Vision Long Island holds annual conference

Vision Long Island, a group dedicated to expanding Smart Growth on the island, held its 9th Annual — and largest ever — Smart Growth Summit at the Melville Marriot on Nov. 19.

With over 900 attendees, the summit featured over a dozen workshops aimed at addressing Smart Growth issues on Long Island, including what went wrong in the past, what’s going well right now and what can be done in the future. The future of Long Island’s downtowns was an important issue for many.

“Our downtowns aren’t doing as well as they should,” said Eric Alexander, executive director of Vision Long Island, during his speech in the morning. “Despite all the negativity, some good things are happening.”

One high point was the recent passage of the Smart Growth Public Infrastructure Act, which promotes Smart Growth by providing public funding for projects that incorporate Smart Growth principles.

The summit opened with a breakfast panel of local leaders—town and village officials talking about their triumphs and defeats in terms of Smart Growth and development on Long Island.

One of the main issues addressed by the panel was whether or not projects should go forward with such an “angry electorate,” as it was phrased. The panel was split—some felt that projects should be held, while others thought they should be pushed forward.

“People want something done,” said Mineola Mayor Jack Martins. “Lets stop talking about it.”

Town of Hempstead Councilwoman Dorothy Goosby, who was representing Supervisor Kate Murray, was asked about the town’s reaction to the Lighthouse Project and their scaled back counter-proposal — which Goosby called “Lighthouse Light.” Goosby defended the town’s decision to ultimately kill the proposed Lighthouse project by not approving the change in zoning that developer Charles Wang wanted.

“We were kicked in the teeth with the original Lighthouse,” Goosby said. “But we had to do what’s best for our people.”