Passing For Knowledge

The Lighthouse Project and “New Suburbia”

Charles Wang, owner of the New York Islanders, has been taking some major losses trying to keep the franchise afloat. The team’s viability in Long Island hinges on Wang’s ability to build a new stadium/shopping/condo/hotel megaplex.

Wang ran into some problems, though. Kate Murray, the Hempstead Town Supervisor who oversees the re-zoning necessary for the project to go through, had no support for the project up until recently. Wang was threatening to bail on Long Island all together if he didn’t get the project. It’s hard to blame him, and even harder to understand Murray’s opposition. Who wouldn’t want to keep a team that won 4 Stanley Cups in the 1980’s, in a county with an otherwise stagnant economy?

But tucked in the supporter’s push for this project is a vision for a new suburban model. Says Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi:

We don’t want to be postsuburban. We don’t want to be a new urbanism. We want to be a new suburbia. We want to keep the good stuff about suburbia and get rid of the bad stuff about suburbia. But the old model of suburbia began 60 years ago with Levittown. It’s no longer sustainable.

Postsuburban is what Nassau County is bordering on, and it isn’t pretty: a lifeless economy, high taxes, and a surprising quantity of suburban slums.

What is “New Suburbia”? Apparently, it’s a model in which all the residential areas stay the same, but have a wonderful complex to drive to as they so desire. The Lighthouse Project would be one of several economic “magnets,” and hopefully after enough of these are built, the Long Island economy would be not just sustainable but prosperous from the tourist/tax revenues.

The Lighthouse Project. There isn't much variation in stadium/complex building these days; compare the "Lighthouse" to the proposed Atlantic Yards complex.

What’s wrong with that model? Probably everything. It assumes a never-ending flow of capital to build massive projects. It also assumes people will want to go to these attractions once they’re up; there’s no guarantee a project won’t flop. It encourages and reinforces a car-heavy mode of transportation. Is this what New Suburbia is supposed to be?

It seems like incorporating elements of New Urbanism is Nassau’s only shot at being sustainable.  If New Suburbia attempts to masquerade as “smart growth,” it’s being unrealistic. The problem with suburbia is not the lack of attractions, but rather the poor utilization of public space. Any plan which calls for just as much parking space as public space is a waste. Greater transportation access, coupled with expanded and beautified public space, can do wonders for an economy.

It seems like some of the opposition to New Urbanism comes from those afraid that it will somehow intrude on their way of life. They’re not entirely wrong — by its definition, their community would have to change in some capacity. But Long Islanders holding steadfast opposition to these pockets of urban life are doing themselves more harm than good in the long run. Traditional suburban life isn’t sustainable, and needs to change to survive, let alone flourish.

Urban vice isn’t going to ruin your neighborhood. Suburban stubbornness will.