MAY 2014 BITS & BYTES Good, fast, cheap – pick two. PAGE 6 FROM THE CHAMBER Oh YEA! PAGE 5 HOW TO SAVE Some tips on planning for retirement. PAGE 20 www.sibiztrends.com JANET DUGO/Business Trends Soroptimist International of Staten Island, the business and professional women's service organization, pre- sented its 2014 Ruby Awards to seven women who work to improve the lives of women and girls, at a luncheon at the Hilton Garden Inn. Pictured, from left, are the honorees: Joan Wilton, Beth Coleman-Oliver, Mary Traina, Jo-Ellen Brannigan, Michele Baialardo, Jill Holtermann Bowers, and Dr. Cynara Coomer, holding her daughter, Olivia. Soroptimist 2014 Ruby Awards Business Calendar Check out our monthly listing and attend an event on Staten Island. PAGE 7 By TIM RONALDSON Business Trends The merchants of New Dorp Lane would like to see the area “thrive again.” Lucky for them, they have the will to work hard to accomplish the task and the backing of an in- fluential friend – City Council- man Steven Matteo. Last fall, Matteo approached the Merchants Association on New Dorp Lane whose members told him they need economic growth in their location. His sug- gestion – start a Local Develop- ment Corporation with a steering committee to lead the merchants in advertising, marketing, main- tenance and growth programs. In partnership with the Staten Island Economic Development Corp., Matteo has allocated some funds for next fiscal year for the start-up of the New Dorp Lane LDC, hoping to piggyback on the success of a similar LDC on the South Shore. “It’s successful now, but we want to bring more business to the area and more local shop- pers,” Matteo said. “So anything we can do to provide more eco- nomic vitality is something we want to do.” The LDC is basically a civic as- sociation with merchants, Matteo said, and gives the members the New Dorp Lane can ‘thrive again’ please see LDC, page 17 By TIM RONALDSON Business Trends Staten Island needs to create more high- quality, high-paying jobs, and the Staten Is- land Economic Development Corp. believes this job creation needs to be done according to the 21st-century model of “clean tech.” Solar panels, urban agriculture, recycling, green building – these are some of the emerg- ing markets the SIEDC wants to capture and bring to the Island. But the biggest issue for Staten Island, un- like the other four New York City boroughs, is it doesn’t have an incentivized park, like the Navy Yard in Brooklyn, to attract compa- nies here – areas that provide tax incentives please see SIEDC page 26 SIEDC believes in ‘green tech’
Transcript
MAY 2014
BITS & BYTESGood, fast, cheap – pick two.
PAGE 6
FROM THE CHAMBEROh YEA!
PAGE 5
HOW TO SAVESome tips on planning for retirement.
PAGE 20
www.sibiztrends.com
JANET DUGO/Business TrendsSoroptimist International of Staten Island, the business and professional women's service organization, pre-sented its 2014 Ruby Awards to seven women who work to improve the lives of women and girls, at a luncheonat the Hilton Garden Inn. Pictured, from left, are the honorees: Joan Wilton, Beth Coleman-Oliver, Mary Traina,Jo-Ellen Brannigan, Michele Baialardo, Jill Holtermann Bowers, and Dr. Cynara Coomer, holding her daughter,Olivia.
Soroptimist 2014 Ruby Awards
Business CalendarCheck out our monthly listing and attend an event on Staten Island.
PAGE 7
By TIM RONALDSONBusiness Trends
The merchants of New DorpLane would like to see the area“thrive again.”
Lucky for them, they have thewill to work hard to accomplishthe task and the backing of an in-fluential friend – City Council-man Steven Matteo.
Last fall, Matteo approachedthe Merchants Association onNew Dorp Lane whose memberstold him they need economicgrowth in their location. His sug-gestion – start a Local Develop-ment Corporation with a steeringcommittee to lead the merchantsin advertising, marketing, main-tenance and growth programs.
In partnership with the StatenIsland Economic DevelopmentCorp., Matteo has allocated somefunds for next fiscal year for thestart-up of the New Dorp LaneLDC, hoping to piggyback on thesuccess of a similar LDC on theSouth Shore.
“It’s successful now, but wewant to bring more business tothe area and more local shop-pers,” Matteo said. “So anythingwe can do to provide more eco-nomic vitality is something wewant to do.”
The LDC is basically a civic as-sociation with merchants, Matteosaid, and gives the members the
New DorpLane can‘thriveagain’
please see LDC, page 17
By TIM RONALDSONBusiness Trends
Staten Island needs to create more high-quality, high-paying jobs, and the Staten Is-land Economic Development Corp. believes
this job creation needs to be done accordingto the 21st-century model of “clean tech.”
Solar panels, urban agriculture, recycling,green building – these are some of the emerg-ing markets the SIEDC wants to capture andbring to the Island.
But the biggest issue for Staten Island, un-like the other four New York City boroughs,is it doesn’t have an incentivized park, likethe Navy Yard in Brooklyn, to attract compa-nies here – areas that provide tax incentives
please see SIEDC page 26
SIEDC believes in ‘green tech’
2 BUSINESS TRENDS — MAY 2014
FOR MORE INFORMATION
“Call The Chamber” at
718-727-1900
Staten Island Chamber of Commerce
•130 Bay Street,
Staten Island, NY 10301
Parisi Rampulla & Lenza, P.C.78 Martin Avenue | Staten Island, NY, 10314
(718) 761-3333
Short Sales, Mortgage Modification, Foreclosure Defense
JANET DUGO/Business TrendsIt was smiles and champagne all around when the Chamber of Commerce helped Pinot's Palette celebrateits grand opening with a ceremonial ribbon cutting. Owners Rich Barton, Fred Fadell, and Dorothy FadellFriedman (second, third and fourth from left) invited the Staten Island business community to come outand see their new location on Ellis Street in Tottenville, where guests can socialize while they paint a pic-ture under the guidance of a trained artist.
Special to Business TrendsSome homeowners think making improvements to their home is toochallenging or too costly. But through Neighborhood Housing Servic-es of Staten Island’s Sustainable Home Maintenance Training pro-gram, those thoughts are laid to rest. Sponsored by Con Edison,NHS’s SHMT program is a free, eight-week course offering hands-ontraining, for homeowners looking to repair and maintain their homes.The program is taught by experienced contractors who demonstratebasic carpentry, electrical work, plumbing, flooring, tiling, wall finish-ing, exterior repairing and waterproofing. Participants also learnabout the benefits of making their homes energy efficient. Picturedare NHS and Con Edison staff and some program participants at arecent class. For more information, call (718) 442-8080 or visitwww.nhsofsi.org.
