LI voters reject hockey stadium funding

Voters in Nassau Country yesterday voted 56 to 43 percent yesterday toreject issuing a $400 million bond to build a new hockey arena for the New York Islanders in Uniondale, the AP reported.

Opponents of the projects said that County Executive Edward Mangano and Islanders owner Charles Wang were exaggerating when they said the project would bring 3,000 jobs and significant revenue for the area.

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A state fiscal watchdog group, the Nassau Interim Finance Authority had said the project would cost individual taxpayers $60,
compared with Mangano’s estimate of $14.The authority also stated that the project would have cost $800 million altogether, with interest included.  Nassau County currently faces facing a $100 million budget deficit for 2011 and
some of the country’s highest property taxes, the New York Post reported.

The vote means that when their lease expires in 2015, the Islanders, Long Island’s only professional sports franchise, would be likely to leave Long Island’s Nassau Coliseum, perhaps for the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, the Post said. [AP via ENR] and
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