VRP Archives re: Post College / LIU

 

Hockey Arena

Let us consider some of the basic details of this now-cancelled proposal:

 

Location – it would have been located on the Post College campus, south of the main group of academic buildings and bordered by the athletic fields, the gold parking lot and the football fields / fieldhouse. The existing tennis courts would have been demolished to accommodate this massive structure.

Size – The seating capacity was given as approximately 4,000, but we wern’t able to hold them to an exact figure. The NCAA requires a minimum size in order to issue a classification of Division I, while the Village of Brookville would (presumably) want to place an upper limit on its maximum size. Thus, Post tried to convince the NCAA that the facility is big enough while simultaneously convincing us that it is really quite small. Further, you can imagine the parking requirements of a 4,000 seat sports arena. Parking is already a problem at Post and this complex would have only exacerbated that problem.

Control – the facility would have been operated by a third party that is not part of Long Island University. LIU has demonstrated a poor record of monitoring the activities of outside concessionaires on its campus. According to Jim Murphy, LIU’s attorney, LIU is currently suing the operator of the on-campus stables, because they cannot obtain voluntary compliance with existing agreements. If they cannot control a small stable, how will they control large entities like the Long Island Islanders (one of the principals) or the AFL-CIO pension fund (the source of the funding). The student newspaper, the Pioneer, has published countless allegations over the years, of LIU’s difficulties in overseeing its food service contractors. You can judge for yourself how well the Tilles Center’s activities are overseen.

Neighborhood Effects – the facility would have been within earshot of Old Wheatley Road and Horse Hill Road on the Brookville side and Whitney Lane and several small roads off of it on the Old Westbury side. LIU’s representatives will not acknowledge any neighborhood effects issuing from this complex. What do you think? Are they negotiating in good faith?