Southold Business Alliance

The Southold Business Alliance is a group of business people who live and love in this beautiful little country section of the east end of Long Island, New York. We have families in this community who attend our local churches and schools. Some of us are big businesses, but most of us are small businesses that don't even own a fax machine. Some of our offices simply consist of a small desk in one room of our homes. We are not land developers and we do not encourage big business in our town, such as factories, franchises, etc. Our mothers and fathers grew up in this town, worked hard to educate us, and helped us to become good citizens of the town of Southold. We are only protecting our inalienable rights to do business, and to grow, prosper and be happy in our businesses and get a good night's sleep knowing that our businesses are protected. Our purpose is to keep what is ours, as well as to help others keep what is theirs.

In its first year, the accomplishments of the Southold Business Alliance were many and varied. Like any well-run organization, a good reflection on our past helps us to aim properly at our future.

In the beginning, one of the main functions of our operation was to monitor Town Hall, much like the NFEC does. This was being done with the idea that the Alliance would not in any way be political. Just as the Southold Business Alliance had begun coming into its own, many of its members were treated to the "Jones" study. Most members came out shaking their heads in disbelief. The uncanny part that really impressed us was the fact that what some people had said about Town Hall was actually true. The 2% tax and the TDRs were in place, and we have been going ahead with a vengeance ever since.

The Alliance has appeared at many planning board and zoning board meetings. Members spoke on behalf of Drossos and The General Wayne Inn. We have supported Bill Lieblein of The Port of Egypt and the Mullen Motors zone change.

Yet despite our efforts, many believed the Southold Business Alliance had become too political. To those who received our help, heard our voices speaking in support of them, and witnessed our resources helping their causes, we had become the business "knights in shining armor." And to the government at Town Hall, we had become a thorn in their sides. So now we have to ask ourselves…what is "too" political?

In the midst of all of this, we held a fundraiser for the townspeople. We sold chances for 40 hours of free labor by the members of the Alliance. The public was very enthusiastic. It turned out to be a very unique way of dealing with the people, and also a way of mending fences. After that, the people of the town saw us in a whole new light. They no longer thought of us as a political action group, but as decent people who were willing to do menial chores to promote a good business atmosphere. And as a result of this fundraiser, we were able to raise $3000 for our coffers. Little did we know that this money would be used wisely. The big battle was just then coming into view.

The Route 48 corridor and its zone changes turned the entire town of Southold upside down. We experienced apathy from the people who didn't own land on Route 48. All of a sudden, when the code changes to LB (Light Business) and RO (Residential Office) came, the people on the Route 25 corridor woke up. The Alliance put it's money where its mouth was and the battle at Town Hall heated up.

We hired an attorney and fought to save the property rights of as many businesses as we could. The board of directors worked tirelessly sending out letters to the owners of properties on Route 48. We held many informational meetings, and had our attorney attend the meetings to speak about the rights of the property owners and what steps we would take to save their properties. What amazed us the most was the property owners who said, "…This is America…they can't take my property rights away…"

In the end, we won. We had petitions drawn up for each property owner and at the midnight hour, we presented the Town Board with these petitions. The tally was as follows: 125 properties, 104 were not up zoned, 7 no vote was taken.

When the problem was political, how could you fight it without becoming involved politically? Could we be this naïve to believe that the NFEC, which attends all government meetings and had been asked to participate in making government decisions, is not too political?

During the election period, we decided to sponsor a debate, which the Republican candidates boycotted. The debate received good press, and the questions were well received by those candidates who attended. If we chose to stay out of Town Hall, we might as well have joined the Chambers, to whom we had donated monies to in order to help them in their fundraising efforts. We are very much in favor of ways to improve the looks and beauty of our towns.

Unfortunately, we have annoyed the Town Hall. Our membership is great cause of worry, as well as interest, to the Town Board. We now write a weekly article in the Traveler Watchman entitled "Business Perspective". The name of the person or persons who write this column is of utmost importance. It is imperative to know that, since the outset of this column, no one has written back to us or expressed to us any negative feelings. Nor has anyone ever refuted any article that has been written.

In conclusion, we look forward to your participation and your feedback into our organization, whether you feel strongly for or strongly against what we do and what we stand for. There is a strong comradery among the members. We have many businesses that are in competition with one another that are striving to help the "cause" and fight for that same cause. We have almost 200 business people in our organization, and would like to have twice that many. We have a very dedicated board of directors that is working for the future of the Business Alliance and who feel strongly about the things that go on in our town. We are also in the process of looking into the possibility of a group health insurance for our members, since many sole proprietor businesses don't have health insurance. As you can see, we are always looking for ways to help out our members. Our members welcome any input or ideas that you feel are noteworthy, and want you to feel free to attend our meetings and hear what we are really all about. We hope to hear from you.

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