Plans for prosperity at Coliseum, Belmont Park

Local leaders last week announced a plan that would ensure brighter futures for Belmont Park and the New York Islanders, bring thousands of jobs to Long Island, and create hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue.

Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano, New York Islanders owner Charles Wang and Town of Hempstead Supervisor Kate Murray spoke to hundreds of local residents at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, located on Hempstead Turnpike in Uniondale, announcing an Economic Development and Job Creation Plan. The plan includes building a world-class sports-entertainment center to replace the aging Coliseum, which would include a minor league ballpark and a new, $350 million hockey arena for the New York Islanders.

“Redeveloping the Hub is critical to creating jobs in our county and stimulating the local economy,” Mangano said, adding that he is putting the question of a new sports arena and minor league ballpark on local residents. “With the support of business and community leaders, I am advancing a countywide public referendum,” he said. “This referendum will allow residents to decide whether we should build a sports-entertainment destination at the site of Nassau Coliseum that retains our Islanders, construct a minor league ballpark and create thousands of jobs.”

Mangano said the arena would bring in hundreds of thousands of revenue dollars, which would be reinvested into the county. A percentage of the revenue would be shared by the New York Islanders, pursuant to a contract, he added.

On August 1, local citizens will be able to decide the fate of Mangano’s Economic Development and Job Creation Plan — an estimated $400 million bond issue — during the countywide public referendum. If residents approve the plan, construction is expected to begin in 2012, and the new sports arena would open no later than 2015.