With all the talk of "sustainability" these days, particularly as concerns our environment, our lifestyles, our "downtowns" and our suburban way of life (as we know it or as we'd like it to become), and with the holidays at hand, The Community Alliance thought it appropriate to make a list -- checking it twice -- of "Things that can no longer be sustained on Long Island."
We posted some of our favorite unsustainable things on Twitter (www.twitter.com/CommunityAlli) over the course of two days, and now republish Tweets (to date) below.
We encourage readers of this blog to add to the list, by Tweeting @CommunityAlli, commenting on this blogpost, or e-mailing us at TheCommunityAlliance@yahoo.com.
Rather than to simply put coal in the proverbial community stocking, adding more "Bah. Humbug!" to the communal scene, it is our hope and desire, for the holidays and beyond, to create positives from the negative, taking that which is unsustainable on our Long Island, and recasting these pessimistic attributes into optimistic affirmations. A sustainable community, with a thriving quality of life for all, right here on our Long Island!
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Here, now, the list as Tweeted @CommunityAlli:
- We're making a list and checking it twice. Things that can no longer be sustained on Long Island. We'll start you off. 124 school disticts.
- Things that can no longer be sustained on Long Island. Blighted downtowns. Add to the list. Tweet or e-mail TheCommunityAlliance@yahoo.com.
- Things that can no longer be sustained on Long Island. Nepotism/cronyism in local government. Your turn. . .
- Things that can no longer be sustained on Long Island. Special Taxing Districts. For Everything. Tweet us to add to our list.
- Things that can no longer be sustained on Long Island. Blighted Main Streets.
- Things that can no longer be sustained on Long Island. The flight of Generation Next.
- Things that can no longer be sustained on Long Island. A 25 cent return on every tax dollar sent to Albany.
- Things that can no longer be sustained on Long Island. Silence and complacency. Is anyone out there?
- Things that can no longer be sustained on Long Island. Artists' renderings. Endless visioning. Broken promises. Anything? Anybody?
- Things that can no longer be sustained on Long Island. Talk of reform, renewal or revolt without corresponding action.
- Things that can no longer be sustained on Long Island. The apathy of the electorate and the indifference of the elected.
- Things that can no longer be sustained on Long Island. Spending what we do not have and borrowing what we cannot repay.
- Things that can no longer be sustained on Long Island.The pillaging of the middle class. Chime in any time, folks!
- Things that can no longer be sustained on Long Island. The paucity of affordable housing. The scarcity of open space. The audacity of dopes.
- Things that can no longer be sustained on Long Island. Horizontal design sets. 1950s mindsets. Anything else?
- Things that can no longer be sustained on Long Island. Erosion of the aquifers. Destruction of greenscapes. Proliferation of brownfields.
- Things that can no longer be sustained on Long Island. Smart Growth dumbed down.
- Things that can no longer be sustained on Long Island. Dysfunction in Albany.
- Things that can no longer be sustained on Long Island. 124 School Superintendents @$250,000+ a pop.
- Things that can no longer be sustained on Long Island. The Islanders (with or without a new Coliseum).
- Things that can no longer be sustained on Long Island. Still further delay in redeveloping the Nassau Hub (with or without Kate Murray).
- Things that can no longer be sustained on Long Island. Major media outlets all monopolized by the Dolans.
- Things that can no longer be sustained on Long Island. Crumbling infrastructure. Buckling roadways. Twenty miles of ugly along theTurnpike.
- Things that can no longer be sustained on Long Island. LIPAsuction.
- Things that can no longer be sustained on Long Island. Mass transit that is too expensive and less expansive.
- Things that can no longer be sustained on Long Island. The list continues. [Feel free to add to it @CommunityAlli.]
- Things that can no longer be sustained on Long Island. MTA fare hikes and cutbacks.
- Things that can no longer be sustained on Long Island. NIMBYism.
- Things that can no longer be sustained on Long Island. Cablevision rate hikes and LIPA/National Grid surcharges.
- Things that can no longer be sustained on Long Island. New taxes disguised as fees.
- Things that can no longer be sustained on Long Island. The privatization of public parks. Thoughts? Anybody? Helllllllloooooooooooooo...
- Things that can no longer be sustained on Long Island. Endless studies, surveys, polls and reports. Same findings. Little result.
- Things that can no longer be sustained on Long Island. Commissions. Blue-Ribbon Panels. Zoning Boards. Planning Councils.
- Things that can no longer be sustained on Long Island. 5 Special Sanitary Districts, 14 Village Sanitary Districts. 1 Sanitation Department.
