LI Business News articles from May 2005

LI Business News archives from May 2005

Consultants can offer help to family businesses.
May 6, 2005... Byline: Adina Genn Is your family business in conflict? If the answer is yes, it may be time to call in a consultant who specializes in family business. That's according to Ellen Frankenberg, author of "How do you find the right...

Expert says business research on competition is vital to developing business plan.
May 6, 2005... Byline: Adina Genn Business research is vital to the growth of any firm. And it is critical in developing a business plan. What kind of stats do entrepreneurs seek? The most crucial item is information about the competition, says...

Commentary: Decide on what drives you - and then build the business.
May 6, 2005... Byline: Vikram Rajan In some way, I've felt like an entrepreneur all my life. I grew up on Long Island watching my dad shuttle back and forth to New York City every day. I knew even before college that commuting wasn't for me. I've always...

Long Island turnaround expert turns CFO-for-hire.
May 6, 2005... Byline: Adina Genn In February, Barry Knepper opened Jericho-based CFO Business Solutions, which offers part-time chief financial officer skills to small- and medium-sized companies. His only regret? That he didn't do it sooner. ...

State Univ. of New York Police Chiefs Assn. names president.
May 6, 2005... Byline: Henry Powderly Michael Yanniello, chief of police for SUNY College at Old Westbury, was named president of the State University of New York Police Chiefs Association. He will lead the organization, which addresses security and...

LI marketing firms announce staffing changes: May 6, 2005.
May 6, 2005... Byline: Henry Powderly Kevin Kelly, president and CEO of Big Buzz Internet Solutions in Plainview, was elected to the Long Island Advertising Club's board of directors for a two-year term. Rockville Centre-based Harrison Leifer DiMarco...

Sterling Glen of Glen Cove names activities director.
May 6, 2005... Byline: Henry Powderly Senior living residence Sterling Glen of Glen Cove named Barbara Neill activities director. She had been assistant director of therapeutic recreation and a recreation therapist at Roslyn Heights-based Sunharbor...

Garden City-based U.S. Trust names two new managing directors.
May 6, 2005... Byline: Henry Powderly Garden City-based U.S. Trust named Edward C. Kline and James G. Dempsey managing directors. Kline will be senior trust officer and manager of the firm's client services department. He joined U.S. Trust's...

Nassau County Village Official Assn. elects president.
May 6, 2005... Byline: Henry Powderly Stephen Mahler, mayor of the Village of Atlantic Beach, was elected president of the Nassau County Village Officials Association. He has been the mayor of Atlantic Beach since 1996.

LI medical facilities announce staffing changes: May 6, 2005.
May 6, 2005... Byline: Henry Powderly Riverhead-based Central Suffolk Hospital appointed six members to its board of directors: Ear, nose and throat doctor Kevin Braat, CSH Auxiliary President Peter Cangialosi, Meyer, Suozzi, English & Klein partner...

Garden City-based Sahn Ward & Baker names counsel to the firm.
May 6, 2005... Byline: Henry Powderly Garden City-based firm Sahn Ward & Baker named Richard J. Weinberg counsel to the firm. He had been managing partner at Weinberg & Kert.

Long Island Fund for Women and Girls adds to board of director.
May 6, 2005... Byline: Henry Powderly Susan Kravitz, Nassau Community College associate dean of arts and humanities, was named to the Long Island Fund for Women and Girls' board of directors. She is a photographer.

CB Richard Ellis names new first VP of Woodbury-based Long Island Office.
May 6, 2005... Byline: Henry Powderly CB Richard Ellis promoted Jeffrey M. Gold to first vice president of its Woodbury-based Long Island Office. He had been a sales associate. Uniondale-based Arbor Realty Trust named Robyn C. Stern executive vice...

Long Islanders Receive Awards & Recognition: May 6, 2005.
May 6, 2005... Byline: Henry Powderly Sondra Kronberg received the 2004 Excellence in Education and Treatment Award from the National Eating Disorder Association. She is the wellness and nutritional director at Dash Systems, a life coaching firm based in...

