Trump just started a shitstorm.

the donald just announced he would host a fund raiser for Long Island Republicans this week, in a club in Patchogue.

If the name vaguely rings a bell, its because in 2008, a band of white punks set out to go "bean bashing" as they called it and drove around the village beating the crap out of every Hispanic they found. One of them, an Ecuadorian immigrant have the nerve to fight back so they stabbed him to death. The next day, the County Executive accussed the media of making a big deal out of something that happens on a daily basis and said if it happened in NYC, it would be a one day story. After local police first charged the suspects with minor crimes, the FBI got involved and ended up investigating the local police for turning a blind eye to past robberies and beatings. It turned out hat the County Executive had made a public speech where he said if illegals were afraid to move to the area, that was something he had no problem with.
Fast forward to today, and Patchogue has undergone an amazing revival. The County Executive resigned under a cloud of suspicion, the police commissioner and several underling took early retirement and the Justice department appointed a watchdog for the Department. Amazingly, the town transformed itself into a destination, with outdoor cafes replacing empty storefronts and luxuary apartments rising from a long abandoned factory.
It's reputation has gone from it being a blighted town with a steep racial divide to being a booming village with
a thriving immigrant community that is embraced by the residents. It didn't happen overnite and it took a lot of work by many people.
If there is a relic of the old Patchogue, its a troubled club called The Emporium. Its a very rowdy place, that has been cited many times for serving underage kids, for noise complaints and for numerous acts of violence. Recently, after two bouncers threw out two drunken underage kids, their father- an on duty Suffolk County Police Supervisor showed up in uniform to challenge the two to a fight. Although the whole incident was captured on cameras and shown on local newscast, nothing was done.
The club is also less than 100 yards from where the murder took place.
Of all the literally thousands of places Trump could hold a fund raiser, he chooses the Emporium, and to accommodate the overflow crowd, his campaign wants to put PA speakers so the crowd outside and hear his anti- immigrant rants. The town has asked the campaign to relocate the rally but so far the campaign has refused.

PATCHOGUE VILLAGE, A GOOD MODEL FOR LONG BEACH TO FOLLOW?
MONDAY, APRIL 14TH, 2014 ANTHONY 16 COMMENTS
For the times they are a-changin’

-Bob Dylan

Newsday is running an article on the amazing revitalization of Patchogue village, a once beaten down and vacant downtown (read –Patchogue Village sees dramatic gains in development a decade after Swezey’s closed).

I haven’t been to Patchogue in a couple years, but was able to see something exciting happening when I was there. Something, I wish would happen right here in Long Beach. I am glad to read how all these revitalization efforts in Patchogue are working, but all this comes with some courage:

“Patchogue has always survived because it adapted to things,” Pontieri said. “This community was ready for leadership that wasn’t afraid of change.”

Growth, change and support from those who live there and run the damn place; that’s what is doing it. The concept of the suburb are dying. Unfortunately many in Nassau County just don’t get it, as I see gated communities going up all over Garden City and elsewhere on Long Island. All these bring traffic. Shopping centers disconnect communities and bring more traffic. None of these new developments are walkable or allow you to ride a bike even if you wanted to. Do you know that new gated community where Roosevelt Racetrack once was is right across the street from a movie theater, restaurants and stores? It’s terrible how it was developed. Those who live there have no choice, but to get in their cars to get anywhere. Unless they want to jump over a wall. Doesn’t anybody want fresh air or exercise anymore? Many people, especially the younger generation, do not want this type of closed-off lifestyle anymore. They feel disconnected. That is why areas such as Brooklyn and even upstate like the Hudson Valley are embracing the concept of the downtown. We need to change, otherwise Long Island is going to be the following: A place for rich people with pockets of poor who serve the rich people. Large shopping centers, traffic, parking woes, no more culture, chain restaurants, no more sense of community or sense of being is not where I would want to live.

[WALDBAUMS, I AM LOOKING AT YOU!!]

Not that we have it so bad here in Long Beach, but both our downtowns could use a tremendous facelift and revitalization. I love the idea of bringing a place to belong to an area. This attracts art, culture, amazing businesses, people and $$$. Right now, a quick walk around our downtowns, particularly on Park Avenue, is a scary one at night. It just seems so dead and desolate.

“You can’t have an economy that stagnates. You can’t have an economy that has no growth,” said Suffolk County Legis. Rob Calarco (D-Patchogue), a village resident who maintains his district office there. ” . . . Otherwise, what happens is you lose your young people and your workforce. What we’ve done here in Patchogue is we’ve found a new growth model that works.

And look, they even had a failing theater, which now revitalized and better than ever:

[Patchogue Mayor Paul V.] Pontieri said the arts are a key component of Patchogue’s turnaround. Venues such as Patchogue Theatre for the Performing Arts attract customers who patronize village restaurants and shops, he said.

The village-owned theater opened in 1998 after a $3.35 million renovation of the old Patchogue Theater, which had closed a decade earlier. It now attracts about 150,000 people a year to live shows and concerts, “putting a tremendous number of people on Main Street,” Pontieri said.

I refuse to read the comments on Newsday relating to the article because I am sure most of them are from people who fear change, still think Red Hook Brooklyn is a ghetto and big box stores are the future. These people need to wake up and smell the coffee, for the times they are a -changin.

For me personally, I would love for our downtowns to be redeveloped this way: Walkable, sustainable and alive. Check the full article at Newsday: Patchogue Village sees dramatic gains in development a decade after Swezey’s closed.

L.I. Man Gets 25-Year Term in Killing of Immigrant
By MANNY FERNANDEZMAY 26, 2010
RIVERHEAD, N.Y. — The white Long Island teenager convicted of killing a Hispanic immigrant in a 2008 hate crime attack in Patchogue was sentenced on Wednesday to 25 years in prison in a hearing that ended with the teenager’s father leaving the courtroom in a tearful rage.

The teenager, Jeffrey Conroy, now 19, stood next to his lawyer in State Supreme Court here as Justice Robert W. Doyle told a courtroom filled with relatives, friends and supporters of both Mr. Conroy and the immigrant, Marcelo Lucero, that the proof of Mr. Conroy’s guilt was “overwhelming” and that he was convicted of “senseless and brutal crimes.”

The 25-year sentence was the longest possible for first-degree manslaughter as a hate crime, the most serious charge Mr. Conroy faced. Moments after the judge spoke, Mr. Conroy’s father, Robert Conroy, 49, a quiet presence in the courtroom during the nearly seven-week trial, stood up and, cursing, shouted that his son was only 17 at the time.

“This is mercy, for crying out loud?” he yelled from the back of the courtroom as he made his way outside surrounded by court officers, who restrained him briefly after he punched the doors or a wall.

Mr. Conroy was found guilty on April 19 of attacking Mr. Lucero in a train station parking lot in November 2008, one of a series of assaults that prosecutors said Mr. Conroy and six friends carried out as part of an activity that the young men described as “beaner-hopping” or “Mexican-hopping.”

Billy, if this is terrible, is it also terrible when Obama visits the 1,000,000 large cesspool of everything bad in Southside Chicago, Illinois? Boiler thinks not.

Boiler is right. I don't see Obama winning a third term. But I think we should divert our attention to him.

Boiler thinks, not.

I imagine even Boiler sees the humor in this post.

While I believe that this is an argument about nothing (think Seinfeld), Boiler does wonder why Billy feels the need to take my comments out of context.

Or not.