Clock tower signals brighter days ahead for Huntington Station
By Raymond Janis
Amid the honking horns and blaring engines of Tuesday afternoon traffic, Feb. 22, Town of Huntington officials and business leaders gathered to commemorate the opening of an electric clock tower in Huntington Station.
The Huntington Station Business Improvement District donated the clock tower to the town. Located at the intersection of New York Avenue and Pulaski Road, the donation includes the clock, landscaping and pavements.
“The mission of the BID is to add security, beautification and promotion within the area,” said BID president Frank Cosentino. “This is one of many other big improvements we’d like to do.”
The BID comprises business owners throughout Huntington Station and has made several important investments in the area. However, Cosentino said this donation represents a shift in the BID’s activities toward permanent beautification initiatives.
“We do Christmas lights that go up and come down, flower baskets that come up and go down,” he said. “Everything we’ve always done in the past have been fleeting improvements that come down. We decided to start moving to more permanent beautification projects. The town helped us with the property, and we purchased the clock and all the improvements.”
Cosentino has owned a hardware store in Huntington Station since 1985. He said his involvement with the BID is a way to give back to the place that has provided him a living for all those years. According to him, projects such as these will contribute to the deeply rooted historical and cultural traditions of the community.
“Huntington Station reminds me of growing up in Astoria,” he said. “It’s a tight-knit neighborhood with a lot of families. It has always been a much more stable area than you might think. I can name 50 to 100 customers that have been in the area since 1985.”
Elected officials joined the BID on Tuesday for a ribbon-cutting ceremony to inaugurate the clock tower. Town Supervisor Ed Smyth (R) viewed the donation as a harbinger of brighter days ahead for Huntington Station.
“The Huntington Station BID’s generous donation adds to the charm and character of this busy corner of downtown Huntington Station,” Smyth said. “This new clock tower serves as a symbol of our local investment in business and in the revitalization of Huntington Station.”
The Times of Huntington reported in December that the town had finalized an agreement with Suffolk County to finance sewer expansion into Huntington Station. According to Smyth, the Huntington Station Hub Sewer Infrastructure Project will enable substantially greater capital investment into the community.
“While you are officially keeping time with this new clock tower, true economic revitalization in the downtown Huntington Station area is now possible,” he said. “We will never be closer to rectifying past failures of urban renewal [than] with our investment in Huntington Station, particularly with the sewer line that is coming.”
Town Councilman Sal Ferro (R) echoed the sentiment. He said expanded sewer infrastructure will stimulate economic activity and commercial development.
“The sewer line coming down [Route] 110 is going to be another part of this revitalization,” he said. “This clock tower represents such an important part. It’s a symbol of what’s to come.”
Ferro recalled working as a carpenter’s apprentice in Huntington Station over four decades ago. He considered the clock tower a beacon of the community’s storied past and promising future, a product of collaborative efforts between business groups and local government.
“I love the combination of work between the BID and the chamber [of commerce] and the government,” he said. “This is a vibrant corner, such an important part of Huntington Station. To see this clock tower and the landscaping here makes me so proud coming back here 40 years later.”
Town Councilwoman Joan Cergol (D) remembered the BID as a tiny organization just getting off the ground. She recalled walking the streets of Huntington Station in 2003 to encourage business leaders to join the BID. Nearly two decades later, a clock tower at the heart of Huntington Station marks a new chapter for the BID in its mission to beautify the area.
“This BID has really done a lot of wonderful things,” she said. “This is a wonderful gift, a gift that we will all continue to enjoy for years.”
While Huntington is known for its historic and prosperous village, public investment into Huntington Station has often lagged. The clock tower and sewer extension point to a change of course.
“Huntington Station is one of the many vital organs in our system,” said Jillian Guthman, town receiver of taxes. “Regardless of if you are on the south end or north end of our town, Huntington Station is a place that you spend a lot of time. A clock such as this is really fitting of the beauty of this community and is a reflection of the investment that is so needed.”
Like so many towns throughout Suffolk County, expanded sewer infrastructure is a major priority for Huntington. According to Smyth, the impact of this sewer investment will be felt for decades.
“The clock is useful, but it is also symbolic,” Smyth said. “[The sewer extension] is the next big step. It is going to be a generational investment in Huntington Station.”
According to Ferro, policymakers and private developers must be proactive. As the sewer extension project gets underway, he said the community must prepare itself for higher levels of activity.
“Huntington Station is open for business,” he said. “We do have a sewer line coming and that means projects need to be thought about now for tomorrow.”
As this community awaits the arrival of its sewer extension, the clock could be said to be ticking.
