They’re back!            

Memorial Day weekend arrived, the starting date for the return of many noisy helicopters ferrying people to and from the Hamptons. This was no Long Island counterpart to the swallows of Capistrano. The choppers with their raucous noise came back.

The economy is in a downturn but that apparently isn’t discouraging some folks from shelling out several hundred dollars to go by chopper to and from the Hamptons.

And their flight paths continue to be over many peoples’ heads.

Suffolk County Legislator Edward Romaine has filed a new bill to deal with the helicopter racket and last week asked residents to turn out for a meeting of the Suffolk Legislature on June 23 in Riverhead to give their viewpoints on the chopper noise and help his resolution get passed.

Meanwhile, the House of Representatives last week passed a measure authored by Congressman Tim Bishop instructing the Federal Aviation Administration to study helicopter flights over Long Island. “Those of us who live in Suffolk County are tired of the roar of helicopters disrupting the serenity of our island,” said Mr. Bishop.

The problem is that the U.S. Senate rejected the same measure last year.

“Why aren’t these helicopters flying the ocean route?” demands Mr. Romaine.

The three main destinations for the Hamptons helicopters are all not far from the ocean, he notes. The choppers could fly from Manhattan and then over the ocean, well off Long Island’s south shore, and make turns “at different vectors” into these airfields.

The Southampton Village helipad “is right off the ocean,” he points out, and Suffolk County’s Francis Gabreski and the East Hampton Airport are just a few miles away.

But instead, this Memorial Day weekend—as has been the situation—the choppers were largely routed over northern Long Island and then, over eastern Suffolk, to make turns south to these airfields.

Mr. Romaine’s new bill declares: “Low flying helicopters have become a public nuisance in Suffolk County.” It notes, accurately, that the FAA “has failed to regulate the operation” of these Hamptons helicopters. It says that “the operation of helicopters at low altitudes is presumed to be a hazard to persons and property on the surface and constitutes careless and reckless operation.”

That’s the key to his measure: that choppers flying low—as do the Hamptons helicopters—constitutes “careless and reckless operation,” which Suffolk County government is entitled to stop.

Penalties for violation of the proposed county law would be a fine of “up to $1,000 and/or one year in prison per offense.”

A representative of the FAA and advocates of the Hamptons choppers in fighting an earlier Romaine bill on helicopter noise last year insisted that Suffolk County and other local and state governments were pre-empted from regulating aircraft operations by the federal government. However, in preparation for the new battle, Mr. Romaine and his staff have come up with court cases determining that this is not true. The Appellate Division of Superior Court of California, in one case involving low-flying aircraft, dismissed the claim of pre-emption finding: “The state has the right to impose criminal sanctions for the unlawful operation of aircraft above its land and waters.”

Mr. Romaine says it’s important that people come to the public hearing portion of the legislative meeting, to begin at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, June 23, and “speak out on the issue.” That’s the best way, he said, to “grab the attention” of legislators and get the new chopper bill approved. The meeting will be held at Suffolk County Community College’s Culinary Arts and Hospitality Center at 20 East Main Street, Riverhead,

Mr. Bishop, meanwhile, said he believes an FAA study “is a necessary step toward the goal of reducing helicopter noise of Long Island. I believe it will offer a roadmap for pilots who want to fly over Long Island in a way that is respectful of our communities.”

But if the Bishop measure is to again be blocked in the Senate, and considering that the FAA sees its main mission as encouraging air travel, local Suffolk County action appears vital in taking on the bane of Hamptons helicopter noise.

 

By Karl Grossman

 “Suffolk’s Declaration of Independence,” was the heading of a statement issued by the Suffolk County Legislature last week after it passed a home rule message backing bills in the state legislature that would set up a commission to study secession of Nassau and Suffolk from the state and their formation into a new State of Long Island.

The rhetoric at the meeting at which the home rule message was debated included Legislator Dan Losquadro of Shoreham, leader of the panel’s GOP minority, with a history degree from Stony Brook University, citing Thomas Jefferson’s declaration that “the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” He went on: “I think we are at the point of revolt. I think we’ve gone past it…I think we need to stand up and take whatever action is necessary to throw off those shackles and not be beholden to the tyrants in Albany.”
 “We’re being exploited. We’re being raped,” said Cameron Alden of Islip.

Behind what was happening was the imposition by the state of a bail-out package for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority that includes a payroll tax of 34 cents per each $100 in salaries for businesses, non-profit organizations and school districts in a 12-county area that includes Suffolk.

