Suburban focus now jobs, not real estate

All stories in the suburbs, it's been said, are eventually real-estate stories.

People moving from the city. Houses, roads, schools and malls. Neighbors turning up at public meetings to declare: "Not in my backyard!" This has been especially true on Long Island, where the houses are priced like mansions and taxes are through the roof.

Well, don't look now. But all our stories aren't about real estate anymore. All our stories now are about jobs.

Can new industry be attracted to the Island? When the kids finish college, then what? Should Nassau build a new Coliseum? What about illegal immigrants?

With official U.S. unemployment now back at 9.2 percent, it isn't just Barack Obama and congressional Republicans tussling over how to the make the jobs return. Jobs and the lack thereof are the only news anywhere. The debt ceiling, the presidential race -- even the war stories -- are now stories about jobs.

A new Rotary chapter has just been chartered on Long Island, the Veterans Rotary Club of North Hills. Its focus? Helping returning veterans find jobs.

"All these vets are coming back into a very tough civilian economy," said Robert Donno of Rotary District 7250. "It's a huge problem. We'll be mentoring them. You know how hard it is today to find a job?"

 Job one

1. Work cheap.

2. Don't get fired.

3. Court the boss' kid.

4. Don't quit this job 'til you have a better one.

5. Don't leave your resume on the copy machine.

ASKED AND UNANSWERED:gracious inspiration from a local hero gone too soon? Here's the 1992 Hall of Fame induction speech by Roosevelt native, Hempstead High grad and Baltimore Colts tight end John Mackey: tinyurl.com/mackeyhall . . . Is it crazy-optimistic to believe the LIRR's $8-billion East Side Access project might actually be done by 2016? MTA chair Jay Walder says, "Believe it."

LONG ISLANDER OF THE WEEK: JOHN WILLIAM CODLING

When John Codling walked away from a lucrative Wall Street career to become a full-time artist, his friends Out East didn't think he'd gone crazy. They always knew the Levittown native was a little - OK, let's call him eccentric. What they didn't know was how quickly Codling would start turning heads - and making hefty sales - in the art world. His first major exhibit, "Sundays with Chris," was an obsessive study of oddball actor Christopher Walken. The artist's latest, opening next Saturday at the Waasteria Gallery in Wainscott, is "Me I Play," a highly nonconformist take on Grace Kelly, Bridget Bardot and the Muppets and other pop-culture subjects. But Codling, like his work, has unexpected flashes of seriousness: During the show, he's hosting special fundraising events for the nonprofit "Solving Kids Cancer." Art meets life, again.

Email ellis@henican.com

Follow on Twitter @henican