America's Largest Township Out Of Control

Unincorporated Areas of Hempstead Town Left Hanging Over Abyss of Neglect

On Hempstead Turnpike in Elmont, virtually in the shadow of Belmont Raceway, what remains -- call it "ruins," if you will -- of the old ARGO movie theater.

In its heyday in the 1950s, the Argo, with its ornate balcony, outside box office, and high-ceilinged lobby, was the pride of the community.

Today, having been shuttered for what seems like, well, decades (how apt that the theater was operated by the Century chain), the Argo is but a blighted shell of its former self.

The de-evolution from attractive movie palace to a Discount Department Store, its incarnations including a rather seedy Club Malibu and a storefront Baptist church, the former Argo now stands as a testament to the Town of Hempstead's indifference, a brownfield-in-residence that resonates with the sentiment of community that the Town has simply lost -- or given up -- control.

A lack of control is certainly nothing new in Hempstead Town. Indeed, the rant on this blog alone bespeaks a township spiraling out of control, from the top offices at Town Hall (where the Supervisor abrogates control to those who lack self-control), to the garbage heaps of the Town's Sanitary Districts (over which the Supervisor avers she has no control).

The Supervisor of Hempstead Town will tell you, in mailings by the dozen, that the Town has no control over tax assessment, no control over special taxing jurisdictions (even those that operate under title and seal of the great Town of Hempstead), no control over the Town's ex-Building Commish (who lives on the Supervisor's very own Levittown street), no control over the revitalization and redevelopment of the business and commercial districts that subsist in the Town's unincorporated areas west of, say, Wantagh.

All right. On the last score, the Supervisor will tell you that she has control -- that the Town is moving "with all deliberate speed" (as in, when snails win the Indy 500) to renew, refurbish, rehab, and refresh.

And yet, save the convenient placement of a few Victorian-style street lamps, ornate benches upon which we may rest our weary limbs amidst the rubble, faded brick pavers, and dying, uncared for plantings, the Town of Hempstead has little to show on the community front for its "efforts" to restore suburbia.

Yes, we have seen the "new Elmont," in artists' renderings handed down from Supervisor to Supervisor. We have heard the plans for a "sustainable" Elmont, but have managed only to sustain a steady decline along Elmont's Main Streets. [Place this one under the heading of "that vision thing."]

There has been talk -- and lots of it over the years -- about reopening the Argo as a movie theater. Just talk.

The latest out of Hempstead Town Hall is the prospect of a Condemnation Proceeding -- a long, drawn out process that may ultimately lead to the demolition of the Argo's skeleton -- making way, perhaps, for a supermarket, or even a Discount Department Store.

If Elmont can take any solace in Hempstead Town's seemingly unexhaustible supply of "no control," it is that we are not alone on the Town's darkened radar screen.

Just to the east, in the unincorporated hamlet of West Hempstead, the Town has been closing a crime-ridden no-tell hotel -- the Courtesy -- for more than a decade. We'll "condemn" blighted properties -- in that eternity which passes ever so slowly as "Town Time" -- but not the likes of those who would condemn entire communities to suffer the indignities of a painful and "sustained" absence of control.

They're studying "bilght" in Baldwin [the Town is most studious], and, no doubt, we'll eventually see those Victorian-style street lamps sprouting along Grand Avenue.

True, every once in a long while, the sun does shine through from Hempstead Town, but even then, its typically paving blight -- as in Oceanside -- to put up a parking lot (cue the Victorian-style lampposts).

Still, it remains mostly cloudy for far too many who reside in the township's unincorporated areas, where "control" cedes daily to chaos, and, much like the Town's Levy Preserve, hopes of recapturing the glory days of community icons such as the Argo remain "forever wild."
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Read Tom's Lips: Higher Property Taxes

County Exec Seeks 3.9% Hike

Nassau County ranks third in the nation in property tax burden, right behind number one Westchester County and number two Hunterdon County (NJ).

