By Andrew Ehinger

You can almost imagine the carnival barker shouting the news…

“Come on down to the Suffolk Health Department — Get your H1N1 vaccine HERE!”

Even though the County Health Department just received a shipment of 30,500 doses of the vaccine, officials say its just a drop in the bucket compared to the amount they really need. That’s about 220,000 doses.  That amount is on order with the State Health Department, which is distributing the vaccine. As has been reported many times in the media, vaccine manufacturers are backlogged. So, the State says it’s delivering it to the county as soon as it arrives.

The lack of vaccine has forced health officials to limit its distribution to pregnant women, health care workers, those with serious health concerns, caretakers of children under 6 months, and anyone 6 months to 24 years old. Even with the limits, lots of eligible Long Islanders are having a tough time getting the vaccine.

One mother told me her daughter has been on a waiting list with her pediatrician for several weeks. Another told me she drove to the Brooklyn office of her Long Island pediatrician’s medical group to score two doses for her kids.

Suffolk’s acting Health Commissioner Dr. Linda Mermelstein tells me the 30,500 doses will be distributed quickly, but the department’s priority is getting it to pregnant women now. On Thursday (11-12-09), it’s offering a free walk-in vaccine clinic for pregnant women who can’t get the vaccine from their doctors at its offices at 225 East Rabro Drive in Hauppauge, from 3 to 5pm. Usually it asks women to make an appointment to get the vaccine, but this is a special no-reservation day. After that there will be several clinics opening at various locations across the county. If you have any questions about the dates and times of future H1N1 clinics in Suffolk, you can check its website or call a special hotline the health department has set up. It’s 631-787-2200. Dr. Mermelstein says the hotline has been swamped with 4,500 calls a day. Nassau County also has an H1N1 hotline.   It’s 1-888-684-4271.  Or you can check its website here.

By Andrew Ehinger

Used car dealers across the island and the US are struggling. Why? Some call it the perfect storm of bad business in the used car industry.

First there was the Cash for Clunkers program. That $4,500 incentive had lots of people who normally would have considered a used car, rushing to new car showrooms to buy a car. In August, I profiled a used car dealer who said his sales dropped 65% overnight when the program started. Today, he says he’s never recovered.

The Cash for Clunkers program may not be the only thing behind his sales drops.  Economists say the weakened economy has a lot to do with people not spending like they did a few years ago. But in the case of used cars, you could say the Clunkers program kicked things off. You see, dealers tell me when people traded in their clunker, they were crushed, taking sometimes perfectly good cars off the market. With those cars not going to the used car auction, the prices of ones that were left were bid up, since there was a lack of supply.  Used car dealers then faced a dilemma–they had to buy used cars for a higher price and pass on that higher price to the consumer. In the end used car prices across the nation skyrocketed. In one case, dealer George Lundin in West Sayville showed me a Jeep SUV that he was asking $3,900 for.  A year ago, he says, that same car he would have sold for $2,995 – almost 30% less.

This price hike, Lundin says, has a chilling effect. First, customers who only can afford a few thousand dollars for an inexpensive used car now have to shell out more cash to get a car. That’s driving down sales, forcing him to discount cars, reducing his profit. As he told me,

“Everybody is loosing. People are paying more, we are making less and nobody is winning.”

So is there any hope in sight Economists say this sales slow-down could last 6 months to a year or more. No one is really sure. However, one study found that in some parts of the country, used car prices are dropping, so maybe there is some sort of an end in site.

By Andrew Ehinger

Who doesn’t like puppies? Yeah, there is a soft spot in the heart of this street tough reporter.  And although all puppies are pretty cute, the ones at Canine Companions of Independence {www.cci.org} were “super model” cute — and well behaved. But just like how you hear some super models whine “I can never get a date because men are intimidated to meet me,” there is a huge need for volunteer homes for CCI’s puppies.  But there is a catch — more about that in a bit.

CCI trains specially bred Labrador and Golden Retrievers to be assistance dogs for the disabled. Assistance dogs can perform a variety of tasks from picking up dropped objects, opening and closing doors, and even barking on command when a person needs emergency assistance. Only the top 40% of dogs who enter CCI’s program graduate into the home of a disabled person. The rest are trained for other tasks. But before the dogs start the program, they need a place to grow up as puppies. That’s where puppy raisers come in.