Central Suffolk Hospital adopts new a new philosophy.
May 6, 2005... Byline: Ken Cerini Anyone that has ever been to a hospital knows that they are not always the most pleasant and comforting environments. That is slowly changing. Hospitals, like many other businesses, are looking for a competitive edge....

Fundraiser for Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University scheduled.
May 6, 2005... Byline: Henry Powderly The Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University will host "Spring Forward for Celiac: A Gala Concert" May 23 at the Tilles Center for Performing Arts in Brookville. Grammy-winning saxophonist Richie Cannata, pianist...

Ward Melville Heritage Organization launches afternoon high-tea series.
May 6, 2005... Byline: Henry Powderly The Ward Melville Heritage Organization has launched an afternoon high-tea series to celebrate the legacy and music of singer and jazz legend Ella Fitzgerald. At each tea party, Ella, portrayed by actress Carolyn...

TheCelebrityCare.com hosting party to benefit the Lupus Alliance.
May 6, 2005... Byline: Henry Powderly On May 22, TheCelebrityCafe.com is hosting a party to benefit the Lupus Alliance of America Long Island and Queens Affiliate. An auction will include eclectic prizes like Cocojor Hawaiian clothes for dogs and...

West Islip-based Good Samaritan Hospital recognizing employees.
May 6, 2005... Byline: Henry Powderly The American Hospital Association's National Hospital Week begins May 7. In response, West Islip-based Good Samaritan Hospital will recognize its employees as well as offer hospital tours to the public. The week's...

LI's KeySpan supports 'green' buildings.
May 6, 2005... Byline: Henry Powderly This Earth Day, KeySpan urged residents and business owners to take advantage of its "Green Cinderella" grant program. The fund is intended to support environmentally sound building design and construction, and the...

North Shore University Hospital and LI Jewish Medical Center work toward merger.
May 6, 2005... Byline: Claude Solnik In April, Dr. Thanjavur S. Ravikumar left his job as surgeon-in-chief at Montefiore Medical Center and headed to the Island. His new role? Chairman of surgery for North Shore University Hospital and Long Island Jewish...

Tech vets: Pets get cutting-edge healthcare once reserved for humans.
May 6, 2005... Byline: Claude Solnik Dr. Dominic Marino recently did something that thousands of doctors do every day: He surveyed an MRI, reviewing the shadowy image that formed, in this case, on his laptop. And soon after, he performed surgery in an...

Men (slowly) warm up to cosmetic surgery, procedures.
May 6, 2005... Byline: Claude Solnik Two years ago, Steven Carl, the owner of the Carlyle on the Green and the Oak Room restaurant in Bethpage State Park, began his own makeover. He dieted, exercised and worked with personal trainer Bobby Barone, slowly...

As workers get older, cosmetic surgery becomes an option.
May 6, 2005... Byline: Claude Solnik As an aging workforce battles with younger competition for jobs, they're turning to someone other than a resume-writer for help. They're looking for plastic surgeons. "The older and more experienced people...

From Hubble to home; high-tech fuels laser surgery surge.
May 6, 2005... Byline: Claude Solnik At the Stahl Eye Center, doctors used to shoot for 20/20 vision in laser surgery. Today, thanks to new equipment and technological advances, that's no longer the touchstone of success - not when you can get down to...

Fear, not just finances, holding people back from laser eye surgery.
May 6, 2005... Byline: Claude Solnik You're not allowed to have it if you're under 18. No, we're not talking about alcohol or cigarettes. We're talking about laser eye surgery, which the FDA has approved only for people age 18 and older. But which...

LI-based Acclaim Entertainment unloads comic book business.
May 6, 2005... Byline: Claude Solnik A trio of bidders have agreed to buy the rights to a wide range of superheroes from Acclaim Entertainment's roster for $925,000 for use in comics and other media, after an earlier offer to the bankrupt company fell...

FAA downs Farmingdale State Univ.'s air proposal.
May 6, 2005... Byline: Heather Fletcher The Federal Aviation Administration shot down a proposal this week by Farmingdale State University of New York to open a training center that would help alleviate an apparent shortage of air traffic controllers....