As the financial markets crumble and economic woes beset nearly every one of us on Long Island, Nassau County is trying harder to catch the pack and take the lead.

County Executive, Tom Suozzi, recently called for a 3.9% increase in the property tax – the first increase in 5 years. The price tag per Nassau County household? Roughly, $65.

At first blush, the thought of even a small increase, coming from the lips of the guy who set out to cut property taxes – the thorn in the side of county homeowners – would seem unconscionable.

The Chair of the NYS Commission on Property Tax Relief proposing a property tax increase? What is he thinking? What were we?

Of course, Mr. Suozzi is within the 4% cap (and we have not abandoned our position, mind you, that a tax cap is not a tax cut, by any means) his Commission proposed for school property taxes, so fair is fair, we suppose. Still, can Nassau County homeowners afford any increase in their already hefty tax burden?

The real question is, with declining revenues from other sources – particularly the dwindling sales tax receipts – can Nassau County afford not to raise property taxes.

Fact is, core services must be maintained, as must at least the aura of suburbia, as we have come to know it, lest Nassau County slip into the great abyss of economic depression ala NYC in the depths of the fiscal crisis of the 70s, where neglect of everything from infrastructure to community policing was the order of the day.

True, the argument can be made – and we have made it here, many times – that there is evidence of neglect in the way Nassau County does business in its regular course, evidence the decline in park upkeep and road maintenance, but make no mistake, without maintaining the core services by means of a modest tax increase in these tenuous economic times, a meltdown of the very attributes that make Nassau County so attractive to its inhabitants, from the provision of essential services to maintaining the bond rating that keeps Nassau afloat in the marketplace, are at risk, raising the potential for a financial quandary that would make the darkest days of the Gulotta administration look like fireworks over the East River on the Forth of July.

Michael Bloomberg, Mayor of our neighbor to the west, the City of New York, and a fiscal conservative under whose stewardship the city has flourished, has recently bantered about the prospect of a 7% property tax increase for city homeowners, warning that such increases may be necessary to close enormous deficits.

“I said we will look at all the different possibilities, but I think the solution is a combination of expense reduction, which nobody is going to be happy about, and revenue enhancements, which nobody is going to be happy about,” Bloomberg told The New York Times. “This is not going to be a feel-good time.”

Similarly, Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi, in proposing a number of significant budget cuts to complement, if not offset, the hike in property taxes, had this to say:

"Despite the worst national economic times in over a decade we kept the tax increase below 4%. We did this while maintaining our commitment to fiscal integrity by keeping our headcount low, by negotiating tough, but fair contracts with our public employee unions, by reducing our debt service and implementing smart government initiatives as we have each year of my administration."

Without doubt, when the proposed 2009 budget comes before the politically divided and essentially inept Nassau County Legislature, there will be the usual wrangling, finger-pointing, and posturing for which this gang has become infamous.

So, too, will this property tax increase become campaign fodder when the County Exec seat is up for grabs next year, despite the obvious shortfalls and economic realities beyond the control of even the most fiscally prudent CEO.

No, there is no room, and this is no time, for the partisan bickering that has, in the past, mired our county in a dysfunctional stupor. There is no Democratic or Republican way to either pick up garbage (except in the town’s Special Districts, where all yokels are political), or to set the county’s fiscal house in order, and no painless way to keep the county solvent while continuing to give moment to the great suburban dream.

There will be cuts, consolidations, give-backs, and, yes, more property taxes to pay. Why, they may even have to unplug those high-def flat screen TVs installed in the offices of our County Legislators at the newly restored courthouse. Ouch.

As Mike Bloomberg opined, “This is not going to be a feel-good time.”

No, it is not.

