"The Airport West Chamber of Commerce is the only business organization in the Doral community and we take that responsibility very seriously," said Andre Abbate. "We don't like to take positions on issues just to take a position."

Abbate, 47, is vice president of the Chamber and very active in the issues confronting Doral as the fledgling community strives to find a balance between breakneck commercial growth and mushrooming residential development.

"We believe that we always have to be good partners with each other ­ residents and the businesses ­ and grow together," Abbate said. "You don't want to wake up and find you're overwhelmed by business. At the same time, you don't want to lose the businesses because they're very important to the community. And, there's no denying that this community is very dependent on what happens over at Miami International Airport."

Abbate says the infrastructure of Doral is a big issue for residents and business owners alike and that the issues overlap, with roads and transportation two of the most important issues for both sides.

"We have terrible transit service in Doral," he said. "And the roads just can't accommodate the number of people who live here, let alone handle the crowd that comes in when it's time to go to work. It's almost as if the roads were an ancillary thought to the development of the community."

Abbate believes there are too many large trucks clogging the roadways of Doral, yet he concedes that the trucks are an important part of the valuable commerce so vital to the area.

"If you live here, you need a certain type of roadway and if you work here, you need another type of roadway," he said. "So, we definitely need to improve upon the way our roads are today and find a solution to these monumental traffic jams."

Abbate, 47, originally from East Meadow, New York, moved to Miami 16 years ago, "in search of a change of life and a place to live where I didn't have snowstorms and transit strikes to deal with." He met his wife, Iliana, on a blind date three years later and settled in the Costa del Sol area.
Abbate, who has served on the Airport West Chamber board of directors for the last three years, says there are many other important issues facing Doral, including the prospect of incorporation.
"We asked our members how they felt about the incorporation of Doral and the businesses said, 'we don't know how it's going to affect us and unless we live in the community we can't vote for or against the issue. We don't know how the services will change for us,'" Abbate related.

"It turned out that the Industrial Association of Dade County was getting the same feedback from its members," he continued. "So, we really need to learn more about what incorporation would mean from the business point of view. There are still a lot of questions in business peoples' minds regarding the type of services to look for under incorporation."

Regardless of the outcome of the incorporation movement, Abbate believes Doral must work to establish its identity.

"We need to improve the way Doral looks," he said, "make sure there's a look and a feel that lets you know that you've entered the Doral community when you get off the Turnpike or the Palmetto at NW 41 Street. Whether we ever become a city, we're known as Doral, we have a name and we should utilize that name for the benefit of the businesses and the residents."

Abbate said the Chamber is targeting the New Year for an extensive growth program aimed at bringing more of Doral's bigger businesses into the fold.

"We have a lot of small and medium-sized businesses involved with the Chamber," he said. "We don't have too many of the larger ones. We need to educate the larger businesses to the fact that it's great to be a member of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce, but they also have a need to be active in the local chamber where their offices are based.

"At the same time, we want to get the word out to the many new businesses that have come into the area that we are here and welcome them as new members, too."

For more information on the Airport West Chamber of Commerce, please call 305 592 5141.