ConEd and NHS give hands-on training
JANET DUGO/Business TrendsWicked Stitches, a custom embroidery and screen printing business,hosted a grand opening event to celebrate its new Castleton Avenuelocation. Pictured enjoying the evening are Nina Flores of the WestBrighton Community LDC, Wicked Stitches co-owners CarolynAston-Reese and Nancy Nix, and WBCLDC Executive Director Loret-ta Cauldwell.
Wicked Stitches opens the door
MAY 2014 — BUSINESS TRENDS 5
By TOM SCARANGELLOI was fortunate enough to be
asked to mentor a student partici-pant when the Staten IslandChamber of Commerce ran theYoung Entrepreneur’s Academy(YEA!) this past school year. It’s aprogram that provides highschool students with the tools tostart their own business and it’sthe only one offered in New YorkCity. Yes your Chamber of Com-merce is cutting edge.
The high school student partic-ipants have to come up with abusiness idea, develop a plan tolaunch it, and then present theirplan to an investor panel for fund-ing. Think “Shark Tank” foryoung aspiring entrepreneurs.
These high school studentscame up with some great ideasranging from technical productslike mobile fingerprint recogni-tion devices to pastry items to besold from vending machines. Inthe end, they presented theirideas to an investor panel andwere awarded money to pursuetheir start-ups. It was truly an in-spiring exercise and I can say Iwas impressed with all the partic-ipants.
I mentored a young aspiringentrepreneur, Alek, who was de-veloping a product I knew noth-ing about: a strategic boardgame. It was like monopoly onlyyou could purchase Mars andVenus and then mine them fornatural minerals that are used tocreate energy for fueling supernuclear computer weapons thatare then used to basically takeover the universe. It generallytakes about 35 hours to completethe game and you can imaginehow smart you need to be just toplay it, never mind invent it.
We met every week and he pre-sented his progress and I gavehim feedback and advice, most ofwhich he ignored because, let’sface it, my mentee was a lotsmarter than me. And very dedi-cated -- as he and the other partic-ipants met every week for 30-plusweeks for 3-hour sessions, for noschool credit, just the opportunityto try their hands at being entre-preneurs.
In addition to all his other
classes my mentee was trying de-cide between attending Princetonor M.I.T. in the fall and jugglingthis project.
He hit a bump in the road intrying to do financial projectionsso I taught him the basic rule allaspiring entrepreneurs use:“make it up!” He found a way toget the information we neededand did some projections thatmade sense.
Then as the deadline ap-proached for the investor panelpresentation it became apparentthat we were not going to be ableto produce a mocked-up versionof his product, the board game, intime for the panel. So we didwhat any savvy entrepreneurswould do -- we changed the rules!We shifted gears and decided thathe would not present the boardgame to investors but he wouldpresent the idea of the boardgame for someone else to developto the investor panel.
Just like in real life, my menteehad to do what all entrepreneurshave to do and what businessguru Peter Drucker advised to allsmall business people 50 yearsago: “The best way to predict thefuture is to create it.”
The kids in the YEA! Programlearned that being an entrepre-neur isn’t easy. Being smart andhaving a great idea are notenough to make you a successfulentrepreneur. The most impor-tant success factor for an entre-preneur is the ability to adapt tothe fast changing environmentaround you. They learned thatyou need to be dedicated and pas-sionate about what you are pro-ducing and you need to makeyour business work no matter theobstacles. Simply put, you needto be willing to do whatever ittakes to turn an idea into a reality.
The young aspiring entrepre-neurs in the YEA! Program got asmall taste of what it takes, and itreminded all the mentors and in-vestors and teachers in the pro-gram that entrepreneurship is achallenge. If the YEA! Programparticipants are indicators, wewill have some very successfulentrepreneurs driving our econo-my in the years to come.
Tom Scarangello, a principal withScaran Heating, Air Conditioning andPlumbing, is chair of the Small Busi-ness Committee of the Staten IslandChamber of Commerce.
Oh YEA!FROM THE CHAMBER
in our opinion
Annual conference shines
6 BUSINESS TRENDS — MAY 2014
Spring has finally sprung. Weknow it’s official because thatharbinger of spring -- the Staten
Island Economic Development Corpo-ration’s annual Business Conference –has come and gone. This annual all-day event is a must for anyone lookingto make connections and understandthe business environment on StatenIsland.
It often serves as a launching pad forbig economic initiatives that will bepushed during the year ahead. Onesuch initiative at this year’s event wasthe “Clean Tech” campus idea that theSIEDC is floating, which is highlight-ed in one of our front-page stories thismonth. And there are many smaller,but no less worthy, projects that re-ceive their first entrée into the public
domain at one of the many sympo-siums that take place throughout theday.
The Hilton Garden Inn, whichserves as the setting for the event, is abeehive of activity, with multiple sem-inars and programs taking place – cov-ering a wide range of interests -- in thesmaller conference areas that sur-round the main ballroom, which hostsa line-up of over 150 vendor stations.A simple walk through the ballroom isa sure way to increase your network ofbusiness associates and to learn some-thing new.
The conference has also traditional-ly been a stopping point for a contin-gent of Staten Island and City-widepublic officials, where they get to heardirectly from those of us in the busi-
ness community. This year featured apanel discussion by three of the fiveNew York City Borough Presidents,touching on the major issues each arefacing in the areas of transportation,housing and more. And the heads ofthe NYC EDC and the Dept. of SmallBusinesses Services appeared as well.
We saw a great many familiar facesat this year’s event and, as always, metsome new people whom we will beglad to include among our circle in thedays ahead. If you didn’t make it tothis year’s event, we highly recom-mend you make sure to do so nextyear. The new connections you’llmake, the existing connections you’llstrengthen, and the knowledge you’llgather will surely make it worth yourwhile.
66 Willow Avenue
Staten Island, NY 10305
718-556-4200
JANET WARREN DUGO
Publisher
TIM RONALDSON
Executive Editor
STEVE COPPOLA
Director
RICHARD GRADO
Director
ROBERT CUTRONA
Director
LAWRENCE RAMPULLA
Director
DAN McDONOUGH, JR.
Chairman
Business Trends is mailed each month to thebusiness and community leaders of StatenIsland. To be added to the mailing list, e-mail [email protected]. To submit anews release, email [email protected] advertising info, call 718-556-4200 or
agement, the next steps to save $100K andmore from your annual telecom expenseare to decide on your overall communica-tions goals and then pick the technologyand service providers best suited to yoursituation.
How important is electronic communications to your organization?
