presented by Vision Long Island and the Long Island Main Street Alliance

January 21st, 2022

Quote(s) of the Week

	"Amityville and Riverhead both play important roles in the overall economic health of Long Island and I have no doubt that with this funding, they won't only recover from the impacts of COVID-19, but will flourish in the long term." - NYS Governor Kathy Hochul
	"The Governor and the Empire State Development Corporation saw our vision in our ‘Transformative, reimagining Riverhead’ plan, and through this grant, the Vision will soon become a reality.” - Riverhead Town Supervisor Yvette Aguiar
	"This $10M Downtown Revitalization Initiative funding will go a long way toward helping Amityville residents and businesses flourish by investing in infrastructure and creating more public spaces for all to enjoy. It is exciting time for the Village of Amityville, and I'm grateful for Governor Hochul's commitment to invest in this community."  - Amityville Village Mayor Dennis M. Siry

Downtown Revitalization Initiative Winners Named

New York State Governor Kathy Hochul has announced that Amityville and Riverhead will receive $10 million each in funding as the Long Island region winners of the fifth round of the Downtown Revitalization Initiative (DRI).

The Downtown Revitalization Initiative, launched in 2016, strives to accelerate and expand the revitalization of downtowns and neighborhoods in all ten regions of the state to serve as centers of activity and catalysts for investment.

"Amityville and Riverhead both play important roles in the overall economic health of Long Island and I have no doubt that with this funding, they won't only recover from the impacts of COVID-19, but will flourish in the long term," Governor Hochul said.

With a downtown that is compact, walkable, and close to the train station, Amityville wants to make their downtown one of the premier destinations on Long Island defined by its unique waterfront culture and historic charm. Momentum is building in Amityville with multiple completed and ongoing projects, including a pedestrian and bike lane project, multiple residential developments, and multiple mixed-use developments. To build on this momentum, Amityville wants to revitalize their train station and its immediate surrounding area, increase pedestrian/bike access, and expand green space.

Amityville Mayor Dennis M. Siry said, "This $10M Downtown Revitalization Initiative funding will go a long way toward helping Amityville residents and businesses flourish by investing in infrastructure and creating more public spaces for all to enjoy. It is exciting time for the Village of Amityville, and I'm grateful for Governor Hochul's commitment to invest in this community." 

Riverhead's downtown is a compact, diverse, mixed-use neighborhood that the town aims to make vibrant and serve as a recreational, shopping, and tourist destination with the revitalized Peconic River waterfront as its focal point. Despite historical challenges for the downtown, Riverhead has stayed committed to its revitalization. With the momentum of completed and ongoing projects, including a new aquarium, the reopening of the Suffolk Theater, and multiple housing projects, Riverhead aims to increase public gathering space capitalizing on the Peconic River waterfront, create new pedestrian/bike access, and improve pedestrian/bike safety to create a critical mass of economic activity in the downtown for residents and tourists alike.

Riverhead Supervisor Yvette Aguiar said, "The Governor and the Empire State Development Corporation saw our vision in our ‘Transformative, reimagining Riverhead’ plan, and through this grant, the Vision will soon become a reality.”

Amityville and Riverhead now join Westbury, Hicksville, Central Islip and Baldwin, which were the Long Island Region's winners in the first four DRI rounds, respectively. They will now begin the process of developing a Strategic Investment Plan to revitalize their downtowns with up to $300,000 in planning funds from the $10 million DRI grant.

Eric Alexander, Director of Vision Long Island and the Long Island Main Street Alliance, stated that “The program has yielded tangible successes, particularly in Westbury. [Recipients] had to do meaningful planning work already. The money is an accelerant. It’s not one grant that does it alone.

 “Both communities have government and business leaders that are members of the LI Main Street Alliance and we have worked with them both through the years. Congratulations and we wish them the best in ensuring the funding goes directly to the projects their downtown needs.”

You can read Governor Hochul’s announcement here, and Newsday’s coverage here.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s Fiscal Year 2023 Executive Budget

New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s has released her Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 Executive Budget. The budget focuses on several items, including New York's healthcare and teacher workforces; tax relief; job creation; infrastructure; climate change; public safety; affordable housing; and reforms to restore trust in State government. 

