EDITORIAL: Finally, hopes are rising for Wyandanch

The resurrection of Wyandanch would be an economic miracle. It's immensely complex, like a 2,000-piece jigsaw puzzle. Multiple obstacles remain, but two parts of that puzzle have just fallen into place, giving Wyandanch new reason to hope that the miracle can happen.

The lofty goal of the process called "Wyandanch Rising" is nothing less than to transform the area around the Wyandanch Long Island Rail Road station into a model of downtown revitalization and transit-oriented development. This would bring long-dormant properties to life, adding commercial property tax revenue to a community and a school district in desperate need.

A beaten-down downtown

The heart of downtown, the intersection of Straight Path and the LIRR tracks, offers only a ragtag collection of small stores. People drive to Wyandanch to park at the station, but they don't spend money, because there's not much to spend it on. Just south, a fast-food outlet stood boarded up and blighted for years. Even McDonald's fled. To fix that blight, the idea is to add sewers to provide the capacity for new businesses; to make Straight Path more pedestrian-friendly; and to create a downtown with buzz. People in Wyandanch have waited a long time for something good to happen here.

The slow journey began in 2002, soon after Babylon Supervisor Steve Bellone took office. The following year, 600 people took part in meetings, led by Sustainable Long Island, to help create the Wyandanch Rising hamlet plan, the community's vision of what it wants to become. The town adopted the plan and has been working with a community implementation committee to make it happen.

This past week, the town approved a contract with a designer who will convert that vision into bricks-and-mortar reality. The firm, Torti Gallas and Partners, has deep experience in fixing up downtowns and converting sprawl into real, walkable neighborhoods. Babylon will pay for its services from a state grant under the Brownfield Opportunity Areas program, which is designed to turn entire communities from blighted to righted.

The other puzzle piece came from Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy, in his State of the County speech Wednesday. It has to do with the plan for the area around the LIRR station - a mixed-use design with a blend of housing and retail, a new parking garage, and a plaza that will serve as both a transportation hub and a much-needed civic space. In that area, the county agrees not to charge developers an otherwise substantial fee to hook up to the sewer line that the town will build to connect to the Southwest Sewer District.

The county is not laying out any money. It's just agreeing not to collect fees, for a limited time in a specific area, from businesses. Why is that crucial? Because downtown revitalization can't happen without sewers.

That's why Bellone proposed to build a sewer line to a ramshackle downtown, even though there's no certainty that it will be enough to attract development. He's betting as much as $6 million of the town's solid waste fund that if the town builds it, businesses will come.

Other bets welcome

But Babylon can't do it alone. The state's Empire State Development Corp. is placing a $2-million wager. The town is also seeking $12 million to $14 million in federal funds, through New York's Environmental Facilities Corp. Unfortunately, Wyandanch fell a little short of EFC approval. That may change if the agency revises its scoring system, to give economic development more weight, along with water quality.

In a clever bit of planning, the town will use sewer funding to change the face of Straight Path. The sewer line will run under the center of the road, and when contractors cover it up, they'll build a green median, narrowing the road and calming traffic. That would help the downtown's walkability. Levy said in his speech that the county is working to make it happen.

The other key to the success of this enterprise is the school district. No matter how good the new downtown looks, people and businesses will hesitate to move to Wyandanch unless the district improves its schools. It needs to transcend its historic cycle of petty politics and nepotism, achieve stability and put the children first - not jobs for the friends and families of those who control it.

In a community with so little economic activity, the school district is the major employer. There's nothing wrong with that, so long as people get jobs based on ability to educate. But if you look at all the usual measures of academic success, that hasn't been happening enough in Wyandanch.

The State Education Department is going to have to play a much larger role than it has. That shouldn't be a full takeover. But something has to happen - and very soon.

Despite the school squabbles and years of blight, residents have begun to believe that Wyandanch has a real chance. One piece of evidence was their decision to fight the U.S. Postal Service's plans for a new post office. The original proposal wouldn't have fit the hamlet study. But the final version, after some struggle, does. It's visible proof that something's stirring.

If Wyandanch succeeds, we all benefit. The county and the region get a model of a successful downtown revitalization, which will spur other downtowns to do the same. The extra property tax revenue and economic vitality will help everyone in Babylon. But above all, it will bring a brighter future to a community that has suffered too long. hN