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Hi everyone! I am a former Long Islander. Born in Manhattan,moved to Great Neck, my parents bought their first house in Oyster Bay, and built their second one there. They moved to Charlotte NC last year, because the long, damp and cold winters were wearing him down. They didn't WANT to leave LI. But they had to.They didn't WANT to move inland, but my stepmom already had relatives in Charlotte, who had also left the Island, and they wanted to move somewhere that they knew someone and have a support system. So, Charlotte it was.They are happy,for the most part, but they do miss living on the coast. There is nothing that compares to"The Beach" when it comes to people from LI.
It's in our blood.
There are MANY reasons why people who actually enjoy Long Island move. These seem to be the most frequently stated reasons -
1.Cost of living. It is beyond what any one ever could have dreamed of.
2.Taxes. Our taxes in Stony Brook, north of 25A were inching above 21K when we left.
3. Home prices. How do young people afford living there? It was bad when I first married in 1985. We rented a 3 room "apartment" in Sea Cliff. Actually, it was not even an apartment. It was three bedrooms of a modest house that was,at some time,converted into a makeshift two family. There were hardly any cabinets in the kitchen.A free standing stove and fridge. And,of course there were no amenities.
This apartment was $695 per month! In 1985! When I tell people that when from Ohio, they cringe.
There is a terrible lack of housing for newly married people - and Nassau and Suffolk counties appear to be WAY more expensive.
3.Changes n work environment and business that contribute to a lower income.
4. The weather.
5.Peer and family pressure to leave.
6. Various other reasons that are too complex or individual to list here.
7.The desire for a larger house,at a lower price.
I am from a family of NYers. So is my husband. We have siblings and relatives who have relocated to the following states - North Carolina. South Carolina, Florida,Georgia, California, Texas,Minneapolis, Maine, Vermont, Georgia, New Mexico, Arizona, PA,MA, and New Jersey.
All for some combination of the above reasons.
They did not suddenly awaken one morning and exclaim -"Gee wiz,I really HATE Long Island! You know what? I think I am going to leave the only place I know and start a new life among strangers"
NO.It does not work that way. It's a slow and thoughtful event that takes years to make this happen.
Most of us have strong physical and emotional ties to the area -but no that where we move,life might be more than difficult for us, but we need to leave.
We are not traitors of defectors. We know what we are leaving and why.It's not revenge -it's survival.
Are we still interested in things that concern L.I.? Sure we are! We care about the place where we grew up. Where we spent part of our children's child hoods.
We are not losers. We are survivors who had to make a choice.
If you are from LI and no longer live here, why do you continue to return here?
For myself, nostalgia is part of it. We also have a wealth of information to share with new Long Islanders and old.
It doesn't mean that we HATE where we have moved - it only means that Long Island is still on our minds and holds a special place in our hearts.
Great Post. DH and I are retirees. We love the beach. Looked for homes in Pt. Lookout and Long Beach and when we looked at the taxes for the homes we could buy, we decided that we would look to other areas. We knew of Rehoboth Beach, De. and fell in love. There is no sales tax and the property taxes are beyond imaginable for a NY'er. We have a 2300 square foot home and our taxes are $1346 annually. When we it 65 there is a $500 reduction for seniors in those property taxes.
I should say that the driving force was how little we could buy, house wise for what we would wanted in a beach community. We didn't want a tiny bungalow we wanted a real home and that came with $$$ attached in addition to the taxes. Many in our price range were in need of lots of renovations and repair. We didn't need to be on the beach, in fact as long as we were near that was fine.
We were not blessed with kids, so that was not an issue for us, for I am certain if we did there would have been no move. For us, it was more about what we wanted out of our retirement years and the beach was it. We also did not want to be too far from our siblings and friends, so De. was a great location. We can make the parties and weddings etc.
We do miss family/friends, pizza, chinese food, & bagels. We don't miss the aggressive NY drivers, and the littered highways. In fact, our beaches have a grocery store like plastic bag as you hit the sand and we are a carry in- carry out garage. The beaches are spotless too.
We are just under 2 miles from the beach and have plenty of company and visit NY often. I often say, I LOVE LI till this day and it was a great place to live for my entire life till retirement and great place to grow up. I love my new home and it works for us in this stage of our lives, but I would never want to have grown up here.
I try to post when I have some advice to give...I try to avoid "you're all a bunch of idiots for staying on Long Island".