Some might say the talk was an extreme overreaction. But consider what the state will be doing. Although initially, county officials calculated that Suffolk provides more than $250 million a year to the MTA, including through a quarter-cent in sales tax for every dollar spent here, further analysis done last week by Bill Faulk, aide to Legislator Edward Romaine, working with the county legislature’s Budget Review Office, showed quite more is involved—that the actual figure is $393 million. This includes monies going to the MTA from the sales tax ($97.5 million last year), an even bigger chunk from the mortgage recording tax ($125 million), from the petroleum business tax ($92 million), a general business surcharge ($47 million) and a surcharge on telephone use ($8 million).

The new taxes and fees which will be going to the MTA from Suffolk were estimated at $127.2 million a year with $98.5 million from the payroll tax, $26.5 million from a steeper vehicle registration fee and $2.1 million from in a higher drivers license fee. That comes to $520.3 million to the MTA from Suffolk—or $347 a year for each man, woman and child in Suffolk.

As William Lindsay, a Holbrook Democrat, presiding officer of the legislature and author of the home rule message, said in last week’s statement: “This MTA payroll tax has pushed me over the edge. New York State cannot continue to bleed Suffolk and Nassau counties dry to bankroll programs that do not benefit Long Island residents in any way, shape or form. If we need to declare our independence to be taken seriously in Albany, then so be it.”

There was opposition to the home rule message, which passed 12-to-6.

Legislator Brian Beedenbender of Centereach said “New York State clearly hasn’t given us a fair share” but urged consideration of the “gravity” of what was being proposed. Making Long Island a state “would change everything—from the make-up of the House of Representatives to the number of people in the U.S. Senate to what the U.S. flag looks like.”

Mr. Romaine of Center Moriches stressed, meanwhile, “that the squeaky wheel gets the grease. And Presiding Officer Lindsay wants to squeak.”

Not too incidentally, the bills in the State Legislature to set up a commission to study the feasibility of creating a State of Long Island—and having a referendum on the issue held in Suffolk and Nassau next year—are sponsored by two officials not known for histrionics: State Senator Kenneth LaValle of Port Jefferson and State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele, Jr. of Sag Harbor.

Legislator Thomas Barraga of West Islip, a former New York State assemblyman, said in last week’s debate: “I understand the frustration of this body” and the measure “may make you feel good but it will go absolutely nowhere.” But, as Suffolk Comptroller Joseph Sawicki of Southold, also a former assemblyman and long a Long Island statehood proponent, told the county legislators: “It’s time to make a stand and send a message to Albany. I’ll be the first to admit this is a long shot but, if nothing else, it focuses on how Albany mistreats Long Island.”

Last week, Carol Ann Duffy was chosen as the first female poet laureate of the United Kingdom, and next week, Tammy Nuzzo-Morgan is likely to become the first female poet laureate of Suffolk County. The county post, established in 2003, derives from the centuries-old British position held by such figures as Alfred Tennyson and William Wordsworth.

Mrs. Nuzzo-Morgan, of Southampton, is founder and director of the North Sea Poetry Scene which offers poetry readings and publishes poetry. She is widely published. And she also holds down a job that some might consider unusual for an active poet: she is an accountant and certified tax consultant.

“I don’t see it as a conflict. I’m trying to utilize both sides of my brain,” she said with a laugh last week. 

Mrs. Nuzzo-Morgan is also a student in the Stony Brook Southampton Masters of Fine Arts Program in Writing and Literature. She teaches poetry through BOCES in schools in Suffolk and at the county jail. After receiving a degree from the Stony Brook Southampton graduate program, she intends to expand her teaching of poetry.

The Suffolk County Legislature is likely to vote on Mrs. Nuzzo-Morgan’s two-year appointment at a meeting Tuesday in Hauppauge. She was chosen by a new panel comprised of former Suffolk poet laureates. It was set up after complaints about the former process of picking a poet laureate, especially from Shelter Islander Dr. Daniel Thomas Moran, who became county poet laureate in 2005. He was outraged by how his successor was selected and, disgusted with Suffolk County legislative politics, didn’t participate on the new panel.

Nevertheless, Brendan Stanton, an aide to Suffolk Legislator Wayne Horsley of Lindenhurst, who has overseen the poet laureate selection process, the selection of Mrs. Nuzzo-Morgan “went very smoothly.”

Mrs. Nuzzo-Morgan is thrilled with the prospects of becoming the Suffolk poet laureate. She says, “I want to make my tenure an act of service.” She would like to stress Suffolk’s rich history of poetry. This is the county where Walt Whitman was born (in West Hills) and where he worked for years including founding and being editor of the Long Islander, a still-published weekly newspaper in Huntington. Jupiter Hammon, a slave who was born and lived on Lloyd’s Neck in Huntington, is credited with being the first black American poet.

