Schumer Looking to Jump Start Hub Project

Things are starting to heat up with the Ronkonkoma Hub project. Days after the Town of Brookhaven and Town of Islip issued statements regarding working together to get financing for sewer and infrastucture, U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer said he a big proponent of the plan and will help to generate federal funding.

Schumer, at a tour of the future site of the Ronkonkoma Hub development project last week, announced a major effort to secure funding to help jumpstart the massive project.

According to a release from his office, Schumer called on the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and U.S. Department of Transportation, through the Federal Partnership for Sustainable Communities to meet with and help identify federal funding sources to help secure funding for three key foundational ingredients to the success of this project of regional importance: sewer infrastructure, roundabout construction at the LIRR station, and rehabilitation of existing, blighted properties around the train station. 

Schumer said the Ronkonkoma Hub has the potential to not only reshape the face of the most widely used transit center on the Long Island Railroad, but it can serve as a model for communities throughout the region that are looking to revitalize their communities in and around transportation hubs.

 “At the end of the day, a project like Ronkonkoma Hub, which has the support of its local leaders, is about economic development and jobs,” he said in a statement. "This project has the potential to untold numbers of jobs for the region.”

Schumer’s office said he called for the federal agencies to explore and identify potential funding sources to support the development of sewer infrastructure, the construction of a roundabout at the Ronkonkoma LIRR station, and the rehabilitation of existing building stock around the train station.