Chairman William Garbarino. In a Republican primary, he beat Mike LiPetri, also a state assemblyman, from Massapequa. The seat has been held by Republican Peter King, a 14-term incumbent from Seaford who is retiring. Likely the magic touch: Mr. King endorsed Mr. Garbarino to replace him.  

In the lst Senatorial District, Laura Ahearn won in a five-way scramble. She is an attorney from Port Jefferson, founder of the Crime Victims Center and founder and executive director of Parents for Megan’s Law. The district includes all the East End towns and a large part of Brookhaven. She won over Valerie Cartright, a member of the Brookhaven Town Board from Port Jefferson Station; Nora Higgins a nurse from Ridge; Skyler Johnson, a 20-year-old college student from Mount Sinai; and Tommy John Schiavoni of Sag Harbor, a member of the Southampton Town Board. Ms. Ahearn in the general election will face for Senate Anthony Palumbo of New Suffolk, now an assemblyman. Senator Kenneth LaValle of Port Jefferson, first elected to the seat in 1977, is retiring.  

And Laura Jens-Smith who in 2017 was elected Riverhead Town supervisor to become the first woman to win that post, could be back in government. A nurse from Laurel, she lost the supervisor’s spot after two terms. To run for the 2^nd Assembly District seat held by Mr. Palumbo, she won in the Democratic primary over William Schleisner of Sound Beach, a broadcast operations coordinator. The district takes in Southold and Riverhead towns and part of Brookhaven. She’ll be facing GOPer Jodi Giglio of Riverhead, a member the Riverhead Town board. Ms. Jens-Smith says she has been made “the Comeback Kid.” 

Besides the lst and 2^nd C.D.s, the other Congressional District that includes Suffolk is the 3^rd. It takes in Huntington, the part of Smithtown not in the lst C.D. and, like the 2^nd C.D., links into Nassau County, its northeastern portion, and also takes in part of Queens. Democratic incumbent Thomas Suozzi of Glen Cove, a former Nassau County executive, was the winner in the Democratic primary. He won over Melanie D’Arrigo of Port Jefferson, who described herself as a “grassroots advocate” and “progressive fighter,” and attorney Michael Woodstock of Great Neck. Mr. Suozzi in the general election will face Republican George Devolder-Santos, a financier from Whitestone, the son of immigrants from Brazil. 

No woman ever represented Suffolk in the State Senate—the situation that has continued in the House—until, in 2018, Monica Martinez of Brentwood, a Suffolk County legislator and educator, was elected senator in Suffolk’s 3^rd S.D. 

When I began as a journalist in Suffolk in 1962, the county’s governing body was the Suffolk County Board of Supervisors which consisted of the supervisors of each of Suffolk’s 10 towns—all white men. There was never a woman or an African-American or Latino on the panel in its 287 years, only white men. It was replaced by the Suffolk County Legislature in 1970 which has included women—Sondra Bachety of Deer Park and Maxine Postal of Amityville became presiding officers—and Latino and African-American legislators including DuWayne Gregory of Copiague, its first Black presiding officer. 

Karl Grossman is a veteran investigative reporter and columnist, the winner of numerous awards for his work and a member of the L.I. Journalism Hall of Fame. He is a professor of journalism at SUNY/College at Old Westbury and the author of six books. 

What's Happening In Smithtown? Hauppauge Industrial Park Rezoning

The following article is a reprint of Richard Murdocco’s June 16th article “Hauppauge Industrial Park Rezoning Rubs Residents The Wrong Way” published by The Foggiest Idea.

By Richard Murdocco

Due to concerns over the coronavirus pandemic, the Smithtown Town Board held a virtual public hearing in May on a hot local topic: placing up to a thousand apartments within the bounds of what was once known as the Hauppauge Industrial Park.

Smithtown’s policymakers are currently considering a rezoning proposal that would allow for mixed-use projects that could include newly constructed residential units within the 1,650-acre confines of the industrial area. The zoning overlay is the by-product of a joint study between the Regional Plan Association and Suffolk County’s Industrial Development Agency that looked at the park’s future potential. To drum up economic activity these past few years, the Town of Smithtown has relaxed the park’s height restrictions, while Suffolk County has expanded the area’s sewage treatment. The park has also been rebranded. Its new name is officially the Long Island Innovation Park at Hauppauge.