A major project of Mrs. Nuzzo-Morgan has been collecting writings, audio recordings and videos of poets here with the dream of someday creating a Long Island Poetry Archive.

“I have over 1,000 books and audio and video in storage,” she notes. She envisions making this collection its base. The North Sea Poetry Scene has launched a capital campaign drive and has been writing grant proposals to set up such “an arts/archival” center “hopefully” within Southampton. 

Mrs. Nuzzo-Morgan, originally from Patchogue, is married to contractor Joseph Morgan, a Southampton native—indeed, they live in what had been his grandmother’s house on Woods Lane. They have two children, Vincent and Elizajo. A third, then 17-year-old son Michael, was tragically killed 13 years ago, mowed down by a car while walking across a street in Southampton near their home.

She graduated as an accounting and business administration major from Southampton College and received her Masters of Business Administration in banking/finance and management from Long Island University.

Books that Mrs. Nuzzo-Morgan has authored include One Woman’s Voice; For Michael; The Bitter, The Sweet; Let Me Tell You Something; Fleeting; and Would You Hug A Porcupine? Her poetry has been published in journals including Blue Sand Magazine, Proteus Anthology, Gertrude Magazine, Dream International, Writing to Heal, the Agulia Expression, The Write Way, The Rio Grande Press, Long Island Quarterly, Performing Poets Association Literary Review and Dream Long Island.

Although the poet laureate tradition began in the United Kingdom, there is a United States poet laureate and many states have poet laureates including New York. George Wallace of Huntington was Suffolk’s first poet laureate. He commented upon his appointment that “in a sense, artists—poets in particular, but artists more generally—might be seen as the Fifth Estate, providing a kind of psychic, spiritual reportage.”

A clutch of Suffolk County legislators is opposing efforts to acquire land to preserve open space and safeguard the underground water table and to save farmland

—matters on which nearly all officeholders in Suffolk have agreed upon for decades. But citing the economic downturn, this grouping—oblivious to tourism and farming as mainstays of the Suffolk economy and dependent on a green environment—says Suffolk must call a halt to these preservation initiatives.

The view of a group of four and sometimes five members of the Suffolk Legislature—out of 18—prompted Legislator Edward Romaine to give an impassioned speech at the legislative meeting last week after, again, there was resistance to preservation measures.

 “I take a longer view,” said Mr. Romaine. The preservation efforts of Suffolk through the years have stopped the “suburban sprawl that has enveloped so much of our county.” Because of these initiatives “not every inch of the county has been developed” and “we saved our farmland.” There have been crises in the past, he noted, citing among them gas shortages and long lines at gas stations in the 1970s. But the county has consistently remained on a course of conservation. County government must not now “walk away from that,” said Mr. Romaine of Center Moriches.  As officials, he said, their prime responsibility is what “we will leave” for future generations.

A series of bills had just come up to preserve land and safeguard water on the East End and in Brookhaven Town, that part of Suffolk that has not been overtaken by  sprawl. As he has done at every legislative meeting for months, Legislator Cameron Alden, before each bill was to be voted upon, went on about tough economic times and how the county can no longer afford such expenditures. .

Mr. Alden of Islip and Thomas Barraga of West Islip are the most outspoken advocates of stopping preservation. They’re usually joined by Ricardo Montano of Central Islip and DuWayne Gregory of Amityville. About half the time, they’re also joined by William Lindsay, presiding officer of the legislature.

The tone is sometimes sarcastic. For instance, last week when the vote on one of the measures—to preserve seven acres in Sagaponack—was called, Mr. Lindsay quipped: “There’s a community, Sagaponack, really being paved out.”

Thanks to the efforts of community residents, environmentalists and enlightened officeholders, Sagaponack has not been paved over. It’s still the beautiful “Kansas with a sea breeze” that Truman Capote described when he lived there, an exquisite tapestry of farms and homes abutting the ocean.

Once I lived a few miles from Mr. Lindsay’s home in Holbrook. The area was beautiful and green back then in the 1960s. Then, suddenly, the bulldozers came and, in rapid order developments and shopping centers came to dominate the landscape. In the wake of this kind of thing, Suffolk officials—led by visionary County Executive John V. N. Klein, creator of a county farmland preservation program which has become a national model—began taking actions to not let this happen to everywhere in Suffolk.

