Seeks Community Input from Local Residents and Business Owners
On Sunday, October 17, State Senator Joe Addabbo—joined by Congressman Anthony Weiner, Comptroller John Liu, and members of the community—visited stores and restaurants along Jamaica Avenue in Woodhaven, reaching out to small business owners and residents of the Queens neighborhood.
Senator Addabbo said, “Small businesses are the backbone of our community and play a critical role in maintaining our neighborhood’s character and economic health. But they are still struggling in these hard economic times – we have to continue our efforts in helping them overcome the obstacles of running their business, create more local jobs, and remain a vital economic and cultural element of our neighborhoods. An open, continuous dialogue with local businesses is an important step in understanding their challenges and finding solutions.”
Senator Addabbo has made strengthening the local economy a central focus of his work. He helped bring thousands of jobs—and millions of dollars—to Queens with the Aqueduct Racetrack project. In addition to creating jobs, Senator Addabbo has fought to ensure that existing jobs remain in the community, writing the law to end tax breaks for companies that ship jobs out of state, and pushed to use this savings to create incentives to hire new workers and provide job training programs.
Senator Addabbo’s community initiatives also include helping small businesses cut down on their utility bills through joint initiatives with energy providers, and sponsoring several large job fairs to connect hundreds of employers with thousands of job seekers in the community.