CCI relies on volunteer puppy raisers for the first couple years of a puppy’s life. The problem is, they say, with the weakened economy, not enough puppy raisers are stepping forward. In fact, CCI has 5 puppies needing homes right now.   5 more are coming in next week.  Being a puppy raiser is a serious responsibility.  Puppy raisers are pre-screened by CCI.   They’re responsible for light behavior training, attending classes twice a month, food and vet bills (although CCI says it has a list of vets on Long Island who offer reduced cost or free care for these puppies).

And here’s the catch. After about 18 months, puppy raisers must give back the puppy to CCI. It’s usually a sad moment for families to give back an animal they’ve loved for a year and a half. But Meg Flood, a puppy raiser in Riverhead, tells me it’s knowing that the puppy will go on and really make a difference in someone’s life that makes it all worthwhile. In fact, right now she’s training her 4th puppy, and when that one goes back to CCI, she’ll pick up #5. That’s the way it is for most puppy raisers, CCI tells me. Many raisers love having the animals in their home. One puppy raiser, they say, has even had more than 40.  But for now the organization just wants to place the 10 they don’t have homes for. Hopefully, they say, more volunteers will step forward.

By Andrew Ehinger

With all due respect to “The Bard of Avon…”

To lock, or not to lock: that is the question… at least when it comes to your heating oil contract this winter.

Last winter Long Islanders saw oil prices skyrocket into the $4.00 range. It was a financially frightening time, so many folks tried to hedge their bets and locked in fixed or capped price oil contracts. But the problem was when the bottom fell out of the oil market at the end of the winter and prices dropped, lots of people were stuck paying that higher locked in price.

Never again, some are saying …

Oil is running today around $2.70 a gallon. That’s about 30% less than last winter and the price seems pretty stable. Why is that?  Well, experts tell me there is a 20 year high in oil stockpiles, and the weakened economy is not driving oil use. So, the bottom line, they predict – barring an unusually cold winter or world disaster – prices will continue to stay where they are. And that takes me back to my take on W. Shakespeare’s famous line about locking in or not locking in…

This year, at Tragar Oil in Wantagh, Dennis Traina tells me 90% of his customers are not locking in prices, deciding to buy oil at market price. Last year, it was just the opposite–90% locked in. Traina is recommending his customers ride out the market, betting that prices will stay steady or even drop. But Kevin Rooney at the Oil Heat Institute of Long Island says that’s just one strategy. He adds there is nothing wrong with locking in a fixed or capped price this year. Many people, he says, want the security of a locked in contract (although he admits at his home, he does not lock in a price). You may pay a little more to lock in, Rooney says, but it does give you a bit of price insurance.  The best advice, experts say, is to speak with your oil company about your pricing options for this winter.

By Andrew Ehinger

Well, it’s a big plan. One that will cost billions, but one that Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi says has to be realized. Or else, he’s predicting more taxes, and a much lower quality of life in Nassau County.

Suozzi calls it his New Suburbia 90/10 master plan. 90/10 comes from the percentages he wants to leave alone and develop. Suozzi is emphatic that the county remain suburban, and not become like neighboring Queens. That’s the 90%.  The remaining 10%, he says, has to change. But that 10% is quite an ambitious plan. He lays it all out here and here if you want to read the report for yourself.

First, Suozzi says 18 downtowns must be re-developed. He calls them “Cool Downtowns.” Those 18 are all near LIRR stations. Why? Well, Suozzi says if you are going to build apartments, restaurants, and businesses for  an attractive downtown, you need an easy way for people to commute in and out. Those apartments, he says, are key for attracting young people to stay in the county. He says an alarming amount of young people are leaving the island for Manhattan, Brooklyn and other parts of the country because of the excitement, ease of commuting, and, well, rental apartments. Rentals, he says, are important since young people fresh out of college aren’t usually interested in buying homes yet.

Next, Suozzi says the county needs to fast track mega projects like the Lighthouse. Also, he says there needs to be more development at places like the Belmont Race Track, the former Grumman plant in Bethpage, and along the Glen Cove waterfront.

Suozzi also wants to revitalize some of the shopping centers in the county, especially some of the strip malls. Many of those, he says, are in underserved or poorer areas. Those areas, he says, must not be forgotten either.

But will it work?

It’s an interesting question, considering the major hurdle that lies in front of the project. The county really has no say in what gets built.  It’s up to the towns, and other municipalities; however, Suozzi remains confident, offering his master plan as a guide.

If it works, it could be Suozzi’s lasting legacy. If it doesn’t, history will be his judge.