Additionally, the city and the chamber are working with Sustainable Long Island to assess Long Beach’s business climate and what can be done to promote recovery and reinvestment here. Sustainable Long Island is teaming up with the city and local community groups to promote a “Business Operation Survey,” a tool to measure the impact of the hurricane on local businesses so that the organization can advocate on their behalf. The survey is available online at www.surveymonkey.com/s/LBL_Biz_Operating.

“The chamber is working on a number of initiatives to help the businesses,” said chamber Executive Vice President Mark Tannenbaum, “because it’s going to be a different summer. We want to let everyone who visits Long Beach know that there are amenities on the beach.”

The Barrier Island Alliance proposed food trucks as a way to rejuvenate local businesses, said Surfer’s Association President Billy Kupferman. “The purpose is to give our restaurants, who have had such a rough winter, a chance to capitalize on that space and make up for some of that loss,” he said.

Tannenbaum said that that most businesses and residents have been receptive to the idea.

Kupferman added that the city is going to have to think outside the box this summer. “There are a lot of businesses that are just holding on by a thread,” he said, “[and] summertime is going to be make-or-break for a lot of people around here.”

The ideas being discussed also include more opportunities for commerce at the beach — surf shops selling T-shirts, pharmacies selling beach chairs, food deliveries by local business to beachgoers — as well as setting up a trolley service in the city, establishing business directories throughout the city and holding film and music festivals, beach movie nights and other events around town. Kupferman also suggested creating events that focus on volleyball and surfing.