Governor Hochul: “$10 million will not change necessarily the physical downtown always, but it changes the psychology of a community. It changes the attitudes of a community who know that they're worth investing in. That's what I love, too, when I see that people walking around with this sense of pride and belief in their neighborhood and their downtown. And it really makes a huge difference. These are really a catalyst. And I'm so committed to making sure that we do this over and over and over.”
Hochul: “You rehabbed the beautiful recreation and community complex we're standing in today. How gorgeous is this? Each of these projects stands on their own in their own merits, and that's the power of all these. So, I'm going to use this as an example. If I can have your permission to brag about this all over the State of New York, say, ‘This is what you have an opportunity to do. If you bring the community together, have a collective shared vision for the future, and make sure that you work together to accomplish it, and then we'll get the attention of the right person.’”
Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul today announced the completion of Westbury’s final Downtown Revitalization Initiative project at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the extensive Streetscape Improvements along the Post Avenue corridor. With the completion of this project, Westbury has now completed all six of its projects funded under the State’s highly successful Downtown Revitalization Initiative. The Westbury DRI has become an award-winning model for Transit-Oriented Development in the State, a key concept in Governor Hochul’s efforts to expand housing opportunities near transit stations.
VIDEO of the event is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format here.
AUDIO of the Governor's remarks is available here.
PHOTOS of the event will be available on the Governor's Flick page.
A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:
Hello, Westbury. What a wonderful day to see all of you. It's a little delay because I happen to take a detour to the Majestic Diner. You know me and diners and then, of course, 500 selfies. But that's all right. It was a great reminder of what I cherish about Long Island. But one of my great privileges of being Governor is certainly traveling this state and coming to communities like this, especially seeing the transformation that occurs when they've been the beneficiaries of this incredible program. You get a chance to reimagine entire neighborhoods and to ultimately bring the vision of a community to life. And it also attracts new people, new investments, great jobs, improves the lives of so many. And no better place to do that and talk about that than here in Westbury.
And I want to first of all acknowledge our Deputy Mayor who is pinch hitting here today. I had a chance to talk with the Mayor. He says I'm in good hands with you. So, we're very happy to have you here, Deputy Mayor Jefferson. Peter Carbone, the President of the Westbury Improvement District, thank you for helping shepherd this through. There's a lot involved bringing the community together and it's so critically important.
I also want to acknowledge Kevin Law, the Empire State Development Chair. Kevin, thank you for the work you do for us at the state level as well. I have many partners in state and local government who have been acknowledged, especially my partners in the state legislature. Friends in labor, thank you, thank you, thank you for all you do in rebuilding our great communities. And also, to all of you who are part of the community and the DRI planning community.
And I think it's really important to have projects like this. You know why I know this is important? I spent 14 years as a local councilmember. And if someone had come to me and said you could apply for a $10 million grant, I would have thought I died and went to heaven. That's how significant this is because in the past what we had to do is you try to piecemeal projects. You have a great idea for maybe a bike path or some signage or some connection from a downtown over here and bring in new businesses. $50,000 here if you're lucky, maybe $100,000 if you had a really good year. It takes forever to have a real wow impact all at once. And progress stagnates, people get discouraged and it just goes on and on and on. And that's what sets this program apart. And you get one enormous infusion of money. It's not just without strings. You have to make sure you spend it in the right places. But it's the vision of a community.
We don't sit in Albany and dream up what you should have in your downtown. And I'm glad we don't, because we don't have the insights, the passion that you have, the respect for the different businesses and who you're trying to draw to your community. Only you know that, and I know only you know that.
And so, projects that complement each other can happen all at the same time. Results happen so much faster. I was here in 2017 as a fairly new Lieutenant Governor to announce that this community was the recipient. It was a beautiful day. Everybody was so energetic. It was like announcing the winners of the Oscars and Academy Awards. It was a wonderful day. And I knew then that in a few years we would see an incredible story unfold, a transformation. I got in at the ground floor, you got in at the ground floor and we have all these commitments to what is going on here. And I've seen an incredible turnaround.
What this has done, we're going to show some pictures. $10 million will not change necessarily the physical downtown always, but it changes the psychology of a community. It changes the attitudes of a community who know that they're worth investing in. That's what I love, too, when I see that people walking around with this sense of pride and belief in their neighborhood and their downtown. And it really makes a huge difference. These are really a catalyst. And I'm so committed to making sure that we do this over and over and over. We've done $58 million so far. This has been incredible. When you think about the impact, the return on investment, it's nothing but extraordinary.
Some areas you can rezone, some areas you don't. I mean, you know your downtowns, but there's at least something to build on. And I'm using, as I'm talking about how we need to rebuild downtowns, I'm using Westbury's six successful DRI projects as an example. I'm talking about this all over, because this is powerful. And we rezoned acres of land that was blighted before, near the railroad property. I've always said the land near railroads and train stations doesn't have a lot of use, but now it does. And you had a goal to make sure we had space for transit-oriented development. Now some people have said, “Transit-oriented development, I'm not sure that sounds a little scary, right?” Look at what it is. This is what we're talking about. Areas that are blighted that no one would ever see any value to, and it certainly doesn't have any economic value for the community, right? These projects generate money for the local governments so they can keep your taxes lower. I know that because I was in that role.
