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My husband and I are thinking of moving from Maplewood, NJ to LI in order to be closer to my family. We live in an extremely diverse (from a racial, religious, etc. standpoint) and progressive community (mostly liberal, with many other points of view openly accepted!). We love it here and if I could pick up the town and plunk it down near my family, life would be just peachy! But since I can't--are there towns in LI that are diverse in these respects but also liberal or progressive or, at least, democrat? I thank you all for your insight.
Many residents of Long Island prize towns that are overwhelmingly white and conservative.
The last time someone (woman from Cali) was on here asking about finding a diverse place to live, all she got was recommendations for mostly white places, that started with "Well it isn't diverse, but it is a very nice town."
Check out Valley Stream in Nassau County. It has a good mix of what you are describing.
Liberal is not that hard to find. LI is increasingly Democrat (Pete King's district wouldn't exist if if weren't for gerrymandering).
Diverse is. LI is segregated. Some of the barriers between different groups of white people are breaking down, but especially in Nassau, racial divides are slow to go.
What are your budget, commute, house, and school requirements? That will dictate a lot of your choices on LI.
If your looking for Upper middle class + Diverse then try Rockville Centre or Dix Hills. Rockville Centre would be my first pick. I think Rockville is more Republican though, not sure about Dix Hills.
Last edited by ranbk2; 10-10-2009 at 11:54 AM..
Reason: update
If your looking for Upper middle class + Diverse then try Rockville Centre or Dix Hills. Rockville Centre would be my first pick. I think Rockville is more Republican though, not sure about Dix Hills.
I agree with Dix Hills.
However, I would not agree with RVC.
RVC is not diverse:
Races in Rockville Centre:
White Non-Hispanic (86.5%)
Hispanic (7.7%)
Black (3.7%)
Other race (2.8%)
Two or more races (1.0%)
It is also not a liberal town. Maybe there was some liberal in charge once upon a time which is where they got their low-income housing project from.
For example, why did Rockville Centre refuse to have this community, Lakeview, in their school district and foist them off on a different Village, Malverne:
Races in Lakeview:
Black (84.9%)
Hispanic (6.9%)
White Non-Hispanic (5.2%)
Two or more races (3.9%)
Other race (3.4%)
American Indian (1.3%)
Ancestries: West Indian (23.8%), Subsaharan African (2.7%), United States (2.4%), Irish (1.4%).
********
Why did they not welcome these children?
Lakeview is so closely associated with Rockville Centre, that when you are looking for homes on the website of the MLS of LI, the houses in Lakeview are actually listed on the website under Rockville Centre. There is no category at all for Lakeview itself.
I could be wrong, but a long time ago I swear there was a massive fight by Rockville Centre to shunt Lakeview children off to the Malverne SD. Feel free to correct me if I am imagining things.
PS: I wonder how many RVC residents that read this are going to dash off angry emails to the MLS of Long Island.
I don't know about that one, actually--school district boundaries on LI tend to have been set decades ago, before current racial patterns existed (in fact, patterns of racial segregation often correspond to preexisting school district/village boundaries). District boundaries can only be changed by the state legislature.
MLS has its own quirks for how they list houses--it's largely, but not exclusively, by post office rules. Lakeview doesn't exist as far as the USPS is concerned.
I wouldn't call RVC either diverse or liberal.
BTW, Census stats for Maplewood, NJ:
58.78% white
32.63% black
2.86% Asian
0.13% Native American
4.01% two or more races
5.23% Latino of any race.
The only places with an ethnic mix close to that are Valley Stream and Westbury village (but the school district is substantially different).
I don't know about that one, actually--school district boundaries on LI tend to have been set decades ago, before current racial patterns existed (in fact, patterns of racial segregation often correspond to preexisting school district/village boundaries). District boundaries can only be changed by the state legislature.
MLS has its own quirks for how they list houses--it's largely, but not exclusively, by post office rules. Lakeview doesn't exist as far as the USPS is concerned.
I wouldn't call RVC either diverse or liberal.
BTW, Census stats for Maplewood, NJ:
58.78% white
32.63% black
2.86% Asian
0.13% Native American
4.01% two or more races
5.23% Latino of any race.
The only places with an ethnic mix close to that are Valley Stream and Westbury village (but the school district is substantially different).
It was decades ago. I will ask my mom if she remembers anything about it or if I am just hallucinating.
What school district is substantially different? I don't get that part.
If they move within the Westbury school district, they will need to consider private school because of very poor performance.
If they move within one of the school districts serving Valley Stream, they do not have to consider that, as all perform well (although not in the elite category on LI) unless they prefer private, parochial or religious schools.
Here are the C-D stats from the main page for Westbury:
Races in Westbury:
White Non-Hispanic (51.6%)
Black (22.6%)
Hispanic (18.9%)
Other race (5.9%)
Two or more races (4.7%)
Asian Indian (1.7%)
Chinese (1.0%)
Filipino (0.9%)
American Indian (0.7%)
And for Valley Stream:
Races in Valley Stream:
White Non-Hispanic (71.4%)
Hispanic (12.3%)
Black (7.5%)
Other race (4.1%)
Two or more races (2.5%)
Asian Indian (2.0%)
Chinese (1.9%)
Filipino (1.3%)
Korean (0.8%)
Other Asian (0.7%)
This is all very helpful information. I am wondering where this racial data can be found? I'd like to look at it for Dix Hills. I am also interested in Babylon.
As far as more detail on what we are looking for--budget $550 max. house--3 bdr 1.5 bath. commute--less than 1 hour nyc. prefer walkable to train w/ no transferring... schools--we have 1 child and we really believe in public school, so we don't want to send her to private school (which we can't afford anyway!). we also would like to live in a town with a 'main street' area that is walkable, and where local library/school/park/train are within walking distance, which is what we enjoy here in Maplewood. I look forward to more input--thank you so much for your time and insights.
fastpitch73, in case you are unfamiliar with the local geography:
What people refer to colloquially as "towns" are actually villages and hamlets, which are within actual towns; and, because villages and hamlets are referred to as "towns", then, many times, the error is compounded when actual towns are referred to as "townships".
Also, many colloquially refer to a "downtown business district" in a hamlet as a "village".
You can get a fact sheet for any city, village or hamlet on Long Island by going here American FactFinder and input the name of the city, village or hamlet for "city/town" (leave out the ZIP Code) and New York for "State", and then click "GO".
You'll get a lot of demographic, and some economic, statistics for the city, village or hamlet you selected, and if you click on "Reference map" (it's on the right hand side), you'll get a map.
When you do find a house that you like, you can find out in which community (city, village or CDP) that house is actually located, which is oftentimes different from the community named in that house's mailing address, by using the Census Bureau's online address search function. (CDP or Census Designated Place is the Census Bureau equivalent for a hamlet in Nassau and Suffolk Counties.)
And, very importantly, among other things, the Census Bureau's online address search function also indicates in which school district an address is located.
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Understanding the geography of "Lawn Guyland"