Town of Riverhead OKs outlet complex.
May 6, 2005... Byline: Dawn Wotapka Hardesty The sprawling Tanger Outlet Center is about to get a little neighborly competition. Construction should start this summer on a 35,000-square-foot structure between the outlet's two buildings in Riverhead,...

New mixed-use building in downtown Freeport expected to spark Main Street renaissance.
May 6, 2005... Byline: Dawn Wotapka Hardesty With its soaring ceilings, rooftop terraces and bold black appliances, the Main Street Mews could easily fit into one of the many hip residential areas of Manhattan. Only the Mews is in downtown Freeport,...

Football team offers block in trademark fight with LI-based Systemax.
May 6, 2005... Byline: Ken Schachter A Canadian football team owner is offering to throw a block for Apple Computer in its battle over the trademark "Tiger" with a Long Island computer company. Calling the lawsuit "a load of codswallop," Bob Young,...

LI-based CosmoCom forms alliance with Microsoft.
May 6, 2005... Byline: Ken Schachter CosmoCom Inc., a fast-growing maker of contact center software, has hitched a ride on the technology equivalent of the Mothership. The 9-year-old company has formed an alliance with Microsoft Corp., the Redmond,...

LI-based Bank of Smithtown considers expansion into Brooklyn.
May 6, 2005... Byline: David Reich-Hale Hot off its expansion into Nassau County in April, Bank of Smithtown is setting its sights even farther west to Brooklyn. Bradley Rock, the chief executive of the bank, said it hopes to place bank branches in...

Paul Brorstrom Townsend, passionate LI advocate, dead at 86.
May 6, 2005... Byline: Heather Fletcher The phone wouldn't stop ringing at Terry Townsend's home on Monday. All the callers wanted to talk about was her husband, Paul Brorstrom Townsend, a legendary advocate for economic development and philanthropic...

Rainy April leads to delays in Long Island wine industry.
May 6, 2005... Byline: LIBN Staff Local sporting events weren't the only things washed out during the rainy days of April. A recent string of downpours has delayed the first signs wine grapes sprouts, although that doesn't necessarily mean it will...

LI-based Lounge Lizard Worldwide launches PR, event planning division.
May 6, 2005... Byline: LIBN Staff Ad agency Lounge Lizard Worldwide Inc. has launched a public relations and event planning division. "We like to think of our company as more of a chameleon than a lizard because we are always adapting and changing to...

Events address Long Island's aging population, youth exodus.
May 6, 2005... Byline: Adina Genn If finding qualified workers seems challenging now, just wait. Projections indicate that hiring capable employees will become even more difficult. On Long Island, the New York State Department of Labor anticipates...

Hofstra University connects to 'Internet2'.
May 6, 2005... Byline: Ken Schachter Hofstra has joined Stony Brook as the first Long Island universities to connect to a super-high-speed network widely known as Internet2. Hofstra connected May 2 through the New York State Education and Research...

NY Supreme Court OKs Stony Brook Univ.'s seizure of land from Gyrodyne Co.
May 6, 2005... Byline: Dawn Wotapka Hardesty Stony Brook University's plan for a research and development campus took a step closer to fruition when the state Supreme Court decided the school can seize the land from Gyrodyne Co. of America. The...

LI-based Netsmart Technologies makes acquisition.
May 6, 2005... Byline: LIBN Staff Netsmart Technologies Inc. has acquired most assets of ContinuedLearning LLC of St. Petersburg, Fla., for $250,000 in cash, 20,000 shares of Netsmart stock and potential additional payments of up to $550,000 based on...

LI-based Cablevision Systems selling Sprint wireless service.
May 6, 2005... Byline: LIBN Staff Cablevision Systems has begun selling Sprint PCS wireless service at its online stores, though the deal stops short of incorporating wireless into its "triple play" bundle of video, voice and Internet service. Under...

LI-based OSI Pharmaceuticals files to market Tarceva for pancreatic cancer.
May 6, 2005... Byline: LIBN Staff OSI Pharmaceuticals Inc. and its partner Genentech Inc. have applied to the Food and Drug Administration for approval of Tarceva as a front-line treatment for patients with advanced pancreatic cancer. In a Phase III...

