MARKET WATCH COLUMNIST
When he drew up the legal documents for America’s first modern suburban community, Levittown, 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 the leafy cul-de-sacs 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 any more. These days, the ‘hood is just as likely to have a well-manicured lawn.
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 suburbs be different—or merely darker?
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? Tagging the principal’s car? Raiding the principal’s pension?… When they say Long Island’s population is more diverse, do they mean more people who will actually send in their census form?… Wouldn’t this be a better Suffolk loan warning: DON’T… Did Paul Sabatino just win the daily double? He gets all his $194,220 in exit pay AND he gets to stop working for Steve Levy… Could Nicole Chambers have been texting her friends in the back seat of her car when she drove it into Argyle Lake in Babylon? What did she type? Maybe “You guys mind if we stop off at the car wash?”… 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?… How dumb do they feel now? Those get-out-of-the-city-early Hamptons weekenders who spent their Friday morning on the LIE backed up for hours behind a tractor-trailer crash?… Nice to see D.A. Kathleen Rice giving 2,000 free license readers to Nassau County bars. So what technology will make the bouncers say ‘no’ to a pretty 15-year-old girl in a short skirt?…
E-mail ellis@henican.com. Follow him at twitter.com/henican
ELLIS’ LONG ISLANDER OF THE WEEK:
Many have complained that Long Island is a cultural wasteland. 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.
Related posts
Ms. Lindsay Lohan should to be performing a lot more than 90 days in jail, anything much less and I believe would be to total diss for the legal program. Ms. Lindsay is already getting off totally free just simply because she’s a famous person. It entirely sends an unacceptable message, specifically for the yougsters that adore her as a role model. I am learning now that she will most likely only end up serving 14 days of her ninety day sentence. I guess driving although drunk is not so bad after all- the actions these stars get away with is a crying shame.
It’s about time LI changed, maybe there can be less intolerance in schools when children are exposed to something other than middle class white Americans.