The most recent proposal would permit a mixture of uses on 13 of Hauppauge’s 450 parcels that are seven acres or larger. If approved, most of the new growth would have frontage on Motor Parkway, which rings the industrial area’s southern border, and along other key roads that would be strategically chosen so whatever development occurs would take place away from local homes. As of this writing, some of the properties targeted by the zoning overlay already either have tenants or are owner-occupied, and no active proposals have been pitched by builders. But knowledgeable sources tell The Foggiest Idea that some developers have already expressed interest in building there.

This mixed-use concept has been kicking around in the heads of the park’s lobbying group, the Hauppauge Industrial Association of Long Island (HIA-LI), for years as similar industrial conversions have begun in other municipalities. In Melville, the Town of Huntington has explored a similar concept along the Route 110 corridor, while New Jersey developers have worked to revamp their increasingly vacant office spaces into something more supposedly “millennial-friendly.”

Pictured: An illustrated conceptual plan for the 1,650-acre Long Island Innovation Park at Hauppauge. The plan was first drafted in April 2019 by James Lima Planning + Development with input by the RPA, the Suffolk County IDA, and HIA-LI. (Source: James Lima Planning + Development)

Despite the pandemic-induced lockdown, some Smithtown residents were not happy that the town board broached the controversial rezoning proposal on a Zoom video conference held on a Thursday afternoon in May.

One speaker, who identified as “a Hauppauge local,” told the town board that holding the May 21st hearing at 2 p.m. was “offensive.”

That sentiment was not uncommon.

“I found out about this twenty-minutes before this meeting,” said another resident who claimed to live in a nearby subdivision. “My neighbors in the community are very upset.”

David Barshay, president of the Hauppauge Board of Education since 2013, complained that the public hearing reflected “a complete lack of transparency on behalf of the board.” He cited his own board’s open practices as an example of what should be done, adding, “You have an obligation to answer questions live.”

Barshay disputed any assumption that the school district could readily absorb more students from additional development, calling that notion “disingenuous at best and uninformed at worst,” because future public education funding remains murky considering the pandemic’s impact on the state budget.

“Give us time to figure out if we can even absorb these kids,” Barshay said. Notably, in the days before the hearing, the Hauppauge school district wrote to the Town’s policymakers asking that the virtual forum be delayed to give the board of education more time to study the rezoning proposal.

Throughout the public hearing, Smithtown Town Supervisor Edward Wehrheim repeatedly tried to reassure local residents that the Hauppauge mixed-use proposal was theoretical, but to no avail.

Not surprisingly, the majority of those who spoke out in favor of the overlay rezoning were developer types already doing business in the industrial complex.

“We’re very fortunate to have this zoning proposal before us,” said Jim Coughlan of Setauket-based Tritec Real Estate, adding that the Hauppauge school district has been losing kids for years.

“The park has brought in some great companies in the last 40 years, and we want to continue bringing those great companies,” said Robert Mannino, chief operating officer of the Kulka Group, whose founder, Jack Kulka, was one of the industrial park’s earliest proponents and developers. According to Mannino, it is second only to Silicon Valley in terms of size. A Hauppauge resident himself, Mannino applauded the town board’s timing of the meeting and said that the public hearing was the first time he heard that local schools were overcrowded.

Pictured above: Areas of potential development are highlighted in yellow within the Hauppauge Industrial Park, as shown during the virtual town board meeting held on May 21, 2020 (Source: Town of Smithtown).

But not every builder supports applying the mixed-use concept.

Developer Jerry Wolkoff, hoping to break ground for the first phase of his massive Heartland Town Square project in nearby Brentwood, told The Foggiest Idea that the Hauppauge industrial park should focus on job creation, not on housing development.

“Personally, I think what they’re doing now to create jobs is more important there,” he said, adding that he’s creating more than enough housing at Heartland’s Pilgrim State location. If it ever is fully developed, as expected within the next 30 years or so after the first phase was approved in 2017, Wolkoff’s project would include around 9,000 residential units. The builder was blunt when it comes to the industrial park’s current usage. “I think it should stay that way,” Wolkoff declared.

A county planning official, who spoke to TFI on the condition of anonymity in order to be candid, called the RPA and IDA’s proposal for the park “sterile.”

“This is the opposite of downtown revitalization,” they said, noting that any new neighborhood built within the industrial park would lack key community services. “You’re creating an isolated community with no context. I don’t know where they came up with this,” the official said.

