Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi held the first of 35 economic development meetings throughout Nassau County at Elmont's Clara H. Carlson School last week. The purpose of the meeting was to lay the foundation for a plan to improve the economy of Elmont.

While the county executive spoke briefly about Nassau's financial mess, the main focus of the meeting was to identify issues in the Elmont/North Valley Stream area and possible ways to improve the area. "The purpose of tonight's meeting is to talk about your community," Suozzi said.

The county executive divided Nassau into 35 economic development zones. He plans to hold a meeting in each zone with the Elmont/North Valley Stream zone being the first meeting.

Through community involvement and teamwork with community leaders, Suozzi hopes to achieve significant goals for each area such as preserving suburban quality of life, creating high wage jobs with good benefits and expanding the county's tax base.

However, many communities in Nassau including Elmont must overcome certain issues that are indicative of being the first mature suburban county in the United States - issues such as overcrowding, illegal housing, lack of open space and growing traffic. Another problem Suozzi identified is that Nassau has grown so much in the past, there is practically no more room to grow. "If we don't grow, our property tax base doesn't expand," he said.

Through his economic development plan, the county executive hopes to plan for the future of each community in the county. "We have to develop a vision for what we want to see happen in our own communities," Suozzi said.

There are many challenges the community will face in quest for further economic development. Among those the county executive identified was an overdevelopment of commercial strips and lack of open space, decline of commercial business districts and downtowns, traffic congestion and lack of mass transit, older and more polluted industrial sites, high cost of living and pockets of poverty, illegal housing and lack of code enforcement. "These are problems we face being a mature, suburban county. We have to do a comprehensive plan for the whole county," Suozzi said.

The county executive stressed communication between Nassau and community leaders. "We've laid out six goals for economic development in Nassau County overall," said Suozzi. "In some communities they will apply and in some communities, they will not apply."

The six goals are to promote high skilled/high tech industry, revitalize downtowns and commercial business districts, redevelop Brownfields, which are former industrial or commercial properties that are either polluted or perceived to be polluted, facilitate low cost and senior housing, preserve and secure whatever open space is left, and promote sports and entertainment.

Suozzi said there wasn't much room for promoting high skilled/high tech industry in Elmont/North Valley Stream because there isn't much open space left to bring in those type of corporations. Elmont/North Valley Stream can have their downtowns and commercial business districts. "If we see downtowns as being an important part of the future of suburbia in Nassau County, we have to help the downtowns along. We have to encourage them to be more successful."

One initiative Suozzi suggested was taking advantage of the fact that the Belmont Stakes, an internationally known event, takes place at Belmont Racetrack in Elmont. The suggestion was that Elmont's economy could perhaps be stimulated by promoting Elmont's businesses through the Belmont Stakes.

Suozzi also suggested creating a vision for Elmont's downtown, creating a true walkable community, establishing a business improvement district, recycling and reusing Brownfields by first identifying properties that can be developed and building affordable senior and workforce housing that's safe and sensible for Elmont/North Valley Stream.

Among some of the specific items of action the community can work toward with Nassau County is the cleanup of the abandoned truck site in the Parkhurst community, beautifying the Beth David Cemetery gasoline depot site, identifying the zoning and permit status for the learning center next to the Gotham Avenue School, identifying four distinct downtown communities for the Elmont area, creating a community identity for each area and organizing and promoting Belmont Racetrack related business including the Belmont Stakes.

For more information about the Nassau County economic development plan, visit www.nassaucountynydevelopment.com.