Cover photo: Governor Hochul, Supervisor Carpenter, Executive Romaine, and members of the Islip Town Board (Credit – Matt Meduri)
On Wednesday morning, Governor Kathy Hochul (D) visited Islip MacArthur Airport (ISP) to announce a $150 million State investment to make the airport a transit hub, with improved connectivity to the LIRR Ronkonkoma Station.
The funding, along with $50 million from Suffolk County, will also lay the groundwork for the purchase of forty-eight acres of land that could be used for a north terminal, a plan that is still under deliberation by the Town of Islip.
The funding comes not only at a time of discussions of a significant overhaul of the airport to improve mass transit connectivity, but
also to preserve the economic powerhouse that is ISP and the surrounding areas.
Hochul was introduced by Kevin Law, Executive Vice President and Partner with TRITEC Real Estate, as well as the governor’s pick to serve as chairman of Empire State Development, New York’s primary business-aid agency. Law also served as a co-chair of Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine’s (R-Center Moriches) transition team, along with Islip Town Supervisor Angie Carpenter (R-West Islip).
Law praised the leadership of Supervisor Carpenter and Executive Romaine, as well as that of Governor Hochul.
“And I’ve seen work that the governor has initiated and completed,” said Law, discussing Buffalo’s status as the “hottest real estate market” in the state, Central New York’s expected economic booster shot from semiconductor manufacturing, the Capital Region’s status as a national nanotechnology center, increased housing stock in New York City, and her commitments to Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Stony Brook Hospital, and the Sunrise Wind Project on the South Fork.
“Governor Hochul not only understands our region, she understands the communities, the towns, the villages, and the hamlets within our region. She understands our economy, she’s been a tremendous cheerleader and a supporter of all of our collective efforts,” said Law.
A slate of elected officials were present at Wednesday’s announcement, including Supervisor Carpenter, Executive Romaine, Brookhaven Town Supervisor Dan Panico (R-Center Moriches), Smithtown Councilman Tom Lohmann (R-Smithtown), Islip Town Councilmen John Lorenzo (C-West Sayville), Jorge Guadron (D-Central Islip), and Mike McElwee (R-West Islip), Islip Town Clerk Linda Vavricka (R-West Islip), Brookhaven Councilman Neil Foley (R-Blue Point), and several members of the Suffolk County Legislature.
Labor leaders were also present, including Terry Alessi-Miceli, President and CEO of HIA-LI; Dorothy Roberts, President of the Long Island Hospitality Association; Marc Herbst, Executive Director of the Long Island Contractors Association; and ISP Airport Commissioner Shelley LaRose-Arken.
Present also was Chris Coluccio, Co-President of the MacArthur Business Alliance, who conferred to The Messenger ISP’s economic breadth: ten thousand businesses and nonprofits within just a five-mile radius around the airport.
“Long Island is one the most unique, diverse places in our entire state in terms of the natural beauty,” said Hochul. “But also, the charming little villages and hamlets that dot the communities and really give them their charm and personality.”
Hochul credits her understanding of municipal issues to her fourteen years of experience in local government in Erie County (Buffalo).
Regarding transit, Hochul touted the latest LIRR schedule performance; it’s had the best on-time performance in two hundred years, along with increased ridership.
“MacArthur Airport has come a long, long way since 1942 and was first built as a military installation. I could not have been prouder when I saw that USA Today named it, not just in the top-ten, but the third-best small airport in America [in 2024],” said Hochul, adding that the airport gives easy access to Long Island’s most valuable assets, such as the Gold Coast, the Hamptons, the wineries, and the farmers’ markets, the last of which she said are “second-to-none.”
Under Hochul, the State invested $40 million in ISP. She and the State now intend to build on that investment, in the form of a pedestrian walkway from the Ronkonkoma LIRR Station to the existing terminal. The funding is also allocated for road redesigns, parking facilities, and utility systems.
Additionally, the investment paves the way for Suffolk County and Islip Town to unlock forty-eight acres of land for the potential development of a north terminal. The Town Board adopted a study of the plan, and Supervisor Carpenter says it’s the “preferred” location of a new terminal, one that would be directly adjacent to the LIRR Ronkonkoma Station. While no formal plan has been adopted, discussions have included that the north terminal house domestic flights, while the existing south terminal house international flights. Such a plan could also be a part of the proposed Midway Crossing, which contains plans for a convention/conference center and a hotel near the airport.
