Riverside Not Nominated As An Opportunity Zone By New York State

Despite local efforts, state officials decided not to nominate Riverside as an Opportunity Zone, excluding the neighborhood from a new federal program that works to support low-income communities with private investments.

“This is the biggest disappointment and setback that I’ve experienced since I’ve been involved in the civic association,” said Ron Fisher, president of the Flanders, Riverside and Northampton Community Association. “I think they didn’t quite understand how important it was to us and to the community.”

Earlier this month, Mr. Fisher, a resident of Flanders, and several other FRNCA members hand-delivered a petition with 380 signatures, asking to be included in the state’s selection, to Governor Andrew Cuomo at an appearance in Holtsville. That petition, posted on Change.org, now has more than 670 signatures.

The governor was able to designate only 25 percent of New York census tracts that met the required 20 percent poverty rate for the program. The Town of Riverhead and the Enterprise Park at Calverton were the only East End communities among the 514 nominated by the governor on Friday.

In Suffolk County, Wyandanch, North Bellport and two areas in Islip were also nominated to be labeled as opportunity zones.

Riverside’s census tract, which includes Flanders and Northampton, did not meet the 20 percent poverty rate, but, according to officials at Empire State Development, the organization overseeing the Opportunity Zone program in New York, the area was still considered an eligible tract because neighboring Riverhead was classified as a low-income tract. But the state could only nominate 5 percent of such eligible tracts.

Jason Conwall, a spokesman for Empire State Development, said the census tracts “were selected based on local input, prior public investment and ability to attract private investment.”

According to Mr. Conwall, the selection process included “substantial input and feedback from local elected officials and the public, and analysis of prior state investments.”

The U.S. Department of the Treasury will have the final approval for the designation of New York’s Opportunity Zones, a decision which will be made next month.

“I am very excited about the prospects for Opportunity Zones,” Secretary of the Treasury Steven T. Mnuchin said in a statement. “Attracting needed private investment into these low-income communities will lead to their economic revitalization and ensure economic growth is experienced throughout the nation.”

Mr. Fisher is making a final appeal to the department in an attempt get Riverside recognized as an Opportunity Zone.

“It’s unlikely that they’ll reverse the governor’s decision,” Mr. Fisher said, “but this is what we do in Riverside. We fight.”