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I've said it a hundred times...we need a friggin Disneyland here. Screw the Islanders. Spending money on a lousy hockey team is a waste.(no offense to Islander fans)
Instead of blowing the money on certain aspects of the lighthouse project, bring in something that will really drive people in. A fancy hockey arena and some stores will get old quick. Build something that people will absolutely want and need to be.
Disneyworld! Six Flags! Water Park! Atlantis Marineworld West!
Lighthouse schmighthouse.
Build a damn tourism hub that will draw people from all over the place.
I think the novelty of the whole Lighthouse thing will wear off quick.
Other than some nice beaches and a few one-off scattered tourism joints, there is nothing to do here.
Anything we do have is scattered. Imagine being a tourist trying to plan an itinerary.
You'd lose your mind trying to work it out with all the bouncing from one end of the Island to the other. We need a centralised tourist hub. End of story.
I'm calling Disney right now.
A $2k reduction in taxes is a help to most people, and while it won't make or break 99.9% of folks out there, why pay more than you have to?
Nobody should. Admitting that I understand another side of the argument isn't agreeing with it!
IMO, there is absolutely no positive to this situation for anyone who isn't a government employee on LI. Even if it realistically wouldn't make a serious difference to most people, you're right - why should we be pissing money away? However little of it? And when it comes to major construction projects, retail/industrial/commercial, and high end housing, the taxes become a MAJOR factor....so it really is effecting us more than just what's in our pockets.
As for people who are on the brink of foreclosure or seniors who are struggling to keep up with the taxes, I think grant's point was that $2k isn't gonna save them anyway....at best it might (very shortly) delay the inevitable.
karl - I would vomit everywhere if they put a Disneyland on LI.....holy crap. I dunno why, but people who are really into Disney crap kinda freak me out.
You couldn't pay me to go to a Disney park, but obviously there are a whole bunch of people who enjoy it. Doesn't matter, it'll never happen here. It's too good of an idea for it to actually happen.
Anyway, I called Disney, they hung up on me when I tried to pitch my idea.
You couldn't pay me to go to a Disney park, but obviously there are a whole bunch of people who enjoy it. Doesn't matter, it'll never happen here. It's too good of an idea for it to actually happen.
Anyway, I called Disney, they hung up on me when I tried to pitch my idea.
I would go for a Six Flags "Wild Safari". I'm sure there are a couple of farms next to each other that have gone belly up in like Calverton or Riverhead we could stick it on. I'm also sure the animals would inevitably end up escaping and terrorizing the east end of Long Island, though.
Last edited by sean sean sean sean; 02-23-2010 at 10:00 AM..
Reason: SYNTAX ERROR!!!!!!111
We have decent tourism out east. "The East End".
Nothing notable or centralised west.
Don't get me wrong, there are some cool places in Nassau, but they are so spread out it's a logistical nightmare for your average tourist to take everything in within reason and have it still be a pleasurable experience. Driving from east to west or north to south on the Island is brutal enough for residents, it's a living nightmare for people who are not used to hustle and bustle, and aggressive and radical driving habits. When we get stuck in traffic out of state, it's usually a joke compared to what we have here. And as you'll find in many posts here, the laid back driving habits of other states drives us crazy. It's the flip side for tourists. Our crazy and aggressive driving here scares the pants off a lot of people.
Nassau needs a centralized tourist area, everything located within a 5 or 10 mile radius, and for the braver and more adventurous, they can head out east or hit other places around the Island.
Theme parks, casinos, shopping, hotels, all within walking or short driving distance.
The money something like this would rake in would be totally ridiculous, thousands of jobs for the Island and millions or billions in tax revenue.
02-23-2010, 06:13 PM
grant516
n/a posts
I heard many moons ago Long Beach was a hot tourist destination.
grant - Good points, and good suggestions too! I am 100% opposed to the outlandish benefit packages and wasteful spending in seemingly every single civil service industry on LI....but at the same time, when I break it down in my head I realize that what realistically could be cut won't amount to a hill of beans in savings for most people. Let's put it this way - I am pretty much at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder for LI. I rent an apartment in a Levitt house that I can only afford because one of my friends knew the landlord and hooked me up with a crazy good deal.....and $2k a year is nothing to me. Don't get me wrong, it'd be a big deal to have that extra money, but it's not coming anywhere close to making or breaking me.
However, on the other side of that ladder, some of the things you mention we're lacking (industry, construction, tourism) are scared off the island specifically because the property taxes become so extreme on that end. Saving $2k on your $11k taxes might not be some crazy difference, but that's still a little less than 20% yearly cost......think about how much of a difference that would make on a multi-billion dollar construction project! Why do it on LI if you can do it so much cheaper elsewhere?
after another ten years of annual 7% tax increases , that $2k/year will piece will become almost $4k/year (remember the rule of 72 - a 7% dividend on investment will double in slightly over 10 years). Total savings to the taxpayer would be just under $30000. Yes, that is serious money.
