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Yikes- a long read for the day. Full of opinion and emotion from people's childhoods, etc. I'll throw out a few points if I may, and hope you know I'm not trying to clash with anyones opinion or prove anyone wrong- but these are the matters I try to attend to in order to make this Island a better place.
Certainly PM me if you want to help out too. : P
As for the mention of the City-Data top 100 biggest cities in the US, the Census information is an interesting one on that, I actually spout that out quite a bit that Town of Hempstead is the 2nd biggest 'city' in New York and almost the size of SF. Sure it's a township and not a city, but so in the same sense is NYC a conglomerate of 5 boroughs. One has a mayor, one has a supervisor. One has smaller villages with mayors, the other has borough presidents- it isn't ALL too different.
There's a reason ToH, ToNH have some flagship stores in them that you won't find anywhere outside of a Top 10 major city in the US- there's plenty of money and population to be found.
One of the things I believe hurts LI is the dual nature it has as both a Suburb of New York, as well as all the distinctions of a major metropolitan area itself. It's much 'bigger' than people give it credit for, yet has a huge cultural drain coming from Manhattan to the west. This will always be a downfall of the local counties in NY, NJ, CT. I think more-so for Long Island as it is, in fact, an Island. We cannot be seperated from NYC as there is no way around it to the rest of the US.
Yes, LI had a financial peak in the 70's, 80's and yes- I have lived other places and have seen that happen. Being in CA in the late 90s and now going back today to see how dated things look after only 10 years is an interesting life experience. LI Gov't generally wants to preserve the image of those times, without necessarily realizing that it isn't old building or sparce public transit that made it the way it was.
A hangup like the Lighthouse project was the latest refelction people have brought up to this old way of thinking- sadly though the problems the legal entities worried about already exist here tenfold. This leads to one of my biggest gripes-
The Transportation here is abysmal. Imagine if they halved the lanes on I5 and US101 in Los Angeles? Moses built the island infastructure with an artificial cap of people that we have exceeded to an ungodly amount. I don't mind : hell, it works. It's just time to append the traffic problem; and that's going to require some drastic moves.
Even worse, if you so have to deal with the overpriced Public Transit you may question why you are paying the highest-price-per-mile, for direct tracks that still barely blow past 50mph.
I was one of two (out of 2.9 million of us) at the last MTA's public hearing here in Garden City to try and address ths issue of the chokehold they have on the transit issues here in LI.
It falls upon deaf ears though... as much money as they can milk out of Bridge and Tunnel tolls from LI, SI is as much as they need to keep their business running.
They've gone as far to tell me that tolls are in a sense a congestion charge which is absolutely unfair for those of us traveling to any destination outside of NYC as the downstate road system was NEVER COMPLETED (see the long-winded oysterbay to rye story)
I have high hopes for things like the Hofstra Medical School and some form of the Lighthouse project going through. In my years though i've seen a lot of areas of this island go severely downhill; and as more and more baby boomers leave I certainly question what will happen to other areas.
As always though- we do hold quality public schools, and a good sense of saftey in our towns. This isn't enough to keep our mid-twenty-somethings who are in short time going to control the future of this country.
Spot on.
Its a post boom LA/SF too.
Every dime going to housing...nothing left for QOL.
My parents moved out here from Maspeth, Queens in 1949. The development I lived in (and still live in BTW) was one of the first in East Meadow, and was surrounded by farms. Through the years, the farms went and the homes took over. In my teens and twenties, I hated Long Island - it's cookie cutter homes with itty bitty trees, its lack of culture, its boring, boring sameness - a real wasteland - physically and mentally. I went to college in Manhattan, met someone whose job was on LI, married and never left. As I've gotten older, I see how Long Island has matured. The trees along Bellmore Avenue meet in the middle of the road now. I see hawks flying in the sky because they have places to land and roost. We have art museums that actually have good exhibits, we have art movie houses that show something other than Hollywood tripe. We have concert halls that rival anything NY can produce, playhouses that show real drama. We have towns, like Huntington and Sag Harbor that are a pleasure to walk around in. Great Italian restaurants, fine Indian restaurants and any other cuisine you want. We've got bagels and farmers markets, fish markets and French bakeries. You name it, you can find it on Long Island (except for mountains of course). And we still have some of the best beaches in the world. I've been to California beaches and Californians can keep their cold Pacific and their kelp. And our winters are mild, our spring is glorious...what else go you want?
