22 LONGISLANDPRESS.COM • JUNE 2019
CORNER OFFICE
LI BUILDERS INSTITUTE CEO MITCH PALLY
HE’S STILL BUILDING By JAMES BERNSTEIN
There is barely a committee, organization
or group that hasn’t, at one
time or another, had Mitch Pally as a
member or a director. His resume is
so chockablock with names of government
or private agencies that it would
seem he would be a household name
on Long Island. But Pally is more of
a behind-the-scenes guy, preferring
to roll up his sleeves and let the other
guy take the credit, those who know
him well say. He is currently chief
executive officer of the Long Island
Builders Institute, a post he has held
since 2010. He was Suffolk County’s
representative to the Metropolitan
Transportation Authority between
2005 and 2019. He may best be known
for his ties to the Long Island Association,
where he was vice president
for government affairs, from 1992
to 2006. He has also held a number
of positions with the New York State
Legislature.
What is the Long Island Builders
Institute all about? We are the trade
association for residential home
builders and anyone else in the industry.
That includes small firms all
the way up to giants like Avalon Bay.
It includes real estate people, lawyers,
people involved in development. We
have 575 members. We are the largest
local organization of this type in the
state and within the top 10 percent in
the country.
Are you also lobbyists? That’s a good
way to put it. We promote and lobby
for the industry.
You have been fighting against
what’s called the Scaffold Law.
What’s that all about? The law goes
back over 100 years. It says that any
worker off the ground, it doesn’t
say by how high, who falls and gets
injured, there is no defense for the
builder. New York State is the only
one in the country that has such a law.
The law increases insurance costs by
40 percent.
Has anything happened recently to
cause you to fight this law? We have
been working on this for a while. We
don’t think it’s fair that there is no
defense for the builder. We think if
the builder is held 50 percent responsible,
he should pay 50 percent. But
under this law, the builder pays 100
percent.
Have you had much success so far?
We’re getting more attention but not
much success convincing the state
legislature or the governor.
Long Island’s demographics are
changing dramatically. What does
this mean for builders? We are
not building as many single-family
homes as we used to. We don’t have
the available land. Many of our young
people and seniors want something
where they don’t have to do
maintenance work. As a result,
the rental market
on Long Island is strong.
Downtowns are realizing
that the way to survive is
to build rental apartments.
So are the days of the single
family home on Long
Island over? There will be
a moderation of such building.
As long as builders are
able to build smaller, there
will be a healthy market,
but it will be a different
market. Builders will have
to change with the market.
It’s hard to think of Long Island
without new single-family home
construction. We don’t have the land
and we don’t have the sewer systems.
Let’s talk about affordable housing.
Do we have enough? We have
to build more affordable rental
apartments. There are not enough.
The young people, and many of the
seniors, want rentals in downtown
areas, near train stations, shopping
and entertainment.
How do you see our downtowns?
Some of them are more forward-looking
than others. Patchogue is the best
example of being forward-looking.
But other places are as well, like Mineola,
Port Jefferson, and Farmingdale.
How is the industry doing on
Long Island? Very well, as long as
builders know their market, that it
is less single-family and more rental
units. There are also knockdowns.
This means taking down an existing
house and putting up something
else. That’s going on a lot too
“As long as builders are able to build smaller, these days.
there will be a healthy market,
but it will be a different market.”
Mitch Pally,
CEO of the Long
Island Builders
Institute, has ties
with numerous
organizations.
/LONGISLANDPRESS.COM
