Kings Park Business Nouvelle Landscaping Rebrands As It Looks To The Future

Nouvelle Landscaping & Construction, Inc. Rebrands as Nouvelle Group, Inc.

The rebrand reflects the company’s evolution in the construction space and renewed focus on commercial projects across Long Island

Kings Park business ​Nouvelle Landscaping & Construction, Inc. has announced that it has rebranded as Nouvelle Group, Inc. The rebrand reflects the company’s evolution in the construction space and intentions of continuing to scale its portfolio with multi-million dollar commercial projects.

“We’ve reallocated the majority of our resources and manpower to commercial projects to accommodate growing customer demand,” said Michael Geoffrion Jr., co-owner and COO of Nouvelle Group. “While we’re moving in another direction, we’re still taking on residential customers.”

Nouvelle Group is a fully licensed and insured general contracting company specializing in commercial properties throughout Long Island. The company’s services include design-build, renovation, pre-construction, general contracting, construction management and new construction.

The family-owned business, formerly known as Nouvelle Landscaping & Construction, has been servicing residential and commercial customers since 2010. A father-son duo, the company’s owners have nearly 40 years of combined construction experience in the New York metropolitan area.

“This rebrand marks a new beginning for Nouvelle,” said Michael Geoffrion Sr., co-owner and CEO of Nouvelle Group. “We’re expecting to rapidly grow our portfolio in 2019 by continuing to deliver our services with integrity, honesty and accountability.”

About Nouvelle Group, Inc.

Nouvelle Group, Inc. is a fully licensed and insured general contractor specializing in commercial properties throughout New York’s Nassau and Suffolk counties. Headquartered in Kings Park, NY, the family-owned business, formerly known as Nouvelle Landscaping & Construction, Inc., has been serving residential and commercial customers on Long Island since 2010. Nouvelle Group is a member of the Kings Park Chamber of Commerce.

SUFFOLK CLOSEUP - Suffolk County's Taking On E-Cigarettes

SUFFOLK CLOSEUP

By Karl Grossman

The nicotine cabal is hard at it, what with smoking tobacco having declined, promoting continued nicotine use by pushing electronic cigarettes and what’s called vaping. And Suffolk County, which for years has been a national leader in challenging the use of cigarettes, which had been the main delivery system of nicotine, is taking on “e-cigarettes.”

E-cigarettes have become a new major delivery system for nicotine, with young people particularly targeted, with flavors added—including cherry, chocolate and vanilla.

Among the final pieces of legislation enacted by Suffolk County last year was a law increasing the penalties for retailers that unlawfully sell e-cigarettes to those under 21. Meanwhile, Suffolk County is considering restrictions on flavored e-cigarettes.

The key county legislator behind Suffolk’s efforts is Dr. William Spencer who is a physician specializing in otolaryngology (conditions of the ear, nose and throat).

 “This is a public health emergency,” said Dr. Spencer last month at a hearing on his legislation to restrict flavored e-cigarettes. “We are seeing the astonishing increase in vaping among those aged 12 to 17, and to wait for the FDA or state to take action is not acceptable at the expense of more children becoming addicted.”

Last month, too, another doctor, U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams, called for “aggressive steps” by health professionals and governments on e-cigarettes. In e-cigarettes the nicotine is not in tobacco as it is in regular cigarettes but is included as a liquid. “Nicotine is dangerous and it can have negative health effects,” said the surgeon general. And in e-cigarettes, “it can prime the youth brain for addiction.”

A recent federal report estimates that 3.6 million teens in the U.S.—one out of five high school students—are using e-cigarettes. A survey found twice as many high schoolers using e-cigarettes than the year before.

E-cigarettes and other forms of vaping have become a $6.6 billion business.