According to the Governor’s office, the budget is balanced for the entirety of the financial plan leading up to FY 2027, has no budget gaps, and holds spending growth in FY 2023 below inflation.

Addressing the executive budget, Eric Alexander, Director of Vision Long Island and the Long Island Main Street Alliance, states, “Good news for Long Island in the areas of small business assistance, environmental protection, child care, mental health and support services, affordable housing and transportation. Ensuring that Long Island gets its fair share of NYS funding and that NYS proposals do not impact home rule will have to be watched.”

Budget Highlights

Healthcare:
$10 billion, multi-year investment in healthcare, including more than $4 billion to support wages and bonuses for healthcare workers. Key components of this multi-year investment include: $1.2 billion support for healthcare and mental hygiene worker retention bonuses; $500 million for Cost-of-Living Adjustments (COLAs) to help raise wages for human services workers; $2.4 billion for healthcare capital infrastructure and improved lab capacity.

Teacher Workforce:
$31.3 billion in total School Aid for SY 2023; $1.6 billion (8.1 percent) increase in Foundation Aid; and $106 million to SUNY and CUNY.

Tax Relief:
Small Business - Accelerate the Implementation of the Middle-Class Tax Cut by providing the fully implemented reduced tax rates beginning in Tax Year 2023; Create a tax credit for small businesses' COVID-19-related expenses which provides up to $250 million in additional relief to small businesses; Increase the small business subtraction modification from 5 percent to 15 percent of net business income or farm income; Expand the benefit to include pass-through entities with less than $1.5 million NY-source gross income.  
Homeowner - Create a new property tax relief credit, the Homeowner Tax Rebate Credit, to eligible low- and middle-income households, as well as eligible senior households. This one-year program is, in general, an extension of the real Property Tax Relief Credit Program that expired after 2019, with benefits calculated as a percentage of a homeowner's STAR benefit.

Capital Plan and Infrastructure:
A new five-year $32.8 Billion DOT Capital Plan will leverage Federal funding to support major infrastructure projects throughout the State, including assessing ways to improve road capacity at the Oakdale Merge in Suffolk County. The BRIDGE-NY program will be increased by $1 billion.

Child Care:
Designate $900 Million in Childcare Stabilization Grants to cover operational costs for 15,000 childcare providers statewide; Build on $832 million in existing subsidies and $2.3 billion in Federal child care resources; Increase eligibility for subsidies; $75 million investment in child care worker wages; and $125 million in funding annually is included to maintain child care subsidies.

Small Businesses:
$1 billion to fund innovative small businesses and tax credit for COVID-related expenses which includes funding for small businesses innovation sector, including minority-and-women-owned companies often overlooked by venture investments; and $200 million flexible grant program for early-stage businesses recently opened despite the COVID-19 pandemic.  

SUNY and CUNY:
$1.5 billion investment in SUNY and CUNY over next five years and expand TAP eligibility.

Energy and the Environment:
$4 billion for the landmark Clean Water, Clean Air, and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act; and $500 million investment to develop the State's offshore wind supply chains and port infrastructure.

Housing:
New five-year, $25 billion comprehensive housing plan to create and preserve 100,000 affordable homes, including 10,000 homes with support services for vulnerable populations, and electrify an additional 50,000 homes as part of the State's plan to electrify one million homes and make another one million electrification-ready. Funding includes $5.7 billion in capital resources; $8.8 billion in State and Federal tax credits and other federal allocations; and $11 billion to support the operation of shelters and supportive housing units and to provide rental subsidies.  

Combating Gun Violence:
$224 million to fund initiatives to strengthen the gun violence prevention efforts of law enforcement and community-based organizations, including $350,000 in funding to triple the state's gun violence intelligence resources; $13.1 million to expand the use of community stabilization units; $18.2 million for New York's nationally recognized Gun Involved Violence Elimination (GIVE) initiative; $24.9 million investment in New York's SNUG Outreach program; and $20 million in new funding to support regions that have been most impacted by the spike in gun violence.

Addiction and the Opioid Crisis:
Increase of $402 million (56 percent) in operating and capital support for The Office of Addiction Services and Supports (OASAS).

You can view FY 2023 Budget Book here.

