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

December 6th, 2021

Small Business Saturday Returns to Long Island Downtowns

Long Islanders love their local business districts and shops, but Coronavirus restrictions have hurt the small business community and the recovery has been slow. On November 27th, Small Business Saturday, local chambers, civics and small businesses came out to remind Long Islanders to “Shop Local” this holiday season. Over 30 kickoff events and campaigns were held in downtowns across the Island.. Vision LI and the LI Main Street Alliance participated in several, including events in downtown Huntington and Massapequa Park.

Representatives from the LI Main Street Alliance; Vision Long Island; Nassau Council of Chambers of Commerce; Huntington Township Chamber of Commerce; Baldwin Civic Association; Kings Park Civic Association; Pink Tie’s Think Small Initiative; LI African American Chamber of Commerce; Town of Huntington government officials; Massapequa Chamber of Commerce; LI Hispanic Chamber of Commerce; Hempstead Chamber of Commerce; Syosset Chamber of Commerce; Franklin Square Chamber of Commerce; Freeport Chamber of Commerce; East Meadow Chamber of Commerce; Town of Oyster Bay government officials; and local small businesses addressed the importance of helping our local business not only recover from the economic stress COVID-19 has caused, but to grow their businesses, thereby enhancing our downtowns.

In downtown Huntington, in front of the 65-Foot Christmas Tree in the center of Wall Street’s Huntington Holiday Spectacular, Vita Scaturro, Chairwoman Huntington Township Chamber of Commerce, explained the importance of shopping local. “We know it’s easy to stay at home and click away to fill your cart, but when you shop local you can help a family put a child through collage or help pay for their parents’ health care. Our community is stronger when we shop local. For every one hundred dollars you spend, sixty-eight dollars stays here.”

Frank Camarano, president of the Nassau Council of Chambers of Commerce, stated, “Shopping local is important to the community. Not only does the money stay here, there is the camaraderie of meeting people. After COVID what we need most is working together, being together.”

Valerie Anderson-Campbell and Elizabeth Wellington from the LI African American Chamber of Commerce expressed the importance of shopping local. Ms. Wellington stated, “Our local businesses depend on us. We are all in this together and if we unite to help our business owners, who are the fabric of our everyday lives, we will be making such a big difference, especially during this time.”

“We need to keep our homegrown dollars on Long Island,” Karen Montalbano of the Baldwin Civic Association stated. “In turn, we will be helping each other.”

Local officials discussed the unique benefits of shopping local. “Support your local businesses that support our community, from the Boy Scouts to golf outings,” New York State Assemblyman Keith Brown explained. Edmund Smyth, Town of Huntington Supervisor-elect, stated, “Resist the urge to click. Shop in our local villages and downtowns. Keep your dollars local. The small businesses truly appreciate it.”

In downtown Massapequa Park, in front of Friends For Life Homecare, the message of shopping local was just as strong as in Huntington. Keith Wilson, president of the Massapequa Chamber of Commerce, stated, “I heard just today that 67 cents of every dollar spent in a small business goes back into the community. Shopping local is an investment in our communities.”

Local chambers all stressed the importance of shopping local. Luis Vazquez, president of the LI Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, stated, “It is very important to shop local. Don’t click so much, our businesses need you.” Belinda Watkins, president of the Hempstead Chamber of Commerce, agreed, “Giving back to local businesses is very important.” Rikki Massand, from the Syosset-Woodbury Chamber of Commerce noted, “We find small businesses in our neighborhoods. That means they are our neighbors. We are supporting our neighbors by shopping local.” Lisa DelliPizzi, president of the Franklin Square Chamber of Commerce, explained ninety percent of business on Long Island are small businesses. Shopping local gives back to those business owners that give to the community, local jobs are created and money stays in the community. Lois Howes from the Freeport Chamber of Commerce and Christine Mooney from the East Meadow Chamber of Commerce also lent their voices for the need to shop local.

Nassau County Legislator James Kennedy and Town of Oyster Bay Supervisor Joseph Saladino were on hand to support local businesses. “We have to make sure we keep coming out to support our local businesses. They are the backbone of our communities,” Legislator Kennedy noted. “I’m asking the people of Long Island,” Supervisor Saladino stated, “to get out and shop locally during the holiday season. When you shop local, you make a big difference in keeping our communities thriving.”

In conclusion, Eric Alexander, Director of Vision Long Island and the Long Island Main Street Alliance, stated, “Post pandemic is an important time to come together to support our downtowns. This is done by shopping local, not only during the holiday season, but all year round. We give a gift to our family members, to our friends, and with what small businesses have been through, we have to give a gift to our downtowns by giving them the gift of our dollars, our patronage. That’s so important.”

20th Annual Long Island Smart Growth Summit Preview

The 20th Annual LI Smart Growth Summit brought together nearly 150 speakers in thirty sessions, with over fifty elected officials, twenty development and infrastructure presentations and more than 1,000 participants.