That's what's so important about these as well. So, you build residential space, commercial space and look at exactly what's happened. Cornerstone Westbury built rental units, 130 rental units, many of which are affordable. These projects are still transforming this area. This is what I've been saying all over. And this is a chance to make sure that we take dead space and make it become alive space. This is what I think every community that has transit should be doing, and they'll look at this as a model of what can be done.
And so, today I'm expanding the guidelines for the Long Island Investment Fund as well, something that Kevin Law has been involved with. We've been using this for economic development primarily. We added this money my first year as Governor. The legislators helped bring this home. Thank you very much. And now we're going to expand this, so it can be used for other projects. We can reuse this for commercial sites as well. As well as not just redeveloping commercial sites, but redeveloping them into housing as well, if they're near transit in downtown. So, we can remove blight. We can add mixed-use properties and make it a place people want to live. You won't even need a car. You live near one of these stations. You just have your life centered around here.
This is how we change people's lives. We also – it's better for the environment as well. The less driving we do of vehicles, the more we use public transportation. The Long Island Rail Road is there. We can get this done. It's where young professionals can live. It's where you can entertain friends on a weekend. Go to coffee shops that were never there before. And that's what's so exciting about this. There's an energy, a buzz and a sense of place. This place matters.
And every single village and town should have projects like these, and that's what I'm focused on. It's one of the executive actions I've taken with my pro-growth communities. What I'm saying is to future communities, if you want to be eligible for these funds, we want you to adhere to pro-growth standards. Tell us that you're going to really invest in your community, and we'll help you with the sewers. We know it's always a barrier. We can help with those projects, if necessary, but make a commitment to your people.
And people want to be part of your community. That's how we have the opportunity to grow this area, as well as take care of the needs of employers. Employers want to have homes that are beautiful for their employees to live in. That's how they attract the workforce here. Or we have outstanding educational institutions. All the colleges we have here on Long Island. All the graduates that come through here. So many, many, many want to stay here. They've fallen in love with this area if they're not from here originally and now they can live here as we continue to build more housing and projects like these.
So, that's what we're going to keep doing, investing in these, letting communities drive the process. Just do it. I'm not going to tell you where; I'm not going to tell you how, just do it. Just start doing it because we have to make up for some lost time here as well.
So, we know that we can continue with these projects. I'm going to talk about some other projects as well. I want to see some more of these – let's see. We have made changes to the streetscape on the Post Avenue corridor, expanding sidewalks, planting trees, bike racks, upgrading lighting. Beautiful, beautiful work there. Also, when I was in local government, I started a coalition. My mother had a little business on a main street. It was not the best time to start a small business during the middle of a recession, at a time when everybody where I live was moving out of town.
But my mother believed, and we started this little village coalition because a lot of the businesses were looking kind of run down and shabby. You know, having handmade signs in the window, you know, six pack of Budweiser, a dollar fifty-nine, whatever it was. It just, it wasn't the nice – it didn't have a sense of place. It didn't have a charm, it didn't have character. And we worked together with the local businesses, told them we should work together on having this, open the same nights of the week together, little shopping coupons and different discounts, and we worked together to bring our business community together. And so, I know how important those groups are as well.
And I want to make sure that we do this and show how important all these little details are. When you do a streetscape, you add some park benches and make some nice streetlights and fix the curbs, it looks transformative. It's beautiful. So, what we're now doing is not just the streetscape improvements, but making sure we have space for the Westbury Arts Council. So, they can add programs and public exhibits and lectures and classes. How amazing is that? Are you here in the house Westbury Arts Council?
And projects for ten commercial buildings and three public buildings. Facade improvements are everything. It's a facelift. No face looks great forever. Okay, let's admit that as we all get older. But you can do a facelift. Look at this transformation. When you go by that building, it speaks to you about new life. A place that's important, a place that has a purpose. So, those are the products we've been investing in.
You rehabbed the beautiful recreation and community complex we're standing in today. How gorgeous is this? Each of these projects stands on their own in their own merits, and that's the power of all these. So, I'm going to use this as an example. If I can have your permission to brag about this all over the State of New York, say, “This is what you have an opportunity to do. If you bring the community together, have a collective shared vision for the future, and make sure that you work together to accomplish it, and then we'll get the attention of the right person,” which is our Secretary of State, who makes a lot of these decisions and our Economic Development Team.
As I said once before, it's proof that these communities have the power to define their own destiny. That's what this is all about. And with that, I want to congratulate everyone involved in not just the start, not just the middle, but now, finally, the end of the project. Well done, Westbury! And with that, let me bring up with that our Deputy Mayor Jefferson from the great village of Westbury.