The State of the Island

The State of the Island is still declining. This is from the Long Island Business News, December 18, 2009,

"A recent study regarding the social, financial and physical health of Long Islanders found financial hardship growing in the region, along with increases in child abuse drug use and youth crime as well as a rise in the percentage of income spent on housing.

Sarah Eichberg, Adelphi’s director of community research and an author of the report, “Vital Signs 2009: Measuring Long Island’s Social Health,” summed up the findings on a conference call with a half dozen reporters.

“While still one of the most affluent areas in the country, Long Island has been hard hit by the recession,” Eichberg said.

The report found the “region frequently exceeds state and national levels on social health indicators, however, many indicators are moving in a negative direction.”

Record numbers of homes are in initial stages of foreclosure on Long Island, reaching 4,804 in the second quarter of 2009, up 48.7 percent in Nassau and 71 percent in Suffolk from the second quarter of 2007. The number rose to 5,851 by the end of the third quarter of 2009.

Meanwhile, nearly half of homeowners and more than half of renters as of that date spent at least 30 percent of income on housing.

Although average employee wages nationwide rose 3 percent from 2007 to 2008, they declined 5 percent on Long Island, falling below 1999 wages adjusted for inflation, according to the report.

“This decline has grave consequences for working individuals and their families,” according to the study.

Food Stamp household enrollment from May 2006 to May 2009 shot up 43.5 percent in Nassau and 54 percent in Suffolk. Personal bankruptcy filings from March 31, 2008 to March 31, 2009 rose 42.6 percent in Nassau and 32.3 percent in Suffolk."

While we may be captivated by national troubles, it behooves us all to look at solutions closer to home. As we enter the 3rd year of recession, there is no doubt that the effect on the middle class is significant. How will the Island unite toward common goals that will benefit the whole region? For now, because of deep provinciality on a town by town and sometimes, village by village basis, it remains very divided.