According to the official, the proposal for Hauppauge is “meant to benefit a couple of people who couldn’t sell their land and wanted to do something with it.” They also expressed fear that the current economic downturn as a result of the coronavirus pandemic will be used as an excuse by development advocates and the HIA-LI to push the zoning overlay through. “We’re giving up industrial land for residences and that’s not necessarily the wisest thing to do right now. Industrial land provides the most tax base,” they said. “Everybody is getting a tax abatement anyway, so there will be no economic benefit for 20 years.”

Terri Alessi-Miceli, the president of the HIA-LI, insisted that building new housing within the park would not adversely impact nearby development projects like Heartland or the Ronkonkoma Hub.

“There is such a dire need for workforce housing on Long Island that these projects are not mutually exclusive,” said Alessi in a statement provided to TFI. “We haven’t even come close to capacity level for rental housing.”

In addition, she insisted that the HIA-LI is willing to work with everyone, including the school district.

“Along with the Town of Smithtown and whoever is chosen as the developer,” she wrote, “we plan on putting in place a totally transparent process that engages the local community, its leaders and stakeholders.”

Mitch Pally, chief executive officer of the pro-development Long Island Builders Institute, expressed bewilderment about the Hauppauge school district’s opposition to the rezoning proposal, calling concerns about increasing enrollment and worsening traffic “a misnomer” and “a political statement by people who do not understand.”

“That school district has the fourth lowest tax rate of any school district in Suffolk County outside of the East End,” he told TFI, adding that Hauppauge’s enrollment has dropped by 100 students or so within the last year. Pally estimated that the industrial park provides around $44 million annually to local schools. “The people who are going to be living in the park are most likely people working in the park,” he said. According to Pally, providing new apartments at the industrial park won’t lead to many more children students attending schools because the typical suburban amenities simply won’t be there.

“They are not going to live there with two or three children,” he said. “The school children issue is hogwash.”

Pally responded quickly when TFI asked him if the conversion of much-coveted industrial space, which is in short supply throughout the Northeast, is wrong-headed.

“Many different places are moving towards the inclusion of residential,” he said. “We wanted to provide that option for those landowners who thought it was appropriate.”

According to Pally, “The amount of land available under the zoning proposal is a significantly small portion, and almost every building in the park is one story.” He added that any changes to the park’s composition must include neighborhood retail services to keep traffic impacts low.

“Now that you have the sewer connection and the town has expanded the ability to go to 60 or 65 feet high within the park, that will provide a significant investment opportunity for industrial uses,” he said. “We see it as a complement to the industrial usage and not a competition for it.”

Pally pointed out that the Town of Islip, which regulates a small portion of the industrial park’s southeastern end, is exploring ways to update their zoning to better complement what Smithtown wants to do.

During the virtual hearing, TFI also weighed in by stressing to the official policymakers that although there is no denying the marked need for more attainable housing options, past change-of-zone actions have lacked accountability in terms of ensuring that the units are available for the intended buyers: young professionals who live and work in the region.

Multiple sources later told TFI that they expect the zoning proposal to be approved sometime this summer, possibly as early next month. But it’s clear that an untold number of residents living near the Hauppauge park remain disengaged or, worse, uninformed, despite the overlay idea being years in the making.

In the home stretch of the marathon hearing in May, one Smithtown resident of 25 years asked the town board, “Is this a done deal? Has this already been done, and is this just a formality?”

Knowing how developmental matters are all too often handled on Long Island, it’s safe to say that we already know the answer.

Richard Murdocco is an award-winning columnist and adjunct professor in Stony Brook University’s public policy graduate program. He regularly writes and speaks about Long Island’s real estate development issues. Follow him on Twitter @thefoggiestidea. You can email Murdocco at Rich@TheFoggiestIdea.org.

Smithtown Invests $600K In Infrastructure At Business Park

HAUPPAUGE, NY – JULY 18, 2020: The Town of Smithtown recently completed reconstruction of several main entryways into the Long Island Innovation Park (LI-IPH) at Hauppauge.  The $600,000 roadway enhancement project is aimed at improving egress and ingress to the Park where more than 55,000 workers travel to every day.

The project included the widening of both New Highway and Adams Avenue. New Highway has been widened from one lane to two through lanes along with dual left turn lanes at Adams Avenue. It also includes sidewalk repairs and replacements, modern mast arm traffic signals, new street lighting, landscaping, and signage.

“This was a much-needed project in a heavily traveled area,” commented Terri Alessi-Miceli, President and CEO of HIA-LI, the Park’s steward and number-one advocate. “These improvements now offer safer roads for bicyclists, runners, and pedestrians in addition to motor vehicle traffic. Thank you to the Town of Smithtown for understanding how important sustainability is to the 1,350 companies and organizations that call the Long Island Innovation Park at Hauppauge home.”

