18 LONGISLANDPRESS.COM • NOVEMBER 2017 18 LONGISLANDPRESS.COM • SEPTEMBER 2017 18 LONGISLANDPRESS.CO M • SEPTEMBER 201-----------TUTU111
POINT OF VIEW
A millennial view on the Amazon pass
If Long Island
was ever going
to be seriously
considered
as the site
of an Amazon
second
headquarters
and the 50,000
new jobs that
would come with
it, the Nassau and Suffolk County
executives should have pooled their
resources and signed Green Bay
Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers
to a one-day contract.
Rodgers, after all, is the unequivocal
master of the Hail Mary, sending
long, improbable passes down
the field, only to have them caught,
miraculously, for a touchdown.
Landing Amazon would have
required similar magic.
Long Island simply does not offer
many of the attributes Amazon was
asking for, including these off the
RFP:
• A stable and business friendly
environment. Nope.
• Location that attracts and retains
strong technical talent. Definitely not.
• Lack of traffic congestion. Please.
• Local government structure
conducive to expedited business
growth: Light years away.
But as the Amazon opportunity
passes us by, let’s take a long look
in the mirror. As a region, we have
been hindered by a century’s worth
of parochial issues that require bold
thinking to solve them.
As millennials become the largest
segment of the region’s voters – and
it’s happening – perhaps it’s finally
time to take a holistic look at our
region and proposed structural
solutions to come of its chronic
problems. A failure to do so will
lead, inexorably, to a status quo
in which we are rejected by many,
many more Amazons.
If we keep getting passed over for
comparable regions, what incentive
do millennials have to stay here?
So let’s re-canvass the attributes
that Amazon was looking for and
offer solutions.
A stable and business friendly
environment: A George Washington
University study indicated that
walkable urban real estate projects
are huge drivers of property value,
sustainability and social equity.
We need to embrace a walkable,
connected suburbia like those
found in Northern Virginia. We
should set an ambitious goal of
doubling these kinds of endeavors
in the next decade.
Location that attracts and retains
strong technical talent: There
is a massive, glaring disconnect
between job seekers, educators
and the manufacturing and tech
sectors. Manufacturing companies
here number in the thousands, but
so few young people in our schools
are aggressively courted by them.
We need to bridge this gap.
A region lacking in traffic congestion:
Recent LIRR expansion will
help, but local governments should
work with wildly popular ridesharing
companies like Uber and
Lyft to provide innovative transit
solutions. It worked in California
and can work here.
Local government structure conducive
to expedited business growth: If
we are ever going to get serious about
lowering property taxes, we need to
confront the scary idea of consolidating
or eliminating redundant local
government entities.
In sum, we need to re-imagine our
outdated institutions and innovate
the ways government delivers services
to constituents and businesses
alike. If not, we are destined to be
throwing Hail Marys forever.
Guillot is a partner at Millennial
Strategies, a Huntington-based
consulting firm. He is also a professor
of political science at Suffolk
County Community College and the
co-Founder of Recruit Long Island,
a nonprofit focused on economic development
and millennial retention.
JEFF GUILLOT
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