Leaders of the Long Island Science Center are urging Riverhead officials to drop efforts to seize their planned future headquarters, arguing they have the resources to open up and play a key role in the town square revitalization project.

Tara Smith reports in NEWSDAY that officials from the nonprofit science museum made their case at a town meeting this past Thursday, arguing they have the funding to redevelop the Main Street property and play a pivotal role in the project.

Riverhead has already taken steps to seize the property, arguing the space is a key part of the planned town square development. The Riverhead Town board will hold a hearing on May 21 to condemn the building as "not safe or habitable," and a flood risk, according to town documents.

The town also plans to seize by eminent domain a bar on Main Street, Craft’D, and convey the property to a private developer to build a hotel there.

The nonprofit science center bought the vacant building — a former Swezey's Department Store — in 2020. It currently operates a pop-up in Tanger Outlets. Initially, the center planned a $15 million facility with a rooftop deck overlooking the Peconic River.

Operators of the science center say it can open by August 1. Developers would then start work on a second phase — adding a planetarium and rooftop greenhouse.

Town officials have questioned whether the science center can afford to develop the site and expressed skepticism about the plans during Thursday’s meeting.

Supervisor Tim Hubbard said Thursday there’s “no better place” for the science center than in the town square, but he wants assurances the museum can open and renovate the building.

On Friday, Hubbard said the town could halt eminent domain proceedings if the science center makes a strong enough case.

“We can pull the plug on that … if what they’re showing us can be a viable development,” he said.

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The Nassau County Police Department recently joined New York's interagency joint task force combating "ghost vehicles" that use hidden, defaced, or obstructed license plates to avert cameras. Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman said the county will focus enforcement efforts near the Nassau-Queens border, and that the county's first operation as part of the task force last month resulted in five arrests and 12 impounded vehicles. Alfonso A. Castillo reports in NEWSDAY that toll evasion costs the Metropolitan Transportation Administration about $50 million in lost revenue annually and state officials said the problem presents an existential threat to faith in the tolling system. That concern has been heightened with the implementation of congestion pricing, which since January has charged drivers for entering 60th Street and below in Manhattan.

Suffolk County Police Commissioner Kevin Catalina told Newsday that his department is "certainly open to" conversations about joining the task force. But, Catalina also pointed out that his county doesn’t have the same financial incentive to crack down on ghost vehicles as other jurisdictions.

"I think the NYPD is particularly interested because it’s a revenue source. We don’t have the tolls out here that New York City does. We don’t even have a red light camera anymore," Catalina said. "We’re interested in the way it would affect Suffolk County. And that would be if these cars are committing crimes in Suffolk County, and the license plates are preventing us from solving those crimes."

After being in place for 14 years, Suffolk's red light camera expired in December. However, the county still has a school bus camera program that collected about $45 million in ticket revenue in 2022 and 2023, according to annual reports.

In 2023, when Suffolk still had a red light camera program, police ticketed more than 5,200 vehicles for fake, obscured or covered plates.

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The long-anticipated...