February 18, 2010 - Last weekend, our Patchogue First Candidates walked door-to-door and reported a great response from the residents they spoke with. They'll be doing it again this weekend and could use some company. So, if you can spare some time and walk on Saturday or Sunday, please e-mail back or call me at 631-987-2972.

If you can't make it, please continue to spread the word that election day is coming up on March 16. Let people know how important it is to vote and show support for the job that our candidates are doing to make Patchogue a better place for all!

Regards,
Jack Krieger
Campaign Manager, Patchogue First

February 10, 2010 - Thanks to all who responded to my e-mail for volunteer walkers. We are meeting on Saturday Feb. 13 at 10:00am in Steve McGiff's office at 96 South Ocean Avenue. If anyone else wants to join in, just stop down. If you can't be a walker, come on down to say hello anyway!

Regards,
Jack Krieger
Campaign Manager, Patchogue First

February 7, 2010 - Our Patchogue First candidates and campaign volunteers will be walking door-to-door this weekend. The goal is to meet with as many residents as we can from now until Election Day which is Tuesday, March 16th. We will be handing out palm cards with campaign information and we always walk in pairs, so you will have company. You could even walk in your own neighborhood if you like.

If you are available this weekend on Saturday or Sunday, please e-mail back or call me at 631-987-2972. We could use your help.

Regards,
Jack Krieger
Campaign Manager, Patchogue First

February 2010 - Campaign Literature
From the Desk of Village Justice Christopher P. McGuire
Re-Elect Justice Christopher P. McGuire Palm Card back
Re-Elect Justice Christopher P. McGuire Palm Card front
Re-Elect Village Justice Christopher P. McGuire, Trustee Gerard Crean, William Hilton and Joseph E. Keyes Jr. Palm Card back
Re-Elect Village Justice Christopher P. McGuire, Trustee Gerard Crean, William Hilton and Joseph E. Keyes Jr. Palm Card front

January 2010 - Metro New York TOD Newsletter
Newsletter January 2010 Volume 1, Number 1
TOD News from around the Region - Gateway to Fire Island, Patchogue Redevelops through TOD
Link to story: http://policy.rutgers.edu/vtc/tod/METRONYTOD/Vol1-No1/LI.php

January 29, 2010 - Newsday Editorial 
The buzz in Patchogue
Shovels in the ground for Artspace

Step by step, the Village of Patchogue is doing what others are talking about: creating an exciting downtown to keep and attract young people. The latest move was a ground-breaking last week for Artspace Patchogue Lofts, 45 affordable rental units for artist, plus retail on the ground floor.

As we've seen repeatedly in the City of New York, when artists decide a neighborhood is cool, that's what is becomes. Patchogue is already on the way, with a successful downtown theater, an affordable housing complex just a short distance from Artspace, and the prospect of a hotel-residential-retail complex at the village’s main intersection. This new project will add further vitality to that growing synergy.

The groundbreaking happen the day after the Long Island Index rolled out a report saying there are 8,300 acres Island wide suitable for downtown revitalization - including many parking lots. This one will take four acres of underused lots of that total. So the timing is perfect, even if it was five years in the making.

It began with an Artspace project in Buffalo that started a buzz in the state. Suffolk officials suggested Riverhead and Patchogue to Artspace, the nonprofit developer for the arts, which came to Long Island to take a look. Patchogue Mayor Paul Pontieri and his village board pursued it aggressively, hot help from the state and the county, and landed the project. Lesson learned: community leadership is the key to bringing our downtowns back to life.

January 28, 2010 - Long Island Advance Editorial 
Downtown revival
In a heated tent with catered snacks waiting, officials from across Brookhaven, Suffolk and even New York state gathered in Patchogue Village last week to praise the renaissance of Patchogue. Artspace is officially here, as evidenced by the groundbreaking ceremony Friday morning, and with it comes Patchogue Village’s resurgence as a Long Island destination.

As economists continue to toll the death knell of Long Island downtowns, Patchogue defies the odds and critics. The village is the center of millions of dollars of renovation and several enormous developments that will change the face of Patchogue and force critics to rethink downtown revitalization in the worst economy in two generations.