I don't really care if someone wants to stay on Long Island, or what their reasons are...it's their life to do as they please. i truly do not understand the motivation of people who have to add to every post why they are so much smarter for moving and why it's so much better where they live. Frankly, I would be more than happy to stem the tide of people moving where I did. This goes back to what you said about the decision making process. When you have a job, kids, etc etc you don't just up and move one day. It is a long process. It's also not for the faint of heart. I laugh when people say people left because they can't hack it (like that's a way to live anyway - hacking it)....it takes cojones to move hundreds of miles away from where you grew up.
I also don't understand transplants who bash where other transplants moved, or post things that are 100% untrue about where others moved, usually when they've never even been to said location.
I think both of these former Long Islander-types are a lot more worried and a lot less happy about their move than they would like to let on.
I also still have family up there, and am interested in what goes on...I also find it interesting to hear about and see changes in the places I lived.
Personally I could not care less about living near the beach. I'm not a beach person, never have been...went with my friends when they went but never could spend hours and hours there. Still don't understand the appeal on a daily basis, one trip a summer is enough for me. I wouldn't want to live in the midwest, where seeing the ocean was never an option, but I don't need to live right on the coast.
Because I will always consider Long Island my home, I enjoy reading this forum. Whenever I come back and visit my old hometown (Williston Park) I am right at home. I will always miss LI. If I could afford to move back, I would do so in a NY minute!
My grandparents immigrated to NYC in the very early 20th century, and so our family has been in NYC and then LI since that time- but over the last 20 years or so, the majority of us have left for greener pastures.
I initially came to this forum hoping to find some nostalgia and share memories of the LI I grew up on, in the late 60's-1970's, when it was still a very wonderful and very unique place. Not finding that, I thought it might be fun hearing the success stories of other LI ex-pats -and it is.
Having spent 3/4ths of my life on LI, I also like to keep tabs on what is happening there. It is essentially my ancestral home- it's not as if you just move away from the place where you grew up and spent most of your life, and then just forget about it, even if you abhor what it has become.
Also, as an observer of human behavior, I find it quite interesting to watch the behavior of Lon Guylanders. I find it fascinating how people are willing to pay such absurd taxes and tolerate an ever-declining quality of life, in a place where their most basic rights are trampled, and they have to apply for and pay for permits to do just about anything- while over-development is not only allowed, but encouraged, and their communities are flooded with legal and illegal immigrants from third-world countries who do not share their values.
I keep hoping to see a mass rebellion; that people will come to their senses and either take their island back, or vacate it en mass, but sadly, except for a minority who have the sense to extricate themselves, observing LIers is tantamount to reading 1984 or Animal Farm- only the stories and characters are real; but none-the-less entertaining.
And after reading this forum, I get a feeling of euphoria when I sit back and look out my window at the expanse of rolling green hills and trees; knowing that I made it out! I no longer have toi dream about leaving the island; I am here now! I did it! I am living on a piece of land which one could only visit on LI as a park; my property taxes are huindreds, not thousands or tens of thousands of dollars; there is no traffic; My neighbors are all native English Speakers who share many of my values and ideals; the roads are smooth. When you call the county to tell them that there is a rather jarring bump where the new bridge joins the road, they come out and fix it the next day, and 2 or 3 guys do all of the work, without 50 union monkeys standing around doing nothing. Every house has at least 5 guns. There has not been a break-in or burglary in my area in the 15 years that I've lived here.
It's easy to start taking things for granted when you live in paradise. You get used to the good, and it becomes the norm. But frequenting this forum assures that I'll never take my current circumstances for granted. It reminds me of where I came from, and makes me cherish where i am even more.
I still wish that there was more nostalgia on here though, to keep alive the uniqueness and wonders of a LI which once existed, but which no longer does. As much as i abhor what LI has become, I thank God that I got to grow up on the LI that once was, when it was a unique and wonderful place, and which enabled me to have an amazing and wonderful childhood.
Short answer:
You live 3/4ths of your life on LI, you're a Long Islander, no matter where you go, or even when the LI you knew doesn't exist anymore.
That's easy. No where do people complain, bemoan, bewail, criticize, gripe, grumble, lament and bellyache about anything and everything like Long Islanders do.
That's easy. No where do people complain, bemoan, bewail, criticize, gripe, grumble, lament and bellyache about anything and everything like Long Islanders do.
Few other places offer as much to complain about. Difference is, for some reason, LIers seem to prefer staying and complaining to moving.
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