Archer, Byington, Glennon & Levine LLP

Now that Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has announced his Long Island Regional Economic Council ["Teamwork can bring jobs to LI," Editorial, Aug. 1], it is time that they start planning for Long Island's future. The federal and state governments are in fiscal turmoil. There needs to be some creative thinking. One idea that has been talked about are public-private partnerships.

Long Island has a population of nearly 3 million. Its infrastructure is failing, construction jobs are at record lows. One way to address both these issues is for the new economic council to consider a public-private partnership regional infrastructure bank for Long Island.

Sen. Chuck Fuschillo (R-Merrick) has introduced legislation to permit such partnerships. Long Island's building trades pension funds would be the perfect partner for state and local governments in creating a regional infrastructure bank to handle the island's infrastructure needs.

One thing is certain, we cannot continue to do business as usual. The time for action is now -- before we get any deeper into a hole.

Marty Glennon, Great Neck

Editor's note: The writer is a partner with the Long Island labor law firm, Archer, Byington, Glennon & Levine.