LI Business News articles from August 2007

LI Business News archives from August 2007

State of New York: Empire Zones fall short.
August 1, 2007... Byline: Ambrose Clancy Thirty Suffolk County businesses, including 17 in Islip, have failed to meet hiring and investment projections required by the Empire State Development Corp. While some of the companies have received some of the...

Long Island's Jericho Atrium sold for $25M.
August 1, 2007... Byline: David Winzelberg Kimco Realty Corp. on Tuesday sold the 145,000-square-foot Jericho Atrium to Metropolitan Realty Associates of Garden City for $25 million. Kimco actually flipped the building, having acquired the property from...

Long Island Business News parent goes public.
August 2, 2007... Byline: David Reich-Hale Dolan Media, the parent company of the Long Island Business News, went public Thursday. The Minneapolis-based firm's shares opened on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "DM," with an initial...

Hauppauge-based Medical Action Industries rises.
August 2, 2007... Byline: Henry E. Powderly II Medical Action Industries on Thursday said its first quarter profit increased 34 percent on a robust spike in sales of medical and surgical disposable products. The Hauppauge-based company for the quarter ended...

Commentary: Summer of our discontent.
August 3, 2007... Byline: LIBN Staff Is it just us, or has the Spitzer administration started to look suspiciously like the Nixon White House? You remember - rogue staffers pulling dirty political tricks while the chief executive steam-rollers on, denying...

Start Ups.
August 3, 2007... Byline: Ambrose ]

Shillingsford rises at Hauppauge-based Albrecht, Viggiano, Zureck & Co.
August 3, 2007... Byline: Laura Theis John Shillingsford has been promoted to partner at Hauppauge-based Albrecht, Viggiano, Zureck & Co. after a three-year stint as a firm principal. Shillingsford has been with Albrecht Viggiano since 1996, when he...

On The Move.
August 3, 2007... Byline: Laura Theis ACCOUNTING Feldman, Meinberg & Co. promoted Michele McNamara, an employee of the firm since 2001, to manager. McNamara is a graduate of Hofstra University. Feldman Meinberg also promoted Mark Goldschmitt to manager....

Long Island Nonprofit Briefs: August 3, 2007.
August 3, 2007... Byline: Laura Theis J&B partners, kids jump into fundraising J&B Restaurant Partners, operator of Long Island's Friendly's restaurants, sponsored Jump Rope for Heart in July at various elementary schools across the Island, with...

Syosset-based Feldman, Meinberg & Co. promotes McNamara.
August 3, 2007... Byline: Laura Theis Feldman, Meinberg & Co. promoted Michele McNamara, an employee of the firm since 2001, to manager. McNamara is a graduate of Hofstra University. Feldman Meinberg also promoted Mark Goldschmitt to manager. Goldschmitt...

Santos joins TPG Architecture in LI.
August 3, 2007... Byline: Laura Theis ARCHITECTURE George Santos, former project manager at CannonDesign, has joined TPG Architecture as project director for the company's Health Sciences Studio. Santos will oversee the design, implementation and...

Long Island educational institutions announce staffing changes: August 3, 2007.
August 3, 2007... Byline: Laura Theis Michael Giambalvo was promoted to purchasing associate at SUNY College at Old Westbury after holding the assistant to the purchasing associate position for six years. Giambalvo will manage the acquisition of goods and...

Reinbach joins Uniondale-based Arbor Commercial Mortgage.
August 3, 2007... Byline: Laura Theis Sheree Reinbach, former associate at the law firm Arent Fox, joined Arbor Commercial Mortgage as associate general counsel. She will work with the company's commercial loan portfolio.

St. Francis Hospital in LI appoints Calichman new Department of Operational Research and Analytics.
August 3, 2007... Byline: Laura Theis The Heart Center at St. Francis Hospital appointed Murray Calichman director of the new Department of Operational Research and Analytics. Calichman will head a team of financial, clinical, IT and statistical...

