Bethpage-Tribune_1969-02-06

              .*» BJETHPAGE PUBLIC UELHAHI
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Serving Bethpage - Plainview - Island Trees - Plainedge - Seaford
Vol. 3 No. 15
; vww*^v*w*-+
From
: The Publisher's Desk
Thursday, February 6, 1969
LIA Growth
Records Reveals
10< per copy
RAILROADING
Comments by Perry R. Duryea, Jr.
The Long Island Rail Road is continually in the
headlines and the headlines aren't good. Labor and
management are at loggerheads, public officials
are criticizing one or the other.. Commuters are
complaining or planning boycotts. It there's any
hope to be found in the situation, it's in a look at the
railroad's history and Its potential.
When the Long Island was privately operated,
its rate structure was such that the railroad couldji't
make money and was on the verge of collapse. After
state takeover, the railroad, with state assistance,
was able to purchase new cars which are starting
to arrive. The existing equipment, some of it 60
years old, is often unrepairable, evenwhenparts are
available. We are now discussing in Albany a plan
to advance the railroad enough money to retire its
debts and speed up delivery of new equipment.
Another source of trouble has been "the station
maintenance program, now the responsibility of Suf­folk
and Nassau Counties and New York City.
Suffolk has paid its share while the city and Nas­sau
have refused. Under consideration now is a
state plan to withhold the payments which have
not been made from aid due these localities and
passing this badly-needed money on to the railroad.
Should litigation show that such station maintenance
requirements were illegal, the money would be r e ­turned
to the localities.
It's easy to complain about the railroad because
it's such a tempting target. With the ancient e-quipment
which the state inherited, with the rising
demands of the labor force, anything that can go
wrong does go wrong. But it's been estimated that,
should the railroad be closed down, an additional
26 lanes of concrete would be needed to funnel
traffic from Eastern Suffolk to the city.
It's more difficult to be tolerant than to com­plain.
But, if labor and the Metropolitan Transpor­tation
Authority's management could get together,
if some of the Long Island's more militant critics
could hold their fire for awhile, we might just
find ourselves with a new and different railroad,
one that's a source for pride rather than gripes.
* * *
Senator Edward J. Speno has introduced legis­lation
in Albany to reduce the voting age from 21
years to 18 years. He has also recommended
reducing the age of responsibility to age 18 if
the amendment is passed,
The present law requires passage must be at
two successive sessions of the legislature and a
public referendum. Public hearings no doubt will
be held and you can expect a good deal of flak
on this one. . . .The voting age change may
appeal to some, but the responsibility may cause
others to Ireconsider.
Stvt Collecting Yon Series On Thomas Nast's and Day's
Gone By Compiled and collected by Larry O'Sullivan, and
appearing In the Bethpage Tribune. •
LI. Economy
JERICHO, L.I. — Industrial
growth continued strong in
Nassau-Suffolk during 1968 al­though
slightly below 1967 levels,
and 1969 should be characterized
by continued expansion.
LIA growth records show that
164 new industrial plants and
major warehousing operations
moved to Long Island during 1968
and 159 existing Long Island
firms found it necessary and
desirable to undertake major
expansions.
In jobs, this meant an increase
of 11,382 newemployees, of which
5,283 were added by new firms
and 5,191 took jobs at firms which
expanded, and 908 who took jobs
at new warehouse and wholesale
facilities. A total of 14,668
new jobs were created inNassau-
Suffolk in 1967.
New construction during 1968
totaled 5,436,748 sq. ttt, of which
new plants accounted . for
2,291,120 sq. ft., and expansions,'
2,049,528 sq. ft. New warehouse
and wholesale facilities ac­counted
for another 1,096,100
sq. ft. The 1968 new construction
footage total is below the- 1967
total of 7,394,390 sq. ft.
Capital investmant during 1968
totaled $54,367,480, based on an
average rate of $10 per square
foot. This compares to a total
capital investment of $62,852,315
in 1967. The 1968 capital , in­vestment
total is equal to a per
. worker investment of $4,776, not
considering money spent on
equipment.
The number of new plants and
expansions is also slightly below
1967 totals when new plants num­bered
176 and expansions, 185.
About 55% of the new (1968)
plants located in Nassau, the
remainder in Suffolk.
Despite the decline, growth
and expansion on Long Island
during the second half was about
equal to the first half. And
although there was a slight de­cline
during the summer, the
drop was not as significant as
some forecasters were betting.
The same was true of the. fourth
quarter when the reduction was
again smaller than many antici­pated.