LI-based Shares of NBTY Inc. drop nearly 7%.
May 6, 2005... Byline: LIBN Staff Shares of NBTY Inc. tumbled nearly 7 percent to $21.32 after the vitamin and nutritional supplement maker reported that second-quarter profits were cut in half due to rising raw materials and advertising costs. The...

Commentary: The times call for a new era of giants.
May 6, 2005... Byline: LIBN Staff Paul Townsend was the perfect man for his times. He was a big thinker in the style of Robert Moses and an agent of change at a time when Long Island was ripe for it. Even after the region settled into the comfortable...

Commentary: Bush should fight for ambassador nominee.
May 6, 2005... Byline: John Kiernan It will be interesting to see how events play out leading up to next Thursday's Senate Foreign Relations Committee vote on the nomination of Under Secretary John Bolton to be the ambassador to the United Nations. ...

Commentary: Sen. Frist, Rep. Delay call the shots in modern day politics.
May 6, 2005... Byline: Jerry Kremer Leonardo DiCaprio makes a lot of good movies. "Gangs of New York" gave us a great insight into the early politics of New York City. "The Aviator" gave us a view of how Congress manipulates things for the well...

Long Island banks say 'no' to many mortgage applicants.
May 6, 2005... Byline: David Reich-Hale Each of the two largest banks in the region rejected more than 20 percent of Long Island mortgage applications in 2004, according to statistics compiled by Inner City Press/Fair Finance Watch, a Bronx-based...

LIers staff Queens office for Signature Bank.
May 6, 2005... Byline: David Reich-Hale New York-based Signature Bank is tapping a group of Long Island banking veterans to launch the company's first office in Queens. Jeffrey P. Schmitz, who had started Sterling National Bank's Long Island middle...

Great Neck-based Fortress Global releases 'Agent Check Plus.
May 6, 2005... Byline: David Reich-Hale Great Neck-based Fortress Global Investigations has released Agent Check Plus, a program that assists insurance companies in identifying questionable agents, brokers and other representatives. Agent Check Plus...

Cablevision's MSG unit using text messaging to gain support in spat with Time Warner.
May 6, 2005... Byline: Ken Schachter Cablevision Systems, which always seems to be in one scrap or another, has adopted a new weapon in its publicity war against Time Warner Cable. Cablevision's MSG unit, owner of Madison Square Garden, the Knicks...

MarketWatch names OSI Pharmaceuticals 'Stupid Investment of Week'.
May 6, 2005... Byline: Ken Schachter Wall Street analysts and Long Island's life sciences industry may love OSI Pharmaceuticals, but columnist Chuck Jaffe at Marketwatch.com is less enthused. Jaffe spotlighted cancer drug maker OSI in his "Stupid...

Briarcliffe College dangles scholarship in 'Net graphic, photo contest.
May 6, 2005... Byline: Ken Schachter Unless you're a running back or a power forward, it's not easy to get a full ride at a college these days. Bethpage-based Briarcliffe College, however, is offering a full academic scholarship to the winner of an...

Suffolk elementary pupils to take part in BNL science fair.
May 6, 2005... Byline: Ken Schachter Pupils from more than 100 Suffolk schools will converge on Brookhaven National Laboratory May 7 for the 2005 edition of its elementary school science fair. Among the experiments and displays by the children in...

Web speculators buy pope-related domain names before ascension of Cardinal Ratzinger as pope.
May 6, 2005... Byline: Ken Schachter Holy foresight! A Florida man grabbed the BenedictXVI.com Web address weeks before the ascension of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as pope, according to a report in The Washington Post. Rogers Cadenhead got the domain...

Miriam Villani to state: LI must rid air of hazardous waste vapors.
May 6, 2005... Byline: Heather Fletcher Miriam E. Villani, former assistant regional counsel for the division of the Environmental Protection Agency that serves Long Island, thought the main pollution problem for Nassau and Suffolk counties was hazardous...

NY State Sen. Skelos wants to set standard for drug-testing student athletes.
May 6, 2005... Byline: Heather Fletcher State Sen. Dean Skelos, R-Rockville Centre, wants to set a statewide standard for drug-testing student athletes. Skelos expects the Senate to act soon on legislation that would set a state standard for drug...