Proponents of e-cigarettes pitch that it’s less harmful than cigarettes containing tobacco. However, as earlier county legislation by Dr. Spencer—prohibiting the sale in Suffolk to persons under 21 of e-cigarettes and passed in 2014—noted: “E-cigarettes do contain carcinogens, including nitrosamines” and “toxic chemicals such as diethylene glycol…a common ingredient in antifreeze.” As for e-cigarettes and vaping leading to people quitting smoking tobacco cigarettes, these “smoking cessation assertions made by e-cigarette companies have been disproven in laboratory tests conducted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.”

Regarding nicotine, it “is a known neurotoxin that is also one of the most highly addictive substances available for public consumption.”

Meanwhile, a marriage of the e-cigarette and tobacco industries is underway. The biggest e-cigarette maker, Juul, was reported last month by The New York Times to be “near to signing a deal to become business partners with Altria, one of the world’s largest tobacco companies.” Said The Times: “The union—which would create an alliance between one of public health’s greatest villains and the start-up that would upend it—entails cigarette giant Altria investing $12.8 billion for a 35 percent stake in Juul.” Altria is the renamed Philip Morris company. The cigarette brands it manufactures include Marlboro, Lark, Virginia Slims and Parliament. 

This partnership could be expected as Juul and lesser e-cigarette companies follow in the tobacco industry’s tradition. The Times noted in its article how “Juul is under intense scrutiny from public health officials and the FDA for an explosion in the number of teenagers vaping with its sleek products following a youth-oriented marketing campaign.”

Suffolk has been in the forefront in the fight against smoking banning it in restaurants and other public places and raising the legal age to purchase cigarettes—and in 2014 e-cigarettes, said to be a first-in-the-nation move. The tobacco industry years ago fought back fiercely. Delegations from the Tobacco Institute, the industry’s PR and lobbying arm, descended on the Suffolk Legislature denying a link between smoking and cancer. But, finally, court cases including those brought by state attorney generals, an anti-smoking stand of an earlier U.S. surgeon general and, at long last, media scrutiny (tobacco industry advertising and hardline PR held back for decades wide media investigation of the dire consequences of smoking) led to the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement of 1998. 

The cigarette companies agreed to, among other things, compensate states for medical costs of those who smoked, finance anti-smoking campaigns and abolish that band of liars-for-hire, The Tobacco Institute. Smoking tobacco cigarettes in the U.S. has been reaching all-time lows, down to 14 percent of adults. But e-cigarettes have come through a back door.

In Suffolk, there has not only been movement by the county on e-cigarettes but the Town of Smithtown has acted, too. Last April, the Town Board voted 5-to-0 to limit “hookah lounges” and stores that sell e-cigarettes from operating within 1,500 feet of parks, playgrounds, schools and religious institutions in Smithtown. 

Smithtown already had a ban on vaping as well as smoking regular cigarettes in parks, beaches, playgrounds and other town facilities or within 50 feet of any Town of Smithtown building.

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 - 2019's Political Contest Is Suffolk County Executive Race

SUFFOLK CLOSEUP

By Karl Grossman

The leading political contest in Suffolk in 2019 will be the race for county executive, the top post in Suffolk County government.

As the new year begins, the most likely Republican candidate against Democratic incumbent Steve Bellone is one of two county officials from the Town of Smithtown: either Suffolk County Comptroller John M. Kennedy, Jr. or Suffolk Legislator Rob Trotta—although the entry of other would-be nominees is possible.

Both Messrs. Kennedy and Trotta have strong views on Mr. Bellone, considering him inept particularly on county financial matters. “We have a complete absence of leadership in this county and we are balanced on the precipice of financial crisis,” said Mr. Kennedy after his re-election to the comptroller’s post in the past election.

The county’s fiscal watchdog, Mr. Kennedy has described Mr. Bellone’s county budgets as “fraught with peril. It is not unlike what we see to the west of us,” referring to the financial problems that have occurred in neighboring Nassau County resulting in the state imposing a Finance Authority to oversee Nassau fiscal matters. “It’s as if,” maintains Mr. Kennedy, “he [Bellone] is standing on the 12^th floor” of the county’s H. Lee Dennison Building, where the county executive has his office, “with a megaphone calling on the state to ‘take us over.’”

