Movement Week: The Need for an Emotional Appeal

(Blogger's Note: It is now 5 days since Joe Mondello crassly and rudely insulted a voter at the Kate Murray rally, and he has not yet apologized)

Really great stuff on the post from Monday; I'm glad to see you guys ran with the concept as much as you did. Next week there will be a tying-together post discussing some of the best ideas we saw this week and how we can use that to move forward in advocating for the Lighthouse.

Just a few quick things before we get to the main event:

Selling Coliseum Land?

I've had a few questions about the revelation that Tom Suozzi is selling County-owned buildings in Mitchell Field, the complex which includes Nassau Coliseum. Many readers followed that revelation to its logical end and wondered if the Coliseum itself was for sale.

This proves the County is in dire fiscal straits, though I'm sure Tom Suozzi could have found a solution that did not smell like backroom dealing. Anyway, I've asked around, and Nassau County has no intention of selling the land on which Nassau Coliseum sits. Mitchell Field is a term used to describe over 200 acres of County-owned land that used to be an Air Force base. The article concerns a few office buildings that are on Quentin Roosevelt Blvd, northwest from the Coliseum site. There are no plans to sell the Coliseum land, and many legislators previously promised to vote against the Lighthouse if there is an ultimate transfer of ownership.

To conclude: this development does not affect the Lighthouse in any way, shape or form.

Democratic Convention

Much of what we hope to do in advocating for the Lighthouse hinges on Kate Murray's opponent. The Democrats must nominate a formidable candidate who provides a reasonable alternative in order for our movement to maximize its traction.

This may yet happen, but I will find out when you do. As of right now, the Nassau County Democratic Party denied my request to attend the convention as either a citizen or a member of the media. I will chase one more avenue, but this is not a good start for the Democrats, and it is not the best way to treat a person who practically begged to help you.

Reminder: the convention will be tomorrow evening, at 6PM, at the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Garden City. Kate Murray's opponent will be nominated there.

More Mondello Madness

The Joe Mondello issue has garnered a lot of traction, and I have received emails from many readers who called in. Loyal reader Robert says he called the Nassau County GOP to complain about Joe Mondello's actions on Friday, and in response, the staffer criticized Charles Wang for being unwilling to negotiate and claimed the housing component is a big thing the GOP wants to fight.

Where have we heard this before?

Also, many readers report calling Kate Murray's office to complain, and they all say Kate Murray's office has refused to take responsibility or apologize for the comments. Sorry, Supervisor. If it happened at your event, you're responsible.

To the Movement...

Marketers often talk about the need for an emotional appeal to a product. This scene from Mad Men is a perfect example of what I mean; Don Draper is pitching an advertising campaign for a Kodak slide projector that uses a wheel, yet he manages to make a deep emotional connection (and win the business).

We must do the same thing with the Lighthouse, and I realize that I am just as culpable as everybody else, perhaps moreso. Discussions about Net Present Value and Sports Economics are vital to the discussion, but they cannot and should not be the entire crux of our advocacy for the Lighthouse.

Why is this? Simple: people who oppose the Lighthouse can pull out a trump card on us:

You're destroying suburbia.

It doesn't matter that the current sprawl mentality is actually destroying suburbia. This argument resonates, and it resonates very strongly. Too often (and I am just as guilty of this as everyone else), those advocating for the Lighthouse fall back on the money arguments.

We can do the same thing. As my testimonial (this is the actual video of what I said at the Town of Hempstead on February 24) shows, we have emotional appeals as well:

• The rest of the region is leaving Long Island behind.
• Our children are taking the education our tax dollars provide and putting down roots somewhere else. They feel no connection to a place they believe does not want them.
• We can stand up, at this pivotal moment, and say "yes" to the future, while still retaining that unmistakably Long Island character that we have.
• We helped put a man on the moon, and we lifted Charles Lindbergh into the air - now our generation has a chance to echo through the pages of history.

These can be powerful arguments, but we need to settle on a few themes and ideas in order to keep the debate on an equal level.

Question to Ponder...

I'll leave you with this as we go into the Comments - How can we make the best emotional appeal for the Lighthouse? Should we push something I mentioned above, or would another argument make our point in a stronger, more emotionally-effective way.

Don Draper caused a major paradigm shift in that clip I linked to above. Kodak had been calling the projector's feature a "wheel," and Don managed to reframe the whole discussion by calling it a "carousel." Let's see what we can do with and for the Lighthouse.

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