By Lindsay Christ
U.S. Senator Charles Schumer stood on the grounds of the fabled old Tilles Pumpkin Farm in Melville today and called on the New York State’s Deputy Secretary of Economic Development and Infrastructure Timothy Gilchrist, along with the Department of Transportation, to reallocate transportation stimulus money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) to upgrade and widen Route 110’s LIE service roads, which would allow Canon to bring its American headquarters to Long Island.
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The company is very close to making an agreement to move their headquarters to Melville, but traffic infrastructure improvements to the surrounding area are needed before they make their final decision.
An agreement would bring more than 2,000 to 3,000 permanent jobs to Long Island, and the campus would be located on the land that used to be the old Tilles Pumpkin Farm.
“[I]t will be built as a campus in the heart of Melville and is intended to be a showcase for their high-tech products, as well as provide in-house technical solutions for software and hardware applications,” says a press release touting the new development.
Schumer said that the project would help with two major concerns here on Long Island: transportation and jobs.
“I believe that there is no recovery act candidate more deserving than this one, on Long Island or in New York State,” says Schumer.
Schumer also offered a mantra: “We cannot and must not lose Canon. We cannot and must not lose Canon.”
Michael White, the executive director of the Long Island Regional Planning Council, pointed out that in addition to the permanent jobs the project would create, it would also create construction jobs, and around 40% of Long Island’s construction workers are currently unemployed.
As much as $10 million from the Recovery Act may be available from projects that are expected to cost less than their previous estimates. The expansion project would provide the South Service Road an additional east-bound lane from Exit 49S that would meet the widened eastbound approach west of Route 110. It would also give the North Service Road another westbound lane from west of Route 100 through Walt Whitman Road to the on-ramp for the LIE westbound. These additional lanes would help alleviate the traffic on the Rt-110 business corridor. In addition to possibly having the Canon campus, the corridor currently has more than 8,000 businesses from Melville to Huntington Station that employ more than 125,000 people.
Schumer stressed how important it is to have Canon build its headquarters here, especially in the wake of OSI Pharmaceuticals, a Long Island company, moving to Westchester due to an inability to expand.
“When Long Island lost OSI, many people scratched their heads in wonder…the same thing should not happen with Canon,” he said.
Schumer said no legislation is needed for this project and overall it would probably cost $5-$6 million dollars.
“This is much needed project. We cannot let it fail,” says Schumer.
