Gary Oteri, owner of Gary & Company, is the new president of the New City Chamber of Commerce, and during his tenure he’s looking to increase membership.
Oteri said they’re also thinking about expanding the two street fairs the chamber organizes, one on May 5th and the other in September. He said the chamber is looking to make them more family-oriented, possibly adding more arts and crafts booths, as well as increasing the size of the fair. In the past, the street fair has run on Main Street from Congers Road to First Street. Oteri said they might extend the fair down to Second Street.
Oteri said they’re also thinking about setting up a discount card for New City residents to get 10 percent off at participating businesses instead of business owners picking only certain items for discounts. He said this would help New City businesses work together to strengthen local business.
The chamber is also looking to put on more events to bring people into local businesses, and they’re thinking about holding a movie night and Bowl-a-thon.
Oteri, of Congers, has been a local business owner for 14 years and a member of the chamber for four years, two as a board member and one as a treasurer.
He said he hopes that land owners follow the Downtown New City revitalization project’s lead and look into improving the physical appearance of their land and property as well. Besides that, Oteri said he thinks some more diversity could also help out New City businesses.
“In comparison to other municipalities, I think we need more attractions, I think we need to have more variety of businesses,” he said.