Mr. Kennedy is considering but hasn’t yet made up his mind about running for county executive. 

Mr. Trotta has decided “to test the waters” for his making a run. A retired detective with the Suffolk County Police Department, Mr. Trotta in criticizing Mr. Bellone’s fiscal policies has zeroed in on his pushing increased fees in order to balance the county budget. He has called it “nothing more than a tax disguised as a fee. It’s death by a thousand knives.” Increasing fees for general county purposes, says Mr. Trotta, “is not even a grey area. The New York State comptroller has stated you can’t do this, and there is case law stating it can’t be done…It’s a recipe for disaster.”

Both Messrs. Kennedy and Trotta are experienced in Suffolk government

Mr. Kennedy, an attorney from Nesconset, served 10 years as a county legislator before first being elected county comptroller in 2014. He was minority leader of the legislature. He previously worked in the county clerk’s office. He has a master’s degree in business administration with a concentration in capital budgeting from Adelphi University. 

Mr. Trotta, of Fort Salonga, was first elected to the Suffolk Legislature in 2013. For 25 years he was a member of the county police force. For over 10 of those years he also served on the FBI Violence Crimes Task Force. He graduated from C.W. Post with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and got a master’s in labor management relations from Stony Brook University.

Mr. Bellone, of North Babylon, was first elected county executive in 2011. He had been Babylon Town supervisor and earlier a member of the Babylon Town Board. He received a bachelor’s degree in political science and communications from Queens College, a master’s in public administration from Webster University in Missouri attending classes at night during his Army service in Missouri as a communications specialist, and a law degree from the Fordham University School of Law.

Mr. Bellone’s re-election drive is beginning. Last month he raised $400,000 at a fundraiser attended by 300 people adding to a campaign war chest of $1.65 million already.

He will likely emphasize in his campaign his efforts at boosting the economy of Suffolk with the “Ronkonkoma Hub” and other programs and will staunchly defend his fiscal management. 

If Mr. Bellone wins re-election this year, it would be his last term as county executive due to the county’s term limits law that restricts being county executive to 12 years.

Mr. Bellone was re-elected in 2015 after what some in politics have regarded as a “free ride.” His GOP opponent was unknown in Suffolk. James O’Connor was a former member of the North Hempstead Town Board and moved from Nassau to Great River in Suffolk in 2004 so his wife could be closer to her cardiology practice. He received the GOP nomination for Suffolk County executive after those whom the party considered stronger challengers declined to run. Mr. O’Connor also scored Mr. Bellone over what he termed the “precarious” shape of county finances charging that county government under Mr. Bellone “is not heading in the right direction,” indeed was “hurtling over a financial cliff.” 

Although either Messrs. Kennedy and Trotta are now considered the most likely candidates against Mr. Bellone this year, other possibilities are State Senator John J. Flanagan of East Northport, majority leader of the State Senate from 2015 until last year—and with Democrats having just gained a Senate majority losing that position, and Suffolk Legislator Tom Climi of Bay Shore who has been the minority leader of the Suffolk Legislature.

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 - 2018 Suffolk County News Events

SUFFOLK CLOSEUP

By Karl Grossman

Among the major events in Suffolk in 2018 was the midterm election which saw Lee Zeldin, the two-term incumbent in the lst Congressional District which includes most of Smithtown, win re-election—but not by the margins he had won by before. Also, Suffolk Legislator Monica Martinez of Brentwood became the first woman ever elected to represent Suffolk County in the State Senate.

In Suffolk as throughout the nation there was heavy voter turn-out.

Republican Zeldin of Shirley was opposed by Democrat Perry Gershon, a Democrat from East Hampton, who waged a strong, well-organized campaign. A newcomer to politics, Mr. Gershon received 46% of the lst C.D. vote doing better against Mr. Zeldin than previous challengers. 

There was a free press issue during the race which received wide attention.