Long Island law firms announce staffing changes: August 3, 2007.
August 3, 2007... Byline: Laura Theis The Nassau County Bar Association appointed Ellen Storch, who focuses on employment law and litigation at Garden City-based Moritt Hock Hamroff & Horowitz, secretary of its Labor and Employment Committee. Melissa...

Long Island non-profits announce staffing changes: August 3, 2007.
August 3, 2007... Byline: Laura Theis The Public Library Association and Baker & Taylor have awarded Sandra Feinberg, Middle Country Public Library director, the Charlie Robinson Award, given for innovation and development. Joann Fiorentino joined...

Spinato launches new public relations firm in LI.
August 3, 2007... Byline: Laura Theis Veteran television producer Eric Spinato has formed Spinato & Associates, a public relations firm that will look to place clients on television and in print and provide strategic media consulting. Spinato has worked for...

;PUBLIC RELATIONS.
August 3, 2007... Byline: Laura Theis PUBLIC RELATIONS Veteran television producer Eric Spinato has formed Spinato & Associates, a public relations firm that will look to place clients on television and in print and provide strategic media consulting....

Long Island real estate firms announce staffing changes: August 3, 2007.
August 3, 2007... Byline: Laura Theis New York City-based Skyline Title named Stephanie Lenti sales executive. Lenti has a Ph.D. in economics from Binghamton, where she served as an adjunct professor. The Wilmington, Mass.-based Richmond Company named...

Long Island technology firms announce staff changes: August 3, 2007.
August 3, 2007... Byline: Laura Theis Paul Corona joined Optimum Lightpath, the broadband service provider of Cablevision Systems Corp., as vice president of outside plant design and construction. Corona was vice president of construction and operation at...

Commentary: Say What?
August 3, 2007... Byline: Ambrose Clancy Businessman to attorney: "The seed deal came through. Even the mezzanine deal worked. But if we don't do the IPO, we'll take a haircut." Attorney to businessman: "Is the event a failure of condition precedent to...

Business hotel checking into Yaphank?
August 3, 2007... Byline: David Winzelberg Just off the beaten path, the Brookhaven Industrial Park in Yaphank doesn't look much like a traditional hotel garden spot. But now that the 120-acre park is sold out - and close to built out - there's a growing...

Pedal to the metal on LI transportation hub.
August 3, 2007... Byline: David Winzelberg The trucks stop here. Stuck in neutral for nearly a decade, a plan to build a Long Island transportation hub that would ease emissions, conserve energy and save millions of dollars in shipping costs is finally...

Prices for fuel uncomfortably close to highest average price ever seen on LI.
August 3, 2007... Byline: Ross Daly The dreaded $4 gallon of gasoline pundits predicted at the beginning of 2007 hasn't materialized, but high gas prices are still affecting consumers and businesses across the board. Fuel costs have remained stubbornly...

Empire State Development Corp.: 30 Suffolk 'Empire' firms failing.
August 3, 2007... Byline: Ambrose Clancy Thirty Suffolk County businesses, including 17 in Islip, have failed to meet hiring and investment projections required by the Empire State Development Corp. While some of the companies have received some of the...

Inventors to meet in Suffolk County-sponsored program.
August 3, 2007... Byline: Ambrose Clancy Later this month, in a Suffolk County meeting room, ideas will be bouncing off the walls. At least, that's the intention of a county-sponsored program called Inventors & Entrepreneurs Club of Suffolk County....

Reversal of fortunes for Woodbury-based Delta Financial.
August 3, 2007... Byline: Laura Theis Slow and steady may win the race for Delta Financial Corp. When interest rates plummeted toward record lows four years ago, anxious home-buyers turned to adjustable-rate mortgages to get into a house before the...

Long Island Business News Follow Ups: August 3, 2007.
August 3, 2007... Byline: LIBN Staff Lucky 13 find a home in Advocacy Center Not-for-profits are banging down the doors at the new Touro Law Center in Central Islip. As reported by LIBN in January, Touro Law has introduced a new Public Advocacy...

