Text size:

This place needs change to be great

Joye Brown

11:50 PM EST, January 25, 2007

More and more residents on Long Island, home of the nation's first postwar suburb, say it's harder than ever to pay the mortgage. That's hard to imagine. But the data are right there on page 4 of this year's Long Island Index report.

Thank goodness the Rauch Foundation, a local philanthropy focused on children, families, environment and leadership, decided to keep funding the report, at least for the immediate future, beyond its three-year commitment.

The tone of this year's report detours from the three that came before, sort of the way the ongoing Harry Potter series is growing darker over time.

It quantifies Long Island's greatness -- and there is much to praise, such as the region's quality of life.

Joye Brown Bio | E-mail | Recent columns

But it quantifies more sinister forces at work, too.

"Our continued success is now in doubt," this year's report states, with sobering conviction. "We face significant problems, which yearly grow worse."

High-paying jobs are disappearing. Local wages have been stagnant since 2003, which is a polite way of saying that, with rising expenses, local families in rich and poor neighborhoods are finding it harder to make ends meet each year. And then there's the almost 60 percent of Long Islanders, from neighborhoods of all kinds, who said they had trouble making rent or mortgage payments. That's what's hard to imagine.

Pull it all together, and it boils down to this: Long Island must change. Not in a haphazard or unwieldy way, but it nonetheless must change. And it needs ideas that will drive that change.

This year's report says that 45 percent of those polled for the index -- the highest number ever -- support some form of school district consolidation. Could that mean larger districts? Or, as Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy advocates, a consolidation of payroll, purchasing, insurance and other functions?

This year's report also says that 84 percent of residents polled are screaming for tax relief. Could that mean eliminating some layers of government, as advocated by Nassau's comptroller, Howard Weitzman, and the county's assessor, Harvey Levinson, who last year declared war on special taxing districts?

The first Long Island Index told us what we already knew, that taxes and housing costs were problems.

The second surprised us with data on the "brain drain." It's not our imagination, the report seemed to say: Our children really are leaving because they can't find an affordable place to live.

The third was a watershed because for the first time ever, Long Islanders signaled a readiness for change, with high numbers saying uncle, we'll consider an income tax if it reduces property taxes.

And the fourth now finds Long Island -- officials, residents and business owners alike -- standing in one place at one time, with information and some sense of urgency that change must happen if Long Island is to thrive.

It's a start, but it will take everything we've got to see it to a good finish.

joye.brown@newsday.com