Messrs. Alden, Barraga and company would end these efforts. If they succeed, destroyed would be what is central to Suffolk’s economy: a tourism industry that brings in $4.8 billion a year, along with farming that keeps Suffolk County the top agricultural county in the New York State in the value of its produce. The sprawled-over areas on Long Island no longer attract tourists and neither will what’s left—if it doesn’t stay green.

Moreover, the money used for preservation comes from funds set up by referenda—approved overwhelmingly time after time by county voters—which are not allowed to be used for any other purpose. Also, the amount spent annually represents “less than one percent of annual county expenditures,” notes Richard Amper, executive director of the Long Island Pine Barrens Society.

Interestingly, his organization has polled Suffolk residents in recent months and most say that despite the economic situation they still “strongly want” preservation, he said. The claims of Messrs. Alden, Barraga and the others “don’t ring true to the public.” People on Long Island also understand, said Mr. Amper, that taxes skyrocket with development because services and infrastructure must be provided for the growth. He  added that “now is the perfect time for preservation” with prices low and “more willing sellers than ever.”

Legislator Jay Schneiderman is concerned, meanwhile, that the preservation opponents “are getting more votes now. It’s getting closer and closer.”

 “Our economy,” says Mr. Schneiderman of Montauk, “is interconnected with our environment. If we are going to see strong growth economically, it’s precisely because we’ve preserved the natural beauty of the area.” 

By Karl Grossman

There ought to be a law is the wishful expression. And when it comes to zone pricing of gasoline, finally there is a law in New York State. And it works.

Amazingly, after years and years of gas prices on the East End being substantially higher than in western Suffolk County, in recent weeks they’ve not been far apart—in fact, now sometimes they’re even lower in the east.

The reason for the higher prices on the East End: zone pricing, a marketing practice of the oil industry under which gas stations in various geographic areas charge different wholesale prices. The aim: to sock it to ostensibly richer areas.

But after a decade, a bill finally made it through the New York State Legislature—long lobbied against by the oil industry—which prohibits zone pricing. It was signed into law by Governor David Paterson in November.

Long championed by State Assemblyman Fred Thiele, Jr. of Sag Harbor, the measure carries a hefty penalty: $10,000 for each violation.

Even the fabulously wealthy oil industry would have to be concerned with what it would end up paying for repeated violations of the statute.

Right after it was enacted, Mr. Thiele wrote to oil companies informing them of the law and advising they had better comply with it. He noted that “as a state representative of the South Fork of Long Island, for years my constituents have been subject to these prices which financially constrain working families and individuals, seniors, and those on fixed income.”

Since the law’s passage, New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s investigators have been out in the field checking for compliance, Mr. Thiele was saying from Albany last week.

And lo and behold, last week gas was as low as $1.99 a gallon at some stations on the East End—a few pennies less than the average price to the west. Mainly, it was several pennies higher.

“The differential has definitely narrowed,” commented Mr. Thiele. He says “between the new law and the attorney general’s office” being on the case, change has occurred.

Meanwhile, “we still plan to firm this up further,” Mr. Thiele said, with additions to the law to cover company-owned gas stations.

It’s amazing what a law—and enforcement of it—can mean. (Not infrequently laws are enacted but enforcement is nonexistent or lax and there is no change.)

Indeed, last year Suffolk Executive Steve Levy, who as a county legislator, state assemblyman and county executive has been super-active in introducing laws to deal with societal problems, held a “There Oughta Be a Law” initiative.

County residents were asked to recommend ideas. There were 180 submissions. The idea of Willard Christy of East Islip for a law that would require that unused prescription medicines be disposed of in a safe manner won the contest. His prize: his idea became a Suffolk law.

Mr. Christy, at an awards ceremony, explained how he came up with his suggestion: “You can open any major newspaper and read about drugs contaminating our waters on a regular basis…Our aquifer is less than 100 feet below the surface; that’s very close to the surface and our septic tanks. These drugs and chemicals can easily seep in and contaminate our drinking water.”

His idea led to a law, introduced by Legislator Steve Stern and overwhelmingly passed, that has established a “pharmaceutical disposal program.” Work is now underway to set up disposal sites throughout the county for old medicines.

“It was great to get a firsthand glimpse into many of the issues that are on the minds of residents in Suffolk,” said Mr. Levy who signed the measure in September.

Many of the other suggestions would also “make excellent laws but unfortunately need to be enacted at the federal, state or local town level,” he added. He said Mr. Christy’s idea “is just the type of forward-thinking I was looking for in creating the ‘There Oughta Be a Law’ program.” Mr. Levy plans to repeat the contest this year.

