Barbra Rubin is president of the Island Park Chamber of Commerce, an office she's held since 2000. Rubin and her husband, Robert Perry, operate two home-based businesses, Comp-U-Sultants, a computer sales and consulting firm, and Big Sticks Broadcasting, a radio consulting firm. In October, Rubin will serve a second term as president of the Island Park Kiwanis Club. She also sits on the board of the Island Park Theater Group and is a life-long Girl Scout. Last week, The Herald's Joseph Kellard sat down with Rubin at Starbucks on Austin Boulevard to discuss the chamber's mission and goals.
How did you originally get involved with the Island Park Chamber of Commerce?
I don't remember what the issue was, but it was around the early-to mid-1990s and there was something the Village of Island Park was bringing up. And so I went to a chamber meeting and gave [current Board of Education trustee] Michael Hastava some suggestions as to what I thought he should do, and he introduced me to his father [current Village Trustee] Mickey Hastava, who asked me to come to one of their chamber meetings. I went and after a few meetings, I replaced the secretary who was moving.
What is the chamber's mission?
Our main purpose is to promote business in Island Park, and by promoting I mean giving it support, voicing the concerns of our members and giving them publicity.
What is distinct about Island Park's chamber?
The most distinct thing about Island Park is that we're both a town and a village. So when I deal with businesses or the chamber that deal with both political systems, I have to go through both of them, and sometimes we run into things that encompass both. And sometimes it's like pulling teeth trying to get stuff together. But I must say we have had phenomenal help from our political officers, from the village to the Town of Hempstead to our Nassau County legislators. [Hempstead Town Councilman] Anthony Santino and [Councilwoman] Angie Cullen
come to our meetings and talk to us and the phone is always open to them, and the same with [legislators] Denise Ford and Jeff Toback. Denise came with people from the traffic department to work on the timing of our traffic lights, so that people have time to cross the streets on both Austin Boulevard and Long Beach Road, and worked on other safety issues to make it easier for people to walk our streets and go from one business to another. I've worked in a lot of different communities, and these are the best politicians I've ever worked with. I can't ask for better.
Does the relatively smaller population size of Island Park affect how the chamber operates?
It's not so much the population size, it's the interesting mix. We have over 460 businesses in Island Park, and many are home based. Whether or not they're in regulations or not, I don't really care. They are bringing money into the community, they are making the community known. The other thing is that the community, our demographics, is changing, and we would like to welcome any and all businesses into the chamber.
How many non-storefront business, such as doctors' offices and home-based businesses, does the chamber have?
We have about three or four and would like to bring them all on board, because they have concerns, too. ... They are in the community, even more so than the owners of some of the storefront businesses. They have to shop here, live here, cross the streets here, so it all affects them one way or another. The chamber has no qualms about taking in these businesses. Business is business.
In recent years we have seen many national and regional chain businesses set up shop in Island Park, from Starbucks, Ruby Tuesdays, Advanced Auto Parts to Ace Hardware, Bennigan's, Subway, Outback and Public Storage. What does the chamber think about these many name-brand corporations coming to town?
Business is business. The advantage of the chains is they bring name recognition and they bring people to Island Park. I love that Outback's parking lot is constantly filled. I like that when the chains come in they put up nice-looking buildings and maintain the property. What's wrong with that? The problem in Island Park is that we don't have enough retail stores. The chamber would like to see more of these businesses women's and men's clothing stores, convenience stores, hardware, hats and handbag stores. We'd like to see more of them, not only in the village on Long Beach Road, but also along Austin Boulevard where people can walk. Also, some of these bigger businesses are joining the chamber. Some aren't and I wish more of them would.
Several new businesses have opened in recent years in the village on Long Beach Road. What do you account for this?
The street beautification project came, the storefront facade project came, the new library came. We started those projects with the hope of maintaining or bringing in businesses, and I think the village has also been working to bring in more businesses in the villages. If you live and work here, you want to improve the area. One thing the
chamber would like to see is the building owners, not the business owners, to maintain and clean up their properties, clean the gum and filth off the street. Another problem is nobody really walks the streets.
What, if any, problems does the chamber face in getting businesses to join the organization?
A lot of the problem is that the business owners think they have to attend all our meetings. Some of the business owners are out-of-towners, and after work they just want to leave. So we've tried to have our meetings in the afternoon, because that seems to be the best time for owners to meet.
How has the chamber grown since you've become president?
When I first took over there were about 50 members and now we have about 54. Membership goes up and down and comes back up, and seems to be on the upswing now. I think the problem is people don't know enough about what we do. I try to get the word out. One of the things we've started in the past few years is that we give out a beautification award to business owners who, say, reface their storefronts. We did this quarterly and now do it monthly, and this gives them publicity and recognition.
What are some of the chamber's longer-term goals?
Well, we'd like to get a lot more members, and, as I said before, we'd like to see more retail stores come to town. We'd also like to get a supermarket, so that some of our older population doesn't have to travel to Long Beach or Oceanside to go food shopping. And we'd also like to see more businesses open up that can employ high school students, so they don't have to travel out of town for work. This way they can stay in the community, get to know the community and possibly decide to remain here.
A lot of our younger population doesn't have much to do, and a lot of them leave town once they're old enough. We think by bringing in more businesses to employ younger people we can keep them here.
For more information about the Island Park Chamber of Commerce, call Barbra Rubin at (516) 897-8477.
Comments about this interview? JKellard@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000
ext. 287.
