Port Authority Executive Director Asks Passengers To Use Public Transit to JFK Airport

Long Island Morning Edition

Long Islanders' overwhelming approval of school budgets Tuesday marked one of the most unified and least controversial votes here in memory, sending a message that people living in Nassau and Suffolk value their schools and are willing to support them with their wallets, said education experts and officials. Craig Schneider reports on Newsday.com that Long Islanders not only approved virtually every proposed budget for their 124 districts, rejecting only the Sachem and West Babylon spending plans, but did so often by large margins, said Michael Dawidziak, a Bayport political consultant and pollster.

"I think this was probably the most cohesive school budget vote, largely lacking anger and controversy, that I've ever seen on Long Island," said Dawidziak, noting he's followed local voting since the 1970s.

The voting on school board elections and budgets occurred during a time when Gov. Kathy Hochul had threatened to eliminate the "hold harmless" policy, which guarantees no school district can receive less state aid than it did the previous year. The plan was eventually scrapped. Moreover, Dawidziak said he heard little of the rhetoric critical of teacher salaries, or calling for book bans or discrediting the methods of teaching diversity and equity. If anything, he heard more concern about the scores of teacher layoffs across Long Island.

Robert Vecchio, executive director of the Nassau-Suffolk School Boards Association, said he also saw a sense of solidarity among Long Islanders for their schools. He noted several districts approved their budgets by upward of 70%, "a very high approval percentage."

For example, Amagansett voters approved their school budget 148-43, a 77% endorsement. Commack voters approved theirs, 1,701 to 400, or 81%. And Brentwood voters' approval was 651-183, or 78%.

Once again, the power of the state teachers union showed itself in school board elections. Seventy-one of the 84 candidates endorsed by the New York State United Teachers were victorious, according to the union.

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Representatives of Key Capture Energy, a company seeking to build a 50-megawatt battery energy storage facility on LIPA-owned property in Shoreham, will make a presentation to the Wading River Civic Association tonight. “The project is tentatively proposed,” said Key Capture Energy representative Phil Denara. Denise Civiletti reports on Riverheadlocal.com that the company is currently conducting community outreach. “Our goal is to have a very inclusive process and ensure that all stakeholders are involved throughout the application process,” Denara said. Key Capture hopes to be able to begin construction in the fourth quarter of 2025, Denara said. The 57-acre site, which is located in the Town of Brookhaven, is already developed with the decommissioned nuclear power plant, built in the 1970s and ’80s, a 138kV substation and the Cross Sound Cable, which connects the LIPA power grid to suppliers in Connecticut. The BESS facility would be developed on a portion of the property on the west side of the site, which borders more than 300 acres of wooded, undeveloped land owned by National Grid. Battery energy storage systems, known as BESS, store electricity for distribution to the electric grid at times of peak demand or times when renewable energy production by wind or solar power generating facilities cannot meet demand. The civic association meeting will take place at 7:30 this evening at Wading River Congregational Church, 2057 North Country Rd., Wading River.

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Friends of the Long Pond Greenbelt and South Fork Natural History Museum (SoFo) invite you to join them tonight on a leisurely-paced Full Flower Moon Hike through open-field trails. In most areas, flowers are abundant everywhere during this time. Thus, the name of this Moon. Other names include the Full Corn Planting Moon, or the Milk Moon. Refreshments afterwards. Meet at the SoFo Museum parking lot, 377 Bridgehampton Turnpike 200 yards north of the LIRR tracks at 8:30pm.

To register email: [e-mail].

Leader: Dai Dayton, 631-745-0689.

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The Palm Tree Music Festival the Hamptons, a day-long electronic dance music festival slated to take place at Francis S. Gabreski Airport in Westhampton on June 22, appears to have been displaced by the Federal Aviation Administration’s rejection of its application to hold it there. Christopher Walsh reports on 27east.com that the festival is to feature Swedish House Mafia, the Norwegian D.J. Kygo, the Florida-based duo Sofi Tukker and the German producer and D.J. Purple Disco Machine as well as Xandra, Will Sass and Flat Stanley.