Now some would say: enough of government regulation. But when it comes to zone pricing of gas, the disposal of potent drugs, and many, many other issues, there sure need to be laws.

by Karl Grossman

It’s February and we’re still deep in winter—but in just a month spring will arrive and with it the birds of spring will return…and also the noisy helicopters ferrying people to and from the Hamptons that have so disrupted life on eastern Long Island in recent years.

But Suffolk County Legislator Edward Romaine and his staff have been busy in preparation of the chopper invasion and last week introduced new legislation to quell the helicopter racket.

At the Suffolk Legislature’s last meeting of 2008, Mr. Romaine’s last measure seeking to dim the helicopter din was narrowly defeated. There was a near-tie on his bill to establish a minimum cruising altitude of 2,500 feet for helicopters flying in Suffolk. Eight legislators voted yes, nine no and there was one abstention.

After that bill lost, Mr. Romaine vowed to his fellow lawmakers that “this is not going to go away.” He would be back with new legislation with the new year, and “I’ll bring the people.”  Large numbers of people affected by the noise can be expected in coming months to be at legislative meetings urging legislators to vote for Mr. Romaine’s new bill.

His new measure is different from his previous legislation in that it doesn’t set a minimum altitude requirement. Helicopter operators and a representative of the FAA maintained that the federal government pre-empted localities from establishing minimum altitude requirements for aircraft.

So this time although there’s no set minimum altitude—offsetting this claim—Mr. Romaine’s bill focuses on flying in a “careless and reckless manner.” And it defines this as “failing to take all actions reasonably necessary for safe operation or operating at an altitude that creates a hazard or undue hardship for persons and property on the surface.”

This certainly hits the problem on the head because the roaring choppers certainly have created an “undue hardship” for people on the ground.

Mr. Romaine and his aide Bill Faulk have spent considerable time digging into federal and state court decisions and have found that prohibiting flying in a “careless and reckless manner” is within the powers of localities.

The bill sets forth the situation: “Low flying helicopters have become a public nuisance in Suffolk County,” it begins. “The Federal Aviation Administration has failed to regulate the operation of helicopters,” it notes—accurately. “The operation of helicopters at low altitudes is presumed to be a hazard to persons and property on the surface and constitutes careless and reckless operation.” Further, “other municipalities, including the City of New York, have established regulations for helicopter operations within their jurisdictions. Therefore,” it concludes, “the purpose of this law is to ensure safe operations of helicopters passing through the air boundaries of Suffolk County and to preserve and promote the health, safety and general welfare of the residents of Suffolk County.”

Penalties for violation of the proposed county law would be a fine of “up to $1,000 and/or one year in prison per offense.” The prospect of jail surely would impact on the chopper operators.

Mr. Romaine’s strategy also involves using a Suffolk County stand to get action on the federal level. U.S. Senator Charles Schumer and Representative Tim Bishop have tried to negotiate with the helicopter operators—but there was no relief. Mr. Romaine sees county action as being “an irritant” to spur federal movement.

The FAA—with a mission to promote air travel, apparently even noisy chopper traffic—has, meanwhile, been nowhere on the issue.

That, says Legislator John Kennedy, Jr., an attorney, is a key opening for local legislation. When the supposed regulatory body “hasn’t fully occupied the field, there may be a role for statute of a lesser level of government,” he notes. “I think it’s Swiss cheese. I think there is a place for us that actually helps to protect our constituents.”

Legislator Dan Losquadro speaks of “the only time we’ve seen any effort” on the federal level being when the county has moved to “put something on the books that would call these practices into question. And absent of that, there has been…some press conferences…I fully support us doing something to give ourselves a measure of local control.”

The Hamptons helicopter business has marred warm weather months on eastern Long Island in a cacophony of intense noise—which must be quelled.

By Karl Grossman

What has come through to me clearly in decades of writing about the environment and energy—including several books—is that virtually all polluting products and processes are unnecessary, that there are safe alternatives available.

A case in point: trans fats—an artificial ingredient found in cooking oils and in some baked goods, salad dressings and margarine.

Last week, the Suffolk Legislature voted overwhelmingly for a bill to ban restaurants and other food establishments in the county from selling food containing trans fats. In doing so, Suffolk joined New York City, neighboring Nassau County, the State of California and other jurisdictions.

Meanwhile, in the face of challenges, industry has begun backing away from trans fats. Even McDonald’s has stopped using trans fats—and, reportedly, there haven’t been any complaints from customers.

