Listen to this articleAn estimated 1,200 business, nonprofit and civic leaders attended the Long Island Association (LIA) State of the Region event at Crest Hollow Country Club in Woodbury on Friday.
At the event, LIA President and CEO Matt Cohen led a conversation with Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, both Republicans, and Babylon Town Supervisor Rich Schaffer, a Democrat who is also the leader of the Long Island Supervisors Association.
A focus of the discussion was unity, as well as ways to boost the economy.
“My job as county executive is to lobby for Suffolk County and for Long Island, because we’re part of Long Island. We stand together,” Romaine said.
“We need to rebuild our infrastructure. Every economist will tell you if you invest in your infrastructure, you will produce a really good economy,” he said.
Romaine spoke of the need for more sewer infrastructure and said he was hopeful about Midway Crossing, a proposed $3 billion public/private transit-oriented project in Ronkonkoma.
He said that by collaborating with those including legislators, supervisors and labor, “we can get more things done by working together.” He emphasized the need to start thinking about the policies, and consider the impact on the economy and on the creation of jobs and opportunities.
Cohen said that it was “great to see bipartisanship working at the local level.”
Shaffer said that the supervisors’ association was working “as one voice” towards improving quality of life as it looked toward addressing “large transformative projects that will take us into the next generation.” That includes getting the funding to move the North Terminal at Long Island MacArthur Airport so that it is nearer to the Ronkonkoma train station.
Speaking about the proposed Las Vegas Sands casino and resort complex on Long Island, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman said “I believe we’re going to have the best application. Nassau County and the Coliseum site is the best site in the State of New York for a new casino.” He pointed to the potential of $5 billion in construction jobs and thousands of permanent jobs, and revenue that would “spread out to various communities” surrounding the location.
“I think it would be a tremendous economic boost, and I’m very hopeful that we will be the winning bid. I don’t’ think there is any other place in the state that can do what we can do as far as revenue,” Blakeman said. “I believe it will be the highest grossing casino in the United States when it’s completed.”
The final casino location still needs approval from the New York State Gaming Facility Location Board.
All agreed that Long Island needs state and federal support to rebuild the region’s infrastructure.
Hochul said that “Long Island is very much top of mind for us,” in Albany.
New York State Gov. Kathy Hochul and U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer also made remarks.
“I want more people to come here,” she said. “I want more jobs created. We’ve had 53,000 jobs created on Long Island since I became governor, 47,000 new businesses started on Long Island in 2023 alone — that’s one year.”
“People are rediscovering Long Island, and that’s personal to me. Whether it’s a small business in our absolutely charming downtowns – first rate, every one of them – or our innovation corridor where we’re investing billions of dollars in technologies and therapies to give people a new chance at life, whether it’s Brookhaven, Stony Brook, Cold Spring Harbor — I’ve been to all of them, and there’s phenomenal amounts of state money going into them,” she said.
And while local leaders stressed the need also for federal support, Schumer told the audience that he continues to advocate for Long Island.