October 23, 2007 9:35 AM
In a very nice press conference yesterday, Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi, and a host of prominent and decent Long Islanders called for "common sense solutions" to immigration issues. Suozzi announced that a task force will be formed and given 30 days to come up with a list of specific issues to tackle. It will then have six months to put together explicit recommendations on a plan of action.
Several of the speakers cited the Adelphi University study available here, crediting Latinos on Long Island with creating thousands of jobs, millions in tax revenue, and billions of dollars a year in local consumer purchasing power. Citing Congress' failure to tackle important and massive shortcomings in current law, Suozzi and the group called for local solutions to local problems caused by the broken federal immigration system.
It's about time.
Task forces, of course, have a way of being all bark and no bite, and so it remains to be seen how well this particular call to action will accomplish its goals. All the same, it's great to see Long Islanders speaking out for the vast majority of residents who want real and practical solutions to issues affecting our community.
Here's to wishing Suozzi's task force courage and the very the best of luck.
County Executive Suozzi deserves kudos for taking a step in the right direction - a direction which promotes tolerance and understanding. His task force serves as another way a compassionate culture is being cultivated in Nassau, while Suffolk politicians are comfortable letting the county stew in its racist reputation. It's time our leaders in Suffolk follow Suozzi's lead and create a similar committee, so that local solutions can positively impact all Long Islanders, not just our west end brothers and sisters.
By LI JwJ October 23, 2007 04:36 PM
O.K. this website is "Long Island Wins" so why are you giving so much coverage to the negative and not the positive?
'Kudos to Kappell" only earned him about 6 sentences, while "Suozzi, Long Islanders take a stand for "common sence" only earned 7 sentences. In contrast every article with negative implications earns at least twice as much space.
Just an observation.
By Mencham October 23, 2007 10:07 PM
Suozzi has consistently backed approaches that bring the immigrant and native born communities together.
By Pat Young October 24, 2007 09:56 AM
Mencham wrote:
this website is "Long Island Wins" so why are you giving so much coverage to the negative and not the positive?
Fair enough.
I'll try to be mindful of that balance in the future.
By Tegan October 24, 2007 01:08 PM
Don't you realize that when you call these people "decent" Americans, you imply that anyone with ever so much the slightest difference of opinion, is not decent. It's constantly presented this way. I find it extremely arrogant and very predictable. I attended a forum last night and listened to Darren Sandow speak about immigration issues and never once did he demean the opposition. This is the way to go. I may not agree with everything he said but I do respect the way he presented his cause.
By Ed October 25, 2007 09:49 PM