Newsday (Nassau Edition) from Hempstead, New York • 46

RAYMOND A. JANSEN Newsday Publisher, President and C.E.O. ANTHONY MARRO, I Editor JAMES M. KLURFELD, Editor of the Editorial Pages EDITORIALS ROBERT F. BRANDT, Managing Editor CAROL R.

RICHARDS, Deputy Editor of the Editorial Pages CHARLOTTE H. HALL, Managing Editor "Where there is no vision, the people perish." HOWARD SCHNEIDER, Managing Editor Silver Lining The Democratic Speaker rose above Albany's partisanship to help out Long Island. The state's approval of the Long Island Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Man- the plan mistakenly, we think but Silver Power Authority's plan for a partial takeover hattan) for setting all that aside long enough acknowledged that the chance to cut the cost of the Long Island Lighting Co. is a relief. Poli- to vote for the LIPA proposal the pet pro- of power could be lost if the plan didn't pass.

tics in Albany has become so partisan, so ran- ject of Republican Gov. George Pataki at a So in the end, he did the right thing. corous that the result might have been differ- Public Authorities Control Board meeting Silver noted that most of the 17 percent ent. So Long Islanders should be grateful to yesterday. The Assembly has been critical of average cut in electric rates LIPA forecasts comes from its federal tax-exempt status, and that pending changes in federal tax law could rob the region of the chance to use that tax MARLETTE'S VIEW exemption.

In addition, the LIPA plan settles LILCO's tax litigation against SufMARLENE folk County governments in a way that avoids NENSDAY painful local tax increases. This doesn't mean LIPA's work is done, however. There are still approvals to be won from several federal and state agencies. But if LIPA has done its job well, those should be bureaucratic hurdles to be cleared not impenetrable roadblocks. There are also still Long Islanders so resentful of LILCO, so steeped in suspicion of govI ernment or so committed to the ideal of electricity competition that they won't accept any solution that doesn't exactly mirror their views.

Although a majority of Long Islanders polled favored the plan, a vocal minority can't bring itself to accept the region's good luck. As one upstate wag said: Is there anywhere but Long Island that you could offer to cut electric rates 17 percent, spare people from a big local tax increase, assure service reliability and start down the road to electricity competition and have people say, "Hey, you're not going to put that one over on But Silver is right: The potential alternaSAY, DIDN'T YOU USED TO BE NEWT tives to the LIPA plan are remote and unlikely to produce equal benefits. Don't listen to the perennial complainers; they have nothing to offer but their complaints. In Information Age, Ideas Are the Road To Riches Forbes magazine has ranked the richest people in the world again. As usual, it's good to be the Sultan of Brunei: He's worth $38 billion.

But what's remarkable is the amount of flux in the list and who's coming out on top. Think of the legendarily wealthy families of the past: Carnegie? Mellon? Vanderbilt? Not on the list. There's only one Rockefeller. Even Ross Perot, who once epitomized the newly wealthy, now ranks 102nd, several notches below Michael Dell, the 32-year-old wunderkind of Dell Computer Corp. The success of someone such as Dell illuminates the path to wealth in the Information Age economy.

Consider Microsoft Bill By contrast, the relative wealth of those Gates, the richest non-head of state in the who depend on commodities, such as oil, is world. He made every dime of his $36.4 billion declining. With gasoline costing less, adjusted just in the last two decades, thanks to the for inflation, than it did before the Arab oil power of cybertechnology. Indeed, of the 30 embargo of 1973-74, it's no surprise that oncerichest individuals and families in the world, fabled Texas names such as Hunt and Murthree Gates, Paul Allen and Steven Ballmer chison barely make the Forbes list. are all wealthy because of Microsoft.

The lesson for the rest of us is that, in the Next on the money list come the heirs to the 21st Century, wealth will come from ideas. Wal-Mart fortune. Up from nothing in the past That's good news for every young person who half-century, Sam Walton's company was is willing and able to learn. And it's further simply quicker and smarter in large part, impetus for politicians and policymakers to through better management of information get on with the make-or-break business of asthan its old-line retailing rivals. suring educational opportunity for all.

It's Clean, It's Whimsical: cal: Can This Be Times Square? Just how solid is the resurgence of New York City? Leave it to the city's gritty subway system to provide the perfect metaphor. At Seventh Avenue and 42nd Street the heart of Times Square the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has built a new subway entrance that's altogether unlikely. Signs above the portals spell out "SUBWAY" in blinking lights. Not a single bulb is broken or missing (yet). On the Seventh Avenue side, the cryptic message ACENRS12397 is displayed in a wavy alignment reminiscent of a roller-coaster track.

No, that's not some tourist's stolen bankcard PIN number it's just a whimsical way to announce the subway new tilework ends and the familiar concrete lines that serve the city's biggest station. floor marred by a million dark circles of It's all so cute and clean and pleasant that ground-in chewing gum begins. Fun time's regular subway riders will probably mistake over. From this point on, riders are on their this grand entrance which opened a few own in a badly marked labyrinth of obscure, days ago for the front door to a sandwich forbidding corridors connected by a series of shop. Like the renovation of gamey old Times ramps or dark and fetid staircases.

Square itself, this touch of MTA playfulness Yes, the MTA plans to renovate thoroughly reflects a jaunty new brand of civic optimism. these circles of hell. But the work will be done A new city is springing up almost overnight. in stages and the MTA must scrape up Sort of. Here's the problem: Walk through more than $100 million in new money before the doors and take the escalator (yes, it really the job will be finished.

Cross your fingers. works!) down to the mezzanine level. Walk 18 The city has made some remarkable progress 3 steps in any direction. Suddenly the fancy lately. But the tough work has only begun..