Table of Contents
Cover Story:
For RBD, It Was
a Very Good Year
Feature Stories:
Lessons Learned
Starting a small business can be a daunting proposition
Web Masters
RBD's online presence is a natural progression
RBD Round-Up:
How's Business?
The results are in from our
first survey
RBD Business Survey
What's your take on the rising cost of healthcare?
DEPARTMENTS:
Economic Round-Up
• The Smart Investor
How to minimize the affect of the Alternative Minimum Tax
• Economic Viewpoint
Interpreting the Inverted
Yield Curve
• Visitor's Guide
Tour busses in Rockland?
Retail Round-Up
• Where the Jobs Are
Tips for students looking
for work
Business Round-Up
• PSI Health Plans
Offer flexibility and
cost savings
• Marketing By Design
The top 15 campaigns of the last 100 years - Part 2
Ask The Expert
• The Human Factor in
Human Resources
Invest in Your Community
• Looking For a Better Way
Tomorrow's Workplace
offers help
• Leadership Rockland
Graduates class of 2007
• Youth Forum & Awards
Rockland Youth Volunteers Honored
Odds & Ends
• Letters to the Editor
• Rockland Newsmakers
Dedicated Section:
Rockland Business Association:
The President’s Desk
Heart-felt Congratulations
to Rockland's only B2B resource
RBA/United Way Golf Outing
A beautiful day for all
RBA Happenings
• Committee and Council Info
• Calendar of Events
• New Members
For Rockland Business Digest
It Was a Very Good Year
By Adrian Burke
Not Rockland Business Digest. The good news is that RBD has made it to that crucial 12-month plateau and according to co-publisher Ken Mahoney, “we’re turning a corner. We have a new advertising team in place and we’re reaching more advertisers with our very concentrated demographics.”
Over its first six issues, the magazine has proven its ability to provide solid business-to-business communication to more than 11,000 readers—even expanding from print to the web to radio. The County Executive has been featured on the cover, speaking candidly of his run for Luitenant Governor, while RBA Chairman of the Board Hector May issued a challenge to all businesses to work together to improve the county’s business climate.
Every issue has been full of solid advice for small to midsized businesses, with the powerful Rockland Stock Index to Ask The Expert’s advice, to strategies on dealing with everything from receivables, taxes and insurance to employee retention and marketing.
“It took 9 months to put out our first issue, and since that one was used to promote ad sales for subsequent issues, it’s probably no surprise that our second issue took three months,” says RBD co-publisher Steve Powell. “Now we’re getting them out every six weeks as planned.”
A Look Back
In our debut issue, the cover asked, where is everybody going? We took a long, unblinking look at why people are leaving the county. The answers were lack of viable transportation modes, the brain drain, and a lack of affordable housing. We tackled some of those issues, from workers compensation laws, the Wicks law, and the fact that the overall cost of doing business in New York is the second highest in the county. Fast-forward one year, and guess what, those issues are still on the table and that high cost of doing business? It’s driving people, like Robert Riccardelli of Times Square Lighting, to consider relocating elsewhere.
“Planning is key, and unfortunately many small businesses are so involved in getting through the day-to-day that they might spend, oh, just two to three days a year taking a look at where they want to be five years from now. I’m a great believer in asking, “Where would you like to be three to five years from now, and what’s your ten year vision?”
Provident Bank CEO George Strayton on what
strategies led to the bank’s growth, Issue I
Bob Salmon, who attended that Small Business Day last March, said he would like to see more people voting to force the State’s legislature to act. “When 90 percent of incumbents are getting reelected, regardless of job performance, there is no incentive for improvement,” he said.
“They are just on their own path, serving special interests, but when it comes down to what’s going on in the real world they are not responsive,” he said.
In Issue II, County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef held forth in our cover interview. At the time, the County Executive was running for Lt. Governor on a ticket with Republican challenger John Faso. As we all know, New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer won the election. Vanderhoef discussed a raft of issues candidly during his interview with writer Ken Mahoney.
But even with the State House in his targeted sights, Vanderhoef kept Rockland firmly in mind saying, “There are a lot of things we’re doing. We’re still working on broadband issues and expanding broadband capability. We’re very interested in wireless Internet potential for Rockland and how that might relate across the board from business to business.
Water is very, very important to our future and to the sustainable growth of Rockland. So I think those are big issues. And then, affordable housing is one of the challenges that we have, and by that I mean medium-sized, middle-income housing, so that young people can stay here, and senior citizens can stay here, and emergency service workers and health care workers can stay here, because we rely on them. Attached to that, in terms of challenges, of course, is transportation.
“What happens to the Tappan Zee Bridge, as is the Hudson River, is so much a part of the county’s past and it’s also critical to its future. What happens in that crossing will determine, in many respects, the type of future Rockland will have.” The County Executive also made note of the fact that Rockland was one of the first counties in the state to actively investigate Medicaid fraud, an initiative, which continues today.
“I’m always asking residents for their thoughts on how we can make our home a better place. Recently a new resident approached me and said, ‘I love this place. I like what you’re doing. And I want to shake your hand.’ I see a bright future for Suffern and it’s moments like those that make me proud to be of service to my community.”
Suffern Mayor John Keegan on development
strategies in his village, Issue II
Also in this issue, we took a look at why things were looking up in some of Rockland’s “down towns.” Back then we said that encouraging downtown development is top of the list for many—if not most—county communities, but especially in New City, Spring Valley, Suffern and Haverstraw. There are residential condos going up in Suffern, and an ambitious $200 million revitalization of downtown Spring Valley in the works. Haverstraw is piggybacking its efforts to spruce up the downtown on the success of a mammoth residential development on the waterfront, while New City, home to both the town and county seat, has finally seen a way to manage traffic and parking, while making the county seat attractive to all.