The three-day summit, running November 17th through the 19th, consisted of two virtual days and one in person event at the Crest Hollow Country Club in Woodbury. The summit focused on helping small businesses recover from COVID-19, supporting downtown revitalization, investing in infrastructure, economic development and much more.

“This year’s summit brought together folks of all backgrounds, politics, economics, races and cultures to raise up local voices in the support and planning of Long Island downtowns,” explained Eric Alexander, Director of Vision Long Island and the Long Island Main Street Alliance. “This successful bottom-up approach should send a clear national message on how to work together in a climate of chaos and division.”

The summit’s traditional State of the Towns and Villages Plenary Session brought to the dais, at the Crest Hollow Country Club on day three, elected officials from all across Long Island. “The Summit has always been about collaboration,” opened Eric Alexander, Director of Vision Long Island and the Long Island Main Street Alliance. “It is more important now more than ever. We have to listen - a lot.” 

Newsday’s Joye Brown quickly drilled down on arguably one of the most important issues facing local towns and villages right now. “The pandemic has left a lot of people scrambling for rent, and a lot of people scrambling for mortgage payments. What, if anything, can our elected officials do to make things smoother for those in the market for affordable housing?”

Babylon Town Supervisor Rich Schaffer responded that towns need to take the lead. “In the Town of Babylon, we welcome the opportunity to have redevelopment. Our goal is to take existing properties and turn them into more productive properties… including affordable rental housing.”

Islip Town Supervisor Angie Carpenter commented, “In terms of affordable housing, in Central Islip we were the recipient of the third round of the Governor’s DRI funding… At the north end of the project, we did an RFP and that is going to be 100% affordable housing, mixed use, with retail. There are other such projects moving forward as well.”

Brookhaven Town Supervisor Ed Romaine stated, “We are moving to change the face of Brookhaven and renew it. We have overlay districts where we are talking about and creating affordable housing,” such as in East Patchogue, Yaphank, Ronkonkoma, Port Jefferson Station, Setauket, Farmingville, Middle Island, and Coram.

North Hempstead Town Supervisor-Elect Jennifer DeSena noted, “We definitely need affordable housing in North Hempstead. We are on the side where we don’t have new space to develop. We are going to have to redevelop old spaces.”

Riverhead Town Supervisor Yvette Aguiar stated, “Riverhead is being regentrified at the current time. We do have plenty of affordable housing. We are also focusing on moderately priced homes.”

Village of Hempstead Deputy Mayor Jeffrey Daniels responded, “We believe in affordable housing, but we have a lot of affordable housing. We have a lot of workforce housing existing in the Village of Hempstead. We need market rate housing. We are a picture of a TOD already. We have a financially structural problem in the Village.”

Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman retorted, “The Hamptons have never been synonymous with affordable housing. During the pandemic, [housing] prices went through the roof. When you talk about creating affordability, it is a very complex situation. It is always met with litigation; it is always a challenge. We do try to power through it. We are trying to make more affordability happen. We changed our zoning, passed local laws, and are working on an affordable housing plan.”

Village of Westbury Mayor Peter Cavallaro detailed, “The only governments that can incentivize or encourage affordable housing are villages and towns. It will not just happen on its own, you have to incentivize it. Municipalities can create zoning that incentivizes it. Westbury has done just that. We encourage housing at every price point.”

Village of Lindenhurst Deputy Mayor Michael Lavorata explained, “We are trying to cater to the young folks. We are trying to keep our kids here. We don’t want them moving out of state.”

In a video message, Randy King, Vice Chairman, Shinnecock Indian Nation Council of Trustees, focused on the Shinnecock point of view of the COVID response, smart community planning and economic growth. Regarding the latter, Mr. King keyed in on the benefits of creating a modest gaming facility on Montauk Highway in Southampton, emphasizing it would act as an economic engine for the area. “It is time for equity,” Mr. King concluded.

You can view Mr. King’s video here.

The panelists also discussed their priorities for the bipartisan $1 trillion infrastructure funds coming from the federal government, which included sewers and roads, and what strategies the panelists use to instill trust with the community, which included communication and transparency.

You can view the entire State of the Towns and Villages Plenary Session here.

Featured Speakers, focusing on Bringing Resources to Our Communities, included Matthew Cohen, president of the Long Island Association, Suffolk County Legislator Presiding Officer- Elect Kevin McCaffrey, Nassau County Legislator Presiding Officer Richard Nicolello, Nassau County Comptroller-Elect Elaine Phillips New York State Senator Mario Mattera, New York State Senator Phil Boyle, and New York State Senator Alexis Weik. Each speaker discussed the need to rise above party politics and engage whole communities in order to really make positive changes on the local level.

