The LIE Represents Long Island Perfectly
The LIE is a hot topic in LIBN these days.The Long Island Expressway represents Long Island quite nicely, all in a neat, 70-plus mile long package. It has it’s critics (check out Eric Alexander’s scenario on what Long Island would look like without the expressway) and...
Is Caithness II The Next Shoreham?
Long Island may be getting a new power plant. The big question is whether or not Caithness II is sound planning or the next Shoreham. The approvals are rolling in – recently Brookhaven’s town board voted 5-2 to approve a special permit to build the 752-megawatt plant...
Letter to the Editor, TBR Newspapers July 2014
The following was written in response to an op-ed by Nancy Rauch Douzinas that appeared in TBR Newspapers on July 2nd. Nancy's piece can be read here. My response letter was published a week later. To the editor: Nancy Rauch Douzina's latest piece (Transit-Oriented...
Strike Out
Soon, the Long Island Rail Road could cease to operate thanks to a prolonged labor dispute with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The clock is ticking, and both sides are a “gulf” apart. While both sides hash it out, Long Islanders are caught in the...
Long Island Needs Regionalism
The following appeared in New Geography as a featured article, as well as LIBN's Young Island. Eric Alexander, the executive director of Vision Long Island, seems to be popping up everywhere on Long Island these days. He was recently quoted in “The Corridor...
It’s Academic
Recently, Vision Long Island shared an interesting article from the Wall Street Journal on Long Island’s blossoming downtown redevelopment scene. In their post, the nonprofit commented that ”some of the regional commentary whether this trend is a good thing or not is...
An Insider’s Game
For decades, the pattern was the same: Find a plot of vacant land, raze it and put up a new subdivision of pristine single-family homes. Rinse, repeat ad infinitum. Then suddenly, the recession hit. The housing market bombed. Construction-starts in both Nassau and...
Circling the Brain Drain
It seems that Destination LI, “a nonprofit community building and educational organization dedicated to helping people create and sustain vibrant centers” on Long Island, has been quietly busy in recent months. Recently, the group released a survey, which, to nobody’s...
An Open Letter to Ann Golob of the Long Island Index
The following is a response to a letter to the editor published in Long Island Business News, written by Ann Golob, who is executive director of the Rauch Foundation's Long Island Index. Golob wrote in response to a piece written by me entitled "Building for the Day...
Building For The Day That May Never Come
Long Island’s policymakers are betting on an uncertain future – one we may never see. With the increased pressure to build transit-oriented developments around Long Island’s train stations we are building to accommodate the demand that will be created by the MTA’s...