In an unprecedented incident in Suffolk County history, journalists were kicked out of a political rally, a “kickoff” rally for Mr. Zeldin. Pat Biancaniello, editor of Smithtown Matters, described in an editorial of how she was “invited to attend the rally by the Zeldin campaign and was credentialed by the Zeldin campaign.  Upon arrival I was told to go anywhere I wanted to take photos, again by the Zeldin campaign. I stood in the same spot, with my credentials plainly in sight, for roughly an hour and a half before, out of the blue, I was told to leave without an explanation. I was forced to climb over a rope to get to the path leading to a door—(one woman sneered and said ‘bye bye’ as I walked past).  Once out the door and in a backyard area, I was mocked by a group of people. A man upset that I was taking photos smacked my camera and I was told by security to leave the Elks Club premises. All the while I was wearing the press badge supplied by the Zeldin campaign and telling everyone I was an invited press person.”

Mr. Zeldin apologized and the Press Club of Long Island issued a statement declaring that although “we appreciate” Mr. Zeldin’s apology “we do not believe” the two journalists “should have been removed from the event in the first place. We see this most recent incident as part of a larger pattern of mistreatment of the press.” The club, one of the largest chapters of the national Society of Professional Journalists, linked it to President Trump calling the press the “’enemy of the people.’ It was a phrase often used in the past by communist dictators to refer to dissidents, or political opponents….As a nation, we must afford journalists the protections that we have from the time of our founding, thus allowing them to reveal important truths.”

The year 2018 saw a misguided lawsuit brought against the county’s landmark Farmland Preservation Program. The lawsuit filed by the Long Island Pine Barrens Society was supported by a state Supreme Court justice but the state’s Appellate Division overturned that ruling.

The program, begun in 1974, was conceived by Suffolk County Executive John V. N. Klein of Smithtown and based on the then new idea of purchase of development rights. Farmers are paid the difference between the value of their land in agriculture and what they could get for it if they sold it off for development. In return, the land is kept in agriculture in perpetuity. It has been a key to keeping Suffolk a top agricultural county in New York State and much of it green. Mr. Klein, before becoming county executive was Smithtown town supervisor and a county legislator representing Smithtown and in that position presiding officer of the Suffolk Legislature.

The Pine Barrens Society challenged the allowing of “structures” on preserved farmland, as permitted by amendments to the program approved by the Suffolk Legislature. 

Legislator Al Krupski of Cutchogue, a fourth-generation Suffolk farmer, said: “There is great diversity in agriculture, and not everyone understands what is needed to operate a productive farm or agricultural operation…Different farming techniques, new technology and methods are emerging, along with the opportunities they present. Infrastructure needs may change. We need to adapt to accommodate these changes if we want to preserve agriculture and farming.” 

And the state’s highest court, its Court of Appeals, has just rebuffed the Pine Barrens Society in its request for an appeal to it.  “Great news!” says Lisa Clare Kombrink, who handled the case for the Riverhead-based law firm of Twomey, Latham, Shea, Kelley and Quartararo retained by the county to challenge the lawsuit. A partner in the firm, she has a specialty in farmland preservation as former Southampton Town attorney. Indeed, great news!

However, the Pine Barrens Society has until late this week to decide whether to “re-argue” its bid for the Court of Appeals to consider its appeal.

The year 2018 saw a continuation of opposition to the use of plastics in Suffolk. On Independence Day, Legislator Kara Hahn of Setauket joined with environmentalists and the county’s Single Use Plastic Reduction Task Force in calling for Suffolk to “declare independence” from plastic straws. Said Ms. Hahn: “In Suffolk County, which boasts some of America’s most beautiful beaches, a thousand miles of shoreline, and waterways teaming with marine life, the innocuous plastic straw has become a tangible threat to the county’s tourist-driven economy, littering our beaches with debris and threatening turtles, birds and other marine life.” 

