Commentary: Will 2003 be the year LI biz finally embraces the Net?

Long Island Business News, Dec 27, 2002 by Michael Watt

Can 2002 end soon enough for you? It can't for me and several of my colleagues. This year is best viewed through the rear view mirror as we move on to bigger and better things next year.

I wish I had scientific data or empirical knowledge to back up my optimism, but no dice. I went to the Web site for the National Association for Business Economics (nabe.com), for instance, but the best they could do was suggest that the U.S. growth rate is likely to stay below 3 percent through the first quarter of 2003. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (bls.gov) was no help either, although I was able to find out such helpful tidbits as the consumer price index ( 0.1 percent in November), the unemployment rate (6.0), even the nation's most recent increase in productivity (up 5.1 percent in the third quarter of 2002).

I even checked out Nostradamus.org to see Michel de Nostredame if had anything to say about Long Island in 2003. All the site had to offer, however, is translations of his prophecies. I did learn, however, from activemind.com/Mysterious/Topics/Nostradamus/ biography.html) that the good doctor and part-time prognosticator - he predicted, among other things, his own death and the Jets upset over the Colts in Super Bowl III - will celebrate his 500th birth anniversary in 2003.

I see a feisty year ahead for Long Island, although I cannot put my finger on exactly why. Maybe it's the upcoming campaign for Suffolk County Executive that promises to be real doozy, or the scramble for the high-tech money manna that's supposed to flow from Washington and Albany to build the Center of Excellence and the Millennium Technology Research Center. Perhaps the as-yet- unannounced new top person at that Nassau Interim Finance Authority will make life particularly challenging for Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi while the county itself implements a countywide property re-assessment that tries to undo 60 years of neglect in one fell swoop. Did the Long Island Association (longislandassociation.org) really receive a wake up call from the formation of the LIX (thelix.org), as was stated in the papers last week, or will the merger of both business associations mean the LIX joins the ranks of the Long Island Press in the forgotten and gone pile?

Ah yes, the Long Island Press. I am referring, of course, to the old Newhouse newspaper that folded in 1977. Ironically, Jed Morey and John Caracciolo of the Morey Organization (moreyorg.com), the driving force behind the LIX, announced recently that they are going to rename and rejuvenate their most recent acquisition, the Long Island Ear, calling it the Long Island Press and giving Newsday a run for its money in 2003. Newsday's Part 2 section, anyway. This should merit watching, as will the new WLIE, aka IslandTalk540, the newstalk radio station that used to be WLUX. Could all this new media actually mean that Long Island, the 17th largest media market in the country with its 2.7 million people, will get to enjoy the benefits of having more choice when it comes to information sources? Let's hope so.

Let's hope, too, that these voices won't have to report that 2003 is the year Long Island Power Authority Chairman Richard Kessel's annual dire predictions regarding Long Island's energy needs come true. In the meantime, however, the discussions pertaining to this particular topic should be more live than ever. If only we could harness the energy created when power plant advocates lock horns with the NIMBYs who say build it anywhere else but here.

I'm no trend monger, but I do see where 2003 promises to be to networking what 1988 was to comedy clubs. If you remember back then, that was the year somebody realized all you needed to call yourself a comedy club was a microphone, some tables and chairs and, ideally, a faux brick wall background. Before you knew it, bowling alleys and American Legion halls were having "Comedy Nights" and the saturation level was such that anybody who had ever told a joke in public was getting a gig. That phenomenon flamed out, of course, which is exactly what will happen if too many "networking" events are scheduled for next year. Let's face it, you can only attend so many of these events - too many and the next group of folks you'll be introducing yourself to is your spouse and children.

Finally, I do see 2003 as the year where Long Island finally embraces the Internet and everything it can do to help grow business. The last few years have been rather painful in that regard, but I think we as a business community learned that while the Internet will not necessarily replace anything - i.e. the need for brochures or storefronts - it will and does serve as a wonderful tool for telling your story and selling your wares and services.