Long Island weathered the national recession in relatively fine order. The Route 110 Corridor, "Long Island's Hi Tech Main Street", continued to evolve from service and retail to technology and life science.
Long Island remains a vibrant spawning ground for both start-up entrepreneurs and established hi-tech corporations. The Route 110 Corridor, running North/South along the Nassau/Suffolk border, reflected this diversity. Long Island's economy is larger than that of San Francisco and its economic output exceeds that of the State of Israel. The Route 110 Corridor played an increasingly important role in that economic power. For instance, taxes from the Huntington Town section of the Route 110 Corridor accounted for more than twenty percent of that Towns annual budget. The Corridor provides more than twenty percent of the jobs in Suffolk County. With more than 135,000 jobs, the Route 110 Corridor is truly a major driving engine in the Long Island economy.
The Route 110 Redevelopment Corporation is dedicated to fine tuning that engine and making it more powerful. During the past year, the Route 110 Redevelopment Corporation entered its fourth year of acting as a "smart growth catalyst", creating a business friendly environment, of attracting and retaining environmentally friendly, high-tech firms. Our goal is to generate quality jobs in high paying, career positive firms. Part of our emphasis has been to encourage the growth of a fifth national cluster of biotechnology industries.
Biotechnology clusters currently exist in Boston, the Research Triangle in North Carolina, south San Francisco and San Diego. The Universities in and around these areas have provided a seed-bed for growing these industries over the past three decades. On the Route 110 Corridor, Farmingdale State University in playing an increasingly important role in providing the spark for the nascent biotech cluster currently growing in and round the Corridor. The process of "Agglomeration" is accelerating. In economic development terms "agglomeration" simply means CEO's of a feather flock together. That is, businesses of a similar nature tend to concentrate in a given area. Biotechnology and relate life sciences are increasingly growing in and around the Route 110 Corridor. The Corridor is on the cusp of becoming the fifth national biotechnology "cluster".
The Route 110 Redevelopment Corporation is a unique organization, founded by the Towns of Babylon and Huntington. The Towns recognized the critical importance of joining the strengths of the civic and business community with government, and the Route 110 Redevelopment Corporation was bom.
The Route 110 Redevelopment Corporation (RRC) has developed a program of education and promotion. Specifically,
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The RRC participated in eight national and international Biotechnology Conferences and Conventions.
• More than 1,000 RRC CD Roms on Biotechnology were presented to Biotechnolgoy corporations throughout the nation and the world.
• The RCC Biotech CD Rom is recognized as a premier presentation device in promoting biotech in the Route 110 Corridor (see enclosed copy of the RRC Biotech CD Rom).
• The RRC and its members supported several local firms in expediting governmental permit approvals for start-up and expansion.
• The RRC developed three additional CD Roms emphasizing government cooperation, quality of Long Island education systems and growing high technology.
• The RRC will participate in various national and international biotechnology conferences and conventions in 2005.
• An RRC "state of the Art" multi-media exhibit booth was built and is being used at various conferences, conventions and trade shows.
• More than 5,000 CD Roms and e-mail announcements will be sent to potential hi-tech firms to develop interest in the Corridor.
• A Hydrogen Fuel Cell Learning Center will open at Farmingdale State University, using Town, County and State funding to help develop a technological base building small scale, pollution free, power generating hydrogen fuel cells.
• The Hydrogen Fuel Cell Learning Center will be the first of its kind in the nation.
• The Broadhollow Bioscience Park Center at Farmingdale State University will double in size in 2005 and will continue to be a major focus in the emerging Route 110 Biotech Cluster.
• Companies such as OSI Pharmaceuticals, Icon and Forest Labs will continue to grow and help put the Route 110 Corridor on national and international maps.
Successes were a mix of planning and production. The RRC will continue to plan but will become more involved with productions particularly in the establishment of the Hydrogen Fuel Cell Learning Center.
The following sections of our Annual Report provide a more detailed look at our plans and products. The ground breaking CD Rom should be viewed in the context of the four part CD Rom "library: that will be used for ongoing initiatives. Our grant development work, publication education efforts and on-going support of Farmingdale State University (where we have our RRC office) should also be seen as part of an on going effort to develop the long-term support necessary from government, the civic and business sectors to build a better economic base, keep our well-educated youth at home in high paying jobs and work toward providing housing that this emerging work force can afford.
The challenges are great but the opportunities are even greater.
