Pataki addresses future of LI real estate.

New York State Governor George Pataki told leaders of Long Island's multi-trillion dollar real estate industry that he will continue to support public policies that encourage the growth of this vibrant and crucial segment of the economy.

He made his remarks before an unprecedented summit of industry executives hosted by the Real Estate Practitioner's Institute of Long Island University and the Association for a Better Long Island, while announcing that the Institute will receive a $50,000 state grant to enable it to continue its efforts of charting Long Island's real estate future.

Moderated by Newsday publisher Raymond Jansen, the symposium included the region's recognized experts in key real estate disciplines, including Donald Rechler, coCEO and chairman of the board of Reckson Associates, the leading real estate investment trust in the tri-state area with 25 million square feet of Class A office and industrial properties; Edward Blumenfeld, president of BDG, Ltd., whose company has reclaimed and recycled aging industrial property into state-of-the-art retail sites throughout the area; Jan Burman of Lazarus Burman, whose company is slated to redevelop the largest industrial site on Long Island, the former Navy test facility at Calverton; and Paul A. Pearson, Jr. of Pearson Partners, whose company has become the innovative leader in creating Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRC) for Long Island's growing senior community.

"In 1995, when I first took office, New York State's economy was in chaos," Governor Pataki said. "The high taxes and outrageous costs that at the time defined New York were crushing the life out of what should have been a vibrant post-recession market. Real estate in particular was suffering at the hands of big government, having the distinction of being singled out by our former Governor with a destructive tax that would bear his name: the Cuomo Tax."

"The Cuomo Tax drove the real estate market into the ground," pataki continued. "In 1986, 10 years before its repeal, the tax generated nearly $800 million in revenues for the State. By 1994, the market was so depressed, the tax generated only $90 million. In the end, the tax defeated itself, dragging down the real estate industry with it. Thankfully, those days are over. The Cuomo Tax is gone and the results are manifest. The Island's real estate market is stronger than it has been in decades."

The Governor told his audience that private sector job growth on Long Island has been matching and even surpassing the robust national rate of growth. And the Island's construction industry is simply booming. In fact, in less that five years, 78,000 new private sector jobs have been created on Long Island alone, pushing the Island's total private sector job count over the 1 million mark for the first time ever. "It's no big secret how we achieved this success," pataki said. "We cut taxes and then we cut them again. We reduced business costs, like workers' compensation, and eliminated dozens of other obscure taxes that, like the Cuomo Tax, targeted specific industries and bled them dry."

He reminded the audience that as a result of profound changes in state policies, business start-ups and expansions in New York have increased 13-fold since 1995, and said he intends to continue those types of policies that further strengthen the region's real estate-based economy.

"As we look to the future, it's clear that the leadership role of organizations like the Real Estate Practitioner's Institute and the Association for a Better Long Island, and the commitment of energetic, talented leaders like Kathy Giamo, are essential in continuing this extraordinary success," Pataki concluded.

The Governor attended a symposium that marked the first time that the leaders of the real estate industry have been brought together to discuss how this multi-trillion dollar component of the Long Island economy will evolve in the next decade, and its role in creating economic growth, protecting the region's quality of life and defining how its population will work and live far into the future.