• Mission-Vision-Strategy: How impor-tant is electronic communications to ac-complishing your mission? How does it af-fect your vision of the future for your cus-tomers and stakeholders? How will it beused to accomplish our mission and vi-sion? Using the “good, fast, cheap” ques-
tion you can pick the two factors most im-portant to your goals. In a highly competi-tive profession or industry, you can choosegood and fast, but it will not be inexpen-sive. Or you can pick good and cheap, but itwill not provide cutting edge speed – whichsuits most small businesses and organiza-tions just fine and keeps expenses low.
• Technologies: Electronic communica-tions has evolved rapidly from the tele-graph to WiFi and continues to get fasterand less expensive, but is it as good? Everytechnology has its pros and cons and I can’teven list all the competing technologies onone sheet of paper. Many organizationswill consider off-the-shelf solutions such aVoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol - pro-nounced ‘voyp’) or some flavor of it. In-stead of using a unique pair of wires fromyour office to the telecom central office,your voice is converted into digital signals,
placed in electronic packets along withother information, and is sent over the In-ternet via fiber, cable, or other broadbandtechnology.
Some entrepreneurs and startups usemobile phones exclusively and don’t have awireline number at all, while others areswitching to some form of VoIP as telecomcompanies phase out traditional copperwireline service. In 2008, 80% of all newlines installed internationally were VoIP.
There are many variations of VoIP, suchas VoIP to VoIP calls which are basicallyfree over the Internet (such as Skype,Ooma, Magic Jack, Google Talk and oth-ers) and VoIP to non-VoIP wire lines whichprovide inexpensive calling services. Man-ufacturers of VoIP phone systems such asPolycom, Cisco, and many others, providealmost unlimited communications func-tionality. It makes sense for most organiza-
tions to consider a VoIP solution.Which flavor of VoIP to choose is a book
by itself, but hosted services or VaaS (Voiceas a Service) seems to be trending over thepast few years. VaaS provides your telecomservice from the “cloud” and eliminateson-site equipment and maintenance andgives you backup and redundancy. You’renever down – even if the wires are dam-aged, your calls are stored on the cloud andcan be retrieved via any Internet connec-tion and smart device, while providingyour organization with a predictablemonthly fixed cost.
This is a great system for service, retail,public safety or distribution organizationsthat can never be down. Examples: If amajor snow storm is forecast, have yourteam bring their phones home, plug into
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Special to Business TrendsAPB Security Systems, Inc. President Steven Coppola announcedthe re-location of the company's offices from Victory Boulevard to 1Teleport Drive, into the complex known as “Corporate Commons.”APB provides a wide range of security and technology solutions andservices for both residential and commercial applications. The firm’smove was necessitated by growth. Coppola’s son, Steven, and daugh-ter, Pamela, have also chosen to move their individual firms into thesame spacious 9,000 square foot facility. Steven Jr. is president ofStatewide Central Station, a wholesale monitoring firm, and PamelaColumbia, along with partner Ed Keschecki, heads up Statewide FireCorp., a wholesale FDNY approved monitoring facility which primari-ly monitors large commercial fire alarm systems.
APB moves to new office
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Steve White6 Genesee AvenueStaten Island, NY 10308Phone: 718.317.5025Cell: 917.446.4029Email: [email protected]
WeddingsSweet 16’sAnniversariesBirthday PartiesMuch much more!
The Northfield Bank Founda-tion has supported College ofStaten Island student internshipsat local non-profit organizationsfor the past several years. For2014-2015, the foundation has in-creased its support to $40,000 dueto the success of the internshipprogram in the way it has impact-ed the community and the lives ofCSI students. With this new levelof support, the program can con-tinue to grow and reach morenonprofit organizations on StatenIsland in the years to come. Thehands-on experience of the in-ternship enables CSI students toadd the position to their resumeto enhance their career opportu-nities after graduation. The CSICareer and Scholarship Centerselects students during an appli-cation and interview process,which ensures that the nonprofitgroups receive qualified students
with a serious commitment toserve their community.
SIUH now anticoag.‘center of excellence’The Anticoagulation Center at
Staten Island University Hospitalannounced that it has passed theAnticoagulation Forum’s assess-ment test and may now consideritself an “Anticoagulation Centerof Excellence.” The Anticoagula-tion Centers of Excellence pro-gram helps health-care profes-sionals provide the highest levelof care and achieve the best possi-ble outcomes for patients on an-tithrombotic medications. Theprogram offers a roadmap to con-sistent, sustainable excellence infive key areas of patient care. Be-cause it successfully met the rig-orous standards in each patientcare pillar, SIUH may be consid-ered an Anticoagulation Centerof Excellence for two years.
Legislation to help service-disabled vetsAssemblywoman Nicole
Malliotakis announced the pas-sage of legislation that will pro-vide state contracts to service-dis-abled veteran owned businesses.The law will set a 6 percent con-tract goal, which is twice the cur-rent federal standard. No otherstate in the nation offers as stronga program, which has severaltools, including set-aside con-tracts to these small businesses.New York is home to more than 1million veterans, many of whomare struggling to make the transi-tion from military service to civil-ian life and employment. Themeasures in this new law are away to thank service-disabled vet-erans for their honorable serviceto our country and help reinte-grate them back into the state’seconomy.
Harbor Lights forms theater guild
The Harbor Lights TheaterCompany announced the forma-tion of the Harbor Lights TheaterGuild, giving members of the
10 BUSINESS TRENDS — MAY 2014
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To download our current media kit, visitwww.sibiztrends.com. Or call us today to discuss your marketing and advertising needs.
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STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – Dr.Frank J. Mandarino is anaward-winning chiropractorwith a treasure trove of ground-breaking pain-relief and injury-prevention therapies literally athis fingertips.
His unwavering commitmentto combining traditional chiro-practic treatments with themost highly effective state-of-
the-art therapies has positionedhim at the leading edge of hisprofession for nearly a quartercentury.
“My mission hasn’t changedover the years. It’s to make cer-tain my patients have the bene-fit of every available non-phar-maceutical option for painrelief,” said Dr. Mandarino as he
walked toward a treatmentroom in his Staten Island prac-tice, one of six such offices inBrooklyn, Queens, the Bronx,Long Island and New Jersey.
And he leaves no opportunityunexplored in pursuit of hisg o a l . REVOLUTIONARY TREATMENTS
Dr. Mandarino, whose expert-ise includes such quality-of-life-enhancing breakthroughs asRocktape, Kinesio and SpiderTech therapeutic taping, hasmost recently added Deep Tis-sue Laser Therapy™ to themenu of revolutionary treat-ments in his practice.