- Things that can no longer be sustained on Long Island. ALL in a single Town!
- Things that can no longer be sustained on Long Island. 55 Fire Districts. 18 Water Districts. 2 Sewer Districts. ALL in a single Town!
- Things that can no longer be sustained on Long Island. 707 local government entities. ALL on a single Island!
- Things that can no longer be sustained on Long Island. Property taxes. Income taxes. Sales taxes.
- Things that can no longer be sustained on Long Island. Did we mention 124 separate and distinct school districts?
- Things that can no longer be sustained on Long Island. Sadly, the dearth of Tweets on the issue of "things that can no longer be sustained."
And the Tweet goes on (or does it?). . . Folks, a sustainable Long Island is up to all of us!
Don't just follow us @CommunityAlli. Join with us, as we work to take back our towns, revitalize our downtowns, reinvent "Main Street," reinvigorate community, and improve the quality of life of every Long Islander.
Don't just follow us @CommunityAlli. Join with us, as we work to take back our towns, revitalize our downtowns, reinvent "Main Street," reinvigorate community, and improve the quality of life of every Long Islander.
New Ideas for America's First Suburb
Let's add Murraygrams to that list.
ReplyDeleteLet me offer an addition to this list, which in some ways touches on just about every item noted above. We have to get rid of the "sacred cows" that are ravaging Long Island, reflected in the out-of-date belief system that so many people seem to hold onto, even to their own detriment. Here's my short list of sacred cows we ought be putting on the endangered species list:
ReplyDelete1. "Local control" - we justify over 120 school districts and God knows how many special districts with the fictional idea that somehow we can influence their functioning far better than if they were larger in scale. Yet this is little more than a rather lucrative full-employment program for the politically connected and redundant school administrators. As for "local control", how much control over your local school do you really have when school board business is largely transacted out of public view and budget choices are essentially negligible? As for local control of sanitation districts and the like, I don't need local control, just pick up the damn garbage.
2. "Long Island has great schools" - they're not all that great compared to any number of objective criteria. Some are excellent, but a lot are pretty mediocre and this obviously correlates with local property values. The whole system of financing schools is broken and our kids suffer. Those who do get a great education here, can't afford to come back to Long Island and make a home here because taxes are too high. So we've created a terrific export economy in which we essentially give away our best asset: our kids.
3."Our suburban way of life" - this romanticized notion of what Long Island used to be means different things to different people but it almost always obstructs progress and economic development.
4. "Long Island is business friendly" - people who believe this are usually not in business and have certainly never dealt with a local zoning authority.
There are many other "sacred cows" I could come up with but this entry is too long as it is. The point is that it is only because we choose to believe these myths that these self-inflicted problems continue to bedevil us. I have no innate antipathy towards bovine, but we've got tons of sacred cows on Long Island - and many of these myths are perpetuated by our elected "leaders". It's time for the cows to go away.
Not sustainable:
ReplyDelete1. Traffic and parking enforcement as additonal methods of taxation. Traffic should be enforced for safety and parking should be enforced to encourage the availability of spaces for shoppers. When government revels in the game of "gotcha" for the purpose of raising revenue, residents are treated as enemies or suckers. That is unfair an is destructive of the sense of community. Meanwhile public officials make certain they, themselves, have free, reserved parking spaces.
2. a) The on-going removal of mail-boxes from the streets, making postal services less available to the young, the old and others who do not drive; and
b) The reduction of post office hours, making postal services less available to the average worker;
Both of theses factors will make the long term survival of the postal service less likely, and that is probably by design.
3. The difficulty in getting assistance in big box stores. Those stores, and various other large scale sales and service companies (such as Cablevision and the utilities) are steadily eating into the time of the average person. For economies of scale and broadness of variety, we are paying dearly with our time, our automobile fuel and our backs.
4. The irrational system of property taxation, and the relatively high cost of getting a knowledgeable agent to appeal incorrect assessments.
5. The plan to cut down on the bus routes.
6. The aging infrastructure.
7. The practice of health care providers to charge uninsured patients at a substantially higher rate than insured patients.
8. The rare use of police and traffic wardens to expedite traffic and break up traffic jams.
9. The growing tendency of people to let their hedges infringe on the sidewalk or to fail to clip low hanging tree branches that that are hazards to persons walking on sidewalks.
10. The failure of most people to attend school budget hearings or vote in school district elections, while, never-the-less, complaining about school taxes.
11. People who complain anonymously.