A dispute between a local concrete manufacturer and a shopping mall shows how difficult it can be to push businesses that receive government aid for building projects to use area contractors. Long Island Precast Inc., a maker of stormwater drainage systems, has alleged the Walt Whitman mall in Huntington Station failed to live up to the Suffolk County Industrial Development Agency's buy-local policy. The IDA initiative states that recipients of tax breaks should "to the greatest extent possible" buy local goods and services and hire local people. Walt Whitman executives were told of the policy this spring, when they accepted $3 million in IDA tax incentives over 10 years to support $40 million in mall improvements. Long Island Precast of Bellport now questions why its drainage system was spurned for the mall project in favor of an Illinois -based competitor. Walt Whitman 's owner, Simon Property Group of Indianapolis, rejected the criticism, saying it's still primarily using contractors, workers and materials from the Island.
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