Editor’s Note: The Foggiest Idea Celebrates A Decade of Sound Planning

The following is a note from Richard Murdocco, founder/publisher of The Foggiest Idea, and was written on October 15th, 2020.

This month, The Foggiest Idea proudly enters it’s tenth year of analyzing and advocating for the real estate issues that matter.

It’s been truly exciting to see how TFI‘s footprint has grown within the last decade. On a personal level, some highlights include seeing TFI on the pages of Newsday for the first time, speaking on planning issues to a record-breaking crowd at Sachem Public Library, descending 14-stories beneath Grand Central Terminal for an insider’s look at the LIRR’s long-coming East Side Access project, and holding the federal government accountable for their lack of transparency in planning a high-speed rail network across Long Island.

TFI‘s first op-ed, published on the pages of the East Setauket-based Times Beacon Herald on October 6th, 2010, pressed policymakers to take a balanced and data-driven approach to redevelopment efforts, arguing “…problems arise when ideology and rhetoric mix with planning.” The piece went on to stress the need for more consensus and public input on developmental matters.

Ten years later, we are still collectively working to address many of the issues that TFI first covered in those early columns – the affordability and availability of housing, how to best untangle the region’s transportation woes, the necessity of resilience to storms and rising seas, and need for environmental sustainability.

There is still much work to be done, but it’s important to acknowledge that TFI would be nothing without it’s readers.

This appreciation extends to my family (especially my wife, who has unyielding patience and has heard her husband prattle much too long about the sole-source aquifer and zoning spats over the years), and the friends, neighbors, colleagues, elected officials, journalists, civic leaders, and residents who engage with both myself and TFI‘s work.

I’d also like to thank my longtime editor Spencer Rumsey, whose pointed feedback has elevated TFI‘s arguments and smoothed out the roughest edges of my musings, as well as Dr. Lee Koppelman and the rest of the faculty at Stony Brook University. At Stony Brook, I was not only formally taught the practice of urban planning, but years later, the university gave me the opportunity to teach its nuances to the next generation of policymakers.

I deeply appreciate the support my work has received from you, the readers, and sincerely thank you for continuing to welcome TFI‘s award-winning work into your inboxes to #GetaFoggyIdea. Here’s to ten more years of #SoundPlanning!

Richard Murdocco
Founder/Publisher
The Foggiest Idea

Pictured: An image of The Foggiest Idea‘s original website, which first launched in October 2010.