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Health & Fitness

Trump on the Ocean Rally: My Rational; Highlights to Great Event

My experiences at the Trump On the Ocean rally and the reasons why I support it.

"We Need Jobs!", "Get It Built!", "Yes To Trump!" were among the many slogans exclaimed by the crowds attending the Trump On the Ocean rally in support of the project, held around noon on Sept. 14 by the Jones Beach flagpole immediately adjacent to the site. The project is led by partners Donald Trump and Long Island Caterer Steven Carl.

The project calls for a grand restaurant and event hall and has been the subject of a small group of (Not in My Beach???) opposition as well as what seems like a difficult approval and permit-issuance process with the State Parks Department for the past several years.

I attended the rally in support of the project and carried the large "An Idea Whose Time Has Come" sign that drew a lot more attention than I expected.

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First off, I was asked by some of the opposition and a few personal and work friends why I support the project. I know the Carl family and have been to events at Carlyle on the Green in Bethpage State Park. In his speech at the rally, Trump was right to call Carl "One of the best Caterers in the State of New York." His facilities are top notch, his employees respectful and friendly and the service great. He’s managed to capture the elegance and grace of classic Long Island culture with the contemporary in a relaxed environment. So I am confident that Carl can run and manage a great facility at Jones Beach and that he will be passionate and committed towards its success.

Second, Trump: You love him or hate him, laud or jeer his success, rave or destroy the accomplishments and setbacks of his career. I personally think it depends on how well you truly know him. But undoubtedly he is a success and a brand encompassing grandeur, ambition, professionalism and quality. I think Trump came into this project on a mission the same as the Wollman Ice Skating Rink or 40 Wall Street (The Trump Building): take a badly-run, government-operated (i.e. Wollman) facility and turn it around. I think Trump walked into this to build and co-run a beautiful landmark at the now dilapidated, once historic Jones Beach. He qualified my sentiments at the hearing, expressing that when Eisenberg first pitched him the project, he recalled his parents taking him on trips to the beach when he was young and so he expressed his intent to construct a great landmark at the beach.

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Third, Jones beach (and Nassau – whole other saga!) needs to be revitalized for the 21st century. A restaurant/catering hall is a great first step. I hope that in time the boardwalk can be expanded, rebuilt and more amenities put in. A year-long, vibrant Jones Beach offering more than sand, expensive parking and overpriced snacks at the food court would be a potentially enormous boost to Nassau’s economy and a significant step in the right direction towards turning Nassau around and back into a successful environment.

Fourth, a battle in a greater war that must be won: A theme presented by several speakers at the event (I would go so far as to say the second theme of the rally) was expressing outrage and call for action at the condition New York State is in as the worst state to do business in and as a state that has become bloated with government, regulation, bureaucracy and red tape, almost entirely of the bad kind. My opinion? Maybe…But here I go digressing again:

The Rally began around 11 a.m.; before that, a band was playing at the Rally’s Tent what I assume was some kind of early 20th century "Main Street USA" music which I thought was weird but pretty cool, you don’t see that every day. At 11, the music stopped as one of the organizers stated the bullhorn going and more and more supporters began to arrive, and opposition too. I didn’t have my sign on me then as I noticed some of the opposition beginning their rounds.

“Time to bring out the big guns!” I said under my breath as I headed back to the car. When I came back, sign in hand, the crowds were growing, support signs being handed out and the usual kind of activities seen at such an event.

From there it was light rallying for a little bit, opposition next to supporters, people greeting each other and chatting, unusually…casual given the ferocity the minority opposition showed in the past (believe me, they later got up to their usual par!). So it was initially placid as far as rallies go.

It built up when some opposition carrying large signs including the old tired slogan “Dump Trump” caught my eye. I’m not going to let them have the floor. So I took some of the supporters from the Suffolk Community College group that had showed up and marshaled them and I into position to dominate the north part of the rally in support of Trump. The supporting majority must show its colors in full, I thought. We must ensure that the many supporters that couldn’t make it are represented! So we did.

Then the cameras got set up by the flagpole as speakers and other representatives and leaders began to arrive, Carl included. And then, I noticed some commotion to the north.

Trump had arrived, walking with his group across the plaza towards the flagpole, to me almost like a Sheriff and his posse entering some Wild West town. I swear that the theme song from "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly" everyone knows in their head was playing in mine. He had arrived as we crowded around him, cheering him on, rightly so. The speaker’s part of the rally had arrived at last.

Some of the speakers included Jose Rivera, a New York State Assemblyman from of the Bronx, who gave a great statement about how the epic builder Robert Moses helped the Bronx, how Trump built Trump Place on Manhattan’s west side north of Lincoln Center and opened an invitation to Trump to build in the Bronx. You know, I can really dig the Bronx having a sweet little futuristic skyline in it someday.

Rich Kruse, leader of a great organization called Execuleaders spoke about, among other things, the problems of Long Island’s young population leaving for all the reasons we know well (one of my big topics as a young Long Islander) linking it to policy/regulation standoffs such as that seen with Trump On the Ocean and mentioned a dialogue he had with his daughter about staying on LI. He gave a rebuttal to the opposition’s complaint that "only waiters would get jobs" by saying he himself was a waiter for many years; and expressed a desire shared by many of seeing Long Island become a more business-friendly and overall better environment, especially for new businesses and young adults.

Rafe Lieber of the Alliance to Rebuild Jones Beach spoke as well as people from the Wantagh and Elmont Chambers of Commerce and Legislator Dennis Dunne. Then Trump spoke, giving a history to date of the project and calling for the state to get him the permit to get the project underway.

Each speaker received exorbitant amounts of praise from the audience leaving the opposition room only to insult speakers between their pauses and patrol around the crowd, signs up circling like vultures. Don’t take my word for it; find a video of the rally and see for yourself.

From there, Trump and Carl visited the site itself. I was able to get access inside to see some final photo ops and then something happened just as Trump was about to leave that to me carried a special significance from my experiences and evidenced his true intentions for the site.

As his assistants called him back to the limo after all was said and done, he instead took a little walk onto the dirt and sand of the construction site and looked for a long couple of seconds at the cattail-filled marshland the site had become. It was as if he was in a trance, deaf to the names calling him and sights surrounding him. I know that feeling. It’s vision, pure vision; the visionary looking upon the site that is to be his creation, how an artist looks at the blank canvas, the potter the mound of clay and the builder the structure that is to be built. His vision for a better Jones Beach is genuine.

Here we see the prospect of a great new attraction and structure on Jones Beach; here we see two experienced and dedicated partners who have invested energies and money into the approval process. Here we see two owners who will put commitment and hard work into the successful construction and operation of the completed building. Here we see crowds of people out there on a hot summer’s day at high noon supporting it.

I remain in full support of the project and wish it a swift and successful construction and operation someday sooner than later. It is an idea whose time has come. And it’s time to give them the permits and final approval they need to begin construction of the full vision, ASAP. Trump said he could start tomorrow morning…LET IT BE.

Tear down this wall! And put in its place, as Trump said, the new[est] ‘Jewel of Jones Beach’.

Newsday quoted my speech in 2008 at the Trump on the Ocean hearing at Cradle of Aviation Museum as saying “Let’s Get It Built!” Those four words were prominently displayed on my sign, which in turned was displayed by fateful coincidence directly behind Trump and the other speakers. I attended because I supported then and still support Carl and Trump’s vision.

Trump’s last words to me are my final words to you in this post:

See you at the Grand Opening!

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