Incoming Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine spoke at the Vision Long Island Summit.
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Vision Long Island held its 22nd annual Smart Growth Summit on December 1st.
The daylong event, held at Crest Hollow Country Club in Woodbury, featured more than 100 speakers from 50 Long Island communities and brought together residents across political and physical boundaries. We discussed the challenges faced and potential solutions.
The event featured panels and workshops throughout the day, as well as a luncheon featuring keynote speaker and incoming Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine (R). Romaine emphasized his own vision for the county, regardless of his affiliation.
“We need to build better county government, and we need to work across partisan and geographic lines,” Romaine said.
The afternoon panel discussion featured other speakers from state government, including Suffolk County Chairman Kevin McCaffrey (R), Sens. Monica Martinez (D), Jack Martins (R), and Kevin Thomas (D). also took the stage. All of them offered their perspectives on the ongoing infrastructure issues facing Long Island today.
In his comments, Martinez specifically cited transportation development, housing and water quality as some of the challenges residents face. On water quality, she said, “Unfortunately, it wasn't on the ballot this year, but I know we're going to work again next year on a bipartisan basis to make sure this is on the 2024 ballot.” ” he said.
Romaine supported Martinez's comments in the keynote, saying: I need this, my county needs sewerage. “Seventy percent of my county doesn't have sewer systems,” he said, adding that it's important for both water quality and economic growth.
Martins spoke about the development of the downtown area, which was a major platform during his time as Mineola mayor. He said developing these areas would solve various problems such as housing. “We all understand that we need housing downtown,” Martins said. “While we understand there are separate communities, we also understand that there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach when it comes to housing on Long Island.”
McCaffrey supported Martin's goals for downtown growth and spent time as a councilman for Suffolk County's 14th District, which includes Lindenhurst. He attributed the town's growth to transportation reform, saying, “Every successful downtown started with transit-oriented development in its downtown.”
Other panel discussions include supporting small businesses and revitalizing Long Island's roads.
With many items to tackle as we begin 2024, speakers emphasized that collaboration is key to Long Island's prosperity in the coming year. “
“Through the various crises we have faced over the past several years, the people in this room have always come together and worked together to address Long Island's unique challenges,” Thomas said.
