Correcting NEWSDAY's Community profile: Seaford (Hempstead, Oyster Bay: real estate, school districts, live in)

[Walter Greenspan]

Once again, in their weekly (Friday) Community Profile, this one on the Hamlet of Seaford, NEWSDAY mistakes the borders of a postal zone for the borders of a community and because of this misstates the school districts that service the residents of the Hamlet of Seaford.

Here's the NEWSDAY Community Profile: Seaford

http://tinyurl.com/25ywz7


NEWSDAY writes, "School district(s) Seaford, Levittown, Island Trees, Plainedge"

A quick check of the respective community and school district maps indicates that this should be, "School district(s) Seaford, Wantagh"

It is important to note that Seaford is one of those villages and hamlets on Long Island where the majority of the places with the community name as part of their mailing address are not in the hamlet.

As occurs in all but one of Nassau County's 136 communities (2 cities, 64 villages and 70 hamlets), the Hamlet of Seaford has a different border than does the "Seaford, NY 11783" postal zone (i.e., a place can have a Seaford mailing address and not be in Seaford).

......................................acres
......Hamlet of Seaford......1,758
......Seaford, NY 11783....3,942*

* Area includes 160 acres in the Town of Oyster Bay.

A bit more than half the places with a "Seaford, NY" mailing address are not in the Hamlet of Seaford. These places that have a "Seaford, NY" mailing address that are not in the Hamlet of Seaford are in the Hamlet of North Wantagh and the Hamlet of Levittown in the Town of Hempstead and in the Hamlet of North Massapequa and the Hamlet of Plainedge in the Town of Oyster Bay.

For those that may not be familiar with the area, Seaford is a hamlet (unincorporated area) in the extreme southeast section of the Town of Hempstead, in the southeast part of Nassau County, along the Hempstead/Oyster Bay town line.

Beginning on the north and moving in a clockwise direction, the Hamlet of Seaford in the Town of Hempstead is bordered on the north by the Hamlet of North Wantagh; on the east by the Hamlet of Massapequa, Town of Oyster Bay (the Hempstead/Oyster Bay town line); on the south by scattered islands in the South Oyster Bay; and, on the west by the Hamlet of Wantagh.

[sean sean sean sean]

Looking at Newsday's community profiles real quick I'm pretty sure everything they have on there is wrong and completely based on postal zones.

I did learn that Glenwood Landing doesn't have mail delivery...that's pretty interesting!

[Walter Greenspan]

Originally Posted by sean sean sean sean

Looking at Newsday's community profiles real quick I'm pretty sure everything they have on there is wrong and completely based on postal zones.

And, you're correct!

The folks in NEWSDAY's real estate section, who should be the in-house geography experts, rely on the Hagstrom map, which is excellent for finding out the best way to get from point A to point B, but, because it only shows city, village and postal zone borders, is useless in figuring out the borders of hamlets.

[lilibrarian]

Perhaps I am misreading your post but to clarify, some residents of Seaford most definitely attend Levittown, Island Trees and Plainedge Schools and their postal code is 11783. Perhaps I am just misunderstanding the significance of "Hamlet" If you ask them, they live in Seaford.

[Walter Greenspan]

Originally Posted by lilibrarian

Perhaps I am misreading your post but to clarify, some residents of Seaford most definitely attend Levittown, Island Trees and Plainedge Schools and their postal code is 11783. Perhaps I am just misunderstanding the significance of "Hamlet" If you ask them, they live in Seaford.

These residents are misinformed (most probably they learned their incorrect geography from reading NEWSDAY) if they believe that they live in the community whose name is in their mailing address. The problem of non-conforming postal zones leads to a situation where more than half the places in Nassau County have a different community name in their mailing address than the community where that place is actually located.


The borders of the Hamlet of Seaford (1,758 acres), are different from the same-named postal zone, "Seaford, NY 11783" (3,942 acres), meaning that a bit more than half the places with a "Seaford, NY" mailing address re not in the Hamlet of Seaford:

These places that have a "Seaford, NY" mailing address that are not in the Hamlet of Seaford are in the Hamlet of North Wantagh and the Hamlet of Levittown in the Town of Hempstead and in the Hamlet of North Massapequa and the Hamlet of Plainedge in the Town of Oyster Bay.

This means that places that are in North Wantagh, Levittown, North Massapequa and Plainedge that have a "Seaford, NY" mailing address are not in Seaford, they are in the Hamlet of North Wantagh, the Hamlet of Levittown, the Hamlet of North Massapequa and the Hamlet of Plainedge.

The Hamlet of Plainedge is interesting because Plainedge is one of those many villages and hamlets on Long Island where none of the places in the community have the hamlet's name as part of their mailing address.

All places within the Hamlet of Plainedge have a "Massapequa, NY 11758", a "Levittown, NY 11756", a "Bethpage, NY 11714", a “Seaford, NY 11783” or a "Farmingdale, NY 11735" mailing address.


For a good set of town-by-town maps showing all the villages and hamlets in each of LI's 13 towns:

LIPA | About The Long Island Power Authority | Population Survey

[Walter Greenspan]

Originally Posted by lilibrarian

Perhaps I am misreading your post but to clarify, some residents of Seaford most definitely attend Levittown, Island Trees and Plainedge Schools and their postal code is 11783. Perhaps I am just misunderstanding the significance of "Hamlet" If you ask them, they live in Seaford.

Perhaps one of my previous posts, "On LI, You Ain't Where You Think You Are", may be of some help in understanding the geographic confusions caused by non-conforming postal zones:

http://www.city-data.com/forum/long-...where-you.html

[llama8]

Newsday wasn't incorrect.

A section of Seaford wit the Seaford mailing address is definately zoned for Levittown Macarthur...one of my friends is in that situation.

I live in Levittown in the Island Trees School District and a significant section of Island Trees schools comes form Seaford with a Seaford mailing address.

Unless I misunderstood you, I believe Newsday's information is correct.

[Walter Greenspan]

Originally Posted by llama8

Newsday wasn't incorrect.

A section of Seaford wit the Seaford mailing address is definately zoned for Levittown Macarthur...one of my friends is in that situation.

I live in Levittown in the Island Trees School District and a significant section of Island Trees schools comes form Seaford with a Seaford mailing address.

Unless I misunderstood you, I believe Newsday's information is correct.

Sorry, NEWSDAY's information is incorrect:


Here's a map of the Hamlet of Seaford (this map was not yet available at the time I began this thread):





When comparing the borders of the Hamlet of Seaford with the borders of the "Seaford, NY 11783" ZIP Code postal zone, a bit more than half the places with a "Seaford, NY 11783" mailing address are not in the Hamlet of Seaford:

......................................acres
......Hamlet of Seaford......1,758
......Seaford, NY 11783....3,942*

* Area includes 160 acres in the Town of Oyster Bay.

Places that have a "Seaford, NY 11783" mailing address that are not in the Hamlet of Seaford are in the Hamlet of North Wantagh and the Hamlet of Levittown in the Town of Hempstead and in the Hamlet of North Massapequa and the Hamlet of Plainedge in the Town of Oyster Bay.

Thus, your friends in both the Levittown Union Free School District and the Island Trees Union Free School District may have "Seaford, NY 11783" mailing addresses but they do not reside in the Hamlet of Seaford.


Here are two postings that may help you understand the local geography and the confusion caused by non-conforming postal zones:

http://www.city-data.com/forum/new-y...-glossary.html

http://www.city-data.com/forum/long-...where-you.html