The festival was held at the airport in 2021, 2022 and last year, but a new FAA policy on the temporary closure of airports for non-aeronautical purposes took effect last June.

“The FAA must approve proposals to temporarily close a portion of an airport for non-aeronautical purposes, and advised the airport it would not grant approval for the event in future years,” according to a statement provided by the FAA’s New York Airports District Office.

The notice of the new policy, published in the Federal Register, “outlined new requirements for FAA approval of temporary closures, which the FAA applied when reviewing this proposal,” the statement reads.

Nonetheless, Squadra Entertainment, the festival’s production company, continued to offer tickets to the event this week. Three tiers of general admission tickets are priced between $229.38 and $387.11. Three tiers of VIP admission are priced between $397.42 and $572.68. Shuttle passes from Montauk and New York City, as well as a parking pass, are also offered.

The airport is owned by Suffolk County.

County Executive Ed Romaine said on Tuesday that “the county’s position is that we’ll appeal” the FAA’s decision, “but we’re not too hopeful that the appeal will be addressed successfully.”

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The executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey made an urgent appeal to passengers headed this summer to JFK Airport, which is undergoing an unprecedented $19 billion construction project: Take mass transit to get there.

“We are asking everyone, use mass transit when coming to JFK this summer,” Rick Cotton, executive director of the Port Authority, said in a news conference earlier this week. He added, “Leave extra time. And if you must drive, plan to use remote lots … We are pleading with people to access the airport by not coming into the close-in terminal area. That is what has the potential for the most congestion.”

He said the massive construction over the next two years, which will create two new international terminals and a new roadway network, seeks to transform Kennedy “into a world-class facility that will compare favorably to any airport in the country and abroad.”

Olivia Winslow reports on Newsday.com that the rebuilding of Kennedy comes as the start of the summer travel season — projected to attract a record number of travelers — gets underway. “The forecast for record summer travel will add to the potential for congestion,” Cotton said. “Nearly three-quarters of a million more passengers will pass through JFK than last summer.”

Travelers from Long Island can take the Long Island Rail Road to Jamaica station to the AirTrain or on the east end take Hampton Jitney’s airport connection to and from Queens.

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Southampton Village Hall and History Museum invite you to a celebration of the Village of Southampton Commission on Veterans Patriotic Events, Veterans Hall, and Village Veterans on May 24th from 5pm to 7pm at Veterans Memorial Hall, 25 Pond Lane Southampton.

Local veterans will share personal stories at 6pm.

All are welcome.

For more information, visit southamptonvillage.org.

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Long Islanders strongly favor a proposed “Equal Rights Amendment” to the state constitution but also support a Nassau official’s attempt to bar transgender athletes from competing in girls sports.

They also support restricting addictive social media feeds to minors, oppose hiking deposits on cans and bottles and paying higher power bills to support energy transition, and say the outcome of Donald Trump’s criminal trial won’t change their opinion of him one way or another.

Yancey Roy reports on Newsday.com that those were some of the findings in a survey Siena College conducted in conjunction with Newsday. The survey of 504 registered voters was conducted May 13-15 and has a margin of error of 5.9 percentage points, meaning answers could be that much higher or lower.

The Equal Rights Amendment would enshrine abortion rights in the NYS constitution, as well as establishing bans on discrimination based on several factors, including ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation and gender identity.

Overall, Long Islanders support the proposal, 52% to 33% — but that is a smaller margin than Siena found statewide, 59-26. Plus, Siena’s survey shows lawmakers’ decision to include other issues besides abortion drags down support.

Asked about protecting transgender rights, 46% of Long Islanders favored it, while 36% opposed; statewide, it was 48-32.

Asked about supporting an amendment to protect abortion rights and transgender rights, Long Islanders favored it 52%-33% — but that was a smaller margin than the 59-26 Siena found statewide.

While supporting the amendment, Long Islanders also favored Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman’s attempt to ban transgender athletes from competing in girls’ sports at county venues. A judge recently overturned the ban because Blakeman tried to do it through executive decree rather than go through the county legislature.

Still, residents support the idea of preventing male born athletes from competing against female born athletes, 53%-34% in Nassau County and 53-31 in Suffolk County.