Proactive protest in Oyster Bay stymies Avalon plan.
August 3, 2007... Byline: David Winzelberg The "stop" signs are back in Oyster Bay. After a recent vote by the Oyster Bay Civic Association overwhelmingly rejected a scaled-down proposal for 150 apartments on the site of a former auto dealership,...

Commentary: Desert tragedy a blow for private space travel.
August 3, 2007... Byline: Alfonse D'Amato The nation's space program is in crisis and it has little to do with drunken astronauts. It's an issue for us regionally and within the far larger geopolitical arena. While the Apollo project of the 1960s was a...

It's into the fire for New Hyde Park-based State Bancorp.
August 3, 2007... Byline: Laura Theis Shareholders of New Hyde Park-based State Bancorp are suing certain bank officers and directors over damages paid in connection with the HSA Residential Mortgage Services case settlement. Ona Guthartz and her...

On-the-go biz owners in LI lining up for 'virtual offices'.
August 3, 2007... Byline: Ross Daly Last October, Peter Holmstedt was visiting such remote sites as Chile's Atacama Desert and the ancient Incan city of Machu Picchu in Peru, but that didn't keep him from checking on his Long Island gas stations. ...

Interview with Tom Smyth: Pres., chief executive of Hauppauge-based engineering firm.
August 3, 2007... Byline: LIBN Staff Tom P. Smyth, president and chief executive of Hauppauge-based GCI Environmental & Engineering Consultants, has seen his business and industry grow dramatically over the last several years. With offices in Stamford,...

Commentary: Spitzer shows shades of Kennedy, Carey.
August 3, 2007... Byline: James L. Larocca Elliot Spitzer has joined the company of two major political figures who stumbled badly in their freshman years in office. Both recovered and went on to great success. Elliot can do the same. President John F....

Commentary: Possible boycott of Israeli schools an academic threat.
August 3, 2007... Byline: Stuart Rabinowitz This summer, members of the University and College Union - the United Kingdom's largest trade union and professional association of academics, researchers and lecturers - will consider imposing a boycott on...

Online effort keeps Response of Suffolk County busy.
August 3, 2007... Byline: Kenneth R. Cerini It is often said, and more often understood, that the teenage years are among some of the most difficult. The body changes, relationships become more complex and a constant pressure to grow up leaves many...

Smaller is better, or just as good, for these LI credit unions.(Company overview)
August 3, 2007... Byline: Claude Solnik As they attempt to grow, Long Island's credit unions are thinking small. Emboldened by less-restrictive charters, Island credit unions founded to serve massive corporations are bulking up by reaching out to small...

Lake Success-based Astoria Federal Savings and Loan Assn. finds there is no substitute.
August 3, 2007... Byline: Claude Solnik An assistant vice president for the Lake Success-based Astoria Federal Savings and Loan Association, Cornibert has managed Astoria's Levittown branch even longer than it's been an Astoria branch. She ran the branch...

Ones to Watch: Long Island Financial Firms.
August 3, 2007... Byline: Claude Solnik Jane C. Duggan Vice president,Commerce Bank As the leader of Commerce's Long Island middle-market team since 2002, Duggan is an important part of this New Jersey-based bank's local operations. She helped Commerce...

It's life insurance on aisle six as banks in LI super-size services.
August 3, 2007... Byline: Claude Solnik Would you like to buy mutual funds, a life insurance policy or bonds? You could tap a financial services firm, but why bother? Let your banker be your broker. Faced by a challenging interest rate environment and...

So you want to apply for a small business loan.
August 3, 2007... Byline: Claude Solnik It's easy to think that decisions about whether businesspeople are granted loans are inevitably based on business records and credit history. It's also wrong. While there's no guarantee any business will or...

Commentary: Please don't confuse Spitzer and Bush.
August 3, 2007... Byline: Jerry Kremer President George W. Bush and Gov. Eliot Spitzer have little in common. For instance, as the president sinks into deeper denial, New York's governor apologizes to anyone and everyone for the recent acts of his...