“It’s gratifying to see howwell my patients are respondingto the laser-therapy treatments,which induce the body to utilizeits own healing powers,” saidDr. Mandarino, a five-time recip-ient of the Best of Staten IslandChiropractor Award and anAmerica’s Top Chiropractorsdesignee.
Laser therapy, a non-invasiveFDA-cleared option for helpingreduce pain and inflammation,is a proactive response to treat-ing individuals with acute orchronic discomfort.
“I particularly like the thera-py because it’s non-invasive andcan be safely used as an adjunctor alternative to pharmaceuti-
cal drugs,” Dr. Mandarino said.SOOTHING RELIEF
Treatments, which lastbetween 5 and 10 minutes, areadministered directly to skin, aslaser light cannot penetrate lay-ers of clothing.
“The procedure is a comfort-able and even somewhat sooth-ing experience for the patient,”Dr. Mandarino said.
Depending on the conditionbeing treated, Dr. Mandarinomay administer the therapythrough either a contact or non-contact hand piece.
“When using a contact handpiece, I can physically manipu-late the tissue, which results ina deeper-tissue laser massage,”he said.PATIENT-SPECIFIC APPROACH
The top-of-the-line Light-Force™ therapy laser, Dr. Man-darino’s medical apparatus ofchoice, is designed to providepositive outcomes for patientsthrough an ideal combination ofpower, intelligence and versatil-ity.
“For example,” Dr. Mandari-no explained, “delivery of theoptimal therapeutic dose is thekey to achieving desired results.And since no two patients andno two injuries are identical,there should never be a cookie-cutter solution when it comes totreatment. The innovative sci-ence incorporated into my ther-apy laser, known as Influence™technology, enables me to pro-vide personalized patient-specif-ic protocols to each patient,based upon the specific charac-teristics of their individual con-dition.”
For his patients, Dr. Mandari-no said, “this means quicker
relief from pain and a shorterrecovery time from injuries.”
For additional information,or to schedule an appointment,Dr. Mandarino’s office in theStaten Island community ofGrant City may be reached at718-667-2190, via email [email protected], or online atwww.mandarinochiropractic.com .About Mandarino Chiropractic
Mandarino Chiropractic, thenamesake practice of Dr. FrankJ. Mandarino, since its launchin 1991 has grown to include sixstate-of-the-art offices situatedin metropolitan New York, LongIsland and New Jersey.
Popular among athletes andthe non-athletic alike, theaward-winning practice is well-known for providing uncompro-mised patient care and service;offering traditional and leading-edge therapeutic options, andutilizing the latest and mosteffective scientific break-throughs in the areas of pain-
relief therapy and injury-pre-vention technology.
Mandarino Chiropractic’s sixoffices are located at: 2052 Rich-mond Rd., Staten Island, NY10306 (Phone: 718-667-2190); 76015th Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11209(Phone: 718-748-9624); 865Cypress Ave. Ridgewood,Queens, NY 11385 (Phone: 718-628-5300); 1476 WilliamsbridgeRd., Bronx, NY 10461 (Phone:718-823-6688); 247-01 Post Ave.,Westbury, NY 11590 (Phone: 516-997-4466), and 176 Route 9 North,Suite 204, Englishtown, NJ 07726(732-617-8000).
Barton Horowitz is presidentof Relevant Public RelationsLLC, a full-service PR and busi-ness-marketing company head-quartered in Staten Island, N.Y.He may be reached at 718-682-1509, ext. 4, at [email protected], or via the Web atwww.RelevantPR.com.
THEBOTTOM
LINE By Barton HorowitzPresident, Relevant Public Relations
Dr. Frank J. Mandarino Introduces Leading-Edge LaserTherapy To Award-Winning Chiropractic Practice
Dr. Frank J. Mandarino targets the source ofa patient’s anguish with Deep Tissue LaserTherapy™ in his state-of-the-art StatenIsland office.
Innovative therapy reduces pain and inflammation by inducing the body to utilize its own healing powers
Dr. Mandarino dons special glasses as he discusses the effectiveness of high-tech laser therapy in combating pain.
12 BUSINESS TRENDS — MAY 2014
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Special to Business TrendsLois and Richard Nicotra gathered with grant recipients at the COMMONS café, as The Lois & RichardNicotra Foundation awarded $26,359 to nearly 20 nonprofit groups. Using the Nicotra managed COM-MONS café as a venue for the grant ceremony was meaningful, since 100 percent of the café’s profitsbenefit Foundation recipients. Pictured in the first row, from left, are Linda Salmon of Children At PlayEarly Intervention Center; Foundation Trustee Lois Nicotra; Aria Grillo of The Muscular Dystrophy Asso-ciation; Foundation Trustee Richard Nicotra; Gerry Tannucilli of Staten Island Academy; Dr. Ken Byalin ofJohn. W. Lavelle Preparatory Charter School; Dr. Mark Sherman of Unity Games; Vivian Barone of PublicSchool 54; Foundation Executive Director Kristine Garlisi; and Lynn Rogers of Friends of AbandonedCemeteries, Inc. In the second row, from left, are Barbara Walker of Richmond County Orchestra, Inc.;Nick DeFendis of Richmond County Youth Complex, Inc.; Teresa Caliari of Public School 22; Pastor DaveWatson of Calvary Chapel of Staten Island; Mark Garafano of Staten Island Fleet Week, Inc.; Jack Martzof Trinity Lutheran Church Feeding Ministry; Rhagina Chisolm of The College of Staten Island Founda-tion; Anthony DeFazio of SCORE Staten Island; and Robert Capolongo of Michael’s Cause, Inc.
JANET DUGO/Business TrendsWell-wishers and local dignitaries turned out to help Richmond University Medical Center cut a ceremo-nial ribbon marking the opening of a satellite clinic on Castleton Avenue to serve non-emergency healthneeds. It is part of a continuing effort by RUMC to bring health care services out into the communities itserves.
RUMC cuts ribbon on satellite clinic
ability to meet with other cityagencies such as the NYPD toform collaborative relationships.It also gives them a budget withwhich to work for marketing –such as advertising, the creationof a website and signage – whichis a key for getting more Staten Is-landers to shop on the lane.
“We want it to be what it was inthe past,” said Maria Esposito,owner of the Norman HeilAgency and a member of thesteering committee.
While the LDC is in its veryearly stages, much positive workhas already been done. TheSIEDC sent out a survey to themerchants of New Dorp Lane,asking for feedback on what theyneed and what they want to seedone in the area. More than 50percent of the merchants re-sponded to the survey, which is a“huge number,” according to Es-posito.
The steering committee hasheld one meeting so far and plansto have another in the next fewweeks to discuss adding moremerchants to the committee. Thenext step will be going over abudget and perusing the surveysto come up with the right combi-nation of what merchants arelooking for.
