Cultural disparity or diversity? It's up to new, old LIers

When the legal documents were drawn for Levittown - America's first modern suburban community - homeowners were prohibited from reselling to anyone who wasn't white. And even in later years, as more and more Americans abandoned urban neighborhoods, their journey to suburbia became known as "white flight."

No more.

Study after study keeps proving what a glance around Nassau and Suffolk counties readily suggests: Increasingly, people of all hues are embracing suburban life.

The latest data from the Center for Research and Information Analysis? After years of trickling northward, Latinos are becoming an integral part of Long Island life. Suffolk County, where 25.7 percent of the population is now Hispanic, has the 40th highest concentration in the country. Nassau, with 31.9 percent, is close behind at 47th.

No, the flight isn't just white anymore. Most of these new suburbanites are coming for the same reasons the old ones did: More space. Better schools. A more tranquil style of living.

The question going forward, as the suburbs more closely resemble the rest of America, is, to what extent the newcomers simply embrace the old suburban attitudes and to what extent those attitudes are changed by them.

Will the cultures be more disparate - or more diverse?

It's all in the hands of the people who are coming and the people who will remain.

NOT COMING FOR

Our property taxes

Our traffic snarls

Our beached whales

Our politicians

Our rude railroad riders

'BRAND FOR BREAKFAST: GO

BRAND YOURSELF' Learn to apply the branding secrets of Fortune 500 companies to your own career or small biz. Dr. John Tantillo, TV's Marketing Doctor, reveals all. Tuesday 8 a.m. at the Garden City Country Club. Details at www.marketingdoctor.tv

ASKED AND UNANSWERED: If he doesn't like cross-dressing, what senior prank would Westbury High School Principal Manuel Arias prefer? . . . If Lindsay Lohan joins "Celebrity Apprentice" will she insist on being billed as "Long Island's Lindsay Lohan?" If so, can she be talked out of it? . . . With all the sea mammals washing up on LI beaches, shouldn't our lifeguards get veterinary training at once?

ELLIS' LONG ISLANDER OF THE WEEK

VIC SKOLNICK

Some have complained that Long Island needs more culutral opportunities. Vic Skolnick, who died this week at 81, actually did something about it. Almost 40 years ago, he co-founded what would become Huntington's Cinema Arts Centre, one of the nation's leading venues for independent, foreign and experimental film. More than anyone else, Skolnick made the suburbs safe for subtitles.E-mail ellis@henican.com

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