There has been speculation
that the 1968 decline, generally
nationwide in scope, can be
attributed to the national elec-
(Continued on Page 6)
Lois O'Donnell
Appointed Trustee
- Lois O'Donnell was the choice
of the Island Trees Board of
Education to fill the post vacated
by Anthony Sarno last Novem­ber.
The newly appointed Trustee
is a housewife and has children
attending the Island Trees
schools. She has been very active
in the P-TA and is an officer of
the Island Trees Taxpayers
Association.
Besides, Mrs. O'Donnell, six
other people were interviewed
last Saturday for the Board seat.
T0B Happy As
Court Bars Bridge
Oyster Bay Town officials were
jubilant today upon learning that
State Supreme Court Justice
Samuel Gold had agreed with the
Town's contention that State
plans for an Oyster Bay-Rye
bridge were unconstitutional.
"I'm overjoyed, we're all
tremendously pleased," said
Town Board Majority Leader
Edmund A. Ocker when informed
of the decision by JusticeGold's
office.
In a 10-page opinion, Justice
Gold ruled that a 1967 State Law
authorizing construction of the
6.1-mile bridge and causeway by
the Metropolitan Transportation
Authority was illegal because the
MTA was not authorized to build
bridges or highways under the
1965 law that created the agency.
The Town, the City of Rye and
11 North Shore villages had
questioned the constitutionality
of the 1967 Mass Transportation
Act, an omnibus bill that gave the
MTA the right to build the bridge,
among other powers. Deputy
Town Attorney Charles Lynch
also argued before Justice Gold
that the State Legislature
violated the Constitution's Home
Rule provision in giving the MTA
the power to lay out, build or
extend access roads to the
bridae. such as the Seaford-
(Continued on {'age 2)
All Eyes Are Focused
On Grumman
G r u m m a n A i r c r a ft
Engineering Corp. of Bethpage is
getting its share of headlines
lately. All eyes are focused on the
Bethpage plant which employs
over 34,000 people in Bethpage
and Calverton. Particularly since
announcement of the new con­tracts
awarded to Long Island's
biggest and most important
employer.
The latest announcement from
Washington yesterday was the
Navy Award of a four-year
contract totalling $388 million for
production planning of the new
F14. Grumman built test models
of the F111B for the Navy
previously.
< Everything looks A-ok with
Grummans and that is good news
for Bethpage.
New Jetport Study
A push has been underway by
the Long Island Association and
businessmen to revive the plan
for a 4th Jetport at Calverton,
Long Island in Suffolk.
It is argued that if Long Island
is to continue to prosper and not
remain "the end of the cow's
tail" a new serious look must be
taken now. Private talks have
been going on for sometime
between Grumman Aircraft who'
leases the 7,500 acre property
from the Navy. Grumman has
maintained that the airfield is
needed for growth and test
flights. The long runways and
open space is desirable for these
purposes.
The lease on the property
becomes renewable on April 1.
Grumman has threatened to
move if the Jetport becomes a
reality since it could not co-exist
with a commercial jetport in its
backyard. This could seriously
hurt the L. I. economy. However,
MTA Chairman William J. Ronan
argues that a fourth jetport is
necessary as well as general
aviation, facilities if Long Island
is to prosper and attract new
business. So the old cliche - you
are damn if you do - and damned
if you don't - seems to size up the
situation.
A WORD ABOUT OUR NEW SERIES
"BOSS TWEED vs. THOMAS HAST"
AND ITS AUTHOR, Larry O'Sullivan
With this edition the Bethpage
Tribune begins a series of ar­ticles
which we feel will be of
immense cultural value to our
community. Exclusively in your
paper, this offering will be in­teresting,
educational, amusing
and extremely rewarding to its
readers.
Based on actual newspaper
articles from the 1870-1890 era,
we hope to.bring to life that
period of bur country's growth
just after the Civil War - when
Boss Tweed and the cartoonist
Thomas Nast clashed in New
York; when Civil Rights for the
Negro, extermination of the
Indian, and importation of cheap
Irish and Chinese labor were
violently argued in Congress;
when Prussia, France, Spain and
Italy were swapping Kings; when
Mark Twain was swapping
yarns; and Teddy Roosevelt was
swatting countries with his big
stick as he whispered softly
through clenched teeth!
The author, Larry O'Sullivan,
has compiled this data, after
painstaking research, from his
personal collection of antique
newspapers, primarily Harpers
{Continued on Page 2)