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I think there's zero incentive for the likes of Syosset and Jericho, that's why I think the Suffolk South Shore villages may be a place to start.
I agree with the rail to NYC but think that a business that gets revenue from The City but allows it's employees to work in a village would be attractive. OK, I will admit that it's just a pipe dream.
Location: Prince Georges County, MD (formerly Long Island, NY)
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I think the OP is talking more about transit development-- sort of like what's been happening by the Mineola station.
Other large cities have areas in the suburbs like this-- Chicago has Evanston, Washington has Silver Spring, Arlington, Bethesda, etc. Shoot, New York even has White Plains. I'm not saying we should go that dense, but there's no reason we can't have more apartments and walkable shopping in areas near railroad stations. Of course, it's all wishful thinking.
At least around the rail stations, there should be higher densities and mix use such as office, residential and retail. One could theorectically live, work and shop all in the same location without having to drive.
They should allow for low, mid and even some highrise towers. And they need to expand the rail connections, too. Maybe light rail?
Why are Long Islanders so afraid of density?
Long Island is losing young people, a brain drain. Young people like urban areas. So why are they not trying to create some choices for young people on Long Island?
I think the actual reason for Long Island's pedestrian-unfriendliness is within its original design. Robert Moses designed the entire NYC Metro Area around a highway-based circulatory system, as opposed to rails, trollies, or public transportation as seen in NYC and other metros. This caused massive residentialization of the area, since a house does not need to be in walking distance to anything if you have a car, it just had to be driving distance to a highway or major road. The widespread car ownership likewise resulted in little need for any densely populated urban centers, which is pretty much what we have here today.
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Location: Where my bills arrive
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Pinuzzo
I think the actual reason for Long Island's pedestrian-unfriendliness is within its original design. Robert Moses designed the entire NYC Metro Area around a highway-based circulatory system, as opposed to rails, trollies, or public transportation as seen in NYC and other metros. This caused massive residentialization of the area, since a house does not need to be in walking distance to anything if you have a car, it just had to be driving distance to a highway or major road. The widespread car ownership likewise resulted in little need for any densely populated urban centers, which is pretty much what we have here today.
You are correct, LI development was never meant to be public transit based/dense housing. After WWII when Levittown was created they literally headed east
you will observe that their is nothing there but fields and 2 intersecting highways. Along with the houses the shopping center was born and we know the rest from there.
Consider the area lucky in that the LIRR was available to provide a viable public transit route to the jobs in the city many later suburbs didn't even have that. US suburbs that developed after WWII were almost exclusively based on the car or in some lucky locations the car which brought them to a commuter rail.
Robert Moses in long dead and hasn't been a factor for decades. Should communities in fill and up their density I don't know, if Nassau towns start looking like Queens what's the benefit of moving out of the city?
At least around the rail stations, there should be higher densities and mix use such as office, residential and retail. One could theorectically live, work and shop all in the same location without having to drive.
They should allow for low, mid and even some highrise towers. And they need to expand the rail connections, too. Maybe light rail?
Why are Long Islanders so afraid of density?
Long Island is losing young people, a brain drain. Young people like urban areas. So why are they not trying to create some choices for young people on Long Island?
I hate density, I can't wait to move into the middle of nowhere without having my neighbors on top of me. Why would you want a more densely population?? It's crowded enough here and the traffic can be a nightmare. No thanks!
I hate density, I can't wait to move into the middle of nowhere without having my neighbors on top of me. Why would you want a more densely population?? It's crowded enough here and the traffic can be a nightmare. No thanks!
Density sucks if you hate people and you prefer to drive to everything. I moved to Suffolk County a couple of decades ago and I have noticed a marked increase in traffic congestion.
Density is great if you prefer to be able to walk to many amenities and/or public transportation. Not everyone wants to deal with the hassle and expense of driving everywhere.
Given that there is a lack of open space remaining on Long Island (at least west of Brookhaven), increasing density is the likely long term scenario. And I agree that a great place to start is to increase the density (via mixed use development) near the transit hubs.
Why would you want a more densely population?? It's crowded enough here and the traffic can be a nightmare. No thanks!
You answered your own question in the bolded sentence. Given greater congestion in the roads, rising gasoline prices, and higher demands on middle class people's lifestyle (ie, both parents working, longer hours, job insecurity, higher expectations on kids, etc.), the less time these people spend on the roads, the better.
With housing closer to one another, more open space can be dedicated to parks, playgrounds, sports facilities, boardwalks, etc.
This is rather interesting from a sociological and historical perspective. When Long Island was being developed in the 50s, 60s, and 70s, people lived with their parents until they married. Then they started having children right away. There really weren't too many "young professionals" in their 20s and 30s. Now, we have a whole group of people in a transient stage of their life, young childless adults who may be single or single living with a SO, delaying children until they finish graduate school and/or get their career established. During the urban planning stage of the post WWII era, we really didn't anticipate or plan for this group of people.
I don't think they existed back then so no plans for them. The young professionals should really be out playing in bands, hitchhiking across Europe, joining the Navy and seeing the world, living on a commune, surfing, anything but being a young professional.
During the urban planning stage of the post WWII era, we really didn't anticipate or plan for this group of people.
That urban planning stage of the post WWII era was really a large housing project. The country faced a severe housing shortage with so many people returning from war and starting families. The powers that be at that time subsidized sprawling suburbs rather than PJ apartment buildings because they were easier to build. It was also lobbied for by the auto and steel industries who profited from decades of construction and family car purchases.
What those powers failed to mention was that while the suburbs were easy to build, they were more expensive to maintain and a lot of municipalities borrowed money for maintenance and upgrades and eventually got into debt.
As long as people had steady jobs and access to credit, the arrangement went well. But with the loss of job security, defined benefit pensions, offshoring and obsolescence, affording such a lifestyle became more and more challenging.
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