Industry hears proposals for LI job creation

EMPLOYMENT

At the Hauppauge Industrial Association's annual lunch Tuesday, the main course was job creation.

With unemployment still at more than a decade-long high, political and business leaders offered different proposals for getting Long Islanders back to work. The Island's 6.8 percent unemployment rate is the highest in 17 years.

Rep. Steve Israel (D-Huntington) held a news conference before the lunch to announce he will introduce legislation in the House Wednesday to provide all businesses with two years of tax credits - 15 percent in the first year and 10 in the second - to help them hire people. Israel said the proposal came from businesses in a survey he took asking them what would most help them add jobs.

"The vast majority of businesses [in the survey] said, 'Give us incentives to hire,' " Israel said. Israel said he knew some in Congress will object that tax credits will add to the federal deficit. But, he said, those same objectors "have no problem asking for money" to pay farmers not to grow crops.

Anne Shybunko-Moore, president of GSE Dynamics Inc., a defense contractor in Hauppauge, worked on the survey with Israel. She said the survey provided good feedback. "This whole economic situation has humbled many of us," Shybunko-Moore said. "There is more communication now."

Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy said the county needs more sewer construction to help build up neighborhoods.

Islip Town Supervisor Phil Nolan called for action in building Heartland Town Square, a stalled $4-billion mixed-use project on the site of the former Pilgrim State Psychiatric Center in Brentwood.

Levy got laughs by quoting an unnamed NIMBY who said, "Steve, I want to make one thing clear. I don't want anything, anywhere at any time.' " That, Levy said, will not work.