A vibrant discussion about the past, present, and future of our region.
Imagine a new kind of housing stock that could accommodate both young professionals and older empty nesters, that was easy to zone, quick and affordable to build and came without appreciable environmental impact. No height or density variances required, thank you, and forget the usual traffic snarls and grousing by the civics. This is living
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Google plans to build 300 modular apartments for workers at its new Mountain View campus near San Francisco, where average rents for a 650-square-foot one bedroom now top $2,250 a month.
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History has anointed Bill Levitt the king of suburbia, but the crown might have as easily gone to Walter Turnbull Shirley, a Brooklyn-born song promoter and wannabe impresario who turned to selling Long Island’s pastoral charm to the masses in the late 1930s. As Shirley told the story, he smooth-talked his way into a meeting
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Photo by Bob Giglione Originally Published in the Long Island Business News Mixed-use developments sprang up around train stations on Long Island more than 100 years ago. That’s where Long Island needs to go again. And two even older vehicles are perfectly suited to get us there: participatory government and the Long Island Rail Road.
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Long Island has a pressing need for housing, and the key question is: How can we address it quickly on a regional basis? There must be more varied housing options for all Long Islanders, but the challenge is to provide those choices Island-wide when zoning decisions are made locally. Hopefully, we can build a strong
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The key to Long Island’s economic future depends on denser development around train stations. It will enable us to attract businesses and young workers, ease traffic congestion, and reduce pressure to develop the region’s remaining open spaces. Ironically, this kind of development is essential to preserving the suburban single-family lifestyle for which Long Island is renowned.
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I’ve been involved in the effort to build affordable housing on Long Island for more than three decades–most of that time at the Community Development Corporation of Long Island. One of the most encouraging trends that I’ve seen is the increasing decline of the NIMBY (“Not In My Back Yard”) attitude that has been far
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“Our young people continue to leave the region in droves, seeking affordable places to live elsewhere.”
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Long Island – world-renowned for its single-family homes – has fewer multifamily housing options than other suburbs near New York City. We have fewer rentals than our suburban neighbors in Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York; we pay more in rent, and we have less housing near transit stations. Not surprisingly, Long Island’s population between
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By Long Island standards, Rockville Centre is a development whirlwind these days, as AvalonBay Communities, Inc. begins construction on 165 new apartments, just two years after taking title to the property. “We’re moving and shaking in Rockville Centre!” said a pleased Mayor Francis X. Murray. It had taken 10 years of lawsuits and angst to
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Long Island makes planning decisions locally but competes for business regionally, and it’s currently losing out because it lacks sufficient housing options, especially for young Long Islanders who are leaving the area in dramatic numbers. A key step in tackling the problem is to understand where multifamily housing exists (or is absent), an understanding local
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Long Island faces a critical need for multifamily housing. This challenge needs to be addressed locally through actions that require sound planning and an engaged community. The good news is that small modifications in zoning can generate the housing Long Island needs, if only enough towns and villages embrace the changes. There is no question
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More than ever, Long Island residents are struggling to pay for housing. Since 1980, the Island has lagged behind regional competitors like Northern New Jersey and the Hudson Valley in residential construction. With comparatively little new housing stock and variety, home prices and rents in Long Island have soared. That has made those other areas more
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What happens when the cost of living makes living here unlivable? It’s no surprise that almost 75 percent of young Long Islanders say they expect to move away over the next five years to find better-paying jobs and cheaper rents.
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70 percent of young Long Islanders – the 18 to 34 crowd – said they will likely leave within the next five years to find more affordable digs.
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Long Islanders want more housing options, and the economic growth of the region requires them. The good news is that two recent studies by the Long Island Index, a project of the Rauch Foundation, highlight the specific challenge and reveal a way to overcome it. Two dramatic shifts in housing needs have emerged that necessitate
View More 20-something Long Islanders live with parents or other older relatives at more than twice the national average.
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Apartment development claws its way back on Long Island.
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Here is how to cure Long Island’s current economic stagnation: expand the biomedical industry and multi-family housing simultaneously.
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Responsible for such dynamic mixed-use projects as the Brewery Blocks in Portland, Oregon, Gerding Edlen’s philosophy was inspired by, among other things, the town squares of Europe, Denmark’s bicycle culture, the juxtaposition of modern and historic spaces in London, and the sheer beauty of the natural environment that surrounds them daily.
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