Residents clash in hempstead environmental meeting over proposed Sands Casino

The Town of Hempstead held its first official public environmental meeting on Jan. 18 regarding the environmental impact of a proposed project that by Las Vegas Sands to build a massive $4 billion resort and casino where the Nassau Coleisum currently sits.

In a heated showdown inside the Uniondale Marriott's ballroom, located right next to the Hub, over 300 Nassau County residents showed up to share their concerns — or praises — on the groundbreaking proposal. Tempers flared on both sides as they clashed with passionate and heated testimonies, with some residents calling for independent studies on the potential traffic, air, water and noise quality impacts a casino may have on the area.

But Sands Senior Vice President of Corporate and Social Responsibility, Tracey Edwards, said Sands is already on top of it and will be conducting their own environmental impact studies. Edwards acknowledged that Hempstead, Uniondale and Roosevelt and other surrounding areas are “disadvantaged communities with disproportionate environmental impacts,” but said that Sands will be looking at everything from potential impacts on water quality and soil, to air monitoring data, to “an extensive transportation and parking evaluation,” and more.

Despite this, many residents remain skeptical about the integrity of an environmental impact study carried out by the very same corporation behind the casino proposal — especially after Judge Sakira Kapoor’s ruling back in November 2023. Her ruling states that the county and Sands violated both the state's Open Meetings Law and the State Environmental Quality Review Act and should have first studied the environmental impacts before the Nassau County Planning Commission voted in favor of the 99-year lease to Sands in April 2023.

“I’m wearing a shirt today that says ‘environmental racism,’ because if this project goes through, that’s exactly what it would be,” said Pearl Jacobs, a long time Uniondale resident and president of the Nostrand Gardens Civic Association. “I’ve lived in Uniondale for over 30 years — an underserved minority community in Nassau County where the asthma rates among our youth are at 17 percent. The average for New York State is 8 percent,” she continued.

Jacobs says that a casino of this size right in their backyard would not do anything to mitigate the already disproportionate asthma rates. “If you put the casino there, traffic in this area would increase by 20-30,000 cars per day. How would that help mitigate our asthma rates? It would only exacerbate them,” she said.

Others, however, pointed out the potential benefits of the Sands project — such as the potential to employ 60,000 people, as well as a number of union jobs.

But not everybody was on the same page, as others pointed out the potential benefits, such as the employment of 60,000 people, as well as a number of union jobs that would foster through building the second largest casino in the country.

“An opportunity like this has never been presented before,” said Matthew Aracich, president of the Building and Construction Trades Council of Nassau and Suffolk Counties. “This gives us the opportunity to take people from the community and make sure they have not just jobs, but careers.”

According to county officials, construction alone is expected to create 12,000 jobs, and would ultimately employ at least 5,000 people on the premises permanently, with Las Vegas Sands representatives guaranteeing last June to pay their workers “above a living wage,” noting that there will be a collective bargaining agreement between the company and its employees union, and that the average starting salary “should be around $70,000 per year,” depending on the union agreement.

Educational Institutions like Long Island University and Nassau Community College have already jumped on board, hoping to launch their own hospitality programs in partnership with Sands that will help train people who might want to work at the Hub.

Annette Cella, a longtime Uniondale resident — and a former Teamster — says she lives across the street from the Hub and understands the need for jobs. Still, she fears the potential harms the project will bring outweigh the potential jobs being promised.

“I understand that jobs are necessary,” she said. “But really, I'm hoping and praying that something else can come to the Hub.”