Esposito said the LDC willgreatly help with marketing to po-tential shoppers through possiblya shoppers guide, a website, socialmedia outlets, advertising, ban-ners and signage, holiday lightingand even sanitation services.
“We’re looking to increase eco-nomic growth,” she said. “Inorder to increase economicgrowth, we have to increase theadvertising. We have to let peopleknow on the Island that we arehere.”
Esposito said one of the chal-lenges the LDC will face is chang-ing the perception of New DorpLane. Currently, many visitorscome to the area only for an “im-mediate cause,” which, she saidcould be paying a bill before theyhop back into their car and leave.
“The challenge is how do wekeep them here,” she said. “Wehave people here who use NewDorp Lane as a drive-through.They don’t even look left or right.My goal is to get them to get out oftheir car and stay here. Will ithappen overnight? No, it’s goingto take some time.”
In addition to bringing newshoppers to the area, Espositohopes the efforts of the LDC willbring new merchants to NewDorp Lane to fill some of the re-tail vacancies. And while theprocess is still early on, she has along-term vision and hope for herlocation.
“What I’m hoping to accom-
plish is that New Dorp Lane willcontinue to be a big part of theStaten Island landscape,” shesaid. “I just hope to increase shop-pers and visitors to New DorpLane …. and attract more locally-owned retail stores.”
MAY 2014 — BUSINESS TRENDS 17
NAT'S MENS SHOPWork • Uniforms • Casual WearCarhartt • Timberland • Dickie • Red Wing
Embroidery & Screen Printing
718-442-1698 81 Port Richmond AvenuePat Silvestri, Proprietor Staten Island, NY 10302
New Dorp Lane can ‘thrive again’
LDCContinued from page 1
Red Cross awards$250k grant for
disaster managementThe American Red Cross has
awarded a $250,000 grant to "Makethe Road New York" to providedisaster case management servic-es for vulnerable communities inMidland Beach who were affectedby Superstorm Sandy. The fund-ing will be used to deliver long-term recovery assistance to 90
clients. Make the Road New Yorkalso will assist by providing withhousing support and coordina-tion as part of the organization’sSandy Recovery Support Servic-es. The grant will fund two full-time case managers, an outreachcoordinator position and a pro-gram assistant for 12 months.
MONDAYBus. Outreach Ctr of SI/WBCLDCSmall Bus. Counseling –MWBE/BOC Capital: WBCLDC, 705Forest Ave., 2nd Fl. By appointmentonly. For info, call 718-816-4775.
Kiwanis Club of Richmond Co.:LaFontana Restaurant, 2879 Amboy
Rd. 7 p.m. Call 718-420-1966.
College of S.I., Small Bus. Dev. Ctr.Business Counseling: CSI, 2800Victory Blvd. 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Nocharge. For info, call the SBDC at718-982-2560.
TUESDAYSI Business Friends: 7:30 - 8:45a.m. Hilton Garden Inn, 1100 SouthAve. For information, call Dr. RichardBove at 718-938-5978 or visitwww.sibfnetwork.com.
Richmond Business Connections:PK’s Restaurant, 1281 Arthur Kill Rd.8 a.m. For info, call Ronald P. Cut-trone at 347-258-8131.
Bus. Outreach Ctr of SI/WBCLDCSmall Bus. Counseling –MWBE/BOC Capital: WBCLDC, 705Forest Ave., 2nd Fl. By appointmentonly. For info, call 718-816-4775.
Direct120.com, Ultimate ThinkTank: Lorenzo’s, 1100 South Ave. Forinfo, visit www.direct120.com.
Kiwanis Club of South Shore:LaFontana, 2879 Amboy Rd. 7:30p.m. For info, call 718-370-2770.
SCORE Business Counseling: S.I.Bank & Trust, 1550 Richmond Rd. 9a.m. to noon. No appointment nec-essary. No charge. For info, call 718-727-1221.
Business Guild I of the S.I. Cham-ber of Commerce: Hilton GardenInn, 1100 South Ave. 7:45 a.m. Mem-bers and invited guests only. CallMichael Anicito at 646-606-2111.
Business Network Int’l. (BNI) Net-work Alliance Chapter: Z-OneLounge, 1821 Richmond Ave. 7 to8:30 a.m. For info, call TimothyHouston at 718-981-8600.
Rotary Club Staten Island: LiGre-ci’s Staten, 697 Forest Ave. 12:30 to1:30 p.m. Members and guests wel-
come. For info, call 718-370-3140.
College of S.I., Small Bus. Dev. Ctr.Business Counseling: Chamber ofCommerce, 130 Bay St. 9 a.m. Nocharge. Call 718-982-2560.
College of S.I., Small Bus. Dev. Ctr.Business Counseling: CSI, 2800Victory Blvd. 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Nocharge. Call the SBDC at 982-2560.
WEDNESDAYBus. Outreach Ctr of SI/WBCLDCSmall Bus. Counseling –MWBE/BOC Capital: WBCLDC, 705Forest Ave., 2nd Fl. By appointmentonly. For info, call 718-816-4775.
Richmond County Referral Source:Comfort Inn. 7:00 to 8:15 a.m. Forinfo, email [email protected]
Staten Island Business Council:Lorenzo’s at Hilton Garden Inn, 1100South Ave. 7 a.m. Members andinvited guests only. For info, call 347-855-4488 or send an e-mail [email protected].
Bucks Business Network: Hamp-ton Inn, 1120 South Ave. 7:45 a.m.For info, call 718-351-2557 or visitwww.sibucks.com.
Kiwanis Club of Brighton: Jody’sClub Forest, 372 Forest Ave. 7:30p.m. For info, call 718-348-0505.
Kiwanis Club of North Central:LiGreci’s Staten, 697 Forest Ave.7:30 p.m. Call Len Bosso at 718-442-7804.
Rotary Club of Gateway: The LakeClub, 1150 Clove Rd. 7:15 p.m. Forinfo, call 718-447-1509.
SCORE Business Counseling:Chamber of Commerce, 130 Bay St.9 to 11:30 a.m. Appointment neces-sary. No charge. Call 718-727-1221.
E.L.I.T.E. (Executive, Leadership,Interactive, Team, Effort) Net-working Group: 1110 South Ave. 8a.m. New members welcome. Forinfo, call 347-273-1375.
College of S.I., Small Bus. Dev. Ctr.Business Counseling: CSI, 2800Victory Blvd. 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Forinfo, call 718-982-2560.
THURSDAYBus. Outreach Ctr of SI/WBCLDCSmall Bus. Counseling –MWBE/BOC Capital: WBCLDC, 705Forest Ave., 2nd Fl. By appointmentonly. For info, call 718-816-4775.