Survey says law firms plan to expand staff.
May 6, 2005... Byline: Heather Fletcher Fifty-five percent of attorneys plan to hire in the next 12 months, according to the latest survey by Robert Half Legal, a legal staffing firm based in Menlo Park, Calif. The survey, released on April 28, said...

Suffolk County's smoking laws changing.
May 6, 2005... Byline: Heather Fletcher In Suffolk, 18-year-olds have until May 16 to smoke. That's more than many vendors thought they had. On April 29, the Suffolk County Department of Health Services accidentally said that the law would take...

Suffolk County announces 'Shellfish Aquaculture Leasing Program'.
May 6, 2005... Byline: Heather Fletcher Last week Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy announced a "Shellfish Aquaculture Leasing Program" for Peconic and Gardiners bays. The county leader hopes the program will "revive the once-thriving shellfishing...

Weiss Realty Corp. updates Melville Corporate Center design.
May 6, 2005... Byline: Dawn Wotapka Hardesty A picture on the oversized wooden sign detailing the planned Melville Corporate Center III is missing something - two floors. But don't accuse the artist of making a mistake. Ted Weiss, the president...

Managing director of Coldwell Banker Commercial Rosner & Associates announces deals.
May 6, 2005... Byline: Dawn Wotapka Hardesty It's not often that a former adult home needs a new owner. But Lee Rosner, the managing director of Coldwell Banker Commercial Rosner & Associates, found a taker for an empty 172-bed facility in East...

Gourmet grocer signs long-term lease in Wantagh.
May 6, 2005... Byline: Dawn Wotapka Hardesty Iavarone Bros., a small chain of family-owned gourmet markets, opened in the Cherrywood Shopping Center on Wantagh Avenue in Wantagh. The remodeled 12,375-square-foot location replaces Cherry Farms, described...

Hauppauge-based Global Delivery quadruples space.
May 6, 2005... Byline: Dawn Wotapka Hardesty Business must be booming for Global Delivery, a storage, warehousing and trucking company in Hauppauge. How else do you explain its need to almost quadruple its space within a year? The company recently leased...

Sterling Floor Designs relocating to Commack.
May 6, 2005... Byline: Dawn Wotapka Hardesty Sterling Floor Designs is relocating from Skyline Drive in Plainview to 46,000 square feet at 82 Modular Avenue in Commack. The 26-year-old company, which supplies and installs carpet, ceramic tiles and wood...

LI-based Misonix petitions FDA to treat wounds with ultrasound.
May 6, 2005... Byline: Dawn Wotapka Hardesty Ultrasonic medical device company Misonix has filed an application with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the right to use its Ultrasonic Wound Debridement System to help heal wounds. The...

LI's Southside Hospital debuts stroke unit.
May 6, 2005... Byline: Claude Solnik Southside Hospital has opened a stroke center designed to provide swift treatment for stroke victims. The four-bed unit, which opened March 31 at the Bay Shore hospital, is staffed with nurses and physicians with...

Stony Brook Univ. researcher nets $200K for AIDS research.
May 6, 2005... Byline: Claude Solnik A Stony Brook University professor has been awarded a $200,000 grant from the New York State Office of Science, Technology and Academic Research to research drugs to fight HIV and AIDS. Robert Rizzo, a Stony Brook...

Support groups take isolation out of entrepreneurship.
May 6, 2005... Byline: Adina Genn Most entrepreneurs agree that running a company is a lonely experience. Only those who've walked in their shoes understand the risks, the decisions, even the can-I-meet-payroll panic they encounter. Mitch Schlimer...

NYC-based Tralliance Corp. holds keys to new '.travel' domain name.
May 13, 2005... Byline: Ken Schachter As accounting manager, Herb Deaton crunches numbers for Journey House Travel in Oklahoma City, but recently he has taken to trolling the 'Net in his spare moments. Far from gawking at photos of new Tom Cruise...

Investor group to Astoria Financial: Execs making enough.
May 13, 2005... Byline: David Reich-Hale An investment group with a significant stake in Astoria Financial Corp. is calling on shareholders to vote against a proposed stock incentive plan worth about $140 million at current share prices. The incentive...