LIA’s Matt Cohen stated, “We want to be inclusive. The more we do together, the better things will be. We have to collaborate” especially in terms of affordability, small businesses, and diversity, equity and inclusion.

Presiding Officer-Elect Kevin McCaffrey opined that we must use everything learned in local government to “benefit everyone in the county from a bottom-up perspective as opposed to edicts coming from high above.” Legislator Presiding Officer Richard Nicolello added, “The boundaries between Nassau County and Suffolk County are really artificial. For the most part, we have regional issues.” Nassau County Comptroller-Elect Elaine Phillips noted the best way of understanding government is by being in local government, “you just can’t hide.”

Senator Mario Mattera stated, “It is important to reach out to your civics, your chambers, your fire departments. You must get the community involved in local projects.” Senator Phil Boyle, discussing the success of communities such as Patchogue, encouraged the attendees “to get together and work with our communities.” Finally, Senator Alexis Weik concurred, “It is so important for everyone to have conversations together, in the same place, at the same time. This is how you get everyone on the same track.”

You can view the entire Featured Speakers panel video here.

A recent Long Island Main Street News interview, featuring Newsday’s business and economic journalist James Madore, served as the opening keynote address. Focusing on the recent plight of Long Island’s small business community and the role and effectiveness of government aid programs connecting to and aiding local downtowns, Mr. Madore shared what he sees and hears each day. “Small businesses are still struggling, the pandemic is still with us,” Mr. Madore advised. “Although things are better, we still have a long way to go.” Referring to the trouble in finding employees and the rising prices of goods, Mr. Madore explained, it will take several years for small businesses to fully recover.

You can view Mr. Madore’s full interview here.

U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer, in a video message to attendees, spoke about the difficulties Long Island communities and businesses have faced these past twenty months. Citing the Payroll Protection Program, the Save Our Stages Program, the procurement of 265 million dollars in restaurant relief, 320 million dollars to Long Island school districts, and nearly a billion dollars of direct flexible aid to Nassau and Suffolk Counties, Senator Schumer noted these steps have and will continue to improve our communities. Referring to the recently passed $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, Senator Schumer stated, “We must continue to make big and bold investments to power Long Island’s recovery.”

You can view Senator Schumer’s message here.

Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone, joining the summit virtually, discussed the County’s efforts to combat issues that have long plagued the region. “We have prioritized issues like affordable housing, water quality, transportation and infrastructure,” the County Executive stated. By investing in communities, economic growth and the future, we are building back stronger than ever before, the County Executive noted.

You can view County Executive Bellone’s message here.

Stay tuned for a full and complete write up on the 20th Long Island Smart Growth Summit, coming soon!

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 had Giovanna Bracchi from La Fuerza CDC join us for an edition of LI Main Street News. 

Ms. Bracchi shared with us her work helping small businesses particularly minority and women owned with grants, loans and technical assistance through the pandemic and recovery.  

Check it out here.

We had Babylon Town Supervisor Richard Schaffer in the studio for an interview on LI Main Street News.

Great conversation that covered the present needs of local residents and businesses in the Town and his decades of service as a public official.   There were many great takeaways from this conversation including how to look at your individual concerns while embracing those of others in the community. The values of listening, being humble, checking your ego and giving back to your community all came up.  

Check it out here.

Great to have the leaders of Terwilliger and Bartone on our LI Main Street News show.  

Ron and Fran Terwilliger and Anthony Bartone outlined their work bringing multi-family development options to our downtowns and train station areas.   Ron Terwilliger is a well known leader building multi-family housing nationwide and Fran and Anthony are bringing that building experience into a scale that fits with and assists communities across Long Island.  Great conversation.

Check it out here.

It was great to have Jerry Elfassy and Dr. Samarth Joseph from the Westbury and Carly Place Chamber of Commerce on a recent edition of LI Main Street News. 

Dr. Joseph and Mr. Elfassy shared their work building up the Chamber and promoting their business districts.  They hold great networking events and are promoting local businesses in the community in coordination with the Westbury BID.  

Check it out here.

We had Village of Patchogue Mayor Paul Pontieri in for a recent edition of LI Main Street News.  

Mayor Pontieri shared with us the over a decade and a half of substantive accomplishments for his downtown that included new housing, events, restaurants, art, music and infrastructure investments.   He also spoke about how they managed the pandemic and future plans for his downtown.    It was really great to have this conversation with him. 

Check it out here.

We had Greg DeRosa from the G2D Group join us on a recent edition of LI Main Street News. 

Mr. DeRosa shared his developments that provide housing options near train stations and affordable units for special needs residents.   He also spoke about his Work Smart centers that create shared office space in Hicksville, Huntington and Riverhead as well.  It was heartening to hear Mr. DeRosa’s open approach to working with the local community leaders in the neighborhoods he seeks to build.  

Check it out here.