CASINO BATTLE ROYAL
Nassau County wants gaming site; not in our backyard, says Hofstra U.
As a high-stakes competition unfolds for one of New York’s coveted casino licenses, an unusual struggle is emerging between Nassau County officials and Hofstra University.
The private college in Hempstead has come out firmly against a plan backed by Las Vegas Sands to build a casino at the site of the nearby Nassau Coliseum. A lawsuit by Hofstra stopped a lease transfer that left the bid in limbo.
But the dispute took a dramatic and unexpected turn last week when Nassau County accused Hofstra of “colluding” with a rival bid for a casino in Queens backed by New York Mets owner Steve Cohen and Hard Rock.
Officials subpoenaed university President Susan Poser to testify in front of the Nassau County Legislature and turn over all communications among people associated with Hofstra and Cohen, Hard Rock and several other corporations.
“The impropriety of the subpoenas is egregious,” Hofstra said in court documents, looking to throw out the subpoenas. “The subpoenas constitute a blatant effort to harass with no basis in law.”
In court filings, Hofstra accused local lawmakers of stepping beyond their authority and trying to circumvent the judicial process. They slammed the move as a “transparent” attempt by local lawmakers to “retaliate” against the university in the ongoing casino dispute.
The legal skirmish revolves around an agreement bidders for one of New York’s casino licenses must sign that says: “No attempt has been made or will be made by the applicant to induce any other person or entity to submit or not to submit an application or supplement to an application for the purpose of restricting competition.” Hofstra is not an applicant for a license. But the college has been sharply at odds with the county over the Sands casino bid. Last spring, Hofstra filed a lawsuit seeking to block it, saying the county had denied the university sufficient opportunity to provide feedback on a lease transfer for the site. A lower court state judge sided with Hofstra in the fall and annulled the 99-year lease agreement, leading Nassau County to appeal.
In the latest escalation, county officials charged Wednesday that Hofstra had coordinated with Cohen’s office and Hard Rock to block the rival bid from Las Vegas Sands on Long Island.
Hard Rock has rejected the claim. “It is ironic and disingenuous that Hofstra has been calling for transparency and is now trying to duck out of a hearing to explain their relationship with Hard Rock, its affiliates, subsidiaries and related groups,” Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman said Thursday in a statement. “What does Hofstra have to hide?”
The state is expected to award three downstate licenses, but competition is fierce as two of the downstate licenses are expected to go to existing “racinos” in Yonkers and South Ozone, Queens.
In New York City, there are five contenders in Midtown, one in the Bronx at Ferry Point, the Queens proposal by Cohen and one in Brooklyn for Coney Island.
Hofstra managed to delay the county’s subpoena until next month, but a judge ruled late Friday that the university has to provide the answers that county officials are looking for.
Blakeman cited a recent Newsday column that described a lobbyist in an email exchange with Cohen’s asset management firm and Hard Rock planning to check with Hofstra if it will oppose a recent development.
The university president denied contact with casino bidders outside Nassau County, according to the column.
“No evidence was offered at the press conference of such communication or of any improper conduct by Hofstra University,” a lawyer for Hofstra said in court documents, “yet great effort was taken to malign Hofstra University and announce the issuance of subpoenas to it.”
Four bolts — and their mysterious disappearance — are at the center of the MTA’s investigation into the Jan. 10 derailment of an F train in passenger service in Brooklyn, the Daily News has learned.
MTA investigators are trying to track down the high-strength Grade 8 bolts, which were noticed missing from the undercarriage of the derailed car when crews arrived on the scene at Coney Island, transit sources told The News.
The bolts are supposed to affix to a train’s undercarriage a piece called the “radius arm,” which helps keeps subway cars’ massive wheels and axles in place.
Properly installed radius arms keep wheels correctly aligned as trains move, subway car experts explained.
“If that [radius arm] falls off or breaks, it can derail a train,” said a transit source with knowledge of subway car maintenance.
The fourth car of the northbound F train jumped the elevated track at midday Jan. 10 as the train approached the Neptune Ave. station.
No one was injured in the incident. Photos from the scene show one of the fourth car’s trucks — the wheel, motor and brake packages that make up the undercarriages of subway cars — more than a foot off the rails.
Those photos also show one of the subway car’s eight radius arms, boltless and disconnected — an assessment confirmed by multiple transit sources.
Investigators have yet to determine the cause of the derailment, and have not ruled out track issues or other factors.
But an MTA spokesman confirmed Friday that the agency believes the bolts may have contributed to the incident.
It is not yet clear whether the bolts broke before they disappeared, or if they were not properly installed in the first place.
Sources told The News that vandalism was not being considered as a factor.
When properly affixed to the train, the radius arm bolts are secured against accidental loosening with a metal cotter pin, according to a diagram of the truck reviewed by The News.
While bolts can loosen over time from the vibrations and mechanical shocks of everyday train service, critical fasteners on trains are checked at regular inspections, said experts on subway maintenance.
The trucks on the car that derailed, a Kawasaki R160, were last inspected on Nov. 21, and had traveled roughly 9,000 miles before the derailment, according to sources.
That’s within the MTA’s maximum allowed inspection interval of every 78 days, or 12,000 miles.
An MTA spokesman told The News that as a precautionary measure, some 50,000 radius arm bolts have been checked across the subway fleet since the derailment. The bolts have been checked on R160s and cars of similar design.
A typical 10-car train of R160 cars should have 320 such bolts.
The MTA said no “systemic issues” were found during the inspections, and officials believe riders are not currently at risk.
MTA officials have previously said an issue with the track along that section of the Culver Line — which carries the F train over southern Brooklyn — was the likely cause for the derailment.
Investigators are now looking into whether an issue with the track could have exacerbated the damage to the train’s undercarriage, sources said.
The section of track where the train derailed had passed a walking inspection the day before, and was inspected by the agency’s track geometry car in November.
Days before the Coney Island derailment, on Jan. 4, two slow-moving trains collided on tracks near the W. 96th St. and Broadway subway station on the Upper West Side, injuring 24 people, none seriously.
That incident is under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board.