Continued Support for Transit Oriented Development

In early January, New York State Governor Kathy Hochul underscored her goal to kick-start Transit-Oriented Development (TOD), including promoting legislation to foster multifamily construction in zones drawn by municipalities around rail transit stops within commuting distance to New York City. The Governor promised the State will provide assistance to municipalities for drafting the ordinance changes, thereby easing the burden on smaller municipalities.

In lieu of this commitment, Eric Alexander, Director of Vision Long Island and the Long Island Main Street Alliance, took a second to reflect on the successful work that has been done planning and approving these kinds of projects over the last 15 years, largely due to local villages and towns approving them, community minded developers building, and civic and chamber leaders engaging the local community.   

According to Mr. Alexander:
· 51 municipalities govern the land use surrounding the LIRR station network.

· Of those 51 projects, 36 have approved at least one, and in many cases multiple, Transit Oriented Development (TOD) projects, while 15 have not. (It is worth noting that of those 15 - 9 are either east end towns or villages with minimal train service, lack of wastewater treatment that stymies redevelopment or there are minimal land development opportunities near the station).

· Of the 36 municipalities that have approved TOD projects, this breaks down to 25 villages (17 in Nassau and 8 in Suffolk); 9 towns (3 in Nassau and 6 in Suffolk) and 2 cities. 

· Of the 15 municipalities who have not approved TOD projects this breaks down to 12 Villages (8 in Nassau and 2 in Suffolk) and 3 east end Towns.

· The total number of communities with train stations that TOD projects have been approved is 48, which includes the 25 incorporated villages, 2 cities and 21 communities in the 9 towns that have approved developments.  

· Over 15,000 units of TOD have been approved in over 150 projects over the last 15 years. There are currently close to 10,000 units of TOD housing going through various stages of the planning process now. 

· Projects range from 10 units to over 500 and have been built by roughly 30 different small, medium and large-scale developers.

· Over the last 8 years, 118 of 132 hearings have had more community supporters than opponents for downtown and TOD projects.  

The key to the success of TOD projects on Long Island, Mr. Alexander underscores, is the philosophy that development is not something that happens the same in every community and should be planned from each neighborhood and municipality, and not from the top down. Vision Long Island is hopeful that incentives or support that emerge from New York State will follow the values and principles that have created progress on this form of development, where other approaches have failed. 

You can read Governor Hochul’s 2022 State of the State here.

Suffolk County's Red-Light Program to Get Second Look

Suffolk County Legislature presiding officer, Kevin McCaffrey, has advised that the new Republican majority will push to re-examine the County’s red-light camera program.

Legislator McCaffrey said the legislature will determine if some of the 100 cameras set up at intersections in Suffolk County are in the interest of public safety or simply for revenue. Legislators will give recommendations as to which intersections they will look into and if there is an increase or decrease in the number of accidents there.

Suffolk County's Red-Light Program began on July 15, 2010. The red-light camera fine is $ 50 and there are no associated points. A $30 Administrative Fee is assessed for all violations.

According to a 2019 Suffolk County report, overall number of collisions has increased at red light camera intersections by 7.5%, right angle collisions have decreased by 18.1%, while rear end collisions have increased by 45.8%. The report also shows an overall decrease in collisions involving injury by 8.5%.

Eric Alexander, Director of Vision Long Island and the Long Island Main Street Alliance told News 12, “[It] makes sense to take a second look at the program. There are ways to create a physical design on the roadway which reduces speed instead of a punitive measure like the red-light cameras that disproportionately impact lower income folks and working folks.”

You can view Long Island News 12 report here and the 2019 report on the Suffolk County Red-Light Safety Program 2019 here.

Free At-home COVID Test Website Launched

Every residential household in the U.S. can now order one set of 4 free at-home rapid antigen COVID-19 tests, distributed by the Biden administration. Orders for these free tests, including free delivery, can be made through a form posted on the U.S. Postal Service website.

Here’s what you need to know about your order:

•         Limit of one order per residential address
•         One order includes 4 individual rapid antigen COVID-19 tests
•         Orders will ship free starting in late January

Orders are available here.

Long Island Main Street News, Under Production, makes Extended Interviews with Local Leaders Available

Vision Long Island has been in the process of interviewing some of our community partners: local civics, small business/chamber friends, municipal officials and local food pantry and religious leaders. 

