The following is a letter to the editor that was published in the Long Island Press the week of June 9th to June 15th. It was written in response to Spencer Rumsey’s “The Future of Long Island Explored in New Report” from May 19th, 2011:

To Mr. Spencer Rumsey,
My name is Richard Murdocco. I am writing to commend you on your May 19th, 2011 piece entitled “The Future of Long Island Explored in New Report”. It is very rare that I have the opportunity to read such a well-versed and nuanced piece on Long Island’s current situation in regards to regional planning.
I have studied issues concerning land use and planning on Long Island exhaustively while in both undergraduate and graduate schools, and I have published various pieces on the subject.

Dr. Koppelman could not have been any more correct in stating “Many of the strategies I totally agree with, but it’s strategies we’ve been pursuing all along,” What the LIRPC did with their “Long Island 2035 Regional Comprehensive Sustainability Plan” is essentially “reinvent the wheel” with the planning concepts advocated for in the Study. This reinvention of the wheel cost taxpayers $750,000, and with the future of the LIRPC in jeopardy due to funding, it’s very possible that this planning effort will sit on a shelf. I am always in support of comprehensive planning efforts, but that price tag does not justify the 120 pages written by the LIRPC. One of the key lessons that should be taken away from planning is that a plan is only as good as its implementation, and in this regard the LIRPC effort comes up short.

For Long Island to have a true comprehensive planning effort that will span both Counties, the entity that engages such effort must not be caught up in a political or special interest milieu, but rather base their recommendations on the realities and best environmental science and data available. 

Thank you,

Rich Murdocco