Big state dollars needed for big ideas
Gov. Andrew Cuomo, left, and Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, right, hand out a Regional Economic Council award of $101,600 to Hofstra University president, Stuart Rabinowitz, second from left, and Deputy Assembly Speaker Earlene Hooper, second from right in Albany, N.Y. on Dec. 8, 2011. Credit: AP/Stewart Cairns
Thirteen years ago, then-Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo stood on a stage in the Hart Theater in Albany, presiding over an awards show that wasn’t about movies or music.
Instead, it was about economic development. And Long Island was among the top winners, receiving more than $100 million toward large-scale investments in big projects that could create jobs and stimulate the local economy.
Among the winners in December 2011 were extraordinary efforts that have significantly changed communities on Long Island, such as Wyandanch Rising and the Ronkonkoma Hub. Also on that list were projects still in progress, or now stalled — like Heartland Town Square in Brentwood.
Since that first contest among the state’s 10 Regional Economic Development Councils, or REDCs, there’s been a shift in the significance of the winning projects and the councils themselves. Cuomo’s successor, Gov. Kathy Hochul, moved away from the Hunger Games-style competition and embraced a lower-key series of announcements. The REDCs now tend to recommend smaller pots of cash to more recipients, watering down the impact of the broader effort. Big money for game-changing initiatives became more grants of less consequential aid that created fewer jobs and affected fewer people.
The changing economic landscape has played a role. Cuomo introduced the REDCs in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, in part to spur revitalization and renewal. More recently, the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic fallout affected business owners, developers and government officials, limiting the number of applications received, the types of projects proposed, and the amounts awarded.
This week brought a bit of déjà vu, as the book that accompanied Hochul’s State of the State speech included a plan to “transform regional economic development with high impact projects.” There were no details, only a promise to “refocus” the REDCs on “transformative projects that serve as high-impact economic anchors.”
A return to the REDCs’ roots sounds promising. As with all things, the “how” will matter. It’s one thing to make grand promises of transformative development. It’s quite another to make it happen given the difficulties of addressing such necessities as sewers, roads, parking, utilities, financing and, especially on Long Island, getting all levels of government to work together to move such development forward.
What’s more, with some developers hesitant to build because financing is tricky and the numbers don’t always work in a high-cost area like Long Island, some awards might have to get larger to help a project over the finish line.
Still, some big announcements don’t bring real results. In 2022, Hochul introduced a $350 million Long Island Investment Fund for “large-scale, transformative projects that will have lasting impacts on Long Island.” Three years later, the bulk of the money hasn’t been awarded. In many ways, Long Island is still looking for truly transformative projects that could earn those funds.
The state’s new REDC push could help. Allowing one state program to dovetail with another could increase the pot, streamline the process, and encourage Long Island to start dreaming big again.
Long Island still needs transformative efforts, ones that include new affordable housing or cultural venues, medical and research facilities or business incubators, or something we haven’t envisioned yet.
It’s up to state and local officials, and area business and community leaders, to find a way to fund and guide the best of the big ideas to reality.
Columnist Randi F. Marshall’s opinions are her own.