Last laps for the Raceway in Riverhead? Now that's a stretch.
August 3, 2007... Byline: Jeff Miller Riverhead has become the Texas of the East End. Everything's big here these days - big deals, big money, big talk about big deals for big money. But not everything is big and new. Some things are relatively small...

LI's Stoney Brook Univ. is where the DigiGirlz are.
August 3, 2007... Byline: Ross Daly Stony Brook University is where the DigiGirlz are Students in the computer science building at Stony Brook University often open computers and remove their memory boards. But it's not often that those students are...

Long Island Real Estate Briefs: August 3, 2007.
August 3, 2007... Byline: David Winzelberg As the Town of Brookhaven ponders a new real estate transfer tax to pay for its proposed Community Preservation Fund, the Long Island Board of Realtors is pondering ways to fight it. It will probably be an...

Long Island Legal Briefs: August 3, 2007.
August 3, 2007... Byline: Ross Daly Federal court trashes several attorney ad regulations A federal judge in Syracuse has ruled that many new state regulations affecting attorney advertising are unconstitutional. The regulations, which took effect...

No job too small, or big, for this LI retail design pro.
August 3, 2007... Byline: Ambrose Clancy If you're selling creativity, don't get bogged down in management. That was an early lesson learned by Doug Horst, president of Horst Design International, an architectural planning and design firm concentrating...

The difference between an account and a relationship.
August 3, 2007... Byline: Jeffery Gitomer I made the sale! Great! Way to go! Now, calm down - what kind of sale? Any chance for an up-sell? A referral? Another sale? The sale is just one small part of the relationship. It's not the beginning of it...

Commentary: How to select a real estate firm.
August 3, 2007... Byline: Bernadette Starzee Real estate transactions, whether commercial or residential, are rife with potential snafus. Just as you would carefully choose a property, take your time and select a real estate firm that can expertly guide you...

Melville-based American Home: Shaken, rattled, rolled.
August 3, 2007... Byline: LIBN Staff If we haven't already learned the lesson, here's a reminder: In business, the ride down can sometimes exceed the speed of the journey to the top. The latest example is American Home Mortgage, which grew from a tiny...

Long Island Museum of Science and Technology founder Rossoff dies.
August 6, 2007... Byline: Henry E. Powderly II Arthur L. Rossoff, founder of the Long Island Museum of Science and Technology, died on Aug. 3. He was 85. Rossoff began his career as an engineer, working for the Radio Receptor company in 1950 and the...

Shares of Jericho-based Griffon Corp. tumble.
August 6, 2007... Byline: Henry E. Powderly II Shares of Jericho-based Griffon Corp. fell 18 percent Monday after the maker of garage door systems said its fiscal third-quarter profit tumbled 77 percent, weighed down by lower garage door and installation...

Nassau County could finish 2007 on budget.
August 6, 2007... Byline: Ross Daly Nassau County will finish 2007 either on budget or with a small surplus, county Comptroller Howard Weitzman said Monday, but only if the county continues to take aggressive measures to control spending through year-end....

Allnet Realty Group in Syosset acquired by Greenvale-based Century 21 Laffey Associates.
August 6, 2007... Byline: David Winzelberg Another small independent real estate firm bit the dust Monday. The Allnet Realty Group in Syosset has been acquired by Greenvale-based Century 21 Laffey Associates. The 15-year-old Allnet office at 6500...

Sub sale lifts Westbury-based Nathan's Famous Inc.
August 8, 2007... Byline: David Reich-Hale Nathan's Famous Inc. said Wednesday that the sale of its Miami Subs subsidiary helped push first-quarter earnings higher. Westbury-based Nathan's said net income for the quarter ended June 24 was $3.1 million,...

Long Island Assn. turns to George Stephanopoulos.
August 8, 2007... Byline: David Reich-Hale The Long Island Association said Wednesday that George Stephanopoulos, President Bill Clinton's former communications director and the host of ABC's This Week, will headline the organization's Fall Luncheon. ...

