NY Times article... Possible Mandating Section 8...LI is next? (Huntington: 2010, sex offenders)

[nycliguy]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/11/ny...f=weekinreview

How dare these liberals force projects in Scarsdale and Larchmont. Are the Democrats and Barry that stupid? 2010 election will be interesting... can't wait

[KENNY GUIDO]

are you saying there arent section 8 houses on long island yet? theres tons.

[AlexisT]

Get your facts straight. These aren't section 8 houses; they're moderate income. (I had to hoot at the article yesterday where someone from Chappaqua said that people who can't afford 2 cars shouldn't live there. The moderate income guidelines go up to $75K for a family of 4 in Westchester.) It's about municipalities that have zoning policies designed to keep out all the poor people (minimum 2 acres, et cetera). Also, the problem is of Westchester's own making. The suit would have been tossed if the county had not applied for federal money and lied about how it was handling segregation.

You could just as easily ask why the middle income towns have to bear the brunt of affordable housing.

In response to whether it could happen on LI: If someone files a lawsuit and if Nassau or Suffolk was as stupid as Westchester (I would never rule out this possibility).

[Port North]

Well at least Port Washington won't have to do anything. We already have Harbor Homes (public housing) and lots of section 8 people in Manorhaven. This hasn't caused white/rich people to move out of the area. It seems to work ok here. Would it work in a place like Massapequa? That might be a different story.

[nycliguy]

I am aware there is tons public housing throughout the island. It usually has a negative effect on the communities. Glen Cove rings a bell? That high school is a zoo. I remember playing them in basketball…the student body in the stands and hallways were animals. The schools suffer when there is significant public housing in the district.

If I was buying a house in upper- middle class neighborhood I would not want this forced on my community

[Port North]

Originally Posted by nycliguy

I am aware there is tons public housing throughout the island. It usually has a negative effect on the communities. Glen Cove rings a bell? That high school is a zoo. I remember playing them in basketball…the student body in the stands and hallways were animals. The schools suffer when there is significant public housing in the district.

If I was buying a house in upper- middle class neighborhood I would not want this forced on my community

Glen Cove is a good example of where it hasn't worked so well. I think it presently works ok in places like Port Washington, Roslyn and Manhasset because the locations of those places are just so desirable that the rich/upper middle class will continue to move there anyways.

Glen Cove has a slow train ride and a little out of the way and thus its gotten out of balance demographically.

[LongIslandCitizen]

Go to Mastic beach/ mastic / shirley...welcome to section 8 housing. The sex offenders will be next.

[Port North]

Originally Posted by LongIslandCitizen

Go to Mastic beach/ mastic / shirley...welcome to section 8 housing. The sex offenders will be next.

No thanks, they can keep them!

I'm not a proponant of socially engineering neighborhoods. I'm just saying that it doesn't have to become a Glen Cove or Huntington Station if they were to go through with building subsidized or section 8 housing. Port Washington, Roslyn and Manhasset all have areas of Section 8 housing and it hasn't caused those places to totally fall apart. I can understand though not wanting to take that chance if you have paid good money to live in a nice area. To do something like this seems a little too forced to me.

[OhBeeHave]

Originally Posted by Port North

Well at least Port Washington won't have to do anything. We already have Harbor Homes (public housing) and lots of section 8 people in Manorhaven. This hasn't caused white/rich people to move out of the area. It seems to work ok here. Would it work in a place like Massapequa? That might be a different story.

What about areas like Garden City, Belle Terre, Old Field? You're going to see far more resistance there than in Massapequa if this should come to pass on LI.

The areas in Westchester are very wealthy, nevermind race. If a wealthy African American surgeon wanted to buy in Larchmont, he could afford to do so and by all rights should do so. Would he be met by an angry mob carrying torches and crosses? Highly unlikely. To turn around and 'acquire' properties and homes in order to create housing for the poor because an area is wealthy AND white? Isn't that a form of discrimination?

[AlexisT]

The issue is that they were building moderate income housing previously, but not putting it anywhere rich and white. It's perfectly fair that if it's going to be built, the burden should be spread out. They aren't being targeted, as such. They were given special privileges for being rich and white, and now those privileges are being taken away.