Today, New City is wrapping up its development plans; traffic is better and streetscape enhancements are attracting new visitors. Development continues to improve Haverstraw and in Suffern, new businesses continue to open on Orange Avenue and elsewhere.
Issue III: The topic was tourists and the mood was positive. Visitors to the County generate tremendous revenue, so much so that we reported the results of a study compiled by the New York State Tourism Promotion Agencies, (NYSTPA that estimated that tourists spent nearly $364 million in Rockland between February 2004 and March 2005. Tourism rings up dollars in sales taxes (over $11.8 million in 2005), and in revenue spent on items such as restaurant meals, hotel rooms, and retail purchases. Overall, the report finds that tourism is up 26.7% in Rockland.
What’s happening this year? They’re still coming and we’re ready for them. Reporter John Dillon Johnson attended a recent event co-sponsored by the RBA’s Hospitality and Tourism Initiative and the Rockland Tourism office, which hosted a dozen tour operators at Vertigo. The verdict: They liked what they saw and will—hopefully—be bringing their customers back for more.
We also touched base with Tom Hales, the enigmatic leader of Union State Bank who modestly laid-out some of the basic building blocks that helped to define his success—lessons easily learned by our readers.
Hales and his bank, through its charitable foundation, have always been good and generous neighbors in the communities where they operate retail branches and that is perhaps why he is so beloved. “I think my greatest asset is that I have passion. I took a look at this business and said, “Wow, this is a very important business”! I’m going to make people’s lives in this business. We’re going to help get them money to buy a dream house, or car and help educate their kids. Or even go into business. This is a place where dreams are made and I approached it with great passion,” he says.
“Tourism is the direction we should all be headed for; it’s incredibly important. The key to tourism efforts is to promote attractions, such as the arts, dining, recreation, and so forth, which encourages visitors to come for a day or longer, see an exhibition at GaGa, do a little shopping at a local gallery, and then maybe stay for lunch and dinner.”
Robin Rosenberg, Executive Director, The Garnerville Arts and Industrial Center, Issue III
Over the course of a year, from 2006-2007, Rockland finally, and much deservedly, was awarded Empire Zone designation, after years of petitioning. Yet a recent report has lawmakers decrying the zones as too costly, having no oversight, and in the long run, providing no economic benefits! The County Executive launched an ambitious campaign to help root out fraud in the Medicare program. In partnership with the New York State Association of Counties, Rockland’s programs played a key role in statewide efforts to recover what could prove to be billions of taxpayer dollars wasted on Medicaid fraud and abuse.
We polled many of the counties movers and shakers to hear their thoughts.
Clarkstown Supervisor Alex Gromack pointed to improvements in his town, noting that “The revitalization of the hamlets was a program we embarked upon to give a facelift and to make some very important improvements to traffic, drainage and the infrastructure, all in an effort to make our downtowns more pedestrian friendly and more attractive to customers using the businesses.” We also heard a lot from Hector May as he took over the Chairmanship of the RBA Board of Directors. Never one to pull punches, May was a great interview for co-publisher Steve Powell and he had some harsh words for the REDC. “The REDC does not function at the level I want to function. The RBA and REDC are not in conflict; the two organizations have different missions.Yes, the REDC attracts and enables businesses to come to Rockland, but the RBA is concerned about the success of businesses and having an environment for them to thrive in once they are here. I want to work closely with the REDC to help businesses. I’m not here to fight paper tigers, I’m here to help and make a difference. Ninety-one percent of businesses in Rockland have less than twenty employees and don’t fit the REDC’s typical models.”
He’ll get his opportunity as the REDC recently announced it had a new Executive Director, Ronald Hicks, who took office this month.
“Rockland is a place to be discovered, and we need to get on the radar screen. I expect Eliot Spitzer to help Rockland County get visibility and no longer be treated as a Rodney Dangerfield county, because we are conspicuous by our absence in the larger markets.”
Hector May, Chairman of the RBA Board
of Directors, Issue IV
RBA President and CEO Al Samuels had his own highlights to touch on, including the formation of The Hospitality & Tourism Alliance and the Building Enrichment Network. The Tourism Alliance is already paying off, as we mentioned earlier, but please read the article elsewhere in the magazine.
Here’s what he had to say back in January: “Every problem we faced in 2006 is either still with us or will return. And, as we reach resolution to some, others will replace them. That’s the nature of the “beast.” And, it is the single most important reason to belong to the RBA —we’re the only one out there always looking out for you.”
Back then Anthony Mingone, the esteemed owner of Conger’s long-time restaurant Romolos, lamented the fact that some smaller restaurants just weren’t making it in the current economy and competition from national chains and places like the Palisades Mall. “Smaller restaurants can’t compete with the advertising budget of the large chains. In Rockland, as much as the census say we have the second highest per capita income in the area, there’s not lot of disposal income,” Mingone says. “A common thread we hear a lot from owners is, if it wasn’t for the parties, we wouldn’t exist.” Recently we got the news that Mignone himself was leaving the business, selling his family eatery to an employee. He will devote himself to real estate pursuits, he says.
In Issue 6, we launched some new features, such as our RBD Business Survey, which wondered how you do business? The results are in this issue. We also launched RBD on the air on WRCR. We also took a look at the growing interest in international business and how Rockland companies could take advantage of some great programs, expertise, and advice to get them thinking globally.RBD