As part of these efforts, we have reached over half of the communities we work in and are starting now to connect to some of our friends not rooted in any one community from development, design and infrastructure professionals and environmental leaders as well.   These interviews will be pieced together into a future show titled "Long Island Main Street News," but, in the meantime, you can view an extended version of these interviews here.

Special thanks to our guests for sharing their experiences, to our friends at Pink Tie for providing access to their studio, and to Rob Comforto from Videomasters for the filming and production.

We enjoyed having longtime LI Business News Real Estate reporter David Winzelberg back in to the studio this time joined with Associate Publisher Jenna Natale.  

David continues to be a fountain of information on real estate on the Island and Jenna shared the many events and types of coverage LIBN has underway.  Awesome interview on an important publication for Long Island.  

Check it out here.

Great to have Dr. Don Boomgaarden, President of St. Joseph's College, in for a LI Main Street News interview.  Dr. Boomgaarden covered the growth of the College through Coronavirus, their approach to learning and the values the institution represents. 

I can honestly say in three decades plus of public life I have never had an extended conversation with a College President and he is incredibly down to earth and approachable.  Really dynamic fellow! 

Check it out here.

We had our friend Lee Stuart from Gold Coast Cigar Company in for an interview on LI Main Street News.

Mr. Stuart operates two shops one with an indoor lounge and one with an outdoor lounge in East Northport and Northport's downtown respectively.  Good to see his business continue through the Coronavirus shutdowns and now pick back up.  

Check it out here.

Happy to have Manny Coehlo, principal at Lithology Brewing Company in downtown Farmingdale in for an interview on LI Main Street News. 

Mr. Coehlo shared with us his approach to running the craft beer operation he has on Main Street in Farmingdale.  They have just celebrated their 5th year in operation and have robust distribution to bars, restaurants and the general public.  

We learned a lot about what it is like for local breweries manage through the Coronavirus and many other challenges.  Great conversation!

Check it out here.

Great to have a longtime friend Keith Archer from Harras Bloom and Archer in for a Long Island Main Street News interview.  

Mr. Archer shared the work of his firm and we had a robust dialogue about getting to consensus or at least some sort of resolution on development projects.  They have worked on projects big and small in communities across the Island and he outlined the importance of the public process working alongside the legal process.   

Informative conversation, so check it out here.

Our friend Nick Halstead from Mill Creek Residential joined us for another edition of LI Main Street News.  

Mr. Halstead shared with us their transit oriented development projects in Mineola, West Hempstead and Hempstead that have been completed with a number of others in the planning stages.  This national firm supports working with the community through the approval process while building tax positive projects around our downtown and train station areas. 

Check it out here.

We were happy to have Magda Campbell from AT&T join us on a recent edition of LI Main Street News.

Ms. Campbell shared with us the approach this company takes to work with the public while providing corporate philanthropy to address community needs through the Coronavirus.  As a social worker with a background in other government positions her style is much more bottom up than top down which is very much welcomed.  

Check it out here.

We had Jack Khzouz from NICE Bus in the studio for an edition of LI Main Street News. 

Mr. Khzouz shared with us his work modernizing the fleet of busses, maintaining routes and using technology to better service riders.   Great to see a professional operation behind a needed service for working folks, students, seniors and the disabled.  

Check it out here.

It was great to see Kathy Wisnewski and Lyle Sclair from National Grid in for an edition of LI Main Street News to discuss their programs that help the local community and small businesses.

This episode aired at the LI Smart Growth Summit where they were one of the lead sponsors as well.  

Check it out here.

Up next our friend Patrick Boyle from Ignite Long Island was in the studio for a LI Main Street News interview.  

Mr. Boyle spoke about his work with LI based manufacturers aiding them through lobbying, promotion, networking and other technical assistance.  At a time where Long Islanders want to keep their dollars local his group is in the center of that sentiment.  

Check it out here.

SBA Webinars

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) will continue to offer informational webinars in 2022 to support entrepreneurs and small businesses. The webinars will incorporate strategies to navigate uncertainty and recovery in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis.

The following webinars are currently being offered:

Business Recovery in the Wake of COVID
Wednesday, January 26, 2022 at 12:00pm (SBA and Italy-America Chamber of Commerce)
Register for this event here.

Contact Man-Li Lin, Economic Development Specialist, U.S. Small Business Administration, at Man-li.lin@sba.gov for more information.

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