In a full-page ad in the New York Times last month, the Cargill company explained how it has developed a way “to create French fries with zero grams trans fat per serving.” It said “extensive canola seed research” and “new processing technologies…resulted in a cooking oil that performed well for fries, chicken and fish” and “consumer tests proved our approach was successful in providing the same great taste.”

The thing—the terrible thing—about trans fats is that, as Suffolk Health Commissioner Humayun J. Chaudhry told the county legislature, they “raise the bad cholesterol” and “lower the good cholesterol” in a person substantially increasing chances of a heart attack. “Studies estimate that having as few as 40 calories of transfats a day can boost the risk of a heart attack by 23 percent,” said Dr. Chadhry.

Dr. Dariush Mazaffarian, a Harvard School of Public Health professor, in an article in the New England Journal of Medicine, concluded that at least six percent of deaths from heart attacks in the U.S. could be attributed to trans fats. A half-million people die each year in the U.S. from heart attacks—it’s the nation’s leading cause of death. Based on the Harvard professor’s research, we’re talking about trans fats being responsible for tens of thousands of deaths.

Leading the fight nationally against trans fats has been the Washington-based Center for Science in the Public Interest. In 1993, it first called on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to require that trans fat content be listed on food labels. It took until 2006 for the FDA to move on that. Meanwhile, the center has fought—including through litigation—to have the use of the killer chemical stopped.

Michael F. Jacobson, the center’s executive director, told Suffolk lawmakers: “Getting trans fats out of restaurants could prevent thousands of heart attacks and deaths…These illnesses and deaths are unnecessary, and many in Suffolk County could be prevented by the resolution being considered today.”

The author of the Suffolk bill, Legislator Lou D’Amaro of Huntington Station, stressed that “scientific studies have clearly established a direct link between coronary heart disease, diabetes, and trans fats, so banning this dangerous food additive fulfills the government’s obligation to do all it can to protect public health.”

His bill declares that trans fats increase “the risk of many serious health problems including coronary disease” and these “health problems result not only in sickness and death of loved ones, but also heavily burden the health care system, and impose substantial costs on taxpayers.”

Under the measure, the Suffolk health commissioner and Board of Health would “promulgate binding regulations phasing in a ban of the use of trans fats by all restaurants, and other food establishments, that prepare and/or serve food in Suffolk County, and that provide sufficient penalties and monetary fines for the use of trans fats…to deter their use.”

The direction to impose “sufficient penalties” is especially welcome. Lax enforcement—in the tradition of the FDA—doesn’t work.

Dr. David Katz, professor of public health at the Yale University School of Medicine, describes trans fats as “poison…really bad stuff…It’s got to go.”

The bill was signed into law by County Executive Steve Levy on Friday. Soon this poison, totally unnecessary except to profit its manufacturers, will no longer be sickening people in Suffolk County.

 

By Karl Grossman

Last week, for the first time, I saw our LIPA meter go backwards.

What a sight—that little wheel going not to the right, marking a draw from the Long Island Power Authority electric system, but spinning—and spinning fast—to the left. That signified that the photovoltaic panels newly installed on the roof of our house were not only supplying all the electricity we were using but feeding excess back into the LIPA grid.

And LIPA, under its net metering program, is to credit us for this electricity.

And, if those panels generate more electricity at the end of the year than we use—which is expected—LIPA is to send us a check!

You can do the same thing. Also, with tax credits and the LIPA rebate available,  you can do it with an astounding financial break—as of this year, a whopping 70 percent off the cost of a solar photovoltaic installation.

For decades I’ve been writing about solar power—including in this space. But it took doing a TV documentary this summer, “Renewable Energy Is More Than Ready,” for WVVH-TV, to make solar energy more real. Sometimes you have to be there, see something to really appreciate it.

A main figure in the documentary was Gordian Raacke of Renewable Energy Long Island. He spoke about the importance of solar, wind and other renewable energy technologies at RELI’s office in East Hampton, but I felt we should also film at his home, which he has long told me was a “solar house.” Indeed, at it was an array of solar photovotaic panels producing all the electricity he and his wife need. And also solar thermal panels providing hot water.

Mr. Raacke spoke about how affordable it was with tax credits and the LIPA rebate. (Input the title and you can view the documentary on YouTube.com.) I was convinced. My wife, Janet, had wanted solar panels for years.

So we arranged to have solar photovoltaic and solar hot water panels put on the roof of our house, a south-facing century-old saltbox in Noyac.

The work was done by Majestic Son and Sons of Patchogue. If the Obama administration is looking for infrastructure projects that produce jobs and have a grand  energy pay-off, solar energy truly is Number One.

