By Tom Momberg
Dominick Bruccoleri is not only a longstanding business owner in the Bayside community, he has been with the Bayside Village Business Improvement District as chairman from the beginning to what it is today.
“We have seen the organization through many bumps in the road since the BID’s inception eight years ago,” Bruccoleri said. “My commitment is to make this vehicle one of the strongest organizations for the benefit of our businesses and our community.”
The Bayside Village BID underwent a change in leadership in 2012. Bruccoleri’s nominator recognized his peacemaking abilities to turn member support toward the new director, strengthening the organization.
Bruccoleri is also the former director of the Bayside Historical Society. He serves as an honorary board member at the Bayside Business Association on the Taste of Bayside committee and has offered up some of the best food at the event every year. He currently serves on the board of directors of the Queensborough Community College Fund, operating the school’s Annual Partnership for Progress event.
In addition, he serves on the board of the Queens Historical Society and the New York Law Enforcement Foundation, as well as having served as a member of Community Board 11. And as if all of that weren’t enough, Bruccoleri’s Papazzio Restaurant has been a Bell Boulevard landmark for a quarter of a century.
Bruccoleri graduated from Kean University in Union, N.J, in 1982. He later returned to school for some hospitality courses before coming to Bayside to open his restaurant. He has a wife and two children, from whom he said he gets motivation every day.
When asked how he finds the time for all of his activities, Bruccoleri said, “It’s difficult to prioritize your efforts when you try to plan out and see your priorities for each day. You won’t have time if you try to find the time. But when you are doing the right thing, the time finds you.”
Bruccoleri said his role as a business owner in Bayside allows him to continue his efforts by maintaining so many connections in the community.
“I feel honored that there are people outside my network that look at me as doing good things in the community,” he said.
The business owner and community leader has maintained quality service and food at his Italian eatery for all of its 25 years. He said his commercial success would not have been possible without community engagement.
“I would encourage all business owners to volunteer themselves on the community level. I doubt I could attribute my success to anything else,” Bruccoleri said. “But the things I do are personally satisfying to me. Success just follows.”