Artspace is the latest piece of that revitalization puzzle in Patchogue. Artspace is a national organization that provides living and studio space for working artists. The goal is to create an apartment complex for artists to live and work. The apartments are affordable (even by artists’ standards) and large enough to allow artists to work in whatever milieu is their forte. The idea is that by keeping artists centralized in a downtown, you create a hip art scene that will attract shoppers and investors and spur economic development. Patchogue proved the skeptics wrong by making Artspace work. People who said Patchogue is a dead downtown are wrong; those who decried Artspace as a fad are misinformed; and those who said Long Island downtowns will cease to exist are disingenuous. It takes an incredible amount of work, collaboration and cooperation (and sometimes manipulation) but it can be done, as Patchogue proved. Patchogue must continue to push the arts. Mayor Paul Pontieri said the village is making just the latest transition in a series of changes in its history, this time to a thriving arts community. By bringing the performing arts and visual arts to Patchogue, along with several other key development projects like the Four Corners revitalization, Patchogue will continue to defy the odds and remain a vibrant downtown.

January 28, 2010 - Long Island Advance Article

Artspace is now a reality
Patchogue Village breaks ground on exciting project By MARK NOLAN www.longislandadvance.net

With ceremonial shovels in hand, a dozen local and state officials, joined by supporters, dug into the first pile of dirt on Terry Street where Artspace is being built. Friday marked the official groundbreaking of Artspace, a 45-unit apartment complex for working artists. Builders weren’t waiting for ceremonies; construction on Artspace had already begun prior to Friday’s ceremonial groundbreaking. Officials hailed Artspace as part of Patchogue’s continuing revitalization, a cornerstone of the village’s efforts to remake itself into a thriving downtown supported by the arts. Patchogue Village Mayor Paul Pontieri said Artspace, combined with the efforts of the Patchogue Arts Council and Patchogue Theatre for the Performing Arts, would help remodel Patchogue into a destination downtown. “The arts bring people together and Artspace Patchogue has already begun to remake Patchogue into a more vibrant place,” he said. “Artspace is the perfect fit in the perfect place in what I believe is becoming the perfect place to live, work and play … Patchogue. Now this dynamic arts community will marry together the performing arts and the fine arts in the center of this village that will give the greater Patchogue community an identity as a place for the arts to be seen, heard and appreciated.” Artspace will consist of 45 apartments and two commercial units on the ground floor in a five-story building. Artspace is a national organization that builds living and studio space for working artists at affordable prices. Artspace apartments allow artists to afford to live in their communities while continuing to work as artists. The three buildings and each apartment are designed to be both functional and aesthetically pleasing, places artists will enjoy living and working. Plans call for using environmentally friendly building materials and having natural light filter into the apartments. Windows will be large and there will be a public gallery for artists to show their work. Apartments will range from studios to three-bedroom units. Officials said Artspace Patchogue would be completed in December 2010. John Cino, a Patchogue resident and member of the Patchogue Arts Council, said he used to live a secret life as an artist because there weren’t many opportunities on Long Island to display his work. Now, with Artspace and the Patchogue Arts Council, Cino said the village wills the arts. “In a short amount of time we found an entire artist’s community in Patchogue,” Cino said. “We created a venue where many new artists can come and join us.” As for the economic impact on Patchogue, County Executive Steve Levy said Artspace, combined with several other important facets of the village, including the Patchogue Theatre for the Performing Arts and the Four Corners redevelopment, will allow Patchogue to become a vibrant downtown. “Did someone say recession,” Levy said. “Do you see the amount of building in Patchogue? Patchogue isn’t coming back; Patchogue is already back. This is a model. When folks believe in a community, it’s contagious. They will put their money in the community.” Brookhaven Town Clerk Patricia Eddington, who in her previous position as Assemblywoman helped provide funding for Artspace, said she was hooked when she saw a similar Artspace building in Boston. “ I was enthusiastic about the project back then, and I will continue to support this and other projects in Patchogue,” she said.

State Senator Brian X. Foley (D-Blue Point) said Friday’s groundbreaking ceremony was the realization of a dream many people in the community had for Patchogue’s revival. “This isn’t just about the economic revitalization of Patchogue, it’s about the artistic element as well,” Foley said. Pontieri praised Legislator Jack Eddington (I-Medford) with being the first to provide money for a feasibility study of the project.

Officials said the project will provide hundreds of construction jobs and affordable housing for working artists, many of whom are Patchogue residents or have ties to the community. Artspace has been developing and operating apartment complexes for artists since 1979 and currently manages 1,000 units across the country for working artists.