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Tom, most of the businesses you'd like to attract to suburban communities in Nassau County are so common in so many other places, they don't create a real desire to visit Nassau County. I can go to a Starbucks anywhere. Same thing with Borders or Barnes and Noble. Those stores are all the same, in every location; they're even laid out similarly. They carry the same products in every location, and there's nothing unique about them. So, why would anyone make the trip out to Nassau County to visit one of these chain stores if there's one already close by?

No, I'd suggest encouraging new businesses and smaller stores. For example, there used to be a clothing store here in the Capital Region called Cohoes. Started out in Cohoes, later opened a shop in Albany. Nice store, and offered stuff you couldn't find elsewhere. Made it worth the trip to go and shop there. Then, they got bought out by Burlington Coat Factory, which now occupies the former Cohoes location at the Colonie mall. I rarely ever go to that shopping center anymore, because every store in it is a carbon copy of every store you've ever seen in a suburban shopping complex anywhere in America. Why bother? The same thing can happen in your community if you attract these chain shops to out compete the local businesses that make your community unique and interesting places to visit. I'd rather spend a little extra at a store that carries goods I can't find at home or anyplace else.

Je suis epris en Suozzi

**but it's now so overpopulated we have traffic jams practically everywhere**

According to the census, Nassau County's population is below its peak at the 1970 census. So the county isn't as crowded as some may think. The big difference is the fact that there are less children, and more adults.

Besides, the low density is inducing the high taxes and high home prices due to a lack of supply and taxable properties. If you want your children to be close to you on Long Island, you're going to have to give up this ideal of no apartments and low population. If you don't build them a place to live here, they'll simply find it some where else unless you like the idea of your children living in your basement.

francis,
'queens or brooklyn,' are changing so will long island. as the boomers move south a new long island will rise. someone who is in their 60's won't be around to see it.

mr suozzi has some great ideas, but this isn't one of them. long island was a great place to live in the 50s, 60s, 70s, and into the 80s, but it's now so overpopulated we have traffic jams practically everywhere.
allowing developers to build more highrisers will only bring MORE people in here to clog up the island even further.
if we wanted to live in queens or brooklyn, we'd GO there! but we DON'T! that's why we are here!

*There's no way for young people to buy a house and raise children.*

The problem is that young people without children don't have a need for a three to five bedroom house. They need something inexpensive and smaller like a 2 bedroom condo or rental unit. Even if taxes were low, how does one afford a $350K house when you're only two or three years out of college with student loans and pay in the $45k range?

Keith
he was talking about more rental.

I am a Freeport Native and I think that what you said about Freeport is exciting and I would like to see those changes. Part of the issue is that the other communtites that you mentioned. Garden City, Rockville Centre and Great Neck, are very upscale.The incomes in those communities are much higher than in Freeport. Freeport is a mixed community of people of different economic backgrounds. There is a large population of very poor people. The downtwon is not even a place at the moment that middle calss people shop on a regular basis. Also, many of the buildings that are in downtown Freeport are owned by people that do not live in Freeport, or even in the U.S. They just collect rents and are not invested in the village.

one word trafficcircles

Ask about the water table on Long Island.

I'm not sure there's enough water to develop Long Island too much .........

Long Island has a very unfortunate history with racial segregation. Many of the communities Mr. Suozzi mentioned are middle-to-upper class and white. How does he address this sad history of segregation and its affect on our communities?

What are they doing to attract people from different ethnicity? As far as I know LI is mostly composed of white-Caucasians.

If they want to make it more diverse, they'll have to attract different cultural backgrounds.

For Suozzi to blithely say that he wants to attract young people to Nassau shows that he's out of touch. The taxes are crushing. There's no way for young people to buy a house and raise children.

Yes, multiple stories - but what needs to be addressed is the zoning codes limiting to single use zoning. The codes currently only promote suburban sprawl.

PS: Here's a post on how (robert) Moses KILLED NYC and the surburbs.

http://markbnj.blogspot.com/2008/02/robert-moses-power-broker-and-destroyer.html

Mass Transit!

What the heck is a county executive? Is that like a governor over all the townships? What power does he have?

Has Thomas Suozzi thought of implementing a trolley or lightrail system in the areas that don't have transportation?
ala vision42.org

They should stop calling it cool towns. That sounds a little silly. What he's talking about is Transit-Oriented Development (TOD).

cool downtown (eventually):

south norwalk, ct (SoNo)

Hey.. Robert Moses will be turning over in his grave.

He engineered LI as a commuter town.

had he extended the subway into LI, or put a NEW railroad along the LIE, it would have been a GREAT way to develop li as a 2 way to go home/jobs...

i wonder if this is really possible. things would have to be extremely local. downtown freeport is already developed. would you take it further? would there be office high rises on Main St., Freeport?

NYC is too big a magnet.

How do you provide the extra jobs that keep people local and also pay enough to survive the high taxes?

WHAT ABOUT Minority Male models

Ann,

Do you think if the relations were not consentual that these pregnancies should be looked at as the fruits of rape crimes? I agree with the inevitable accountability of the boys, but there is something to be said about the girls putting themselves in such scenarios. This is one of the many unfortunate parts of today's culture.

No where to post a comment about the discussion concerning the high school girls and their pregnancies.....

I have not heard any reports about the boys who were also responsible for these girls getting pregnant....could it be that these boys had a pact to "get a girl pregnant" ??

Why are the parents of the girls are not contacting the parents of the boys?

invest, michael. job creation.
modernity.

Suozzi is one of the worst Couty executives since Gulotta.

Suozzi is simply going to run the county in the ground.

He is driving people away and killing the ones who are staying with high taxes and corruption.

Spend. Tax. Spend. Spend. Spend. Tax. Tax.