Finally...Compromise

Very early this morning, I awoke to the blaring of the radio (**Side Note: At this point if anyone were to call me a "glutton for punishment" I'd have to say nothing...other than agreeing with them.**). As I lay there in bed in a half-roused stupor, I caught the most important news I've heard in a month: Charles Wang has finally agreed to meet with Kate Murray and the Town of Hempstead Board to discuss scaling down the Lighthouse Project.

Ever since Charles' hard deadline of October 3rd, the outlook on the Project has been relatively gloomy. From the announcement on Opening Night that Charles was looking at all his options, including selling or moving the team, to the recent false report that the Lighthouse had gotten it's plug pulled, to Suffolk County Executive, Steve Levy, publicly announcing via Newsday (which is owned by Cablevision which owns MSG, who in turn also owns the Rangers) that Suffolk County would be more than happy to take the Islanders in if Nassau and specifically the Town of Hempstead failed to approve re-zoning, to even Sen. Dean Skelos (R-NY) trying to get the process going again. Now, at long last, there seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel.

We've said all along that the Project most likely would not look the same at the end as it did in the many rendered drawings of the site when planning first began. That's how real estate and property negotiations work. The developer, in this case Lighthouse Development Group, is expected to shoot for the moon and throw every possibility into the mix to see what they can get approved. On the flip-side, the local governments who approve the environmental review, in this case the Town of Hempstead, have the job of paring back what they deem to be unnecessary to the core of the property development and a compromise is reached.

Compromise. There's a word we haven't heard much over the course of this long, overdrawn process. It's time to sit down at the bargaining table and hash out the details boys and girls.

Now, there is finally something to rally around. The people of Long Island have done their part to keep the momentum going. Now it's up to the people in charge of the situation to step up to the plate and give the people what they want. It's time to "Meet Me at The Lighthouse!"