Why Long Island Sucks (Hempstead, Stony Brook: movie theaters, best school districts, university)

[OvertaxedOnLI]

Originally Posted by Dedalus

The problem I see with Long Island, which it shares with suburbs in general, is that people don't see the real world like a lot of other people do. This especially affects kids.
They do not see real poor people. So, they are apt to think that they are "poor" if their Dad drives a Ford and not a beemer. .... They do not see factories, where the products they use every day are made. So, they are apt to think that these things come from the store, and that it's someone else's job to make them.

I totally agree with you. Long Island is, in many ways, a very insular area and not only geographically. There are communities here that do experience the problems you mention, but again, they're usually confined to those communities or very nearby... so the people and kids living five or ten miles away really have no firsthand experience of what it is like (other than what they read in Newsday or see on the Channel 12 News).

It would be great if more people, young and older, were somehow mandated to see firsthand the realities of daily life in other parts of the USA and the world. "Culture shock" is usually a darned good thing. It's even better if the experience changes not only the way a person views the world, but how he/she treats the other people in it.

[Dedalus]

I saw it in kids from LI when I was at college at Stony Brook around 1980, and I see it in my girlfriends kid and his friends now. They think tough times is not having money for pizza, and having to deal with living with their parents. I try to tell them; nope. Tough times is not having food to eat, or a roof over your head, at all. But, of course, they know everything.

[NYer]

There is a ton of poverty on Long Island.
Blame the parents who spoil and overly-shelter their kids from the world.

[Dedalus]

Originally Posted by NYer

There is a ton of poverty on Long Island.
Blame the parents who spoil and overly-shelter their kids from the world.

I wouldn't know. I have no children, that I know of.

(I always say that, I was always careful about birth control. But I've had plenty of practice. )

It must be the hardest thing for parents to deliberately allow their kids to suffer, in any measure, the hardships they knew. Usually, they want to spare them. But, from the perspective of one who has no emotional stake, they do them no favor.

[GCGuy]

Kids don't need to hang out with bums to grow up and be good people. More nonsense.

Hey kids, let's take a field trip to Hempstead to go see some poor people, bums, and car jackings. That'll make you grow up big and strong, like spinach.

[nymom]

A field trip to Hempstead?...no, but I do agree that kids should be aware that poverty is out there and to be thankful for how good some of us have it. One of my students couldn't wait to get home on Wednesday because he knew he was going to get $150 sneakers as one of his presents for Valentine's day. That was just sickening to me. These kids just have no clue.
My own kids are much better off than I was but I still teach them that we work hard for our money and not to take it for granted. I also like them to realize the reasons why many people have financial hardships so they can avoid the same mistakes.

[ExNYC]

Frankly the only people who could possibly like LI are those who have never actually been anywhere else. The place is full of crooks corruption and too much easy money - with all the benefits this combination attracts. Check out the system of Government - it has corruption actually imbedded in it, such as the compulsory Republican Party donations if you want to work for the County in Nassau. And how can you possibly have an equitable system of real estate taxation when values are based on "potato fields"? Enjoy the beaches for the couple of months you can try parking at them. Try the "private beaches" which are actually a contravention of Federal law. The list of issues is endless and we have not even begun to touch the part about where the taxes actually go to. Gotta love the public that puts up with all that baggage.....

[Joe L]

Rather disgusting comments, more like Germany 1943. Train tracks, wanting people dead and mounted in a museum so you can take over is far worse the any misapprehended comments I made.
If people want all that stuff why not stay in Manhattan, Queens, Great Neck, and 5 Towns.
Even better put some $$ down on one of them 600 buildings….BURP BURP !! work barracks in Sunnyside “The King” Moderator cut: rude image (cartoon photo of Mike Bloomberg wearing an imperial crown)
is proposing ?.

If turning old neighborhoods into diverse mini Manhattan’s, Tijuana's and Hamadân’s is so great why are so many people against this "dirversity?

Originally Posted by Dedalus

What you have here is a bunch of dinosaurs who don't mind paying the property taxes as long as they can keep pretending that it's 1960.

With some development, mass transit, and modern leadership, it could be a halfway decent place. As soon as suburbicanus prehistoricus is in his proper place in the Museum of Natural History, maybe that will happen.

A good first step is the third track on the LIRR.

[Joe L]

Originally Posted by BovinaCowHateWindTurbines

Elbow room

Jamesport

Good stuff, just signed the paperwork with the lawyers on the house. I'm going for the classic marinated porterhouse in 1/2 hour, there a 30 minute wait tonight.
I wonder if Claudios is open for later

-Joe

[Dedalus]

Originally Posted by ExNYC

Frankly the only people who could possibly like LI are those who have never actually been anywhere else. The place is full of crooks corruption and too much easy money - with all the benefits this combination attracts. Check out the system of Government - it has corruption actually imbedded in it, such as the compulsory Republican Party donations if you want to work for the County in Nassau. And how can you possibly have an equitable system of real estate taxation when values are based on "potato fields"? Enjoy the beaches for the couple of months you can try parking at them. Try the "private beaches" which are actually a contravention of Federal law. The list of issues is endless and we have not even begun to touch the part about where the taxes actually go to. Gotta love the public that puts up with all that baggage.....

Imbedded corruption...that's good.

There is also the system of overlapping and interlocking special assessment districts. Each with its own Board of Directors, and each with its own bureaucratic fiefdom to protect.