Hofstra, one of the coliseum’s most powerful neighbors, has taken the Nassau County Planning Commission to court in an effort to halt the bid. “We will fight this proposal aggressively as long as it takes to convince our local and statewide leaders that they must say no to the casino,” she said in an interview. The mayor said she was “terribly disappointed” by the lease agreement, panning it as a “money grab.” Garden City’s mayor, Mary Carter Flanagan, said Wednesday that she was concerned about traffic, drunken driving and other crimes linked to casinos. Still, the Long Island bid has hardly been immune from pushback.Įarly this month, about 50 locals opposing the bid held a rally outside the Nassau County legislative building, The Long Island Press reported.Īnd the nearby village of Garden City passed a resolution last week opposing the casino plan. And the location of the site, beyond the teeming streets of the five boroughs, could spare it some of the blistering community criticism that city concepts have attracted. David Paterson is a top executive at Sands.

The Sheldon Adelson-founded firm is flush with cash. Sands appears to have built-in advantages in the bidding process. Under the lease agreement, Sands would pay about $60 million in the first year of the contract - regardless of the outcome of the bidding process - and then some $100 million a year if it wins the license, according to Nassau County. About a dozen developers are bidding for three downstate casino licenses - but existing so-called racinos are widely expected to win two of them.

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