ABLI Asks Candidate Cuomo: Where is the Recruiting Station?

HAUPPAUGE, N.Y., Oct. 26 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Responding to gubernatorial candidate Andrew Cuomo's assertion that one means of repairing the economic fabric of New York is to create alliances with business organizations whose members are at the heart and soul of the state's economy, the Association for a Better Long Island (ABLI) is asking, "Where do we enlist?"

In remarks made to The New York Times Cuomo explains that a Governor's Office needs to have the support of the business community if it expects to create the type of reforms required to bolster the state's economy, create jobs and spur investment. He foresees a working alliance with various business groups across New York if elected Governor.

"This is the first time in a very long time we have heard a gubernatorial candidate acknowledge that the business community has a role to play in righting the ship," stated ABLI Executive Director Desmond Ryan. "If Andrew Cuomo is looking for his first recruits in this crusade against special interests and ballooning government regulation we are the first to take the oath."

The ABLI represents some $20 billion in commercial, industrial, retail and residential properties throughout Nassau and Suffolk and has been a leader in advocating orderly economic growth, reduced property tax burdens, assessment reform, energy innovations and progressive growth policies.

It's no longer about politics

"We recognize that Candidate Cuomo is making these comments about a week out from Election Day but it's no longer about politics. It's about survival," observed Ryan. "So called 'smart growth' proposals have been destroyed by politicians who hide behind NIMBY generated e-mail campaigns to explain their reactionary decisions.  Environmental groups advocating more 'open space' neglect to tell the taxpayer barely holding onto to their homes that government condemnation of private property is going to cost them dearly in perpetuity.  Given this one-two punch we could wind up looking like 'Detroit lite' without the type of alliance Mr. Cuomo is talking about."

President of the ABLI, Mitchell Rechler, a managing partner at Rechler Equity Partners, reminds that the ABLI has been seeking to get the attention of politicians who have never read a ledger which makes Cuomo's suggestion particularly cogent.

"Our warnings over the last two years of a serious economic retreat were dismissed by many in local government as fiction offered up by some naysayers. Regretfully, our projections were accurate. Only genuine, progressive land use along with decisive economic development policies and meaningful reforms will buffer the taxpayer from the lasting effects of the recession."

Ryan says many Long Island elected officials not only missed the signals of an incoming recession but refused to believe the direct and clear warnings offered by business leaders. "We told them it would be real, painful and widespread. When the ABLI said it saw the tidal wave coming it was discounted as parochial rhetoric meant to intimidate.  Now we have one candidate who is seeking to address the future head on."

www.betterlongisland.com

SOURCE The Association for a Better Long Island