Pro's and Con's of becoming an Incorporated village? (Hempstead, Babylon: crime rate, home)

[hotkarl]

I am from Shelter Island. Kind of. My wife was born and raised there.

[longislandmike]

Look at the rules for Port Jefferson. It will make you an anarchist !


eCode360

[totallyfrazzled]

IMO, an incorporated (sorry, Walter!) village should be regarded in the same light as an HOA (homeowners' association): If the degree of regulation bothers you, then just don't buy a home there. Some people think HOAs are the greatest thing since sliced bread. Others (like myself) couldn't live with that kind of restrictions on one's private property. To each his own. There could be a gazillion HOAs and incorporated villages on Long Island but as long as I'm not REQUIRED to live in one, their existence doesn't bother me a bit.

[LINative]

Originally Posted by Walter Greenspan

Flushing was the first village, incorporating in 1813, followed by the Village of Jamaica in 1814 and the Village of Astoria in 1839.

I thought so. Also I believe Whitestone and Richmond Hill were villages.

I once read a book about Nassau County history called Nassau County - From Rural Hinterland to Suburban Metropolis. One chapter described how the boundary of modern Queens and Nassau came about. But next to the towns of Jamaica and Flushing was the word extinct.

It is a little sad how Jamaica, Flushing & Newtown foolishly gave up their 200+ years of history and independence to join New York City back in 1898. Most of the reason they did was to get paved sidewalks, streets and sewers; something common in suburban towns today.

Flushing in particular was a well run town for that time period.

It is interesting to note that if Queens-Nassau had stayed one county then there would be 6 towns (Newtown, Flushing, Jamaica, North Hempstead, Hempstead & Oyster Bay) and 3 cities (Long Island City, Glen Cove & Long Beach) in the county today.

[LINative]

Originally Posted by hotkarl

I'm just curious about this issue. Is there any substantial benefit to becoming Incorporated? What are the pro's and con's?
I currently live in a plain old, no frills, "Hamlet of the Town of Hempstead".

Communties orginially incorporated as villages because they wanted to get more services then the rural towns could provide. Valley Stream, Lynbrook, Freeport, Hempstead etc are like smaller cities and wanted to provide their own police, water or electric. Others like Lindenhurst were incorporated for instance because the Town of Babylon had lousy roads back in the 1920s.

Later a second type of village formed - villages designed to restrict development - over ruling the towns zoning code. Old Brookville, Brookville, Old Westbury, North Hills etc were incorporated to keep the mass developments out.

Today because the towns have come a long way and provide most local services we really do not need the first type of village. For instance you do not need to live in a village or city in order to get electricity like you did many years ago.

Still a well run village can enhance a community and in particular its downtown area -check out Babylon, Port Jefferson, Amityville, Rockville Centre etc for instance.

[Walter Greenspan]

Originally Posted by totallyfrazzled

IMO, an incorporated (sorry, Walter!) village should be regarded in the same light as an HOA (homeowners' association) ...

I'm aware of, at least, one HOA in the Village of North Hills in the Town of North Hempstead, Nassau County, and I think there are other examples of an HOA in a village.

[longislandmike]

Originally Posted by LINative

Communties orginially incorporated as villages because they wanted to get more services then the rural towns could provide. Valley Stream, Lynbrook, Freeport, Hempstead etc are like smaller cities and wanted to provide their own police, water or electric. Others like Lindenhurst were incorporated for instance because the Town of Babylon had lousy roads back in the 1920s.

Later a second type of village formed - villages designed to restrict development - over ruling the towns zoning code. Old Brookville, Brookville, Old Westbury, North Hills etc were incorporated to keep the mass developments out.

Today because the towns have come a long way and provide most local services we really do not need the first type of village. For instance you do not need to live in a village or city in order to get electricity like you did many years ago.

Still a well run village can enhance a community and in particular its downtown area -check out Babylon, Port Jefferson, Amityville, Rockville Centre etc for instance.

It's like enhancing a turd with sprinkles, AND A FLOWER !

The surrounding locality should "counter" their extra services, with a sur charge, that would make up for "what" the special villages are "getting" or "saving" on, by not being part of the general population.

It's not like ALL of these, wouldn't be able to afford it, either. ALL of them, are usually affluent "snobs", that should be taxed out of existence !at a higher rate for the essential Life services, that they, basically, "steal" from other governmental entities.

If they want to be better than everyone else, LET EM SUFFER MORE AND PAY FOR IT ! People like wouldn't mind paying more...it would just make them feel MORE SPECIAL !

SO SLAM 'EM MORE !

[totallyfrazzled]

Originally Posted by Walter Greenspan

I'm aware of, at least, one HOA in the Village of North Hills in the Town of North Hempstead, Nassau County, and I think there are other examples of an HOA in a village.

I didn't know about those. But actually what I was referring to was the kind of HOA that is created by a homebuilder/developer .... very popular in other parts of the country, especially down south. When I visited a friend in North Carolina a few years ago, we went around looking at homes for sale and it seemed that every other house was in some kind of "planned community" ... golf course community, over-55 community, whatever. I call them "Stepford Communities" in general! These HOAs are much less about services (unless you consider the existence of a community clubhouse or some such thing a "service" but IMO that isn't in the same category as a village having its own police, fire dept, etc ... which the development HOAs don't) and pretty much all about homogenizing property appearances and actions (i.e., garbage cans can't be left at the curb later than noon on collection day... you must get permission to paint your house a different color.... can't do such-and-so with your landscaping... yadda yadda).

[longislandmike]

Originally Posted by totallyfrazzled

I didn't know about those. But actually what I was referring to was the kind of HOA that is created by a homebuilder/developer .... very popular in other parts of the country, especially down south. When I visited a friend in North Carolina a few years ago, we went around looking at homes for sale and it seemed that every other house was in some kind of "planned community" ... golf course community, over-55 community, whatever. I call them "Stepford Communities" in general! These HOAs are much less about services (unless you consider the existence of a community clubhouse or some such thing a "service" but IMO that isn't in the same category as a village having its own police, fire dept, etc ... which the development HOAs don't) and pretty much all about homogenizing property appearances and actions (i.e., garbage cans can't be left at the curb later than noon on collection day... you must get permission to paint your house a different color.... can't do such-and-so with your landscaping... yadda yadda).

YOU are at the MERCY of EVERY KIND of career busy-Body, and Career-SNOOP, and armed with a yellow measuring stick, INTO YOUR BUSINESS !

What fascinates me, is that people are actually INSANE to submit.

It's like checking yourself into a Gulag !

[villager-li]

Some of the anti-village comments are pretty interesting...I have lived in a village for the past few years and see no negatives with it whatsoever. Our village taxes are low (I understand this may not be the case in all villages), we have all sorts of family events taking place right around the corner at village hall, we have beautiful parks (much better maintained than most parks in Town of Brookhaven), we have very strict standards being enforced on all new businesses opening here, we have better snow removal, and I have access to all the local officials and can easily go to the village meetings and speak my mind. The building restrictions/code enforcement procedures exist to ensure that residents are following the rules - and I see no harm in that, it is for the betterment of the community. I think certain homeowner associations are much worse than what is imposed in villages. Living here has been a good experience for me and I would try to stay in an incorporated village if I were ever to trade-up my home. And we have FIOS, before the rest of Brookhaven! I live in Lake Grove, by the way.