Table of Contents
Cover Story:
The World is Flat
When it comes to Global business, the view looks good
RBD Round-Up:
RBD is On the Air!
WRCR teams up with RBD Co-publisher for weekly show
RBD Business Survey
Take part in RBD's 1st On-line Business Survey
DEPARTMENTS:
Economics Round-Up
• The Local Economy
Construction industry confidence rebounds, managers predict greater optimism
• The Smart Investor
Investing From Within: The key to becoming a smart investor
• Economic Viewpoint
It All Adds Up: The Fed takes delight in the economic numbers
Business Round-Up
• The Work-Life Minute™
Small business owners need innovation to battle burnout
• Marketing By Design
There Ought'a Be a Law: Marketing is nothing more than long-distance selling
Ask The Experts
• Business Start-ups
Negotiating a lease - from the tenant's view
• Expensing & Depreciation
Tax incentives for small business
Retail Round-Up
• Who's Hiring?
Summer employment program offers benefits to all
• New In Town
Invest in Your Community
• Provident Bank Charitable Foundation
Works to support help from People to People
• Red Cross Celebrates March
Partners with local business people for the good of all
Odds & Ends
• From The Publishers
• Letters to the Editor
• Rockland Newsmakers
Dedicated Section:
Rockland Business Association:
The President’s Desk
The State of the RBA
RBA/United Way Golf Outing
The Rockland Open: Monday, May 21st
RBA Happenings
• Committee and Council Info
• Calendar of Events
• New Members
From The
President’s Desk
Samuels Delivers in State
of RBA Speech
by Jeremiah Watkins
And her words were more than accurate. The RBA CEO and President had just flowed his way through a 45 minute speech covering at least a dozen different topics regarding the status and future of Rockland and the RBA (and how the two are related). Even Samuels seemed surprised with how well it went.
“I can’t believe I finished on time,” he said, as he stepped from the podium at exactly 1:30pm, just as scheduled.
In the January 18th speech before well over 100 RBA members gathered at the Holiday Inn and Conference Center in Suffern, Samuels addressed the pressing issues of Rockland’s future—notably the future of the Tappan Zee Bridge, the development of affordable a.k.a. “workforce” housing, and the need to make the most of commercial development and the newly designated Empire Zone.
Samuels was particularly concerned that the immense inflation in real estate value was threatening the fabric of Rockland’s social infrastructure.
“We can not let Rockland become a county of the very wealthy and the poor on social services,” he said.
With the average house price rising to nearly $500,000 however, much of the middle-class is being priced out. Particularly threatened by the prohibitive costs are 25 to 34-year-olds seeking to start an economic life, and often a family. They move out of the county at high rates, often to relocating to Orange County.
Samuels said that if the trend continued, things would get even worse for Rockland because people working here and living in Orange County, would eventually find work in Orange County as its economy continues to expand. This would leave Rockland without a valuable workforce to market itself to incoming companies. Samuels said the RBA had been working with Sen. Charles Schumer to help remedy the problem. The Senator intends to help Rockland build significant housing that’s affordable to the average worker. Equally important to Rockland’s future is commercial development, Samuels said. While the County only has 1,000 acres left zoned as commercial, it was essential that the most be made of it, bringing in jobs and increasing the tax base. He mentioned that Hunter-Douglas recently moved a plant into the County, using 20 acres and creating over 100 jobs.
“If we could replicate Hunter Douglas 50 more times…we could bring in 6,000 more jobs,” and use the incoming tax revenue to mitigate property taxes, Samuels said. He specifically commended Clarkstown Supervisor Alexander Gromack and the Town Board for bringing in five new companies on a tract of land that had originally been zoned residential.
And what is the best way to attract companies? Samuels had an answer—you don’t sit back and wait for them to come to you; you make available properties attractive as possible and then go out and court prospective companies.
“We need shovel-ready sites,” Samuels said. Shovel ready sites are ones that have already been cleared and pre-permitted and have sewer and electric lines set—all a company needs to do is build their facility. It takes much of the headache out of the process for a company and it’s what smart areas in the country are doing right now, Samuels said.
What’s long been a passion of Samuels is the construction of a new Tappan Zee Bridge with a light rail link traveling from Stewart Airport over the Tappan Zee and into Manhattan. He commended the Tappan Zee Task Force, thanking County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef for co-founding it and Catherine Nowicki for co-chairing it. He said he looked forward to learning more definitively what the future of the bridge would be over the course of the next year. Nothing could help the County’s cause more than a new bridge with a rail link, he said.
Samuels reflected on the accomplishments of the past year. The RBA has expanded greatly under his watch the last five years, both as a membership and networking organization and as a political outreach organization. With more members and more events than ever before, the RBA was only becoming a stronger networking organization.
The emphasis on public policy is relatively new to the RBA; something Samuels and the Board of Directors decided was necessary to go in this direction five years ago, he said. The year 2006 saw the RBA introduce its first ever Political Action Committee. The RBA PAC endorsed Orangetown contender Paul Valentine for legislature against Connie Coker. He ended up suffering a narrow defeat.
Samuels reported that RBA members continued their lobbying efforts in Albany during the 2006 “small business day,” where they traveled to the capital to make their case for reform of the Wicks Law, the Scaffold Law, Workers Compensation insurance, taxes, energy and health care policy.
He encouraged even more people to show up in 2007.
“The RBA is now recognized as a leader [for lobbying these issues],” Samuels said.
Samuels lauded a great outreach success of 2006—the RBA’s half-decade quest to have universal broadband internet access in the County is becoming close to reality. This fall, following an RBA presentation on the matter, the County released a Request for Information (RFI) to create a Countywide WIMax/Wifi network. Then only a few months later, newly elected governor Eliot Spitzer said he wanted the entire state to offer universal broadband.
Another successful 2006 endeavor was led by the RBA’s Hospitality and Tourism Alliance and the County’s Department of Tourism. For the first time Rockland was represented at regional tourism trade shows, which has in turn led to tours of the County by motor coach operators. If Rockland catches on as a regional tourist destination, it would be a tremendous economic boon, Samuels said.
To help member companies with their own commercial expansion the RBA recently signed an agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration and the New York Business Development Corporation, that allows RBA members easy access to their loan programs. Samuels also touted Rockland Legislator David Fried’s small business stimulus act which made it easier for Rockland businesses to do business with the County.
Job training, public transportation and entrepreneurship were also on Samuels’ agenda for 2007. He credited his staff with making everything happen—Joan Neumann, Vice President of Administration, Roger Scheiber, Vice President of Development and Planning, Doreen Briglia, Administrative Assistant, Dina Fiorentino, Office Assistant and Mindy Ross, Financial Administrator.
Finally he said, though there are issues facing Rockland, he recently met with chambers from across the state and found that the Hudson Valley was by and large ahead of the curve – and Rockland was particularly strong. RBD
