New Year’s resolutions often peter out by the second or third week in January, but each year we still make public pronouncements of improvements we intend to make to rectify the detestable behavioral characteristics we’ve amassed over the previous year.
In the spirit of that tradition, I am turning the critical eye away from myself and aiming it squarely at Long Island. Here are three resolutions I believe the Island, its citizens and its leaders should consider for 2018. Disclaimer: I am not offering solutions, only pointing out the problems.
Trim the fat. Long Island, specifically Nassau County, is perhaps most famous not for our beaches, but our taxes. It’s painfully clear to anyone with a pulse that our local governments, water districts, public institutions, etc. are far too freewheeling with our tax dollars.
Don’t be a NIMBY. Improvements to the Island will never come to fruition if we continue to coddle the “not in my backyard” residents. There will always be traffic, noise and crowds in this county of close to 2 million people. Impeding progress because a group of complainers want their own silent habitat is a crucial mistake. Tell these NIMBYs to move to the boring bleakness of upstate if they want static surroundings.
Build more affordable housing. This relates directly to the aforementioned NIMBYs. Speaking from the perspective of a renter with no home-owning prospects in the foreseeable future, my options for renting on the Island are limited at best and include working multiple jobs to afford rent in a decent building or finding an illegal apartment in a house. There are countless individuals in the same situation—working professionals whose lives are on the Island, but without the means or reasonable rental costs to remain on the Island.
I ask that the denizens of the Island kindly consider addressing these shortcomings at least into the first or second week of February.
—Steve Mosco