Kiwanis Club of Staten Island:
18 BUSINESS TRENDS — MAY 2014
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If you have a small business, chances areyou have big plans.Our financial representatives can help you with your long-range business plans. By offering innovative solutions that include risk management, business succession, employeebenefits and personal planning, we treat you like you’reanything but small.
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WEEKLY MEETINGS
please see MEETINGS page 24
20 BUSINESS TRENDS — MAY 2014
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Join national companies like Time WarnerCable, Wells Fargo Home Mortgage and localbusinesses like Jealan Fireplaces and The PoolTherapist. To learn more, visit the Offer Boardat www.DomeGroup.com/dscOffers.
In today’s world of insecureemployment, job hopping andlonger life expectancies, it has be-come critical to plan for life afteryour prime working years. Nolonger can an individual count ona steady monthly payment froman employer or trade union. Thisis now the privilege of a smallpercentage of Americans. SocialSecurity remains as a base formost of us but was never intend-ed to be the sole source of incomein retirement.
The first thing is to determinewhat retirement means for you.With life expectancies into theeighties for both men and womenretirement is no longer a goldwatch and the rocking chair at 60.It can mean a second career doingthe things you put aside to earn aliving or it can be volunteer workthat is as consuming as any ca-reer. For others it will mean beinga caregiver for younger or olderfamily members. Some of us willwork to supplement our incomes.Once we have determined whatretirement will mean we can startto build the plan.
Before we look at investmentstrategies or withdrawal ratesfrom accounts, I maintain themost important thing is to get ridof consumer debt. Even if itmeans working an extra year ortwo or going to a smaller resi-dence you can’t begin to live a se-cure life with credit card bills at18 percent staring you in the face.
If your savings are earning you 1percent or less and you are payinginterest on a credit card the bestinvestment you can make is to getrid of the credit card debt. Thismeans once and for all not to payit off and start on the merry goround again.
Ideally, you will not enter re-tirement with a mortgage. Al-though there are some economiccircumstances where it can makesense to keep a mortgage it is gen-erally a better plan to be debt free.This is harder to do in a worldwhere mortgages are large andoften refinanced to fund educa-tion expenses.
The other critical need to con-sider is health insurance. For in-creasing numbers of people re-tiree health insurance is notavailable from an employer.Those who are laid off often losethat right with the termination oftheir employment. Even thosewho retire with health insurancecan lose it as their former em-ployer’s financial fortuneschange. Medicare is the baselineprogram for those 65 and older.For those who need to bridge theend of employment and the startof Medicare there are some choic-es. For those with very low in-comes or certain illnesses Medi-caid is an option. Various pro-grams keyed to one’s income suchas Health Plus may provide an al-ternative even for those who haveassets. Other choices may beaffinity groups or professional or-
ganizations such as bar associa-tions, ethnic clubs or the like.High deductible private healthplans paired with health savingsaccounts may be an option forsome. With the advent of univer-sal health insurance this issueshould recede in importance.
Even those who have health in-surance coverage will need fundsavailable for those expenses notcovered by insurance. Fidelity In-vestments has estimated that theaverage married couple will need$240,000.00 to meet health expens-es not covered by insurance.
Long-term care insurance isanother consideration but is be-yond the scope of this article.
This brings us to the next step -saving for day-to-day needs in-cluding health expenses. The uglyword budget surfaces. Many cantell you their expenses down tothe last penny but a significantnumber, even those with substan-tial incomes, have never budget-ed.
There are many budgeting sys-tems including the envelope sys-tem where you put money for dif-ferent expenses into a series ofenvelopes. Others favor having achecking account that is just forhousehold expenses. In today’stech savvy world many depend oncomputer or phone based pro-grams. Whatever the method itremains important to distinguishbetween needs and wants. Needs
deadline is fast approaching:Nonprofit groups claiming tax-ex-empt status have until May 15 tofile returns for the 2013 tax year.Here are the answers to severalcommon questions on this issue.
Q. Does every organizationhave to file a return?
A. No. There are certain excep-tions in the law. For example, thefollowing nonprofits are exemptfrom the filing requirements:
• Most religious organizations,religious schools and missionaryorganizations.
• Subsidiaries of nonprofitsthat may be covered under agroup return filed by the parentorganization.
• Certain government corpora-tions and state institutions pro-viding essential services.
Q. What form do you have tofile?
A. It depends on the size andnature of the organization. Non-
profits with gross receipts ofmore than $50,000 must file Form990 or 990-EZ, those with gross re-ceipts that don’t exceed $50,000file Form 990-N (the “e-Post-card”), and private foundationsfile Form 990-PF.
Q. What happens if you fail tofile?
A. It could result in monetarypenalties. Even worse, if an or-ganization fails to file Form 990three years in a row, the IRS willautomatically revoke its tax-ex-empt status and it can no longerreceive tax-deductible contribu-tions. There’s no appeal processfor this harsh result.
Q. Are there any other poten-tial taxes?
A. Yes. Significantly, a tax-ex-empt organization may owe an“unrelated business income tax”for regular business activities un-related to its charitable function.For example, if a nonprofitcharges advertising in its publica-tions, the income may be subject
to UBIT.
John J. Vento is a certified publicaccountant in private practice andpresident of Comprehensive WealthManagement, Ltd. He may bereached at (718) 980-9000 or viaemail at [email protected].
MAY 2014 — BUSINESS TRENDS 21
Deadline approaching for nonprofits
community an opportunity toshare their talents and passionfor the arts with Staten Island’sfirst and only professional equitytheater company. The guild is avolunteer organization dedicatedto supporting Harbor Lights' op-erations and productions. Mem-bers will act as ambassadors forthe company; they will welcomeincoming artists, host openingnight parties, and assist the staff– generally supporting every as-pect of production, which willalso include exciting behind-the-scenes activities. Members willhave the opportunity to join spe-cialized committees, each focusedon a particular operation of Har-bor Lights.
For more information, call(646) 408-7785 or email [email protected].
RUMC applies for FEMA grant
Richmond University MedicalCenter’s grant application to NewYork State’s Hazard MitigationGrant Program has been ad-vanced to the next level for feder-al action. The funding request to-tals $12,071,076, and would pro-vide infrastructure to build re-siliency to natural disasters, suchas Superstorm Sandy. A total of10 projects have been advanced bythe state; RUMC’s request is thesecond largest from a hospitalwithin those forwarded to FEMAfor final approval.