A swarm of Majestic workers, including the company’s president, Dean Hapshe, a pioneer in solar power, and two of his sons, were all over our roof merrily installing panels. Mrs. Hapshe is office manager; Majestic is quite a family affair. (We took bids from a number of companies and the choice was hard—all seemed highly competent and highly committed to solar energy.)

Mr. Hapshe has been in solar energy for 29 years. It was his first job after graduating college. He decided, “Wow, this is what I want to do. And I’ve done it forever.”

“It’s limitless,” says Mr. Hapshe excitedly about solar power. “And it’s free.” Moreover, in recent years, with the specter of global warming, he sees it as vital. “I’m in an industry that I love. I’m really doing something good for my world.” He is thrilled with the advances in solar technology—“getting better and better all the time.”

And when he is “finished with a job, I watch that meter spin backwards—and that sends tingles up my spine every time.”

As noted, the final price is a veritable bonanza. A 3,000-watt photovoltaic system (what the Raackes have) is priced at $27,000; our 7,600-watt system $63,000. But that isn’t what you pay. LIPA reimburses you $3.50 for each installed watt of photovoltaic power. New York State provides a tax credit of $5,000. And approved last year (to run for nine years) is a federal tax credit of 30 percent of the cost of the job. Crunch those numbers: you end up paying 30 percent of the price. Tax credits for a solar hot water system, typically costing $7,500, cut its price in half.

It’s just fabulous to see, even on a cloudy day, the electricity flowing from the photovoltaic panels. It’s amazing to see, even on the cold but sunny days of recent weeks, water coming down from the roof from the thermal panels at 100 to 120 degrees.

Imagine if houses all over Long Island and the U.S. were equipped with solar panels. It’s energy independence—courtesy of the sun and a life-affirming energy technology.

William Lindsay, presiding officer of the Suffolk County Legislature, is making a push to overturn provisions of two public referenda aimed at preserving open space and farmland, creating parks and promoting affordable housing in Suffolk.

Environmentalists are rightfully outraged. “The public voted to preserve land and encourage affordable housing and the Suffolk Legislature is thinking about changing that without a public vote,” complains Richard Amper, executive director of the Long Island Pine Barrens Society. “That’s not just illegal and immoral—it’s downright un-American….It’s a violation of public trust.”

County Executive Steve Levy is also critical of the move saying the will of the people was made clear in referendum and should not be “circumvented” by a legislative act.

A bill Mr. Lindsay has introduced would refocus the programs created by the referenda to “spur smart growth, community development and job creation.” A retired electrical workers union official, Mr. Lindsay has with the economic downturn made economic development a top priority.

His bill would permit developers to buy the “development rights” created when land was preserved—credits representing an opportunity to build above the level proscribed by zoning—and use the rights to do “almost anything” they want in developing property, says Mr. Amper. The Suffolk Legislature “would be bailing out the very real estate industry that has caused our economic woes and slapping voters and taxpayers in the face at the same time.”

Mr. Amper has been joined in opposition to the Lindsay bill by a wide variety of environmentalists, civic leaders and public officials. Joining in a letter of protest to members of the Suffolk Legislature on the Lindsay bill include: Robert DeLuca, president of the Group for the East End; Sid Bail, president of the Wading River Civic Organization; Adrienne Esposito, executive director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment; Peconic BayKeeper Kevin McAllister; MaryAnn Johnston, president of Affiliated Brookhaven Civic Organization; Kevin McDonald, director of public lands for The Nature Conservancy; Al Algieri, president of East Quogue Civic Association; Mary Jean Green, president of the Hampton Bays Civic Association; Andrea Spilka, president of the Southampton Town Civic Coalition; Karen Blumer, president of the Open Space Preservation Trust; Lisa Ott, president of the North Shore Land Alliance; and Julie Penny, Co-Chair South Fork Groundwater Task Force. And also: Southampton Town Supervisor Linda Kabot; Brookhaven Town Conservative Party Chairman Richard Johannesen; and State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele, Jr. of Sag Harbor.

Their letter charges that Mr. Linday’s plan violates the legal principle that “laws created by public referendum may only be modified by subsequent referendum.”

The referenda involved are one in 2004 establishing the Suffolk County Save Open Space, Farmland Preservation and Hamlet Parks Fund, and, in 2007, an extension of the county’s Drinking Water Protection Program.

 “As it currently stands,” says the letter, “the programs generate money for the protection of open space, preservation of farmland and the creation of parks for local communities. The acts further state that the development rights of the land preserved could then be transferred exclusively for the construction of workforce housing.”

