Two LI business groups form 'strategic alliance'

The Long Island Association and the Association for a Better Long Island, two of the region's largest business organizations that have not always seen eye to eye, Friday announced "a strategic alliance" in an effort to boost the Island's economy.

The organizations are not merging but said in a joint statement they plan to work together "for the purpose of securing our collective economic future across Long Island." The two organizations said they will create "a joint strategic public affairs alliance" composed of members of both groups.

The LIA has about 5,000 members, including some of the Island's largest companies as well as some of its smallest. The ABLI, which represents developers, has only 25 members, but they represent about $1.5 billion worth of real estate on Long Island.

Desmond Ryan, ABLI executive director, acknowledged differences between the two organizations in the past. He said ABLI tended to be a more "aggressive, in-your-face" group, while the LIA "tries to do it through consensus-building." Those may remain the same, he said.

But Ryan said as a starter ABLI will join the LIA in January when the LIA makes its annual bus trip to greet lawmakers in Albany. When the state's new governor, Andrew Cuomo, releases a new budget early next year, LIA and ABLI will issue joint comments about it.

"We're looking to work cooperatively for a coordinated response to problems in the region," Ryan said. The need to work together, Ryan said, was made more pressing by all of the new faces that will be in Congress and the State Legislature next year.