“Land is priceless, especially out here, but you can use that for all the ideas that you have. I’m not here to tell you what to do with this; I’m here to support your vision,” Hochul told local officials.
It is the hope of the governor and local officials that the redevelopment of the area not only become a transit hub for out-of-state tourism and intra-state travel, but that the far reaches of Long Island can become more interconnected to a highly reputable airport and New York City.
But Hochul offered a compelling background for her vision of revitalization that is shared by local officials.
“What happens to the community psychology when the jobs leave?” said Hochul, referencing her parents’ emigration from Ireland who took up work in South Dakota and Chicago before eventually settling in the “promised land” of Buffalo, mainly for its steel industry. She compared the job exodus and subsequent hollowing out of Buffalo to when Northrop Grumman left Long Island in 1996 following the companies’ merger.
“You lose your sense of identity for a long time. Anything I can do to create jobs, I am there,” said Hochul, adding that, under her tenure, 50,000 new private-sector jobs have been created along with the formation of 47,000 new businesses in 2023 alone. She detailed the list of incentives for municipalities to revitalize, such as access to a $650 million discretionary fund for downtown revitalizations and wastewater infrastructure. Hochul also touted her plan to return a $3 billion surplus to New Yorkers via inflation rebate checks in the amount of $500 to joint filers making $300,000 or less annually, and $300 to single filers earning $150,000 or less.
“How are we losing out on the most beautiful place in the world to live because we didn’t have the ambition, the courage to build housing?”
Hochul also spoke highly of her friend and colleague in Executive Romaine.
“Ed Romaine has made sure I feel welcome [in Suffolk County]. It makes a difference in where we’re [the State] going to help. This is not about scoring political points; it’s about working for the people,” said Hochul.
“Elected officials have a special obligation that once they take office, to work together for the common good. I appreciate the government’s investment in Suffolk County,” said Romaine. “We want to create good-paying jobs that help make our community proud. We want to thank you for your visit. I look forward to working with you.”
“With this investment, we are laying the foundation for long-term economic growth, bringing in the kind of high-quality jobs and creating new opportunities for our young professionals to make sure that they stay here,” remarked Supervisor Carpenter.
“I thank the governor for her investment in the infrastructure surrounding the Ronkonkoma Station and the Long Island Metro Area,” Councilman Lorenzo, whose district contains ISP, told The Messenger. “We believe this investment goes hand-in-hand with the County and the Town’s continued investment to provide for the economic development of his important area of Islip. I look forward to working closely with the State, County, and the Town Board to properly develop this area for the future and ensure that we have the proper infrastructure surrounding it.”
“The LIRR is the largest commuter railroad in the nation, the longest, the oldest, and the most invested, and the most used, and with a 95 or 98% on-time rate; you can’t beat that. But it’s up to us to make sure we have the amenities, the upgrades, and the extensions necessary to make that [increased use and connectivity] happen,” Hochul told local media after the press conference.
Hochul also commented that she thinks it’s a “good idea” to have a connection between two terminals, should the north terminal be constructed at a later date. She called the area an “economic engine” that has been aided especially with JetBlue’s recently-added routes to and from ISP.
Off-topic questions were allowed, to which Hochul responded that she is monitoring the avian flu epidemic that forced the culling of almost 100,000 ducks at Crescent Duck Farm in Aquebogue last month, adding that animals can eventually be reintroduced, but only after the site has been sanitized.
“We have to be proactive and not wait until we’re in a crisis situation,” said Hochul.
The Messenger asked Governor Hochul about the status of her conversations with President Donald Trump (R-FL) regarding congestion pricing. Trump has suggested he could cut the program through the Federal Department of Transportation, but Hochul’s demands are that the federal government pony up the estimated $15 billion in lost revenue.
“No updates at the time, but this is really important to Long Islanders,” Hochul told The Messenger. “It is an old system; I want to make it better.”
Hochul added that while she has numerous friends who have remarked on the shorter ride times into the city due to the congestion pricing, she “doesn’t measure success by anecdotes.”
“I’m going to convey to the President at the right time that this is actually better than people anticipated in terms of reducing commuter traffic in, quality of life in that region, and businesses are not affected. People are actually moving around quicker. Cab drivers are saying they can have more fares because they’re able to move people and drop them off more quickly. Bus lateness is down 20%.”
“He [Trump] knows New York City. He understands what congestion can do to paralyze and cause illnesses,” said Hochul. “So, a lot of people are saying, ‘if you’re willing to pay this price, you get that precious time back in the days.’”
