New Mineola Chamber President Shares His Plans

Over this past summer, the leadership of the  changed hands from Ray Sikorski to Bill Greene. After assuming the mantle of president of the chamber at the June 19 meeting, Greene said that he hopes to continue and enhance what his predecessors have done.

Greene is a Mineola local, owning on Jericho Turnpike. He’s been involved with the chamber for 13 years, ever since he opened up his store.

“It’s something I’m passionate about,” he said. “It’s something every business should be involved in.”

One new thing Greene is bringing to Mineola is the town’s first , which was held on August 17 in , and will feature a children’s movie.

“If it goes well we could do more next year,” Greene said. “Maybe an adult night, too, where we show a classic movie.”

Greene is also working on putting more effort into the 2012 street fair to try to prevent from happening again.

“We learn every year from our mistakes,” he said.

The street fair will take place September 30, with a rain date of October 14. To ensure everyone knows the rain date, Greene has been making sure the rain date gets very clear advertising.

“Last year the rain date was only on the banners,” he said.

This year, the rain date is going to be published on more spaces.

Greene also has keynote speakers lined up for the next couple of Chamber meetings, including , State and Executive Director Geoff O’Hara of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

As president, Greene hopes to promote more activity between local businesses and the Chamber.

“People often don’t seek us out until after they have an issue,” Greene said. “But we’d love to be the liaison between a new business and the village. It’s so important to have good relationships with businesses and the community.”

Shopping locally is another issue Greene is trying to push.

“Businesses only thrive if the community supports them,” he said. “We have one of the best chambers when it comes to promoting business and giving back to the community, and I hope to follow in the footsteps of the last presidents with this.”