By Matt Hampton
Among the cuts was the money to provide video lottery terminals at Belmont. Much of the current Elmont area revitalization plan focuses on turning the racetrack into a tourist destination, with a hotel and shopping. The loss of VLT funds, combined with looming cuts to Long Island Rail Road service, threatens to leave the area in the lurch and eliminate potential earnings and jobs. Local leaders have said that the loss of funds to help the revitalization plan would be a disaster for the community.
“This is the most anti-hardworking family budget that I’ve seen in 24 years in the Senate,” said Minority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre). “There is a lot of insensitivity here to suburban communities.”
Since the budget was approved earlier this month, Republicans have been railing against expenditures that they characterize as the secret plans of city legislators exerting their power over the rest of the state. “This is three Democrats from New York City saying, ‘Hooray for me and to hell with Long Island,’” said Assemblyman Bob Barra (R-Lynbrook), who holds a seat on the Assembly’s Racing and Wagering Committee.
Of Belmont, Barra said, “It’s the greatest racetrack in the world, I believe, and it’s really underutilized.” He talked about the revitalization of Yonkers Raceway, and said that same kind of renewal could take place in Elmont. “What the revitalization has done for Yonkers is unbelievable,” Barra added. “It’s created the kind of boom we haven’t seen in a long time.”
An area around Belmont was designated an Empire Zone during the administration of Gov. George Pataki. The goal was to revitalize the area and turn it into a popular destination based on the drawing power of the track. According to Assemblyman Tom Alfano (R-Franklin Square), that plan has been crippled by the new state budget.
“Today we started our campaign to really establish something here,” Alfano said. “We can create jobs right away — good construction jobs, real, permanent jobs and a great stimulus of cash into the community.”
State Sen. Craig Johnson (D-Port Washington), whose district includes the racetrack, said through a spokesman that Republicans are being overly fatalistic about the possibilities for the area. “Minority Leader Skelos and his Republican allies have left Long Island and are now living on Fantasy Island,” said Johnson spokesman Rich Azzopardi. “The reality is that difficult but necessary choices had to be made to close a $17.7 billion deficit that, in part, is the product of years of borrow-and-spend budgeting that Senator Skelos promoted as part of the former Senate majority’s leadership team. Instead of being straight with their constituents, they have resorted to the ugliest type of fear-mongering.”
Azzopardi also said that Johnson has sponsored a new bill, separate from the budget, that could create the necessary funds for VLTs at Belmont, and that has already passed through the Senate’s Racing, Wagering and Finance Committee.
Skelos, however, is adamant that the approved budget will be an albatross around the neck of any effort to revitalize the track and the community. “What did this budget do? It kills the Empire Zone,” Skelos said. “What about our fair share of state aid for schools in Elmont and Sewanhaka’s High School district? ... This budget is a disgrace, but more than that, it hurts people.”
Residents say they are worried that without development in the area to create jobs, Elmont could suffer mightily as the economy continues to falter. “This is my neighborhood, and I always want to see it prosper,” said Langston Young, 18, a CUNY student. “[Revitalizing the area] could only be a good thing. It would help a lot of people, not just guys like me.”
Tyra Onwuchekwa, a PTA treasurer from Elmont, said the most important thing for her was developing a plan to make sure local schools received the money they need to continue adding and improving programs. “Any funding that will benefit our schools, I’m so for it,” Onwuchekwa said. “I know 40 parents who’ve been laid off, just off the top of my head. If people have an opportunity to find jobs, especially in the town they reside in, that’s an added bonus.”
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