Still, with stringent belt-tightening, fiscally responsible governing, and, yes, a property tax hike that amounts to, more or less, a tank of gas per household, hard times will, in due course, lead to better times for all of us.
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A Tree Dies In Elmont

"A Blight In Elmont Today, Left Untreated, Will, Eventually, Infect Every Tree In Wantagh"

It was at least fifteen years ago, maybe more, that residents of Elmont began to complain to the Town of Hempstead about abandoned trucks on Hoffman Avenue. Simple enough, one would think, to have these vehicles tagged and removed, the area cleaned up, and everyone goes home happy.

Yet, here we are, more than a decade later, trudging to Hempstead Town Hall, at the doorstep of our local legislators, making the same complaints, each as if for the first time.

Local civic associations and their stalwarts come and go (some, like old soldiers, never die :-), each generation of community advocate raising the flag - and reinventing the wheel - in the hope that, this time, someone at Town Hall will not only listen, but will actually do something.

"We're working on it." "Give us time." The customary parlance of Townspeak translating into "Done that, been there" and "If we ignore them long enough, maybe they'll just go away!"

How long can we ignore that blight along "Main Street" - or Elmont Road? How many times can local officials turn their heads, pretending they don't see the 6 electric meters on the side of that single-family house, or the trash accumulating on the sidewalks adjacent to storefronts in violation of Town Code? How many times do we have to complain about the very same issues before we get action -- or before we simply give in, throw up our hands in disgust, and walk away?

The troubles of which we write are not limited to Elmont. One among many unincorporated areas in our township, Elmont is but a microcosm of the transition from sleepy suburban bedroom community to the spillover of urban sprawl. It is, in many respects, a crystal ball of sorts -- a look into the future of other hamlets in the township, should we neglect to take up the challenge to redirect the course of community.

To the east of Elmont, not all that far in distance from those rusting relics along Hoffman Avenue, lie other long-term detractors from our suburban quality of life -- West Hempstead's no-tell hotel (or two); waste heaped upon abandoned truck tires behind a hole-in-the wall railroad station that literally sits at the end of the line amidst weeds, garbage and long-forgotten shopping carts; the stark unreality of Hempstead Turnpike from the City line past Belmont Racetrack, bisecting village and hamlet with what the New York Times once described as "twenty miles of ugly." The same concerns we complained about yesterday. The same problems we pay twice as much for today.

In Seaford, seemingly light years away from the demolition derby on Elmont's Hoffman Avenue and the incivility of West Hempstead's Courtesy Hotel, evidence of blight rears its ugly head. Nothing major by comparison to the horror show playing daily on the township's western front, but nonetheless precursors -- like Scrooge's visit to Christmas future -- of that which may yet come. Construction equipment at the Seaford train station, usurping parkland; Town-"maintained" sidewalks along Seamans Neck Road crumbling -- for more than a decade; overgrown trees with limbs begging to be trimmed; a municipal parking field (S-1) behind the local library, described by Seaford residents as resembling a lunar landscape. The same concerns we complained about yesterday. The same problems we pay twice as much for today.

Now, we know that there are some among us who are saying, "Wait a minute. We don't have these problems in our community. Our business district looks spiffy. Our streets are clean. Yeah, we pay alot in property taxes, but look at the great services we get. What are you folks complaining about?"

Ah, lucky is he who can feast on the lamb while the grazing fields next door lie barren. It doesn't take a Nostradamus to tell you that, without a course correction of some significance, your day, too, will come. After all, a blight in Elmont today, left untreated, will, eventually, infect every tree in Wantagh.

We can span the township, regailing our readers with tales of woe from Freeport to Merrick, Baldwin to Uniondale, but you have already lived and relived them every day. For how long? Toward what end? At what cost?

So why should folks in Wantagh care about Elmont? Why complain in Garden City if Valley Stream has it tough? Why? As a matter of self-preservation. Why? Because if you don't stand up and raise your voice, when the blight does reach you -- today, tomorrow, or that far-off day after that -- there will be no one left to complain.

