Ed Ward Follies - Is He a Liar or Just Ignorant

We'll go with "LIAR."
In the Jan. 28th Newsday article about the possibility that Charles Wang will take the Islanders hockey franchise to Suffolk if the new coliseum plan isn't worked out, Ward said "If [County Executive Thomas] Suozzi doesn't step up to the plate, Nassau is really threatened with the loss of the Islanders,"

WHAT? He's blaming the delays on Suozzi?????
That's simply not in the realm of reality.

Back in September 2004 Schmitt started by saying "He's got a long way to go. He has to build community consensus and there's zoning issues with the town."

In July of this year, Souzzi said to Newsday "I understand that the pace of government is very frustrating. Welcome to my world."

You see, Schmitt started to question Wang's plans in an election year because Suozzi and the Democrats liked the plan.

Ward said that July "A project of this magnitude changes the footprint of the county," adding that the approval process takes time."

Remember, the republicans were using the Wang project as a campaign issue claiming it would cause Nassau to be a "sixth borough."
Wang said at the time "It saddens me ... to see this being politicized. This is not a Suozzi project. It is not a Republican or Democrat project. This is a Wang project."

Republican County Executive candidate Greg Peterson chimed in calling for a slow-down of the process "“A homeowner couldn’t even get plans done to re-design a kitchen in that limited amount of time, yet Suozzi wants potential developers to submit plans for a major transformation of the region in that short a span---something which has not been done since the Levittown housing development decades ago,” stated Peterson. “Suozzi can’t be serious. His action reflects nothing less than a backroom deal without input from competing bidders. Taxpayers will lose out in the end.”

The call from republicans to SLOW DOWN the process for the redevelopment and the call for more plans by Suozzi meant more ideas and a longer process to get the deal done.

Before Wang dropped his plan to build the "Lighhouse Tower" only a month or so ago Schmitt said before the election "This doesn't help him get the approval. It doesn't change the fact that the process Suozzi went through is fatally flawed."

And Ed Ward put the kibosh on any forward movement even without the tower when he said in Newsday Dec. 29, 2005 "He proposed to build a tower. Now he's taking it out, but he's not saying what he's substituting, so you have an unknown amount of acreage with unknown development ..."

When Suozzi was sworn-in earlier this month he said "Together we will work to ensure that the Coliseum redevelopment will happen and it will happen responsibly. Additionally, we will build on our relationships with village mayors to make the vision of New Suburbia a reality."

So to blame Suozzi for holding up the redevelopment plans is just a big lie by Ed Ward.
And now after an extended bid time that Schmitt wanted plus final approval by the Town of Hempstead zoning board on any plan, it will take time but it's certainly not Suozzi's fault. What more does Ward want Suozzi to do?