West Islip: New Voices from Newsday (Hempstead, Babylon: section 8, apartment, houses)

[nbres]

NEW VOICES: Looking to integrate West Islip

KYLE BELL | Kyle Bell is a senior at West Islip High School.
December 14, 2007



For me to write about racial tensions on Long Island is difficult. I live in a town surrounded by a bubble that coldly filters out minorities but unapologetically admits whites. What's worse is that some people living here would rather shelter themselves inside the bubble than pop it and become more sensitive to the outside world.

http://www.newsday.com/news/opinion/ny-opbel145499759dec14,0,7919434.story (broken link)

[MorningAbyss]

Originally Posted by nbres

NEW VOICES: Looking to integrate West Islip

KYLE BELL | Kyle Bell is a senior at West Islip High School.
December 14, 2007

The lack of a train station and the shortage of more diverse houses of worship in West Islip add to the inability of minorities to easily live here. It's too late to add a train station, but more diverse houses of worship would be a good start.

Let me get this straight. You want the city to build all of this for you? Some person to come along and build you your dream city? Oh, sorry, once that happens the prices will go up (as they should). Then you will be begging for section 8 housing.

I am not trying to say that they do not want minorities there. However, if that is the way you feel, don't you think that you are just instigating by trying to move there? Why move to a place that does not have the amenities you want, with people who don't want you? Sounds silly, but it sounds like you thrive on controversy.

Try to find a place to live that is within your means, and fits your taste.

[TheImportersWife]

The author is in High School. I don't think he had choice in where he lives.

[ClarkStreetKid]

I've never thought of WI as being in a bubble. And what's "This bubble must be popped if we are to be taken seriously as a community" thing about? Jeeze, high school kids.

[Walter Greenspan]

For those who may not be familiar with West Islip:

West Islip is a hamlet (unincorporated area) in the southwest section of the Town of Islip, in the southwest part of Suffolk County, along the Islip/Babylon Town line.

Beginning on the north and moving in a clockwise direction, the Hamlet of West Islip in the Town of Islip is bordered on the north by the Hamlet of Baywood and the Hamlet of Bayshore; on the east by the Hamlet of West Bayshore; on the south by the Great South Bay; and, on the west by the Village of Babylon and the Hamlet of North Babylon in the Town of Babylon (the Islip/Babylon Town line).

The Hamlet of West Islip has a different border than does the "West Islip, NY 11795" postal zone (i.e., a place can have a "West Islip, NY 11795" mailing address and not be in the Hamlet of West Islip)" places that have a "West Islip, NY 11795" mailing address that are not in the Hamlet of West Islip are in the Hamlet of West Bayshore and the Hamlet of Baywood.





For a good set of town-by-town maps showing all the villages and hamlets in each of LI's 13 towns (3 in Nassau County and 10 in Suffolk County):

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

[Glad2BHere]

Pretty soon when he turns 18, he is free to explore the great world of diversity in other towns since he finds West Islip so sheltered. Hopefully he will move out, into some shabby apartment in maybe Freeport or Hempstead, so maybe he can write from actual experience then.

This young man probably has no clue what his wishes would do to his bubble of a town. He has looked at the history of towns that have become diversified? Does he have any clue about property values and the things that affect them? Does he have any clue what affordable housing "sometimes" entails? Does he have any clue what subsidized housing and section 8 housing is?

I gather he does not. But since he is young, inexperienced in the world and not a homeowner, he probably cannot even fathom the concept and the magnitude of what he is trying to push for West Islip.

[Joe L]

They did this in Manhasset the Jewish controlled township (TNH)zoned the Spinny Hill projects OUT of the Great Neck North HS and IN to Manhasset HS.
The black boys were going after and following the blong girls home.
The black girls then beat up the white girls accusing them of stealing there men.
All sorts of fights and protesting started happening, the school, Newsday and new 12 hushed it. Now if you go up to Manhasset HS 3PM and find a line of 150-200 SUV's of mom having to pick up there kids.

Moderator cut: comment

[Walter Greenspan]

Originally Posted by Joe L

They did this in Manhasset the Jewish controlled township (TNH)zoned the Spinny Hill projects OUT of the Great Neck North HS and IN to Manhasset HS.

It's my understanding, that towns, such as the Town, not township, of North Hempstead have no authority to rezone school districts, which are independent, local governmental units, subservient to the NYS legislature, from whom they would need permission to change the boundary of a school district, AFTER the resdients of the two school districts (the one losing area and the one gaining area) would each need to vote to do so.

[VTP]

I had strong feelings of dismay after reading this confused boy's contribution to Newsday, and they are summed up very well here by Glad2BeHere. I am quite certain he does not speak for the community at large. He should relocate to new digs in Hempstead or Central Islip immediately upon graduation, and write a follow-up after six months or so. I would like to hear from him then. Perhaps after his car has been vandalized, his home broken into, his girlfriend harrassed, his property littered upon, his neighborhood blighted by graffiti, and his sense of peace and security completely undermined, he would come to see the light. His parents must be horrified. Maybe that's why he wrote such a ridiculous piece to begin with --maybe they did something that really ticked him off and he wanted to subject them to longstanding hostility and ridicule in the community. You never know. It's just such a silly opinion that you have to wonder.

[lilibrarian]

he wanted to subject them to longstanding hostility and ridicule in the community.

The piece shows naivete to be sure, but he's in High School. Isn't that when you are supposed to be idealistic, naive and altruistic? And hope for peace, love and understanding? He has plenty of time for dillusionment and anger. If members of the community were to expose him and his family to hostility and ridicule over this article, then I'd have to agree that West Islip is no place to live. I think a far more appropriate response is, "Heh, kids. They'll learn." I'm kind of surprised by the response here.