Sapienza Named President of Elmont Chamber

By Daniel J. McCue

Paul Sapienza, long a vice president for the Elmont Chamber of Commerce, ascended to the presidency of that organization, succeeding former president John Tudisco earlier this month.

Tudisco had been president of the Elmont Chamber for the past six years, with Sapienza serving as his vice president. The change was made because of Tudisco's expanded duties as First Vice President of the Nassau Council of Chambers of Commerce.

"I think my main objective as president, at least at this point, is to open the lines of communication between the various civic groups in Elmont - the Elmont Community Coalition Council - as well as with veterans groups and the schools," said Sapienza, proprietor of the Sapienza Bakery, during an interview with the Three Village Times.

"There always seems to be friction between various groups and their interests, but to my mind, we really are much more closely tied together than is sometimes assumed. I mean, what's good for one, really is very often good for all."

At its February meeting, a meeting that for years has been set aside for a State of Elmont Address, Sapienza debuted the community's new web site on the Internet, www.Elmont.org.

"Our intention, right now, is to get 20 local businesses to become 'founding' members on the site, which will enable them to sell their wares, not just in their stores, but on the World Wide Web as well. For instance, I can now sell pastries on the Internet.

"Also, I see the web sit as becoming a real channel through which the various entities in the community can communicate with one another. Again, it gets back to the idea of all of us working together for a common goal, rather than existing in a fragmented way."

Among the dignitaries he addressed at the February meeting was County Executive Thomas S. Gulotta. The county executive told the chamber that Operation Downtown funding will soon be available once again, and that they definitely should apply.

"What we want to do is something along the lines of what County Legislator John Ciotti brought to fruition on Mecham Avenue," Sapienza said. "This time, though, we want to focus on the west side of town and beautify the area around the Belmont Race Track."

In fact, Sapienza said, he believes the community will have a vastly different relationship with the horse racing facility in the future, one that is more inter-related and more beneficial to all concerned.

"For many, many years, Belmont was an autonomous entity, but more recently we've been reaching out to one another.

"Recently, I mentioned to someone over there that you can find the Kentucky Derby very easily on the Internet, but that you're hard pressed to find the Belmont Stakes... that's a shame and we'd like to do something about that.

"And that's not the only thing, we would like to see an equestrian museum go up on that side of town, and perhaps a few souvenir shops."

One indication of things to come is the recent donation by Belmont Park of funds to be used for the 'Welcome to Elmont' sign project.

The chamber intends to erect four such signs by the middle of next summer. Belmont Park has provided funding to cover the cost of one sign, as has the Paul Annunziato family, and Dr. Thomas Beague of Family Dentistry.

More than a dozen other local families and businesses have also contributed funds for the project, which is being coordinated with Richard Mastrocolo.