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Old 12-03-2010, 02:44 AM
 
Location: North shore, Long Island
1,919 posts, read 5,748,153 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Pequaman View Post
Holy crap, that was a lot to digest but I'll try I was merely pointing out the differences that I noticed to 1nevets who thinks all the Riviera towns are the same by simply driving through a main artery.
I'm not sure where I wrote that. My observation are from driving in these towns. Actually seeing the neighborhoods. Although my day job deals with mostly commercial properties 20% of my traveling is still done in residential neighborhoods. My debate was not to put down the tract housing that dominates Long Island. It was just to point out that it's the dominate housing type in the Riviera. There is nothing wrong with that. Most of my life was spent in this type of housing. I would never generalize a town based only on its commercial streets. As you said in a previous post, most people don't care if their neighbor has a house that looks identical to theirs. I just happen to be one of the few that do. Since I couldn't afford Westchester or the better parts of Long Island. It took me years to find Wading River, an affordable town that has a tendency at least north of 25a to buck the tract housing trend.
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Old 12-03-2010, 11:14 AM
 
Location: Massapequa Park
3,172 posts, read 6,719,241 times
Reputation: 1374
Quote:
Originally Posted by sean sean sean sean View Post
I didn't think you were knocking it, I'm just completely baffled by the whole basement thing, LOL...
In order for the bolded statement to be true, nearly half of the homes in Wantagh proper would have to be basement-less. I can definitively state, having lived in this very small portion of land for quite awhile now, that no more than 60% - at the absolute MOST - of the homes here (here being "North Wantagh") are of the Levitt variety. All other neighborhoods have partial or full basements. 60% of North Wantagh = ~25% of the combined two areas' housing stock, which means that to push the grand total of non-basement homes over 50% ("more than half") - Wantagh would need to be ~43% non-subterranean. It's not anywhere close to that....in fact, that figure is probably less than 10%.
I did a quick search on Google and found no definitive data on # of basements in wantagh. But if you go by a realtor site search for properties in Wantagh and sort by "basement", you get 80 out of 127 listings. So 37% (of both Wantaghs, which is way above avg for LI) without basements is the most conclusive data we can come up with.


Quote:
Sorry to throw a lot of numbers out there at you, but I don't know how else I could possibly explain this in real terms. I used the household figures you provided in another post to come up with these percentages. The only other way to solve this debate beyond some very fuzzy math would be to look at property records for 10,000+ homes and see literally how many of them have basements and how many don't....but I'm pretty confident my guesstimate would line up well with that, as I believe most Wantagh residents would agree.
Numbers don't bother me. But 15,000 word Op-eds (that didn't include basement data) on the differences btwn both is a little cumbersome to go through, especially when I know most of the obvious differences.. and you could list them line by line.

Quote:
Obviously, it's a completely trivial factor. Does it really matter how many houses have basements? Of course not!....but I think that by insisting on challenging conventional wisdom, you're also making people question how familiar you really are with the area and how accurate your other statements are. So even though it's a seriously minor detail, it's a major head scratcher. The only way I can imagine you arrived at this conclusion was by assuming that every single home in North Wantagh is a Levitt (btw - RANCH, not Cape!! Another thing that's driving me nuts, LOL), which is again something that indicates you might not be as familiar with the subject matter as it appears.
Levitt ranch / Levitt cape... I mean, are we really going to split hairs over this? In the context of this discussion, I'm referring to "Levitt style" home, okay?
levitt cape - Google Search
I could have picked apart this whole paragraph here vvv
Quote:
-ENVIRONS: Massapequa is the quintessential South Shore bedroom community. It's exactly what I think of when I think of "Long Island". Post-war, tract housing neighborhoods, strip malls, fast food, an actual mall and it's right on the bay. Prime real estate is waterfront contemporary. Massapequa Park has a nice, although very small, downtown area.....as does Massapequa - though it's even smaller. Most places of business are located in various sized strip malls with large parking lots along main thoroughfares. Wantagh, though similar, is a much older area occupying a narrow slice of the Town of Hempstead. Housing is mixed, with neighborhoods developed piecemeal and highlighted by mid-sized, stately 19th century dwellings. Wantagh has a larger (though still small) downtown area, however I find it is much more active and usable with several restaurants and bars. In fact, most commerce in Wantagh is situated within walking distance of this area. Condos or (legal) apartments are not very common in either town, but there are a handful in both. EDGE: WANTAGH
What you think of as Massapequa (when you include Amityville) is not what most people consider "Massapequa proper". I almost question your knowledge of the area >"Massapequa has the best fast food hamburgers in the United States and that certainly counts for something....plus a White Castle too." where is this coming from?? If you consider All American fast food, you're mistaken. From the knishes to the home made fries to the double doubles to the thick shakes, you won't find processed junk like at Mc'D's. I personally think AA is overrated TBH.. I love their fries though. But getting back on point, There are NO fast food joints in Massapequa (MASSAPEQUA / MASSAPEQUA PARK). If we're going to talk about fast food capitals of the world, the giant McDonalds in the epicenter of downtown Wantagh and a KFC right up the block wins that prize in my book.