In a comment to a recent blog, someone postulated that it makes no difference who we vote into -- or out of -- office. Kate or Harvey. Tom or Greg. The subsequest poster begged to differ, asking whether, during the dark days of the Great Depression, it would have made no difference whether we had a Herbert Hoover in the White House, or the likes of a Franklin Roosevelt.

To us, leadership -- those in whom we place our greatest trust and our highest hopes -- makes all the difference in the world. The difference between advancing the shining promise of a bright future, and clinging to the edge of the dark abyss knowing that tomorrow will be no better than today, and just the same as yesterday.

We suppose its all a matter of perspective. Is this as good as it gets or can we do better? At the risk of sounding overly optomistic, we believe that we can do better -- that we must do better.

We have every expectation that our dreams, our visions, our hopes for the future of the collective community of Hempstead Town will become tomorrow's reality, and that our lofty aspiration, pursued throughout the years, of restoring that suburban quality of life to America's largest township, will not be left to rust along the roadside, like so many abandoned trucks on Hoffman Avenue.

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Election Day -- Tuesday, November 8th -- is less than 4 weeks away. Share the vision. Dare to dream. Say "no more" to the status quo. Fear not the prospect of change. Take a long, last look back, and then, go boldly forth to tomorrow!

Whatever Happened To The New Suburbia?

Where Sustainability Translates Into Status Quo

For many of us who have been suburbanites, calling Long Island home, for more than a quarter of a century, the walk -- or drive, as is typically the case -- "downtown" via "Main Street" reveals, much to our collective dismay, that little has changed to improve the myriad debilitating ills from which the suburban landscape suffers.

Blight. Neglect. Brownfields. The asphalt assault against every last spec of green space.

There is a stagnation, moved, if ever so slowly, by a creeping paralysis, into the vast void of suburban abyss.

Renewal plans come and go, as do the ever-enduring artists' renderings of what could be, should be. Hopes, but ephemeral, are dashed, time and time again. Years, nay, decades pass. Nothing.

There is visioning aplenty, if not a vision beyond the myopia that pervades both public and private spheres.

Vision Long Island. Sustainable Long Island. Civic and community groups, all vying for that look forward.

Smart Growth initiatives abound, and yet, beyond the talk of sustainability, most Long Island communities have little or nothing to show for it.

From rejuvenating a tired and aging infrastructure to the infusion of affordable housing, it would seem, from all indications, that Long Island is, at best, mired in quicksand. Almost imperceptibly, we are sinking, as sure as that suburban dream is fleeting.

If the trend is toward the new urbanism -- and it is -- where does that leave America's first suburb? Do we not need a competing, or better still, coexisting, new suburbanism?

Overtaxed. Built out. Sprawled. Gnarled. Listing and listless. Generation Next on the move -- off Long Island. Generation Last, indifferent, at best.

Is our suburban backyard a bastion of "exurban decay", as some suggest? Is there truly a "war against suburbia"? Or is there hope for a brighter, greener, more prosperous suburban dream?

In the coming weeks, The Community Alliance blog will begin to explore the prospects of Long Island as Mecca of the new suburban dream, unveiling Long Island 2020. More foresight than hindsight, visionary pursuit over mere visioning, we will, with the help of community leaders and elected representatives, formulate a viable, doable, ennobling, enabling game plan for the second-coming of America's first, and best, suburb.

We will put heads together and, from time to time, butt them. We will tackle the tough and seemingly intractable issues that have tarnished Long Island's crown. We will discuss, debate, and decide the best course for our suburban habitat. More than this, we will act.

Ideas? Thoughts? Plans of action? Want to get involved? Write to The Community Alliance at thecommunityalliance@yahoo.com.

Be a very real and integral part of Long Island's renaissance. Embrace our philosophy that the status quo is never good enough. End the stagnation so we can move Long Island forward again!

LONG ISLAND 2020

A Project of The Community Alliance

A New Era for America's First Suburb