Long Island's Future Votes With Its Feet

I was asked to write a recommendation for a former colleague this morning who now lives in Washington D.C. She choose to live in Washington because there she can "live in an apartment and take the train to work," two things she can not do on Long Island unless she wants to live in Western Nassau County and work in Manhattan.

This young lady is bright, talented, hard-working. She loves Long Island and was committed to do whatever it takes to make her native region a better place. Long Island, on the other hand, has done nothing to requite that love. As a region we have blocked efforts to create workforce or affordable housing, our infrastructure renders inter-community mass transit impossible and our tax structure is so onerous that the few young people willing to try to make it here start out behind a huge financial 8-ball.

On top of all that, there are painfully few entertainment options on this Island if you are under 30.

According to the Long Island Association, more than 157,000 Long Islanders between the ages of 18 and 34 have left Long Island since 2000. This represents a significant depletion of the Long Island workforce and without workers companies cannot and will not stay on the Island. As companies move off the Island and take their jobs with them, the tax burden on the remaining families will grow even greater - to the point where Long Island will become an economic ghost town.

The Long Island Builders Institute will endeavor to make sure this does not happen. We will continue to champion the cause of building suitable housing for the next generation while at the same time doing everything we can to ensure the quality of life that makes this region so special.

I do not want to write any more recommendations for talented Long Islanders living off-Island.