EDIT: Just wanted to add, the taxes aren't the only reason stuff like that is scared off the island, although I do think it's a big part of it. Look at what a cluster EFF the Lighthouse project is. For a change, public opinion was actually in favor of it.....yet archaic shortsighted idiocy at the Town of Hempstead is gonna shut the whole thing down. That happens too much on Long Island. If you wanna keep your neighborhood exactly like it was in 1964, don't cry when the tax bill comes and bites you in the ass. No place this dense can stagnate this hard (in terms of not getting new construction on the tax rolls) and not pay the price.
after another ten years of annual 7% tax increases , that $2k/year will piece will become almost $4k/year in savings (remember the rule of 72 - a 7% dividend on investment will double in slightly over 10 years). Total savings to the taxpayer would be just under $30000. Yes, that is serious money.
and $2k a year is nothing to me. Don't get me wrong, it'd be a big deal to have that extra money, but it's not coming anywhere close to making or breaking me.
It's not the $2,000 - it's the $2,000 every few years. My taxes have gone up $7000 a year since we bought this house. My HO insurance has more than doubled. You're talking about an extra $600 a month on the mortgage. We have an ARM, which has always worked in our favor, as rates have gone down considerably since we bought our house, and with our ARM, we actually get a free refinance every year, because they calculate our new payment based on what we currently owe, not the original mortgage. But what if someone had a fixed rate mortgage and their payment went up $600 a month? I don't think people who are buying houses now or have bought in the last few years truly realize what it's going to mean for them in another 10 years when they can't pay the monthly nut that seemed reasonable when they closed...and the only thing that's changing is their property tax.
My new neighbor asked me last fall if I was voting "yes" on the school bond in my town last fall and I said - no. She said her DH was opposed as well but it was "only going to cost another $250 a year". I told her I've been "$250 a year-ed" to death over the last dozen years. She's starting out with taxes at $12K, and they'll be $20K by the time our kids are in HS.
It's not the $2,000 - it's the $2,000 every few years. My taxes have gone up $7000 a year since we bought this house. My HO insurance has more than doubled. You're talking about an extra $600 a month on the mortgage. We have an ARM, which has always worked in our favor, as rates have gone down considerably since we bought our house, and with our ARM, we actually get a free refinance every year, because they calculate our new payment based on what we currently owe, not the original mortgage. But what if someone had a fixed rate mortgage and their payment went up $600 a month? I don't think people who are buying houses now or have bought in the last few years truly realize what it's going to mean for them in another 10 years when they can't pay the monthly nut that seemed reasonable when they closed...and the only thing that's changing is their property tax.
My new neighbor asked me last fall if I was voting "yes" on the school bond in my town last fall and I said - no. She said her DH was opposed as well but it was "only going to cost another $250 a year". I told her I've been "$250 a year-ed" to death over the last dozen years. She's starting out with taxes at $12K, and they'll be $20K by the time our kids are in HS.
A few years ago our tax INCREASE was larger than my friend's total tax bill in York, PA. Yeah, he had an older house, but it was big and in a nice neighborhood. The garbage truck came to his house two times a week, the school bus came every day, there was a good library, decent schools . The street lights worked, the snow plows came in winter, the cops were out and around, the roads were paved (but not with gold).
grant - Good points, and good suggestions too! I am 100% opposed to the outlandish benefit packages and wasteful spending in seemingly every single civil service industry on LI....but at the same time, when I break it down in my head I realize that what realistically could be cut won't amount to a hill of beans in savings for most people. Let's put it this way - I am pretty much at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder for LI. I rent an apartment in a Levitt house that I can only afford because one of my friends knew the landlord and hooked me up with a crazy good deal.....and $2k a year is nothing to me. Don't get me wrong, it'd be a big deal to have that extra money, but it's not coming anywhere close to making or breaking me.
However, on the other side of that ladder, some of the things you mention we're lacking (industry, construction, tourism) are scared off the island specifically because the property taxes become so extreme on that end. Saving $2k on your $11k taxes might not be some crazy difference, but that's still a little less than 20% yearly cost......think about how much of a difference that would make on a multi-billion dollar construction project! Why do it on LI if you can do it so much cheaper elsewhere?
EDIT: Just wanted to add, the taxes aren't the only reason stuff like that is scared off the island, although I do think it's a big part of it. Look at what a cluster EFF the Lighthouse project is. For a change, public opinion was actually in favor of it.....yet archaic shortsighted idiocy at the Town of Hempstead is gonna shut the whole thing down. That happens too much on Long Island. If you wanna keep your neighborhood exactly like it was in 1964, don't cry when the tax bill comes and bites you in the ass. No place this dense can stagnate this hard (in terms of not getting new construction on the tax rolls) and not pay the price.
Exactly what I was thinking, seanx4.
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