Long Island court dealing with shortage of court reporting.
May 13, 2005... Byline: Heather Fletcher Growing court and attorney activity, coupled with a decline in attendance at court reporter schools, has led to a shortage so acute that would-be legal stenos are being recruited even before graduation. On the...

Blumenfeld Development Group putting bulk of Long Island portfolio on market.
May 13, 2005... Byline: Dawn Wotapka Hardesty The Blumenfeld Development Group has retained a Wells Fargo subsidiary to market the bulk of its Long Island office portfolio, a seven-building package that local experts say could fetch $90 million. The...

Northeast companies ride downhill curve of better business.
May 13, 2005... Byline: Adina Genn Could the Northeast economy, at long last, be on the greener side of the fence? New signs suggest so, and one of those is a statistic unearthed by SurePayroll, a company that tracks employment, earnings and...

Roadside-bomb detector under development on LI.
May 13, 2005... Byline: Ken Schachter A Long Island company backed by heavyweight venture capital firm Topspin Partners is working to build a device that could detect the road-side bombs used to pick off American troops in Iraq. Anthony Favale,...

Town of Brookhaven, Suffolk County slash permit turnaround times.
May 13, 2005... Byline: Heather Fletcher A year ago, Suffolk County and the Town of Brookhaven heard from fed up residents and developers complaining about five-month backlogs in wastewater and building permit application approvals. Now, those wait...

2-minute drill with Robert F. Quinlan of the Suffolk County Bar Assn.
May 13, 2005... Byline: Heather Fletcher How do you want to change the SCBA and why? I don't know if I want to change the Suffolk County Bar. I would think it would be more accurate to say that there are some issues that are confronting the bar, in...

Global trade spurs rise in worldwide suits.
May 13, 2005... Byline: Heather Fletcher Call it the court of international appeal. The increasingly global nature of business has led to a steady rise in global litigation, and James P. Duffy III is on the front lines, viewing the worldwide legal...

TD Waterhouse Cup moves tennis tournament from LI to New Haven, Conn.
May 13, 2005... Byline: LIBN Staff Fans of the TD Waterhouse Cup will have to go to Connecticut to see some up-close tennis action this year. That's because the U.S. Tennis Association has approved a bid by the organizers of a women's tournament, the...

Women's Entertainment conducting search for women to date man left at the altar.
May 13, 2005... Byline: LIBN Staff From the shameless publicity-grabbing department (aka the all-in-good-fun dept.) comes this bulletin: Cable channel WE: Women's Entertainment, a unit of Cablevision Systems, is conducting a nationwide search for...

NY's clothing tax remains - at least for now.
May 13, 2005... Byline: David Reich-Hale A provision in the New York budget states that if any tax cuts take place next year, the tax on clothing purchases below the $110 threshold will be eliminated. But financial experts aren't holding their breath....

Walter Bachelder, Testing Machines Inc. chairman, dead at 86.(Obituary)
May 13, 2005... Byline: LIBN Staff Walter F. Bachelder, longtime chairman of Ronkonkoma-based Testing Machines Inc., died of heart failure May 9. He was 86. Bachelder joined the family test instrument business in 1947 following service as an...

LI-based Koch Entertainment being acquired by Canadian firm.
May 13, 2005... Byline: David Reich-Hale Privately held music and video distributor Koch Entertainment is being acquired by Markham, Ontario-based Row Entertainment Income Fund for about $80 million. The price includes $55 million in cash, $20 million...

LI-based Cablevision posts loss despite higher revenue.
May 13, 2005... Byline: LIBN Staff Cablevision Systems Corp. reported first-quarter revenue grew to $1.21 billion, a 6 percent increase over the $1.15 billion reported in the prior year's period. The company's net loss narrowed a bit to $119 million,...

Marines to recall DHB armored vests.
May 13, 2005... Byline: LIBN Staff The Marine Corps is recalling 5,277 DHB Corp. armored vests after a Marine Times story noted that they were issued to troops after waivers exempted the vests from minimum specifications. The vests were issued to...