This attack on plastics in Suffolk has included restrictions on single-use plastic bags and a first-in-the-nation law barring the sale in Suffolk of baby bottles, sippy cups, pacifiers and other products used by children that contain the plasticizing agent Bisophenol-A, acronymed BPA. Research has found BPA to be a cause of cancer and other maladies and especially toxic to the very young.

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 - NYS Legislators Have A Plan To End Robocalls

SUFFOLK CLOSEUP

By Karl Grossman

      People in Suffolk County, indeed folks all over New York State and the United States, have been besieged increasingly by robocalls.

      According to the online Robocall Index, there have been 141,184,300 robocalls made to Suffolk’s 631 area code so far in 2018. Last year, there were 108,161,200. And in 2016, there were 79,705,500 robocalls. This trend sharply upward sure isn’t good.

      Nationally, the number has risen to more than 4 billion robocalls a month.

      But a rescue from these annoying, obnoxious, time-consuming robocalls could soon be on its way in New York State.

      As the federal government mulls over bills and new regulations—and the touted federal “Do Not Call Registry” does not cover the situation—a bill has just been introduced in the New York State Legislatures, the “Telephone Consumer Privacy Protection Act.”

      It is sponsored by Yuh-Line Niou in the Assembly and Brad Hoylman in the Senate. Both represent Manhattan districts. 

      We called State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele, Jr. of Suffolk about the new bill and after he researched it, he promptly returned our call to say he has signed on to it as a co-sponsor. “It’s a great bill,” said Mr. Thiele. “These calls are insidious. Many seem to be local on the caller ID and then you pick up the phone and it’s a robocall. There was a time when the ‘Do Not Call Registry’ was effective, but those behind robocalls have gotten way ahead of laws and regulations.”

     The proposed state law requires telephone service providers to offer free robocall-blocking equipment to their customers. This would not seem to be difficult.

     With our Verizon phone service, some—not all—of the robocalls are flagged on my caller ID as “spam.” Well, if phone companies can identify robocalls, they sure can block them.

     “These technologies exist,” notes Mr. Thiele.

     Further, the proposed law mandates that there must be “consent” from the consumer to receive non-emergency autodialed calls.

     “Like so many New Yorkers, everyone in my family has been annoyed by robocalls on a near daily basis,” Senator Hoylman states. “These robocalls are a scourge on the public-at-large, and my constituents have been vocal about the extent to which these calls infringe on their privacy and interrupt their daily lives.”

      Mr. Thiele said complaints he has been receiving from constituents about robocalls “are way up.”

     People in the Greater New York Area have been “disproportionately affected” by robocalls,  says Senator Hoylman. 

     Along with the federal “Do Not Call Registry” there’s a New York State “Do Not Call Law,” adopted in 2001. But, says State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, a Long Islander, the state’s Division of Consumer Protection has not been adequately enforcing it.

    “Without enforcement of the law, telemarketers will continue to bother people,” says Mr. DiNapoli. “There are only five positions behind New York’s ‘Do Not Call’ program.” And the position of its director “had been vacant for 18 months until recently,” he said in September.

    The publication Bottom Line Personal in a November article, “How to Outwit Robocallers,” told of how many robocalls “are scams meant to draw you in so that a live operator can get on the line and convince you to hand over money or personal financial data.” It suggested ways “to fight back” that stressed people getting call-blocking devices.

    My wife’s new answering machine, made by Panasonic, offers a blocking feature. When a robocall is made to her line, she can press a button and block future calls from that number. However, the total amount of blocked numbers is 250—which I fear is not enough.

      The venerable Consumer Reports of Consumers Union in November ran a story headed “Robocalls and Scams Are Now One-Third of All Calls.” It quoted Paul Florack, vice president of Transaction Network Services, as saying “we’re being trained not to answer our phones.” 

    Unwanted calls are now the subject of the most complaints to both the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Commission. Consumers Union is pushing for strong and needed federal action.

    Indeed, there ought to be a law—laws on the state and federal levels—to end the scourge of robocalls.

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.