Take a walk along Middle Neck Road in the Old Village. It's a sad sight. Too many vacant stores and a constant turnover. Businesses are struggling to survive. The streets are none too clean. There is hardly any foot traffic. The good news is, it's easy to find a parking spot; the bad news, of course, is that no one is coming.

This isn't a new story; it's been going on for quite some years now. We have, from time to time, approached the village's mayors and asked them to step up to the plate and provide a comprehensive plan to promote business. We have also used this space to ask for some real business development in the Old Village, possibly a BID (Business Improvement District). A strong, well-organized BID and very pro-active mayors and trustees in Great Neck Plaza have kept our downtown healthy and vibrant. Why can't the Village of Great Neck do the same?

The big hullabaloo over "business" in the Old Village has, for over a year, focused only on the tired old arguments for and against a green market on the Village Green. It's become a real "cause" for some. And that is ridiculous. The question of whether or not a green market could promote business or, conversely, if it would "steal" business from already struggling green grocers should not be the core of the discussions. Frankly, a green market has been used, successfully, in many areas to promote other businesses. When properly organized, it can be a great idea. However, with our informal research, coupled with reports from the voices calling for a green market in the Old Village, we have not as yet seen a green market that exists in a neighborhood that also supports green grocers.

We urge the mayor and the board of trustees in the Village of Great Neck to quell the silly riots over a green market and formally address the grave issue of a failing business district. And do it now! All the petty bickering and unbelievably lengthy and angry public discussions will get us nowhere. Little groups who band together for their "cause" will also lead us down the path to nothing. Get some professional help, real marketing experts, real planners, people who do this for a living. The Plaza hired Ron Edelson of Zimmerman Edelson, a "real," highly successful public relations and marketing firm, to head its Plaza Management Council. And it has worked! Sometimes, you do get what you pay for. The Old Village needs its elected officials to work with the pros and come up with a workable, comprehensive business development plan.

Maybe a green market would, in the end, be an actual piece of a larger, overall plan for business development. That would be lovely. No one is against green markets, per se, and, hopefully, no one is against promoting a healthy business district. But the time to act is now!

If the Old Village's elected officials fail to act now, if they do not quickly address the problems of their floundering business district, not much else they accomplish will be worth its full value. Without thriving businesses we will look more and more like a ghost town, and, in the end, just damage our own fine reputation and drag down our property values, not to mention horribly impact on the quality of life for this entire peninsula.

A healthy business district is a crucially serious issue and it is up to our public officials, and our public officials alone, to see that the Old Village shops and businesses finally find their place in the sun!

- Wendy K. Kreitzman