OCTOBER 2018 • LONGISLANDPRESS.COM 25
PRESS BUSINESS
Mixed-use, transit-oriented developments like the proposed Ronkonkoma Hub project aim to keep young professionals on Long Island.
GET USED TO MIXED USE
By WARREN STRUGATCH
If you want to understand why the term “mixed use” dominates the Long Island economic
development lexicon, consider why Alexi Venneri left Lake Success for Scottsdale, Ariz.
Venneri, an energetic young marketer recruited from the Seattle Mariners, crossed the
country 20 years ago to work for Dealertrack Technologies in Lake Success. (The company
recently moved to New Hyde Park.)
Venneri told me she liked the job but didn’t miss the traffic congestion, high cost of living
and downtown doldrums.
A recruiter dangled an executive position in Arizona and like that, she was gone. Two years
later she launched Digital Air Strike, a social media and digital marketing company, from
her kitchen table. The new agency quickly achieved success.
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