Woodbury-based Delta Financial shares collapse.
August 8, 2007... Byline: Laura Theis Delta Financial Corp. shares tumbled 33 percent in midday trading Wednesday after the company said on its Web site it had postponed the release of its second-quarter earnings report. The Woodbury-based lender was...

WMK&G moves headquarters from Hicksville to Woodbury.
August 8, 2007... Byline: Laura Theis Accounting firm Weisberg, Mole, Krantz & Goldfarb has moved its headquarters from Hicksville to 185 Crossways Park Drive in Woodbury. The firm spent seven years at the Hicksville facility before scrapping the...

Long Island-based Cablevision Systems gets boost.
August 8, 2007... Byline: Ross Daly Cablevision System Corp. said Wednesday the sale of two regional sports networks helped it report sharply higher second quarter profits. The Bethpage-based cable operator reported earnings of $317.4 million in the...

Empire State Development/Downstate spreads the wealth in LI.
August 9, 2007... Byline: Henry E. Powderly II Economic development agency Empire State Development/Downstate on Thursday said it will provide grants to three Long Island companies that have agreed to expand their local operations. First, the ESD, whose...

Hauppauge-based Orbit International Corp. mulls sale.
August 9, 2007... Byline: Henry E. Powderly II Orbit International Corp. on Thursday said it is considering selling the company. The Hauppauge-based electronic components manufacturer said it is working with investment banking firm Cove Partners, which...

Long Island Real Estate Briefs: August 10, 2007.
August 10, 2007... Byline: David Winzelberg A recent work session with Village of Hempstead trustees on the $2 billion plan to revitalize their downtown turned ugly. During the public comment portion of the evening, New York State Assemblywoman Earlene...

Long Island Legal Briefs: August 10, 2007.
August 10, 2007... Byline: Ross Daly State sticks it to automakers on greenhouse gases New York will require automakers to affix "global warming index" stickers detailing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions to new cars and trucks beginning...

Long Island financial firms announce staffing changes: August 10, 2007.
August 10, 2007... Byline: Erin E. Edmonds The Long Island Chapter of the Financial Planning Association, based in East Meadow, appointed Michael D. Kresh as its president. Kresh is also president of M.D. Kresh Financial Services. Bohemia-based Executive...

Long Island health care facilities announce staffing changes: August 10, 2007.
August 10, 2007... Byline: Erin E. Edmonds South Nassau Communities Hospital in Oceanside appointed Dean Paul Pappas chief of colon and rectal surgery. John T. Mather Memorial Hospital in Port Jefferson announced several appointments: Endocrinologist Dr....

Gervasi joins Melville office of Administaff.
August 10, 2007... Byline: Erin E. Edmonds Sal Gervasi was named district manager of the new Melville office of human resources provider Administaff. Gervasi had served as district manager at Administaff's New York City office.

Wiltshire joins new Hamptons location of Frank Crystal & Co.
August 10, 2007... Byline: Erin E. Edmonds John Wiltshire has joined Frank Crystal & Co. as a director in the personal insurance department of the Private Client Service unit's new Hamptons location. Wiltshire was an insurance broker at Amaden Gay Agencies...

Great Neck-based Garfunkel, Wild & Travis names Perzley as partner in the firm.
August 10, 2007... Byline: Erin E. Edmonds Great Neck-based Garfunkel, Wild & Travis named Alan H. Perzley, former senior attorney at the firm's New Jersey office, a partner at the firm.

Long Island non-profits announce staffing changes: August 10, 2007.
August 10, 2007... Byline: Erin E. Edmonds The Nassau County Museum of Art nominated Dr. Todd Cohen, an avid art collector, to its board of trustees. Cohen has a clinical cardiac electrophysiology practice in Mineola and is the director of...

Software developers thrive on Long Island.
August 10, 2007... Byline: Ross Daly Strong sales of Microsoft software development products prove that Long Island's tech industry is alive and well. About 13,000 software developers call Long Island home, according to figures assembled by Microsoft,...

