Why Long Island Sucks (Hilton, Mexico: lawyer, hotel, wage)

[Dedalus]

I believe that some percentage of the economy of a place being devoted to manufacturing is necessary for a healthy economy. This idea that we're all going to go to college and get computer science degrees, and go sit in front of a monitor all day seems fundamentally flawed to me. What, we're all going to click on the "peon" icon, and have some guy in Bombay do our bidding? That's a receipe for our country following in the steps of Great Britain.


Some people want to be blue collar; that's traditionally been a route of upward mobility here. The laborer becomes a contractor...or remains a laborer, if he or she lacks the entreprenurial drive.

[lifetimeliguy]

Long Island Bashers, please read the below link and think twice about bashing the Long Island schools :

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/lo...-top-headlines

There is a reason LI has such a high percentage of Intel semi finalists every year (82 out of 300 in 2006)!!!!
Excellent and dedicated teachers.
Motivated students. High standards.

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[GypsySoul22]

"The problem is low level of ambition, education, and/or ability." to quote Check123

Okay, may I reply? First off, do you think that the guy who cleans your table at the diner deserves a decent place to live? What about the mom who works part time at Pathmark to help out her husband while the kids are in school? Not everyone can make EXCELLENT salaries.

There are many qualified people, but as someone said, once the manufacturing dried up here, less and less decent jobs are available. This is not just a Long Island fact, but a nationwide fact. The service industry is going to employ most of the people in this country (apart from the medical field). Not everyone can be doctors. Don't customer service reps (who are poorly paid--I should know, I was one for 2 year despite 'ambition' and education-) deserve a nice place to live?

Many people work here for $10-$15 a hour. That would be PLENTY in other areas, but here you cannot live on that. You tell me what apartment you can get for a family on about $30,000 or so a year?

So, what will be left on Long Island? The very poor being funded by the state or federal gov't and the very rich.

Finally, may I conclude by saying you can WANT to be a profession (in my case I have a Masters in Education) but because of the way things work, you CANNOT find these sort of jobs. Teaching is highly competitive. If I had a teaching job I could make enough to support my husband AND son myself. However, I can't here. So I have to do whatever job helps pay the bills.

[OvertaxedOnLI]

Long Island took a big hit, employmentwise, when the major aerospace companies left: Grumman, Sperry, Fairchild, Unisys. These were all HUGE employers in the 1950s-1980s! It was common for several family members to work for Grumman, especially. Many employees had literally never worked anywhere else. When Grumman went *poof* as the largest employer on LI, it dealt a permanent blow to the financial health of thousands and thousands of people, from management to entry level.

There really is no major home-grown (meaning employing people right here rather than outsourcing jobs) industry on LI on the scale of Grumman, etc., anymore. LI's largest employer is the North Shore/LI Jewish Hospital Health System, which is hardly "industrial". Computer Associates is fairly big but even they are scaling back.

[fopt65]

Originally Posted by GypsySoul22

"The problem is low level of ambition, education, and/or ability." to quote Check123

Okay, may I reply? First off, do you think that the guy who cleans your table at the diner deserves a decent place to live? What about the mom who works part time at Pathmark to help out her husband while the kids are in school? Not everyone can make EXCELLENT salaries.

There are many qualified people, but as someone said, once the manufacturing dried up here, less and less decent jobs are available. This is not just a Long Island fact, but a nationwide fact. The service industry is going to employ most of the people in this country (apart from the medical field). Not everyone can be doctors. Don't customer service reps (who are poorly paid--I should know, I was one for 2 year despite 'ambition' and education-) deserve a nice place to live?

Many people work here for $10-$15 a hour. That would be PLENTY in other areas, but here you cannot live on that. You tell me what apartment you can get for a family on about $30,000 or so a year?

So, what will be left on Long Island? The very poor being funded by the state or federal gov't and the very rich.

Finally, may I conclude by saying you can WANT to be a profession (in my case I have a Masters in Education) but because of the way things work, you CANNOT find these sort of jobs. Teaching is highly competitive. If I had a teaching job I could make enough to support my husband AND son myself. However, I can't here. So I have to do whatever job helps pay the bills.

Gypsy,
I know gettting a teaching job in LI schools can be hard. Have you considered being a teacher for medically homebound kids? It doesn't provide benefits usually, but offers a higher per visit rate and good flexibility for scheduling.

[Check123]

It's the same story all over the U.S... Mutliple generations working at a manufacturing facility. Then one day the company gets bought out, or they move to a cheaper labor market. The problem isn't that the company left. The failure lies in thinking that it would last forever and not planning accordingly.

Cleaning tables and being able to afford a decent place to live? No! I wouldn't expect any minimum wage earner to be able to afford to live in too many places. If they wanted a decent place to live then they should have thought about getting a better job. Those kinds of jobs get done by mostly college students and/or retirees. Making a career out of it is silly.

I know five teachers on Long Island; and I knew them before they were teachers. Yes, they busted their tail bones like you would not believe. But they did not use it as an excuse. They all now own their own homes, and live very comfortably.

[NYTom]

I don't know why anyone would go for a Masters in Education and hope to find a job on Long Island. The field is saturated. Unless they were educated here and plan to move elsewhere, otherwise I would have picked a different career.

[Dedalus]

Originally Posted by Check123

The cost of living is not the problem. The problem is low level of ambition, education, and/or ability.

The two things I keep reading about Long Island is that it's too expensive and overcrowded. Apparently, if it's overcrowded then it must not be too expensive.

Like GC Guy says, "It's so crowded, no one goes there anymore."

The way I feel is: working class people are part of the mix. If you allow a place to get all country-clubbed out, it changes the character of a place. It becomes a place where the kids get all pouty and feel deprived cause they don't get a $300 hat, like I read about some Manhasset kid.

It's said of the conservative commentator, Pat Buchanan, that he would be very happy to sit with, eat lunch with, and make friendly conversation with the building janitor. A lot of people around here don't seem to feel that way. That's one of the reasons I don't much care for it here. One of the labors of Hercules was to battle a giant who had endless strength...as long as his feet were touching the ground. There's meaning in that metaphor.

A man's a man for a' that, like Robert Burns said. People start getting all high and mighty, pretty soon, we're living in friggin' England. No slam on them, but no thanks.

[momix5]

You know it is funny, I was thinking about that today, how people right away look down on you if you do not come from a certain place or hold a certain job, or drive a certain car. I feel Long Island is a little overboard with that.

[GypsySoul22]

Hi again guys. I really don't want to make this 'about me'--I don't feel like I have to come on here and defend my choices..as for the Masters of Education, I got it back in 1991--I had no idea it was so hard to get a job in that field (if you recall we were told 'so many' teachers were retiring..it's the same thing years later. )

Thanks for the suggestion, fopt65. After seeing the awful teachers my son has and experiencing the idiocy of his schooling up to now (he's in third grade) I am soured on the teaching profession & school policies (it's more about state tests scores and less about educating your kids.).

I am sorry, Check123 that you cannot find it in your heart to be a little more open about people who 'earn minimum wage' and don't plan their lives in advance so they can get all those fantastic jobs out there. Many people WITH higher degrees are out washing dishes, working in factories and doing 'lesser than' jobs--guess they are all losers, too--losers feeding their kids and paying their rent instead of impressing the hell out of snooty people.

Yes, mommix5, people in general on Long Island judge you by what you own, where you live, and what you drive--it's a vacuous culture. I hate that "I can top you' mentality and find my simple life mocked even by my very materialistic parents.