For both Hurricane Irene andSuperstorm Sandy, RichmondUniversity Medical Center wasthe only hospital to remain openon the Island; both of the SIUHcampuses are in flood zones. Theproject will improve new floodcontrol measures and hardennine buildings against wind dam-age.
Monthly UpdateBRIEFS
Continued from page 10
22 BUSINESS TRENDS — MAY 2014
$850 VALUE
APB Security & Home Automation2047 Victory Boulevard Staten Island NY 10314
(718)698-8244www.apbsecurity.com
STEVE WHITE/Business TrendsStudents participating in the SI Chamber of Commerce Young Entrepreneurs Academy were treated to apanel discussion by some of Staten Island's established business professionals. The event took place atSusan Wagner High School.
• Licensed Locksmiths • Storefront Door Repairs• School Hardware / Lockdown Solutions
• Doors Replaced / Fire Doors, Apt. Doors, Roofs• Exit Devices • Door Controls / Automation
• Access Control • Master-Key Planning• High Security Locks & Keys
MEMBER2014
their Internet connection, and tocallers, you are all together at
work. This ability saved a NYC busi-
ness after a utility explosionmade their building unusable forover a week. Their phones wereretrieved and were back in busi-ness the next day – all working re-
motely!
Next timePart Three – Which carriers
and resellers to use and how tochoose them.
Bill Dubovsky - Comtel InformationServices, has a proven track recordof business success spanning over30 years in helping hundreds of or-ganizations improve their profitabili-ty. He is the principal technology
specialist with Comtel InformationServices, a New York based telecom-munications consulting firm, and anadjunct lecturer in business at theCollege of Staten Island, C.U.N.Y.Contact him via email at [email protected].
Good, fast, cheap – pick twoBITS
Continued from page 6
LiGreci’s Staten, 697 Forest Ave.7:30 p.m. For info, call 718-967-4345
or kiwanisclubofstatenisland.com.
Rotary Club of South Shore: Man-sion Grand, 141 Mansion Ave. 12:15p.m. For info, call 718-987-2061 orvisit southshorerotary.org.
Rotary Club Mid-Island: New Dako-ta Diner, 921 Richmond Ave. 7:30 to
9:00 a.m. Call 718-981-0700.
SCORE Business Counseling: SIBank & Trust, 1550 Richmond Rd. 9a.m. to noon. No appointment nec-essary. No charge. Call 718-727-1221.
Rotary Club of North Shore: LiGre-ci’s Staten, 697 Forest Ave. 7 p.m.
For info, call Chris Williams at 718-442-9047.
Business Network Int’l. (BNI) HighAchievers Chapter: PK’s Restau-rant,1281 Arthur Kill Rd. 7 to 8:30a.m. For info, call Timothy Houstonat 718-981-8600.
Business Guild II of the S.I. Cham-ber of Commerce: Hilton GardenInn, 1100 South Ave. 7:45 to 8:45a.m. Members and invited guestsonly. For info, call Dovid Winiarz at718-983-9272.
Business Guild III of the SI Cham-ber of Commerce: Hilton GardenInn, 1100 South Ave. 8 a.m. Newmembers welcome. Call Nick Testaat 646-823-4494.
College of S.I., Small Bus. Dev. Ctr.Business Counseling: CSI, 2800Victory Blvd. 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Forinfo, call 718-982-2560.
Community Emergency Response
Team (CERT): 7 p.m. For info. andlocations, call John Tidona at 448-7160 or [email protected].
FRIDAYBus. Outreach Ctr of SI/WBCLDCSmall Bus. Counseling –MWBE/BOC Capital: WBCLDC, 705Forest Ave., 2nd Fl. By appointmentonly. For info, call 718-816-4775.
SATURDAYSCORE Business Counseling: St.George Library, 5 Central Ave. 10a.m. to noon. Appointment neces-sary. No charge. Call 718-442-8560.
SCORE Business Counseling: Rich-mondtown Library, 200 Clarke Ave.10 to 11:30 a.m. Appointment neces-sary. For info, call 718-668-0413.
24 BUSINESS TRENDS — MAY 2014
Weekly meetingsMEETINGS
Continued from page 19
are the basics such as shelter,food, and clothing.
These come first. Ideally youwill have secure sources of in-come such as pensions, Social Se-curity, rents or the like to coverthese costs. If you don’t you willneed to combine savings vehicleswith investment accounts to meetyour needs.
If basic expenses are met fromsecure sources of income thensaving becomes a matter of put-ting aside funds for extraordi-nary costs like home repairs or anew car.
Vehicles for saving should besecure and readily available suchas bank accounts, money mar-kets, and short term CDs or gov-ernment obligations. You should-n’t be playing the stock marketwith the money you will need torepair the roof.
Investing is putting money to
work in riskier vehicles likestocks and bonds in search ofhigher returns.
For those who can meet theirbasic needs from secure incomesources it will be a way of fund-ing pleasures such as travel andhobbies or leaving a legacy forfamily or charity.
You need to understand thatpotential returns from invest-ments are higher but so are risks.The amount you put into your in-vestment accounts will depend onyour tolerance for risk and yourtime horizon.
Once you have consideredthese fundamentals you can fill inthe details such as where you willlive and what deferred ambitionsyou may want to realize. Planningfor retirement is a challenge butthe rewards are substantial.
Catherine M. Paulo, Esq. is the man-aging member of Paulo Financial Ad-visors LLC, a New York Registered In-vestment Advisory firm. She can bereached at (718) 370-3464 or [email protected].
Here's a revenue-boostingopportunity that may be flyingunder the radar of your businessor professional networking circle.Decades-old Dome Property Man-agement, one of the largest andmost respected companies of itskind in the New York metropoli-
tan area, is offering an unprece-dented opportunity for a limitednumber of vendors and mer-chants to share in their success.
The newly introduced DomeSavings Club gives businesses theopportunity to expand their cus-tomer bases for free. There’sabsolutely no catch: You simply
agree to provide an attractive dis-count to club participants on theDome Savings Club’s “OfferBoard.” That's it. Nothing more. Anominal one-time set-up fee,which includes a place on theclub’s online “Offer Board,” is theonly cost. “This is a winning situ-ation for everyone involved,” saidMichael Motelson, president ofDome Property Management.”
ALL PARTIES BENEFITHere's why:
(1) The businesses in the DomeSavings Club may incorporatemarketing incentives that workbest for them, such as dollars-offor percentage-savings discounts,free gifts or services, or otherstrategies that have successfullyworked for them in the past. Theywill enjoy a huge audience com-prised of well over 10,000 potentialcustomers at over 100 Dome-man-aged communities, and areincluded in the club’s online mar-keting efforts.
(2) Homeowners and communitiesunder Dome’s management bene-fit from the dollars they save ontop-quality products and services.
