"The only thing constant in life is change" - Francois de la Rochefoucauld
"Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so." - Douglas Adams
These two quotes sum up the basic challenge with making anything new happen. People want life to go on around them just as it always has. They don't like change...it's unsettling to say the very least. However, change does happen...whether we want it to or not...and people will always fight it. The fact is that the world around us changes constantly. Needs change...what people want out of life changes...everything does. So we can either work towards directing that change, or we can sit by and watch what happens. There is no other choice.
Having grown up in Levitt-style home just outside the first suburban community of Levittown, NY, it seems appropriate to talk about the evolution of the suburbs. Back after WWII, when Levitt built this first suburban community, life was much different than it is now. People tended to get married younger than today and they looked towards starting a family earlier. Gas was cheap and the means of transportation of choice was the car. So it's not surprising that the first suburbs...and most of what came afterwards...were geared toward the single family home with commercial activities (as well as jobs) kept at a distance.
Today, gas is no longer cheap and concerns over the environment have made people more conscious of transportation choices. Younger people, as well as recent retirees, are looking for a different lifestyle than the old suburban communities offer. Terms like Transportation Oriented Development (TOD), Multi-Modal Facilities (MMF) and reverse commuting are now part of the conversation Not to mention the Internet Age of working from home or virtually (no pun intended) from anywhere on Earth.
So this blog is about what the New Suburbia may look like, the developments in this national trend and in particular, the challenges we face in trying to bring these changes to the downtown, in my hometown of Hicksville, NY. To create an environment that attracts both business and residents, provide a desirable area to keep our young people from leaving and also fight the general decay that has plagued our downtown in recent years. The choices are many...the challenges are great...but the rewards of success and the penalty for failure are great as well. We owe this to those who have built what has come before and we owe this to those who will inherit the future. We must then be relentless in this pursuit!
