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I agree with Crooks that the Island should embrace it's density, it's there and can't be ignored, the only problem is what to do about it. I like rail, but when you can't find a spot to park at the station as it is I don't see how you're going to increase it's use. I'm trying to imagine what would happen if anyone tried to make a 3 or 4 story parking deck at each major train station. It'll take a lot of political power to get rail working.
I like the township wide school districts idea. For the Island it makes more sense than county wide school districts. The Island really has to shed it's rural based organization of local governments and school systems.
Sewers, that's been a long time dream.
No matter what, any changes to the Island will be disruptive to residents making it less likely that change can happen. I think the Island had it's best chances to change in the 60's and 70's and let the opportunity slip away. Now, I think it just may be stuck.
Thats why you would dovetail into Hub and Spoke Bus.
For each smaller, reasonably priced home which is razed to build a McMansion, a starter home is lost for the young people starting out. I don't see where that is progress.
This is along the lines of the "progress" I was talking about... The strategy of the past on LI was to buy and fix-up (sweat equity) for the future of your family. Maybe it's morphed into something else that is working against the neighborhoods long term.
The irony is that so many are ridiculed for leaving LI in pursuit of the McMansion and very little is talked about with regard to the ones who are staying in hopes to pursue the same thing.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sean sean sean sean
You got that from my post???
The way the middle class is being raped on LI is a major, serious problem. I just think all the people who are bent out of shape because friggen Wetsons Hamburgers or some roller disco club went out of business are a total joke. Have you read these threads? There are just as many complaints about fast food places and bars that used to exist as there are about taxes.
Aside from the cost, I don't really think LI has changed at all in the last 40 years. Any time I've asked "why" nobody has ever been able to give me a real answer.
Keep taking extended breaks from posting here... sorry for the lack of continuity of thought process. Yeah, I got that from your post - I tried to be clear that I knew you didn't say those exact words and I took some assumptions.
We could have a lengthy discussion, but I don't think I can disagree that some major "thing" hasn't changed that drastically in 40 years. That could be the very root of the problem... 40 or so years post development boom and you just really have the same thing across the whole middle of LI with a few layers of grime.
One can look at the forums on this very website for evidence. Rarely do you ever see a young 20 or 30 something professional asking for recommendations on where to buy, or possibly even rent. And its worse for younger families. This forum has more complaints (many valid) than those kinds of posts. Look at Atlanta, Dallas, Seattle, etc.
What would attract a 27 yr old professional to Long Island...especially when much of their social life may be built around NYC. Many of these professionals are unable to afford housing so the alternative would be to live with parents or renting some dusty basement somewhere.....at least if you have to do that and be in Brooklyn or Manhattan there is a good reason.
Long Island is still a solid place to live but given how good our public schools are and proxmity to NYC, we should, but are not retaining the educated children we churn out...they are moving to more vibrant, affordable cities and that includes NYC. with similar prices and super high taxes at 31 who would buy in wantagh?
I agree with Crooks that the Island should embrace it's density, it's there and can't be ignored, the only problem is what to do about it. I like rail, but when you can't find a spot to park at the station as it is I don't see how you're going to increase it's use. I'm trying to imagine what would happen if anyone tried to make a 3 or 4 story parking deck at each major train station. It'll take a lot of political power to get rail working.
I like the township wide school districts idea. For the Island it makes more sense than county wide school districts. The Island really has to shed it's rural based organization of local governments and school systems.
Sewers, that's been a long time dream.
No matter what, any changes to the Island will be disruptive to residents making it less likely that change can happen. I think the Island had it's best chances to change in the 60's and 70's and let the opportunity slip away. Now, I think it just may be stuck.
The town of Brookhaven is the size of Nassau County and has a population close to the state of Vermont. Nassau County has 3 townships and 2 cities which would lend itself more easily to creating Town districts.
Brookhaven would still need to be broken down to establish larger districts -- perhaps council district school districts if they were to do such a thing.
The town of Brookhaven is the size of Nassau County and has a population close to the state of Vermont. Nassau County has 3 townships and 2 cities which would lend itself more easily to creating Town districts.
Brookhaven would still need to be broken down to establish larger districts -- perhaps council district school districts if they were to do such a thing.
Good point, I have long advocated township school districts but I hadent thought about what we do in cases of Brookhaven Town or Hempstead Town due to their population. All 3 Nassau towns and half of Suffolk's 10 towns have more people than many major cities. Hell more people live in some of our towns than do in some entire states ...
The problem with schools organized by the town council district is that some towns (ex. Islip) do not have defined town council districts and instead are "at large". Perhaps if we had something like "Brookhaven Town North Public Schools" and "Brookhaven Town South Public Schools"?
I was noticing the size of Brookhaven but still think it's doable. For a large district you could have sub-districts but all administration of services for the schools would still be centralized.
Crooks, I think the idea of hub and spoke would be a tough sell on the Island. Buses would have to be cheaper, as fast if not faster than driving, be very reliable and be frequent enough to be convenient. And you'd still need parking for along the spokes. Now if the Island starts to develop more centralized business districts say along the LIE, and a push is made to move residents more towards the shores it could work.
I was noticing the size of Brookhaven but still think it's doable. For a large district you could have sub-districts but all administration of services for the schools would still be centralized.
It would have to be at least 4 huge if not 6 moderately large districts. And then there would still be the issue of poor areas and wealthy areas which would lead to district gerrymandering and busing. When all is said and done, we might save a few bucks, but at the overall expense of the children's well being.
FWIW -- I am in the far northwestern corner of Brookhaven and it takes me 40 mins with moderate traffic to get to Yaphank by the SCPD. I couldn't imagine the bus rides the students would endure coming from any of the border communities in Brookhaven if they attended a regional town HS as opposed to their current high schools.
Why would there have to be gerrymandering or busing? The town collects taxes for the schools and makes sure that they are distributed fairly, though not equally. The goal of the town is to provide top notch education for as many of it's residents as possible. Affluent areas would still get better schools, but the poorer ones will stand a chance of getting better because of shared resources allowing more money to go into education rather than duplicated services.
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