Sick of McMansions, Town of Oyster Bay bans building.
August 10, 2007... Byline: David Winzelberg Super-sized residential development and the potential for more have prompted the Town of Oyster Bay to enact a six-month building moratorium. Specifically, the building ban affects the entire length of the...

LI professionals warn to be vigilant on 'key' policies.
August 10, 2007... Byline: Laura Theis Corporate life insurance policies - a.k.a. "key man" insurance, or policies bought by companies for critical employees - require more work than just paying premiums. And insiders say a lot of companies out there are...

Long Island Colleges: Big PLAN on campus.
August 10, 2007... Byline: David Winzelberg Colleges are starting to space out. Although they occupy more than seven square miles of prime Long Island real estate - conservatively valued at over $2.5 billion - Island college and university campuses are...

Long Island Business News Follow Ups: August 10, 2007.
August 10, 2007... Byline: LIBN staff A feather in his cap Hamptons real estate remains hot - we told you on May 18 about the unreal state of Hamptons real estate, which exists somewhere in its own stratosphere - but sometimes it's just for the birds....

New rules, new plan (maybe) on Motor Parkway in Islandia.
August 10, 2007... Byline: David Winzelberg An ill-fated plan for a residential high-rise in Islandia has been pulled, and a shorter development mixing retail, residential and a hotel may rise instead. Motor Parkway Associates LLC's new proposal for 12...

Defending comedy's place in the college curriculum in LI.
August 10, 2007... Byline: Claude Solnik Adelphi University junior Tegan Flanders is a hardworking and conscientious student, so naturally he spent finals night inside Manhattan's Gotham Comedy Club. Flanders and the classmates with him weren't blowing...

SAT snafus lead to surge in test-preparation courses in N.Y.
August 10, 2007... Byline: Claude Solnik The test-preparation industry is earning some big grades. As a whole, the industry is growing. Troubles with SAT scoring and other factors - the grading of SAT essays is subjective, according to some educators...

LI law school immerses students in the field they hope to master.
August 10, 2007... Byline: LIBN Staff When a public school refused to allow a deaf student to bring a dog to class, students at the Touro College Jacob D. Fuschberg Law Center reached their own conclusions - not as jurors or newspaper readers, but as...

Ones to Watch: Long Island Educational Institutions.
August 10, 2007... N.J. Delener Dean, School of Business, SUNY College at Old Westbury In addition to leading the college's business school since August of 2006, Delener serves as president of the 2,000-member Global Business and Technology Association,...

LIBN parent goes public, and the public likes it.
August 10, 2007... Byline: David Reich-Hale Dolan Media, the parent company of Long Island Business News, went public on Aug 2. The Minneapolis-based company's shares opened on the New York Stock Exchange, under the ticker symbol "DM," with an initial...

'Smart' moves produce tomorrow's Long Island classrooms today.
August 10, 2007... Byline: Claude Solnik Bye-bye, blackboards. Hello, smart boards. Take that old-fashioned podium and consign it to storage, too, because the new smart podiums are here. Colleges are busy trying to make students smarter, and to do it...

Interview with Richmond McCoy: Partner, Urban America.
August 10, 2007... Byline: David Winzelberg Richmond McCoy takes pride in helping restore neglected downtowns and providing a shot-in-the-arm to distressed neighborhoods. Urban America - which has investments in retail centers, office buildings and housing...

Melville-based American Home highlights LI's housing worries.
August 10, 2007... Byline: LIBN staff The American Home Mortgage collapse is more evidence of the heap of trouble that is Long Island's housing industry, and should remind us that if we don't fix our workforce housing shortage, there are many dark days ahead...

Commentary: Bracing for the waves of AHM collapse.
August 10, 2007... Byline: Martin Cantor Nobody expected the recent filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection by Melville-based American Home Mortgage Investment Co. Not the investment banking community, including virtually all of Wall Street's biggest...