Business & Tech
ARJB Founder Addresses Trump Project to Wantagh Chamber of Commerce
Rafe Lieber spoke Tuesday in Wantagh regarding Donald Trump's long-stalled proposed catering facility at Jones Beach.
Alliance to Revitalize Jones Beach (ARJB) founder Rafe Lieber spoke to the Tuesday night regarding his efforts to see progress with the long-stalled Trump on the Ocean Project.
Real estate icon Donald Trump first proposed his plan for a 70,000 square-foot restaurant-catering hall in the site of the former Boardwalk Cafe in 2006. The $30 million proposal has been in litigations since 2008 after the State Review Board challenged Trump's plan for the catering facility's basement.
"For a few years now, there's been really no activity on what was supposed to be a facility where Donald Trump was going to be coming in and developing for the beach," said Lieber, a Plainview resident who was formerly a legislative aide to former State Sen. Craig Johnston.
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The ARJB was this past August after Lieber was frustrated seeing the Trump on the Ocean project at a standstill. The group formed just in time for a at where hundreds gathered in support of the development, including Trump himself.
"The development would create jobs," said Lieber. "We need to bring in more opportunity for employment. We have this opportunity here to go in the right direction. If this project were to be scrapped, it would be delayed even further."
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Lieber told the chamber that the main sticking point delaying the process is that developers want a basement to remain in the blueprint while state officials claim it is unsafe in a flood zone. A member of the Wantagh Chamber of Commerce pointed out during the meeting that the former Boardwalk Cafe housed a basement.
Wantagh Chamber of Commerce president Christopher Brown has been a supporter of the Trump on the Ocean project and at the Sept. 14 ARJB rally. The organization's Oct. 18 meeting that Lieber spoke at was held at Per Un' Angelo inside the .
Lieber took time during his remarks to address those who are opposed to the Trump on the Ocean project.
"A lot of people don't want Donald Trump," he said. "Some seem to think it's going to be a 50-story Trump Plaza or Atlantic City Casino and it's not. If you look at the plans, it fits in with Jones Beach - and we need something here."
