Infrastructure Please
From a local village nestled in the hills of Long Island’s North Shore, all the way up to President Obama giving his State of the Union address, it seems like every policymaker is focusing on America’s crumbling infrastructure.This focus is long overdue. The simple...
A Broader Mix of Housing, and Then Some
Recently, Ann Golob and Nancy Rauch-Douzinas, both from the Long Island Index, wrote individual op-eds on Long Island’s housing mix that appeared on the pages of LIBN and in the Huffington Post. The pieces, like many before them, argue that the key to Long Island’s...
The Foggiest Idea in Newsday: January 9, 2015
The following Letter to the Editor was published in the January 9, 2015 edition of Newsday on page A34. The online letter can be read here. While it's notable that Long Island is moving forward on some of its larger-scale, transformative projects, caution should still...
A Zero-Sum Game
It seems 2015 is hitting the ground running, with influential Long Islanders touting the need for more apartments, more sewers and the need to keep the region’s young people “downtown.” From the comments of panelists, predictions to media by industry people and...
The Big Questions of 2014
This was a busy year on Long Island. From pending megaprojects in Islip to the ever-changing roles of IDAs, the region is looking at a transformative 2015. Will Long Islanders learn from 2014 and it’s common themes? All too often throughout 2014, the solutions Long...
The Rise and Fall of LI’s Speed Cameras
Outrage. Deception. Money-making scheme. These are some of the more polite terms tossed around regarding Nassau County's fundamentally flawed speed camera program, which was unanimously passed by the County Legislature and signed into law by New York State in June....
An Exceptional Vision Indeed
Recently, Nancy Rauch Douzinas wrote a piece for the Huffington Post that celebrates an LIBN op-ed penned by Long Island’s county executives Steve Bellone and Ed Mangano concerning the notion of maximizing the region’s economic growth via transit. Rauch’s piece stood...
Hyperlocal? Not Exactly
Vision Long Island’s Eric Alexander recently argued on LIBN’s pages for a continuation of the smart growth movement’s hyperlocal approach as the be-all, end all solution that works for Long Island. Alexander cites the accomplishments of the movement, chides...
The Foggiest Five: Steve Jones, Former Director of Planning for Suffolk County
The following are answers to The Foggiest Five, a set of questions asked to influential Long Islanders on the future of the region. This round features answers from Steve Jones, whose extensive resume includes CEO of the Suffolk County Water Authority, and Director of...
Long Island Suburbs: How Planners Should Treat Age Spots
The following was published on New Geography on 11/11/2014. You can find the piece here. The piece was adapted from my recent LIBN piece "Elephants in the Room". Long Island is the birthplace of suburbia, from colonial-period Brooklyn to Levittown and beyond, and its...
