Neil Goldberg, owner of Main St. Board Game Cafe in Huntington, on...

Neil Goldberg, owner of Main St. Board Game Cafe in Huntington, on Thursday. Goldberg said consumers need to know it's safe and feel comfortable about returning to businesses and that's something the task force should prioritize to make clear. Credit: Newsday / Steve Pfost

Huntington Supervisor Chad Lupinacci says he takes pride in the vibrant downtowns populated by small businesses, and he wants to help guide them on how to rebound economically from the pandemic.

The town recently established a Small Business Economic Recovery Task Force, comprised of 14 local business leaders, to develop ideas that will help accelerate the recovery. Lupinacci said he wants to ensure business owners' perspectives are well-represented and that they vet all ideas.

The resolution establishing the task force was co-sponsored by Lupinacci and town board member Gene Cook.

"It’s going to take a lot of out of the box thinking to help bring back our economy and make sure it’s done right with a lot of different ideas and collaborations and groups working together to make sure we achieve that,” Lupinacci said. “We have had a continuous dialogue with local business leaders and small business owners on how to safely reopen business in the Town of Huntington within the New York State guidelines.”

Neil Goldberg, owner of Main St. Board Game Café in downtown Huntington, said the task force is a good idea and hopes they will be open to suggestions. He said he and other small business owners have been hit especially hard by the pandemic after being completely closed or partially open since Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo put the state on pause in mid-March.

He said consumers need to know it’s safe and feel comfortable about returning to businesses and that’s something the task force should prioritize to make clear. Goldberg suggests something Lupinacci said he has already been entertaining: closing streets to car traffic where feasible to create more walkable areas in the downtowns.

“You allow people to get outside, you allow them to walk and allow businesses to use the sidewalks to do some outdoor service, even if it’s just putting tables with merchandise on sidewalks, so people don’t feel uncomfortable going into an enclosed space where you lose your ability to social distance,” Goldberg said. “Now that the weather is nice it’s a way to bring people back to the downtowns safely.”

Northport Chamber of Commerce president James Izzo, a member of the task force, said he’s been hearing from small businesses about what they need and what they want.

“I know what I want to say and what my members are telling me, I just don’t know how to communicate it most effectively to the people making the decisions,” Izzo said. “I’m hoping the task force will implement that.”

Lupinacci said his administration has extended for six months some construction permits that were set to expire between March 12 and July 31 as a way to help the construction industry, which was shut down for two months. He said this is an example of an idea that town officials were able to come up with to alleviate some of the collateral economic damage from the pandemic.

“Those are some of the ideas we’d expect from the committee to come up with in which the town can work with,” said Lupinacci, who hopes the task force is up and running as soon as this week.

Huntington Small Business Economic Recovery Task Force

  • One member appointed by each town board member
  • Two members of the Town of Huntington Economic Development Corporation
  • One representative each from the Huntington, East Northport, Melville and Northport chambers of Commerce
  • One representative each from the Huntington, Cold Spring Harbor and Huntington Station business improvement districts
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