+Tract housing. You are overemphasizing this and it's probably not accurate. There may be some pockets of it, but it's the exception rather than the rule here. And yes, there is a much better breadth of housing in the Pequas and slightly lower taxes.



Quote:
It only makes sense to include whatever people think of when they think of "Massapequa" or whatever people think of when they think of "Wantagh". The OP didn't give specifics, so the most logical assumption is some kind of "best guess" hybrid geographic area that accounts for all or some parts of most/any municipal entity or derivative thereof bearing the respective names of the places mentioned. This is most commonly and closely referred to as the loosely defined, non-political "community" name associated with the place in question.

The completely open-to-interpretation "community" moniker varies greatly across Long Island and exists distinctly without respect to boundaries set forth by nature, county, town, village, school district, postal zone, police precinct, boy scout troop, Roman Catholic diocese, Congressional District, supernatural force, or otherwise. It has static borders within the mind of an individual, sometimes informed by habitual passive ignorance to 'correct geography', road maps, improperly labeled/placed Civic Association banners, non-conformist mailmen and many other factors - and is less often based in the named and defined conventions dictated within local and state legislature with respect to municipalities & their respective cartography.....however it can never have a finite end or beginning, top or bottom, middle or outside (or what-have-you) amongst the collective consciousness. Regardless, we are all a part of a community one way or another. We all know what community we are part of, since we more or less decide to become (or stay) a part of it.....and we can certainly discuss our, and other, communities here amongst others without putting absolutely, 100% correct labels on them.

So what I'm saying is, we're talking about "Massapequa" and "Wantagh" - whatever those words mean to whoever is reading them!! I do know the significant governmental/political differences between them and even most of the specific dividing lines between them (in this case) and why that information is important....but in a discussion like this, it really doesn't matter!
Right. Summed up in one sentence: "Location" is in the eye of the beholder.
Attached Thumbnails
Wantagh or Massapequa-downtown_wantagh_mcdonalds.jpg  

Last edited by Pequaman; 12-03-2010 at 11:37 AM..
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Old 12-03-2010, 11:29 AM
 
Location: Massapequa Park
3,172 posts, read 6,719,241 times
Reputation: 1374
Quote:
Originally Posted by 1nevets View Post
I'm not sure where I wrote that. My observation are from driving in these towns. Actually seeing the neighborhoods. Although my day job deals with mostly commercial properties 20% of my traveling is still done in residential neighborhoods. My debate was not to put down the tract housing that dominates Long Island. It was just to point out that it's the dominate housing type in the Riviera. There is nothing wrong with that. Most of my life was spent in this type of housing. I would never generalize a town based only on its commercial streets. As you said in a previous post, most people don't care if their neighbor has a house that looks identical to theirs. I just happen to be one of the few that do. Since I couldn't afford Westchester or the better parts of Long Island. It took me years to find Wading River, an affordable town that has a tendency at least north of 25a to buck the tract housing trend.
You wrote that on pg 2 somewhere. You also wrote, in the past, that Levittown & Seaford were "white trash" areas, but I'm not going to go dig it up for you.
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Old 12-03-2010, 12:35 PM
 
Location: Mamby Pamby Land
6 posts, read 18,673 times
Reputation: 10
jeez, this pequa guy just dont quit does he? you are using a realtor site's availability to ascertain the percentage of basements in wantagh?

you both have good points. to the original poster, either is a good choice. i personally prefer wantagh and i have a basement.

pequa--take a pill man.
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Old 12-03-2010, 12:42 PM
 
Location: Quincy, MA
64 posts, read 193,390 times
Reputation: 23
Sean x 4, where is this quintessential town square/downtown strip of Wantagh you reference? This is not meant in a sarcastic/derogatory way at all...my experience is limited in these areas, but from what I've seen of Wantagh (again, not much, mostly the area around MacArthur HS, which really isn't "Wantagh" and whatever route gets you from Sunrise in Massapequa to that MacArthur area), I mostly saw main roads and strip malls...nothing like a "walking down the street" town center.

If there is an area more "walkable", I'd love to hear about it..as I said in the Bellmore thread I started yesterday, something very important to us is that "center of town"/community kind of feel, rather than just having our town be a bunch of residential streets, gas stations and highways. We're very big into parking the car somewhere on a nice Saturday and walking around town for a while, and while its obviously very easy to drive somewhere else that has a little "village" to it, having that in our "hometown" would definitely be a plus.

Thanks!
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Old 12-03-2010, 12:59 PM
 
Location: North shore, Long Island
1,919 posts, read 5,748,153 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Pequaman View Post
You wrote that on pg 2 somewhere. You also wrote, in the past, that Levittown & Seaford were "white trash" areas, but I'm not going to go dig it up for you.
Traditional working class. If I used those words (wt) they were most likely deleted.

