Maragos presses plan to counter 'alarming' population trends in Nassau

Nassau must address "alarming" trends showing the county's population will decline by 3 percent over the next decade, with fewer children and young adults but a rapidly growing number of seniors, according to a report by Comptroller George Maragos.

The study, released Tuesday, proposes a vision for Nassau as the "Health Care and Medical Research Capital of the World."

Maragos calls for building the county's economy around its top hospitals and universities, which would be connected by light rail, allowing Nassau to become a destination for medical treatment and cutting-edge cures for diseases from cancer to Ebola.

The report, which is based on census data, shows the county's population was stagnant from 2000-2013, growing at a rate of 1.3 percent -- below Suffolk, Queens, New York State and the national average.

Maragos projected that by 2024, residents 60-and-over will comprise 27 percent of the county's total population, compared with 22 percent in 2012. The percentage of residents ages 10-19 will drop by 11 percent and the number of children under the age of 10 will decline by 9 percent, the report found.

In total, Nassau's population will decline 3 percent, leading to fewer taxpayers, less revenue and lower home values, Maragos said. "These are disturbing trends," he said. "Young adults are going away to college and are never returning."

The report cited expensive housing and a dearth of high-paying jobs in attractive fields as the key factors in Nassau's declining population of young people.

To reverse such trends, Maragos said Nassau must harness and expand its universities, hospitals and research centers to create an "industry cluster" similar to information technology in Silicon Valley and the federal government in Washington.

"In the 1960s, Nassau County had a cluster in the defense and aerospace industry," said Maragos. "But we don't have an identity today."

Terry Lynam, a spokesman for North Shore-LIJ, said the organization reaches out to students as young as middle school to introduce them to careers in health care.

"We explain to them at a young age that health care is more than just being a doctor or a nurse," Lynam said.

Catholic Health Services Chief Medical Officer Patrick O'Shaughnessy said that as "health care continues to evolve, new opportunities in this sector will continue to present themselves, attracting the best and brightest in the health care industry."

The study said "attracting the best minds will require huge investments" in public transportation, including upgrades to the Long Island Rail Road and construction of a light rail system to connect major commercial, hospital and university locations on Long Island.

Maragos also backed extension of the Air Train from Kennedy to MacArthur Airport in Islip to provide quicker access to Long Island from New York City. The funding, he said, would largely come through federal grants.

By Robert Brodsky

robert.brodsky@newsday.com@BrodskyRobert

Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.