By Nick Buglione
Producing some $50 billion in yearly revenue, the hub encompasses nearly three square miles of commercial and office space stretching from the Hempstead Turnpike EAB Plaza on the southeast to Roosevelt Field on the northwest. It includes the Nassau Coliseum, Mitchell Field and the Source Mall within its confines.
It's an area that, according to Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi (D-Glen Cove), illustrates the two main problems the county is facing -- crippling traffic and a lack of revenue growth.
"The property tax base is the same as it was in 1990," Suozzi told roughly 100 people who turned out for the meeting at Hofstra University. "Property tax revenues don't go up if the property tax base does not expand. So the only way to get revenue to go up is to raise property taxes. People don't like it when you raise property taxes."
Attracting high-technology industry, redeveloping underused properties, and promoting sports and entertainment in the hub should be explored to bolster county revenue, Suozzi said.
Unbearable traffic in the hub, which sees an estimated 480,000 "person trips" a day, has also precipitated the need to examine mass transit alternatives, such as enhanced bus services or construction of a light-rail system, he said. Whatever the solution, the goal is to reduce people's dependence on cars.
"If we don't plan for the long term, the traffic and lack of growth will have serious impacts on Nassau County," said Suozzi, later noting that the county is actively seeking feedback from the public about how to address these concerns.
Though the project is still in the embryonic stages, some residents are already wary of the impact any modifications to the hub might have on the surrounding communities.
"I do not want any use of the Meadowbrook for trucks or a mass-transit corridor," said Richard Schary, a North Bellmore civic leader and member of the Long Island Progressive Coalition.
Residents, civic leaders and businessmen seem to agree that the hub could use a facelift, but urged county officials to keep in mind that neighborhoods outside the area need help, too. "Look out for Carle Place," said Sal Battinelli, who attended the meeting and spoke on behalf of the Carle Place Civic Association. "Look beyond the immediate hub area and consider us."
It was a theme echoed by other leaders representing neighborhoods that lie just outside the hub, the so-called "spokes."
Richard Bivone, East Meadow resident and president of the Nassau Council of Chambers of Commerce, stressed that businesses need to be an essential part of the planning process and was miffed that the council was left out of a closed-door meeting on the hub last week.
"I believe that the Nassau Council should be part of this from the beginning," said Bivone, whose organization represents more than 50 chambers of commerce throughout Nassau. "The chambers should be a stakeholder in this because this is the future of Nassau County."
Armed with a $500,000 federal grant, the county has hired a consulting team, headed by the Manhattan-based engineering firm STV Incorporated, to conduct a major investment study over the next year. With help from the public, it will develop a vision for the hub by defining transportation and land-use needs.
It's the first step in the long process of convincing the federal government to shell out the cash for what will surely be a multi-million-dollar project.
An early timeline indicates that after the study, preliminary engineering and design processes, work could begin in the fall of 2008, said Margarita Gagliardi, senior vice president of STV Incorporated.
Some question the feasibility of convincing an automobile-minded population to use alternative transportation. "How do you tell someone to take their packages and their kids and go on a monorail or bus system to another mall?" Bivone said. "It's not going to happen."
The county will hold its next public meeting on the hub in the fall, but officials stressed that residents can make suggestions or air concerns in the meantime by calling the Nassau County Planning Department at (516) 571-5844. A Web site dedicated to the project should also be up in about four weeks.
Gagliardi has also expressed a willingness to attend civic and other organization meetings in Nassau to discuss the study's progress through the summer.
For more information about the major investment study, visit www.co.nassau.ny.us or www.nassaucountynydevelopment.org.
