Rauch Douzinas: Missing our mojo
Long Island used to be a land of movers and shakers. People saw opportunity and seized it.
Robert Moses saw a deserted sandbar and built one of the world’s greatest parks. William Levitt saw low-cost land and a need for affordable homes, and he defined postwar suburbia. Leroy Grumman and Jake Swirbul found opportunity in America’s cold war defense needs, and they put men on the moon.
A bold, can-do spirit swept the Island. Communities were built, as were schools, businesses and shopping centers. Long Island became the face of the American century.
That’s not the whole story of course. There was a serpent in this garden: a narrowness of vision. Growing one community, one school district, one enterprise at a time worked alright while the economy boomed and land was plentiful.
But when times and conditions changed, we responded less nimbly and aggressively than other regions. As the defense industry shrank and well-paying manufacturing jobs moved offshore, we had no regional strategy to replace them. As open space ran low and housing costs soared, we dithered.
Today, instead of seizing our potential, we squander it. The best-educated youth in America take their talents away, driven out by the lack of housing options, while our downtowns, which could be pulsing centers of commerce and community, sit underutilized.
