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Clean energy and water. High-tech innovation. Next-generation jobs, thanks to investments in science and technology.
These are some of the big priorities elected officials and leaders presented to the business community during Long Island Association’s 2023 State of the Region on Friday. Held at the Crest Hollow Country Club in Woodbury, the event drew more than 1,100 people.
The region is benefitting from federal, state and local dollars, officials said.
“Long Island is going to be the capital for offshore wind, not just in New York but the whole country,” U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer told the crowd.
The Senate majority leader said innovations such as offshore wind would fuel new companies and “new frontier jobs,” and that federal bills provided money for training for these jobs.
“Once we have these windmills installed, the price [for energy] isn’t going to go up and down the way we have suffered through in the last few years, and the way it has been through our history,” he said.
He also said that the CHIPS and Science Act, signed into law by President Joe Biden in August, “is the largest down payment in a long time” in technology and innovation.
And with the region’s high tech research centers, including Cold Spring Harbor Lab and Brookhaven National Laboratory and Stony Brook University and others, “Long Island can be a center of chip-related research and production,” with the centers in the region already “cutting edge in the world,” and poised for growth.
He said the same levels of opportunities were present in medical science, including at Northwell Health.
In Suffolk County, the Midway Crossing Ronkonkoma – accessible by highway, rail and air – would fuel innovation, with Northwell Health and Applied DNA already committed to building there, said Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone said,
Right now, there is a “unique, once in a generation” level of “cooperation and coordination that I’ve never seen in a project of this significance,” Bellone said, referring to efforts by labor, business, academia and elected officials. “They’re putting politics aside. They made the decision that Long Island’s future is more important.
And he said, protecting the environment and water quality is a “bipartisan commitment” that has public support, he said.
Schumer said there was money to provide “real sewage systems in places that don’t have them” and that would prevent aquifer contamination and protect surrounding bays and waters, including Long Island Sound.
“What happens on the federal, state, and local levels of government impact us here on Long Island, and that’s why the LIA will continue to play its role as a primary advocate for our region’s economic advancement and successful business community,” said LIA President and CEO Matt Cohen.
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, addressed the group by video. He was unable to attend the State of the Region breakfast “due to a family obligation” that was scheduled earlier last week, “but due to airline cancellations had to be postponed and couldn’t be changed,” Cohen said.
In the video, he said would present a plan for the redevelopment of the Nassau County Hub.
Schumer said the region has to do more about housing, allowing the private sector to more affordably build “a lot more housing.”
Cohen said the LIA would pursue “economic development opportunities to address challenges like our high cost of living, developing more affordable housing options, expanding our commercial tax base through helping grow businesses, and retaining young professionals to keep Long Island vibrant and sustainable.”
Cohen pointed out that the LIA has long-supported fostering “a clean energy economy. He said that “South Fork Wind is projected to power Long Island homes by the end of this year and other are in the pipeline to serve our region.”
What’s more, New York State has allocated $350 million to “new state economic development funds being invested in our region, some of which has already been awarded to Northwell’s Feinstein Institutes, Long Island University, Farmingdale State College, and Stony Brook University with Brookhaven National Lab.”
But, he said, that “we also need to ensure the Long Island region gets an equitable share of funding and attention from all levels of government. We have sent much more to DC and Albany every year than we get back and it’s time we change that.”
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Image and article originally from libn.com. Read the original article here.