County Executive Candidates Face Off in Melville

The Suffolk County Executive candidates each outlined their plans to cut government red tape and get the local economy back on track during a Melville-East Farmingdale Chamber of Commerce "Meet the Candidates" breakfast event Wednesday morning at the Catapano Engineering Assembly Hall in Melville.

Bellone (D), who currently serves as Babylon Town Supervisor, and Carpenter (R), the county treasurer, agreed that current legislative processes often inhibit businesses from moving forward.

"The biggest challenge to our economic growth is government," Bellone said. He presented his ideas to promote businesses within a plan he calls "Innovate Suffolk." The plan aims to establish job-training programs, improve public transportation and revitalize the county's poorest areas.

Carpenter said her experience as a business owner gives her the understanding of what is most important to local entrepreneurs. She has also outlined an economic development plan, in which there would be a small-business advocate in the county executive's office to help business owners navigate the county procedures. Like Bellone, she also promises to streamline permitting processes, but also said she plans to standardize county procedures to make it easier for small businesses.

"We need real, practical solutions...it's about cutting the red tape," she said. "We have to keep our businesses here."

Another big topic of the morning was transportation and traffic.

Carpenter said that one of the hurdles to Long Island's public transportation system is that not enough people know how to use it to get around. She emphasized that during her time in the county, she pushed to have the bus schedules listed online and also to have the bus phone numbers printed on the transit vehicles so that residents can call to learn the routes and other information. She also spoke about her role in including bike racks on the county buses so that people can bike to their destinations if their stop isn't close enough.

Bellone's transportation ideas are outlined in his "Connect Long Island" plan, in which he said he would focus development around transit. His aim is to connect the three branches of the Long Island Rail Road so that residents can get around Long Island using just trains or buses without having to get into an automobile, which he said would cut down on the number of cars on the road.

The event was later opened to a question and answer session for the business leaders to get a chance to better know the candidates. When questioned if they would support consolidation of school districts, both answered that they would, as long as it was best choice for the schools and if it were in their jurisdiction to do so.

Election day is about three weeks away on Nov. 8. To look up your polling location, visit https://voterlookup.elections.state.ny.us/votersearch.aspx .