The Lindsay bill states that the “development rights” provided by the county’s Save Open Space and new Drinking Water Protection programs to go to “workforce housing” has so far not “been utilized to create housing.” So, it allows that they be “used to further other worthy policy goals including smart growth in downtown areas, community development and job creation.”

These “development rights” have not been utilized for affordable housing, says Mr. Amper, because “developers don’t build affordable housing because they make more money building unaffordable housing.”

Mr. Lindsay, a Democrat, comments to us that “This has nothing to do with developers. I’m trying to get revenue out of the programs. We’re spending millions of dollars on land preservation. This will actually help it.”

Also opposed to the Lindsay bill is the legislature’s Republican minority leader, Dan Losquadro, who says “it is completely wrong for public officials to even think of subverting the public’s will.” 

By Karl Grossman

When you see a Suffolk County deputy sheriff’s vehicle doing traffic duty on the Long Island Expressway or Sunrise Highway, a lot is involved.

The story begins with County Executive Steve Levy asking last year for New York State to provide its troopers to patrol the LIE and Sunrise or reimburse the county the $12 million it spends each year doing it. He pointed out that state troopers patrol two of the other major state highways in Suffolk—Southern and Northern State Parkways—and, also, that the state reimburses some upstate counties for patrolling state roads.

But the state, facing serious financial problems, balked.

Then Mr. Levy decided to pull members of the Highway Patrol of the Suffolk County Police Department from LIE and Sunrise duty—because of their high salaries—and to transfer the task to the lesser-paid deputy sheriffs. 

By doing this, Mr. Levy challenged the powerful union that represents the Highway Patrol officers and struck a raw fiscal nerve that he and some others in Suffolk government have been concerned about for years: the arbitration process that has caused Suffolk Police Department officers to be among the highest paid in the nation.

It’s been a see-saw between the pay of neighboring Nassau Police Department officers and those of the Suffolk County department—with the unions representing each department’s officers pointing to the other department and seeking and getting more.

The police officers of New York City, says Mr. Levy, “under fire every day and not making enough money” should be the baseline. Instead, the pay of Nassau and Suffolk cops “leapfrog against each other” and the police pay “pendulum has swung so far on Long Island.” Of course, the Suffolk County Police Benevolent Association and other Suffolk police unions argue that being a police officer is an arduous job and that serious injury and death are constantly faced here, too, and Suffolk cops deserve what they get.

For a Suffolk Police Department officer now, the starting pay is $58,000 and, according to Mr. Levy, after five years “the base is almost $100,000 not including benefits or overtime.” The average salary and benefits of a Suffolk cop is $160,000 annually. Meanwhile, deputy sheriffs, he says, cost “$42,000 less per officer.”

Another wrinkle: Highway Patrol officers are paid through the western Suffolk police district. Although it’s called the Suffolk County Police Department, its uniformed members only cover western Suffolk.

These uniformed officers—including those on the Highway Patrol—do not cover the East End nor a number of western Suffolk villages where a majority of citizens voted, along with those on the East End, not to disband their local police forces and join in the county police department when it was formed in 1960.

Police district taxes are very high. In Brookhaven Town for this year, for example, the average homeowner is paying $900 in police district taxes. But deputy sheriffs are paid through the countywide general fund. So by having deputy sheriffs patrol the LIE and Sunrise, this cost has been broadened from just western Suffolk property owners to all county property owners.

An obvious question: what were all those deputy sheriffs who now patrol the LIE and Sunrise heretofore doing? Mr. Levy responds that “the sheriff had just gotten a new class through” and thus additional deputies were available for the highway work. Moreover, he says, “the sheriff has much more flexibility” than the Suffolk Police commissioner who, because of “contractual” limits, can’t switch the assignments of many officers. “The sheriff has the luxury of switching his officers more easily.”

The 55 Highway Patrol officers replaced by deputies have been sent to regular patrol duties in the Suffolk Police district.

Meanwhile, a man in the middle of all this is Suffolk Police Commissioner Richard Dormer who is under assault by Suffolk police unions for facilitating the switch Mr. Levy ordered. Mr. Dormer, who worked his way up the ranks in the Suffolk Police Department, starting as a patrolman in 1963, has been ousted from his status as a retired union member—threatening his union-arranged life insurance and dental and vision benefits.

So when you see one of those black-and-white sheriff’s cars on the LIE or Sunrise, consider this—and then get your eyes back on the road because the deputies give tickets, too.