Last edited by 1nevets; 12-03-2010 at 01:10 PM..
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Old 12-03-2010, 01:09 PM
 
Location: North shore, Long Island
1,919 posts, read 5,748,153 times
Reputation: 506
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pequaman View Post
You wrote that on pg 2 somewhere. You also wrote, in the past, that Levittown & Seaford were "white trash" areas, but I'm not going to go dig it up for you.
JUst read page 2. Didn't see anything stating that the Riviera was the essence of their commercial areas. Once again the two of us being on different pages. I did make a remark that the homes styles are more similar as compare to other regional towns. You know when you're in Manhasset as compared to Roslyn or Great Neck. If I was from upstate and got lost in wantagh but ended up in Massapequa, I wouldn't notice the difference. I would scream GET ME OUT OF THIS LOOKALIKE NEIGHBORHOOD!!!!!!!!! JK!
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Old 12-03-2010, 03:13 PM
 
Location: Massapequa Park
3,172 posts, read 6,719,241 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TheBS19 View Post
Sean x 4, where is this quintessential town square/downtown strip of Wantagh you reference? This is not meant in a sarcastic/derogatory way at all...my experience is limited in these areas, but from what I've seen of Wantagh (again, not much, mostly the area around MacArthur HS, which really isn't "Wantagh" and whatever route gets you from Sunrise in Massapequa to that MacArthur area), I mostly saw main roads and strip malls...nothing like a "walking down the street" town center.

If there is an area more "walkable", I'd love to hear about it..as I said in the Bellmore thread I started yesterday, something very important to us is that "center of town"/community kind of feel, rather than just having our town be a bunch of residential streets, gas stations and highways. We're very big into parking the car somewhere on a nice Saturday and walking around town for a while, and while its obviously very easy to drive somewhere else that has a little "village" to it, having that in our "hometown" would definitely be a plus.

Thanks!
It's sort of walkable in Wantagh's downtown. It starts around (starting north from railroad ave) the Mcdonalds and you have Mulcahys bar to your east along with a few other stores. Proceeding north there's a pizza place, a bowling alley not too far and other mix of shops.

Massapequa Park's downtown has more of a village feel (similar to Garden City's 7th street w.Pedestrian crossings and various shops).. There's the Village hall, McGorey's and some stores to your east on front street, then lots of shops as you go north up Park blvd in the map link here>
massapequa park village - Google Maps


We also have another nice "downtown" area @ Southgate shopping center
Commercial / Retail Properties - Kabro Associates

From bagels to banking to ice cream to pizza to bars to dining to meat stores to hardware stores to dentists to whatever, pretty much all your needs are within walking distance in one of these 2 "downtowns".. each has their own post office as well. All the Riviera towns have similar downtowns, maybe not like Massapequa Park's though.

Both Wantagh and Massapequa are great areas, as is Bellmore.

Last edited by Pequaman; 12-03-2010 at 03:31 PM..
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Old 12-03-2010, 03:20 PM
 
549 posts, read 2,188,001 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TheBS19 View Post
Sean x 4, where is this quintessential town square/downtown strip of Wantagh you reference? This is not meant in a sarcastic/derogatory way at all...my experience is limited in these areas, but from what I've seen of Wantagh (again, not much, mostly the area around MacArthur HS, which really isn't "Wantagh" and whatever route gets you from Sunrise in Massapequa to that MacArthur area), I mostly saw main roads and strip malls...nothing like a "walking down the street" town center.

If there is an area more "walkable", I'd love to hear about it..as I said in the Bellmore thread I started yesterday, something very important to us is that "center of town"/community kind of feel, rather than just having our town be a bunch of residential streets, gas stations and highways. We're very big into parking the car somewhere on a nice Saturday and walking around town for a while, and while its obviously very easy to drive somewhere else that has a little "village" to it, having that in our "hometown" would definitely be a plus.

Thanks!
This area is what I would consider a strip mall area, a few of them, decent amount of stores but you are not going to be spending a Saturday there.

Even Bellmore village is which is cute does not have that much to do. If you are looking for an area like Northport or Huntington that has that "village" area you are not going to find it Bellmore, Wantagh etc.
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Old 12-03-2010, 03:56 PM
 
Location: Quincy, MA
64 posts, read 193,390 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by onrway2clt View Post
This area is what I would consider a strip mall area, a few of them, decent amount of stores but you are not going to be spending a Saturday there.

Even Bellmore village is which is cute does not have that much to do. If you are looking for an area like Northport or Huntington that has that "village" area you are not going to find it Bellmore, Wantagh etc.

Well, like I've said, its a balance. Sure those places have a better village it seems, but then the commute to Manhattan stinks.

And there are maybe places like Rockville Centre, so I've read, that have better villages in Nassau, but then we're buying above our means (or just a crap house).

I can go for "cute" and drive to the better ones. And one of the things I'm most looking for in a town center, even if the center itself isn't that "Saturday afternoon" destination, is the sense of community that comes with it; the Xmas tree lightings, the holiday parades, the festivals, etc etc.

Just trying to find the best mix of everything, ya know? But I love the honest assessments; helps me gather information that I know isn't just sugar-coated nonsense that I'll come to find out later was misleading.
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