By Jeff Lipton
Suozzi held a breakfast meeting in Cedarhurst with Five Towns leaders to find out how the county can assist them in upgrading their business districts. The county executive then toured Cedarhurst and Hewlett to get a sense of the neighborhoods' needs. He also planned to visit Inwood, where economic development projects are being proposed. County Leg. Jeff Toback (D-Oceanside) co-hosted the meeting for about a dozen business and neighborhood leaders.
The Nov. 25 get-together came a day before Suozzi publicly released his six-point plan for county economic development. We need a master plan for this community, for the Five Towns area, Suozzi said. It's not something that we would like to see happen tomorrow, or in the next six months, but over the next 10 years.
He said leaders should pinpoint where they could open up more affordable housing for seniors and expand parking in the Town of Hempstead. We have to develop a map of the Five Towns area and where the downtowns are [to give them help], he said. We have to decide as a community what we want to accomplish.
Suozzi asked community leaders if the plan for Cedarhurst should be drawn up by itself or be included in an overall master plan for Inwood, Hewlett, Woodmere and Lawrence. He said the plan should impact what happens over the next half-century. He added that he would like to see the plan in place by the end of 2003.
He pushed an Empire Zone for Inwood, to give major tax incentives for businesses that move into the community and stay there. Sen. Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) has already applied to the state on Inwood's behalf.
Suozzi also pressed for a Free Trade Zone for Five Towns communities close to Kennedy Airport, which would allow goods to be distributed to local businesses without a duty tax. It's an import-export assistance tool that will allow for companies to complete manufacturing [of goods] right here, said Peter Sylver, deputy county executive for economic development.
Suozzi said the community might as well reap some benefit from living and operating close to the airport, which has been the source of much concern about airplane noise.
Inwood has a lot of problems, Suozzi said. And by doing this we are trying to do some economic development over there.
We are trying to implement a vision for the long-term and put the resources there to try to make it happen.
He called Cedarhurst's downtown area very nice and beautiful and said Hewlett has great potential for a redevelopment project.
Mary Haves Cooper, a vice president of the Hewlett Business Association, said the community's major problem is the lack of parking. She said residents who must take the LIRR at the Hewlett station get shut out of parking if they fail to arrive at the station before 7:30 a.m. You could park two blocks away, she said. That's fine if you're young, but not if you're a senior and want to go to the city.
She added that traffic congestion is a major headache because the streets are narrow, and if a car makes a left turn from Broadway, traffic is often backed up from Lynbrook to Cedarhurst, turning the stretch of road into a half-hour drive.
It's terrible if people can't come to the stores because they can't find a place to park, and the traffic is so bad, Cooper said.
Joe Gelb, president of the Hewlett Business Association, suggested a jug-handle approach at Franklin Avenue that would allow cars to make a turn into a parking lot to ease congestion.
Sy Glass, president of the Woodmere Merchants Association, said that Franklin Place and Irving Place are very narrow, making it difficult for motorists to maneuver cars. In addition, he said, By 9 a.m. the parking lots are filled. Then people can't shop here and we have problems. We don't want empty stores.
Glass has proposed a multi-level parking garage for Woodmere, but it has yet to be approved by the Town of Hempstead. Woodmere, he said, is growing, with a newly renovated public library and close to 1,000 additional students. People are leaving the Bronx and Brooklyn and are coming here and buying homes, Glass said. But he added that illegal housing has become an issue in Woodmere. You have to help us, Glass told Suozzi.
In response to claims of illegal housing, Suozzi said, You have to enforce the laws in place. Sy, I'm with you.
We have to address the need for more affordable housing for seniors, Suozzi added. You can't continue to allow illegals to happen.
Peter Visconti of the Five Towns Community Center in Inwood agreed that illegal housing plagues his community as well. I feel for a lot of people, and their landlords make a ton of money off of them and children are kept in poor living conditions, Visconti said.
We want to make Inwood [better], Suozzi said. I will encourage more code enforcement in the county.
Glass suggested using excess property from churches and temples for affordable senior citizen housing, an idea Sylver called interesting.
Cedarhurst Mayor Andrew Parise told Suozzi that the village parking fields are in sad shape. He said the community has been the victim of its own success and is having a hard time getting funding other than from taxpayers. We need more assistance because they get a lot of wear and tear, Parise said of the parking fields. There's just a little too much put on taxpayers.
Village trustee Ari Brown said that Cedarhurst has not raised taxes in years and that the village is looking to make improvements without digging into the pockets of its residents. We really should get more [county funding], he said.
The free trade zone can be completed in 12 to 16 months, said Sylver. I think the Five Towns certainly could use a little more attention, he added. The area certainly can use help and we can strengthen them.
He said he was surprised to hear so many concerns about illegal housing in the community.
Suozzi's six-point plan for county economic development includes redevelopment of brownfields; more affordable housing for working people and senior citizens; increased open space; encouraging and promoting tourism, sports events and entertainment; encouraging high-skilled, high-tech industry; and revitalizing the downtown areas. County officials will divide Nassau into 35 Economic Zones, attracting 500 to 1,000 jobs in each of the zones.