(3) Dome Property Management,notably Staten Island’s premierproperty management company,benefits from directly interactingwith the business community andproviding a greatly appreciatedadvantage to the many condo com-munities it services.
Founded in 1987, Dome Proper-
ty Management manages over 100condominium and homeownersassociation communities, mostlyon Staten Island, and is thebiggest such operation in the bor-ough. Dome provides comprehen-sive property management servic-
es to many types of properties andcomplexes, from under 10 to morethan 500 units, and includes manybuilding types and individuallyowned homes. For now, the DomeSavings Club is being marketedsolely to its Staten Island condocommunities.
DISTINGUISHED MEMBERSTime Warner Cable was the firstto participate in the club, with anoffer to supply participatingcondo residents a savings of morethan $60 per month with bulk-ratepricing. Additional membersinclude national companies, suchas Wells Fargo Home Mortgage,and reputable local merchants,such as Jealan Fireplaces. EvenDome itself has joined in by offer-ing preferred pricing andenhanced services to the residentsof participating communities.
Now that the word is out, it is
likely representatives of the auto-motive, banking, medical, finan-cial and restaurant industries willsoon come on board. Dome shouldalso expect to hear from numer-ous home-services businesses,such as landscaping, contracting,
plumbing, electrical, woodwork-ing, painting, multi-service andproduct suppliers, and others.
“Given the assortment of com-munities and properties we man-age, and the many goods and serv-ices they and their residents con-sume, businesses offering a widearray of products and servicescan benefit from participating,”said Enid Motelson, senior vicepresident of Dome Property Man-agement.
SOLID REPUTATION IS A MUSTIf you are interested in participat-ing in the Dome Savings Club as amerchant or vendor, be aware thatnot every business will qualify.“Only businesses with a stellarreputation for product, customer-service and integrity will be con-sidered,” Michael Motelson said.By simply providing a discount toDome’s customers in these tough
economic times, “quality mer-chants, service providers and ven-dors can strengthen the loyalty oftheir existing customers andattract and build relationshipswith new prospects.”
For additional information, Dome Property Management may be reached at718-605-2500, e-mail at [email protected], and visited online at www.DomeGroup.com. TheDome Savings Club’s “OfferBoard” can be found atwww.DomeGroup.com/dscOffers.The company is headquartered at 109 Winant Place,Staten Island, NY 10309.
Current Participants:
Dome Savings Club connects businessesto thousands of potential customers for free
The Tides at Charleston, the first active-adult community of its kind in metropolitan New York, is one of over 100 condominium and home-owners association communities benefitting from the extensive services provided by Dome Property Management.
Dome Property Management provides com-prehensive property management servicesto many types of properties and complexes,from under 10 to more than 500 units, andincludes many building types and individual-ly owned homes.
and turn-key ready properties.
“What we’re trying to create issomething comparable to that,”said Steve Grillo, the vice presi-dent of projects for the SIEDC.“There’s these wonderful, vasttracts of land, and you can create
this great life here.”Creating a “clean tech park” as
the SIEDC envisions is a largeproject with a lot of parts. Assuch, it is hoping to create a pub-lic-private partnership for the en-
terprise, seeking a real estateagent, developer or propertyowner who owns land that couldbe transformed into this vision,and then fast-tracking govern-ment approvals where neededand creating a tax incentive pro-gram to attract businesses to thepark.
Grillo said the land they areseeking needs to be at least fiveacres, but probably more, of in-dustrial space – some of whichwould be developed into turn-keyready parcels while some wouldbe left undeveloped for companiesthat might want a custom-builtspace.
“It’s a simple concept, butthere’s a lot of demand out there –there’s a lot of stuff to do,” Grillosaid.
Technology is modernizing themanufacturing industry, not onlychanging the way existing compa-nies do business but also creatingnew companies altogether. Thereare a number of businesses onthe Island that wouldn’t havebeen here 15 years ago if itweren’t for this technology, Grillosaid.
In more progressive “green”states such as California and Ore-gon, as well as at university townsthroughout the country, cleantech is emerging at a fast pace,but such is not the case every-where.
“Staten Island is a little behindthe times,” Grillo said. “Whatwe’re looking to do is create abrand that Staten Island is a placewhere you can come and do cleantech. We’re looking to attractwhat is already an existing area.”
The SIEDC often receives realestate inquiries from people whoneed space and want the access toNew Jersey, but the space justisn’t there. Grillo said they be-lieve a clean tech park would sat-isfy this need, providing access,and prices comparable, to NewJersey while still being in NewYork City.
The SIEDC submitted a bid forthe former Arthur Kill Correc-tional Facility site, but it lost outto Broadway Stages, which hasplans to convert property into a$20 million movie studio. Now,the SIEDC is turning its sights on
other potential properties on theIsland.
“We don’t want folks to think ofthis as the ‘Arthur Kill facilityproject.’ We did submit, and welost, but that’s fine. We’re ready tomove onto other sites,” Grillosaid.
Over the last few months, theSIEDC has worked with the Col-lege of Staten Island on ModernIsland, a mapping program thatwent block by block, lot by lotlooking at vacant space that couldbe developed. It’s a project thatwas unveiled in its entirety at theStaten Island Economic Develop-ment Conference on April 30.
“There’s surprisingly notmuch left,” Grillo said. “Staten Is-land has some really incredibledevelopment sites, but a lot ofthem face obstacles. The SIEDC isvery, very serious in developingland.”
Grillo said the SIEDC wants towork with the city and a privateentity to overcome these obsta-cles, and they are confident theprogram will be beneficial to theborough because it will developan underutilized property whilealso bringing the new-age indus-try of clean tech to Staten Island.
To do so, the SIEDC is askingany of its members who are de-velopers, real estate professionalsor land owners to come forwardwith a proposed site or sites thatcould work for the park.
If the parcel is feasible, theSIEDC will work on finding a de-veloper for the owner of the land,then work with the city to fast-track the approval process for thedeveloper so the clean tech parkcan be operational as soon as pos-sible.
“Anybody that teams up on thisis going to benefit tremendously,and it’s really going to help theborough,” Grillo said.
“People go to the BrooklynNavy Yard … because you can getin there, the space is good andthere’s really good incentives. Wejust want our fair share. Otherboroughs have it; Staten Islanddoesn’t. But we need some privateinvestment.
“We’re trying to address anunmet need. We know there’s aneed out there for this.”
26 BUSINESS TRENDS — MAY 2014
SIEDC believes in ‘green tech’SIEDC
Continued from page 1
118-35 Queens Blvd.Forest Hills, NY 11375www.muss.com