I feel like it would be weird to be somewhere warm during christmas.
Me, too! My cousin moved to a beach area outside LA and her Christmas cards always sport Santa in surf trunks, palm trees, sand. She writes of Christmas shopping when it's 80. I don't get it, but then again, different strokes, right?
Moved here from North shore (marblehead) outside of Boston. Don't notice much trash different from what you see in other towns. Biased is based on a towns like Merrick and Great Neck where corresponding family live. Still seems great to me. Yes high taxes are a problem but it also helps to keep the school systems good.
ok, first LI is a dump...now it's nice but too expensive. Make up your mind. Maybe the places within your price range right now fit that description. If that's the case, well I'm sorry.
Alittle bit of an over simplification of what I said. And im sorry you couldnt sense the hint of sarcasm. I never said long island didnt have its nice neighborhoods.
For the places worth living, you will pay a premium. A very large one at that. And its not complicated, for what you would pay for a bungalo in a nicer neighborhood on long island you can buy a 4+ br home and house a very large family comfortably.
My price range no matter what size has nothing to do with my point ive been trying to put across. I can afford homes on long island, but living where I have in my travels,I know I can get something better for less. I dont know where the complication lies in that. Thats all im saying.
If you like long island and you arent struggling and you live comfortably, obviously there is no need to fix what is broken. But as for me, I want to fix whats not broken and try something new.
09-14-2009, 02:30 PM
grant516
n/a posts
Quote:
Originally Posted by zulu400
You bring up a great point....
I can see what they mean by a "congestion charge" and I would agree with them if I were living in the state I moved from. This is why....
You can take 2 roads from point A to point B. The first road has no toll, and it takes forever to get to point B because of the traffic.
The 2nd road is a toll road that moves at an average speed of 70 mph.
I have no issues with this situation....
For God sakes we are on a frikkin island.... we have no alternative other than to take a bridge.... so I have a huge problem with the tolls being charged just to get out of the island and come back. The least they can do is to waive the tolls on the weekends.
They CANNOT afford to lose the LI/SI funding. If for example some court found it illegal for the MTA to hold ownership of the former TBTA properties and they could no longer use the funding from Bridges and Tunnels-
The subway and bus system would completely shut down; the bridge tolls are VERY VERY VERY lucrative for the MTA system.
Crookhaven you seem to be everywhere and familiar with Long Island can you tell me what areas are popular and known for drug activity, gangs and violence so I can stand clear of them I am trying to raise a family I can not afford the Cold Spring Harbor six, seven figure tax braket you think you can offer some advice on good affordable areas that are mostly free of drugs crime and gangs or anyone who may have information to offer regarding these topics
Crookhaven you seem to be everywhere and familiar with Long Island can you tell me what areas are popular and known for drug activity, gangs and violence so I can stand clear of them I am trying to raise a family I can not afford the Cold Spring Harbor six, seven figure tax braket you think you can offer some advice on good affordable areas that are mostly free of drugs crime and gangs or anyone who may have information to offer regarding these topics
How about Kings Park if youre looking at Western Suffolk?
I totally agree I've only be on Long Island a few years. I grew up in Brooklyn. As far as generosity and common decency I rather be back in Brookly with the drugs on the conner then be surronded by a bunch of snobs who wouldn't lend a helping hand if you were bleeding on their doorsteps. I know everyone on this Island is not like that but it damn sure in the majority.
I heard some bad things about Kings Park don't know if it's true. Think you could offer me a hand full to choose from?
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LI is still great
