By Tom Momberg
Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul and U.S. Rep. Grace Meng (D-Flushing) took a tour of Bell Boulevard businesses Tuesday, guided by the leaders of the Bayside Village Business Improvement District.
Hochul, who chairs the Regional Economic Development Councils from around the state for the governor, said visiting Bayside and learning about its various small business models provided an important perspective on the work the councils do as catalysts for small business activity.
“It’s important to be able to cover every corner of the state and to be right here in Queens, in the Bayside area, gives me a sense that there is a strong history of tradition here, that there are businesses that have been here 65 years,” Hochul said.
The pair of elected officials started with a visit to the Bayside Milk Farm, talking to its owner Pat Perulli and his employees. Next up, they stopped in at Turn The Page Again, an Affirmative Business Bookstore program of Transitional Services for New York, which provides jobs and vocational training opportunities to individuals with mental disabilities.
And after visiting Papazzio Italian Restaurant and the new rooftop restaurant at Bourbon Street, Hochul and Meng went on to tour some businesses affiliated with the Jamaica Center Business Improvement District.
“We want to bring the attention of the (governor’s office) to areas that don’t often get as much attention as other parts,” Meng said. “When they are making larger plans that affect New York City, or boroughs or the whole state, then maybe they will be reminded of places like Community Board 11’s jurisdiction and think of us once in a while.”
Hochul said she was impressed by what she saw, with Bayside’s new, hip establishments along with its long-established businesses reflecting a changing demographic that accommodates both younger and older residents.
“This offers a quality of life and a lot of diversity for the people that live here and want to visit here,” Hochul said. “Bell Boulevard is really coming back. It has had its ups and downs, but I think there is a lot more belief that businesses can thrive here.”
The lieutenant governor also said visiting commercial areas across the state gives her a sense of the everyday struggles businesses face.
“I come out of a small business family. I helped my mother start a small business, so I have a real empathy for small business owners and a real respect for the willingness to go out on a limb,” she said. “It’s high risk when you start a business: You don’t know the outcome. But the ones who stay here and have remained in this community have been beneficiaries of a turnaround.”
Reach reporter Tom Momberg by e-mail at tmomb