The LI-IPH is the largest business park in the east, second nationally only to Silicon Valley.  For more information, go to www.LI-IPH.org or call HIA-LI at 631-543-5355.

Suffolk County Heading For Financial Cliff

SUFFOLK CLOSEUP

By Karl Grossman

Suffolk County government—like governments all over—is heading for a financial cliff because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

County Comptroller John M. Kennedy, Jr. projects “a shortfall” of $400 to $500 million in county finances this year. Suffolk County government’s 2020 budget is $3.2 billion.

A report by the county’s Covid-19 Fiscal Impact Task Force, assembled by County Executive Steve Bellone, estimates a deficit of $469 to $590 million for this year and a three-year deficit through 2022 of $1.1 to $1.5 billion. 

A key issue for Suffolk government is having become increasingly dependent on money from the sales tax to operate. Almost 50 percent of county finances are now drawn from the sales tax. Sales tax receipts are significantly down because of Covid-19. The most recent figures released by State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli show a 33.5% percent decrease in sales tax receipts in Suffolk in May—from $109.7 million last year to $72.9 million. In April, the drop was 26.7 percent, from $111.4 million last year to $81.6 million. 

The problem with depending on the sales tax to run government is that it is unreliable. In good economic times, sales tax receipts are flush. But with economic downturns, sales tax collections suffer a corresponding decline. 

In 1965 New York State began a sales tax—initially 2 percent. The state share is now 4 percent. In 1969 the state allowed counties and cities to also have sales taxes. Suffolk’s sales tax started in 1969, also at 2 percent and now it’s 4.25 percent. An additional .375 percent paid in downstate counties, including Suffolk, goes to the MTA. So, the combined sales tax total today in Suffolk is 8.625 percent. 

Suffolk is among the leading counties in the state with high utilization of the sales tax. Before the sales tax, the principal tax base here was the property tax. Elected county officials have described to me how increasing the property tax is politically problematic—residents don’t like opening their tax bill and seeing a large increase. But using the sales tax is less an affront—with relatively small amounts taken little by little. 

With the financial havoc caused by Covid-19, “the only effective way to deal with this is for the federal government to step up and do what it is supposed to do in national emergencies and provide relief,” Mr. Bellone told WCBS 880 radio.

The problem with this is that many governments across the United States struck financially by the pandemic are looking for the federal government for relief, too.

Mr. Bellone has put forth two bills before the Suffolk Legislature to raise some money to help with the deficit. One would divert for three years money from the county’s Environmental Programs Trust Fund which includes its Drinking Water Protection Program. Another would take from its Sewer Assessment Stabilization Fund. Both bills have the declaration that “for the county to provide necessary services, decisive action is required to address the shortfall in revenues…pending recovery of the regional economy.”

Comptroller Kennedy describes the county’s Drinking Water Protection Program as “the Mother Teresa of county programs—safeguarding the aquifer on which we depend.” Mr. Kennedy, in an interview, emphasized that the program is highly popular with voters and vital. The Sewer Assessment Stabilization Fund is also important, he said.

Suffolk Legislator Al Krupski of Cutchogue issued a statement critical of taking from the Environmental Programs Trust Fund. Regarding its land preservation component, “The public has long supported taxing themselves for land preservation; they know the benefits of preserving farmland and protecting our productive soils, and preserving them for food production forever,” he said. The move would cause “losing land forever to development, especially now with all of the development pressure on Long Island….Land preservation helps us today and is our real legacy to future generations.”

From the environmental movement, Katie Muether Brown, deputy director of the Long Island Pine Barrens Society, in a letter to Newsday, scored the Bellone move and its impact on the Drinking Water Protection Program. “Long Island has the most contaminated water in the state…Our groundwater quality impacts every one of Suffolk’s 1.5 million residents,” she wrote. 

Newsday itself came out strongly against the move in an editorial headed “Hands Off Suffolk’s Environmental Funds.” It stated, “One thing that should not be on the table is the latest attempt by County Executive Steve Bellone’s administration to play hanky-panky with environmental funding…Suffolk’s voters have repeatedly shown their willingness to vote for funding for clean water.” 

Karl Grossman is a veteran investigative reporter and columnist, the winner of numerous awards for his work and a member of the L.I. Journalism Hall of Fame. He is a professor of journalism at SUNY/College at Old Westbury and the author of six books.