While Brooklyn residents rejoiced Wednesday alongside Mayor Michael Bloomberg to news of the New York Islanders scheduled 2015 arrival at the Barclays Center, Nassau residents were left scratching their heads as to what went wrong.
"More than ever before, Brooklyn is the place where everyone wants to be," Bloomberg said shortly after the announcement of the Isles' departure. If Bloomberg's statement is right, it also means that Nassau County is now a place where nobody wants to be.
Local politicians expressed their disappointment Wednesday after news of the relocation broke, but that disappointment was lost on fans and residents who wanted answers.
Nassau residents and business owners began pointing fingers immediately after Islanders owner Charles Wang announced the first game of the 2015-16 season would be played in Brooklyn. From the taxpayers who voted down a referendum that would have allowed for a new arena to be built — pending NIFA's approval — to County Executive Ed Mangano, who some feel wasted time and a lot of money with that same vote, nobody was left off the ice (hockey reference).
Hempstead Town Supervisor Kate Murray said Wednesday that she was "disappointed" after learning of the team's departure.
"They’ve been a valued part of this region's identity, and we wish the team great success in the future," the supervisor said.
However, many local fans are also still bitter about Murray's role in denying the Lighthouse Project.
Originally proposed by in 2003, the massive Lighthouse Project proposal allotted for a five-star hotel, convention centers, shopping areas, offices, condos, restaurants and a brand new Nassau Coliseum.
The Lighthouse was rejected multiple times by Murray and the town's zoning board, who continually cited the "size, scope and character" as major problems.
In 2010, one blogger went as far to say that Murray "slit Long Island's throat" by standing against the project.
The blog reads:
Thank you Kate Murray, for treating a group that wanted to invest billions of dollars in the Town of Hempstead as an inconvenience.
Then, there's the team itself.
The Islanders performance on the ice over the last handful of seasons has not helped their cause. Since being eliminated by the Buffalo Sabres in the first round of the 2006-07 playoffs, the Islanders have not finished higher than 26th out of 30 teams in the National Hockey League.
The lack of wins on the ice has resulted in a lack of fans in the seats at the Nassau Coliseum.
The once-dominant franchise that won four consecutive Stanley Cup titles in the early 1980s had transcended into a team filled with ludicrous contracts and questionable trades. The theme, which started in the mid-2000s, crippled the Islanders for many seasons and the team is still recovering.
Superstar John Tavares was thought to be a savior when the team drafted him No. 1 overall in 2009, but even the 22-year-old phenom couldn't do it all.
But now, amidst a time when Nassau is already in financial dire straits, the team's relocation some 25 miles west begs for a serious answer to the question, "Who is to blame for the Islanders leaving Nassau County?"
And don't blame the fact that attendance was low for the last number of years and the team wasn't very competitive as one of the reasons for the move. The fact that the place was a dump...hands down the worst sports venue in the country.. kept many fans away and kept good players from wanting to play here. Politics and Nassau County voters are to blame.
It remains to be seen whether Kate Murray can withstand the political blow which will result from the hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenue and economic activity, due to the Islanders' imminent departure. Kate Murray presided over the proceedings in the Town of Hempstead that denied the Lighthouse Project, which led to the New York Islanders moving to the Barclay Center in Brooklyn.
She has a very narrow insight into any future that the TOH can have..... Make sure she is out of office.....
You know, like 1950 all over a gain.. Ahh, the good o'le days....... Now that would be progress.... Or maybe farm land with Indians again....
ALL BLAMIMG KATE MURRAY, WAS I THE ONLY ONE WHO VOTED AGAINST HER IN THE LAST ELECTION? DONT VOTE FOR NAMES YOU KNOW, REMEMBER THESE POSTS WHEN HER TERM IS UP. SERVING IS A PRIVELEGE NOT A CAREER EMPTY LOTS AND STORES PAY NOTHING TOWARD OUR TAXES. ITS A WRITE-OFF FOR THE LANDLORDS AND KICKBACKS TO POLS.
She'll probably tell us how she "saved us" from the Lighthouse project... I wish we could impeach her, someone just tell me how... BTW, anyone interested in a Facebook group? https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/367950993292171/
I voted for Gary Port (2011) and for Kristen McElroy (2009). Maybe in 2013 the Dems will actually *support* the candidate who runs against Kate Murray. Maybe.
That percentage will probably be very happy and will take the train from work to Brooklyn then after the game back to LI pick up their vehicles at whatever train station and go home.......... They are the big winners..... But overall the county lost 100 percent...
Murray's Mausoleum, because that's what it will become once the Isles leave. Name won't last long though, because the place will soon be torn down. As much as I hate to say it, she will be reelected in a landslide, as will her buddy Gooseby. People just don't care, don't know, don't want to know.-
Mangano announced plans to “reinvent” the Nassau Coliseum by bringing in Forest City Ratner Companies, the same developer responsible for Barclay’s Center. This is "to help transform the venue into becoming what the county described as ‘an attractive, state-of-the-art destination for sports & entertainment.’ " Really? Mangano is doing this NOW, after Wang’s hand was forced by the TOH & Nassau County & was left with no choice but to move? Why now? Why couldn’t this have been considered BEFORE Wang was left with no option but to move to Brooklyn? How is that going to be paid for? And how would the manner in which this is to be paid for now be any different vs. how such a course of action would have been funded with the Isles kept in place in Uniondale? I don’t get it. I would really like to see the media ensure making it a point to highlight this valid & legitimate aspect in order for this to be rightly addressed as it should be & not glossed over, minimized, trivialized & conveniently brushed under the rug. What a bunch of f&^%ing short-sighted baffoons trying to cover their a$$ in vain. Yet more of the same nonsense from the same inept, dysfunctional gov’t officials being paid by the taxpayer. Mind boggling & unbelievable. Pathetic. And unconscionable that they even have the temerity to act as though they are not complicit or culpable, as if they have done nothing wrong. A-WH()Le$
Demarco is on the money. Wang wanted to pay for the whole thing without Taxpayer money. shame on Nassau. I hate the Islanders, but I hate Kate Murray even more. How she got re-elected is a mystery to me.