LIA rebuts Bratton on Long Islanders' 'resiliency'

A Long Island business organization fired back Saturday at NYPD Commissioner William Bratton for poking Long Islanders over their "resiliency."

The Melville-based Long Island Association, which represents local small businesses, corporations, banks and universities, issued a retort to Bratton's comments Friday criticizing the Bohemia-based Connetquot school district for canceling field trips to Manhattan and Washington, D.C., in light of recent terror threats.

Bratton defended the city's safety record by riding the subway Friday to show New Yorkers are not intimidated by threats from the Islamic State group after the Paris attacks.

Afterward he said, "New Yorkers are a pretty resilient lot. I don't know about Long Island."

LIA president Kevin Law responded in a news release Saturday that noted how Long Island bounced back after superstorm Sandy and the 9/11 attacks. He said one-third of the NYPD and FDNY force lives on Long Island and 25 percent of Long Islanders work in the city for regional emergency response.

"After withstanding the storm of the century just three years ago, Long Islanders are a tough and resilient people who are rebuilding their communities and their lives smarter and stronger than ever before since superstorm Sandy," Law said. "Many Long Islanders lost their lives in 9/11 and continue to support efforts to fight back against terrorism . . . Long Islanders resilient? You betcha! #Long Island Strong"

Bratton's office and NYPD officials did not immediately respond Saturday.

By John Asbury

john.asbury@newsday.comJohnAsbury

John Asbury is a breaking news and general assignment reporter. He has been with Newsday since 2014 and previously worked at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.