Great article. Just wanted to pass it along
by
John D. Cameron Jr. is the chairman of the Long Island Regional Planning Council.
Michael E. White is the council’s executive director.
from
Long Island Business News
The news, opinion pages and blogs of LIBN have been filled with the challenges Long Island is facing, and it seems that the very best of what “Our Island” has to offer is at risk. While we share many of the problems faced by other communities, we have regional challenges that make our plight unique and in some ways more desperate. The Long Island Regional Planning Council is tackling these challenges and will ascertain how Long Island may achieve a sustainable future. If we are to be successful in solving these challenges, Long Islanders must be ready to embrace a future that preserves appealing aspects of our suburban life, recognizes our remarkable assets and creates a community based upon the principles of stewardship and sustainability.
Our distinction as the most highly taxed populace, with the highest energy costs in the continental United States and a lack of housing options to meet the needs of our changing population has resulted in an accelerated loss of our talented and educated work force, particularly our young people. The affordability problems of our young work force are shared by our seniors, a growing segment of Long Islanders. You have heard this before.
“Our Island” also faces an aging and inadequate infrastructure. We cannot build or revitalize our downtowns without adequate sewer capacity and treatment to protect our drinking water. We cannot alleviate our traffic congestion without better transportation and transit choices. The natural resources that attract us to the Island are stressed or even disappearing. Failure to address global climate change and reduce greenhouse gases could bring more unhealthy air and permanent flooding. Our ability to attract and retain quality businesses which employ highly skilled, highly paid workers must be strengthened. These challenges threaten our quality of life and our economic viability.
Acknowledging these challenges and problems as daunting, there is hope that we can still right the ship. The council, with core support from our counties and in collaboration with our towns, villages, cities and an array of stakeholders, is embarking upon a sustainability planning initiative to ensure that not only does Long Island remain an economic engine, but that our quality of life will be preserved and enhanced. Our “LI-2035 Regional Comprehensive Sustainability Plan” initiative will produce an integrated sustainability action plan. It will NOT merely be another study of existing deficient conditions or a vision devoid of a charted course of how and what to change.
Assisting the council is a team of talented planners, engineers, scientists, economists and sociologists headed by Arup, an internationally respected firm, supported by local firms and community-based organizations in conjunction with federal, state and local government. The work product will draw upon sustainability successes from around the world with specific application to Long Island.
First, we will identify and assess the challenges we face in economy, infrastructure, resources and land use. We then will establish goals; develop a series of sustainable strategies with metrics to assess their impact on meeting our challenges; and identify the necessary governmental actions and funding mechanisms required to implement the strategies to reach the goals. Second will be the integrated action plan providing the “how to” and “who needs to do what” to reach a condition of sustainability by the year 2035.
The council is supported in the development of this plan by a Leadership Advisory Cabinet comprised of Long Island leaders in business and industry, institutions, regional government, the community, the environment and nonprofits. The cabinet is co-chaired by Bob Catell and Pat Foye. Supporting the cabinet will be stakeholder resource groups acting as technical advisors in specific thematic areas. The experience and expertise of our cabinet and stakeholder resource groups as well as broad public outreach will ensure that the critical issues affecting Long Island will be addressed, practical solutions proposed, information generated widely disseminated and that the action plan will be implementable.
The critical challenges and associated problems we face are real and significant. It is up to all of us to seize the opportunity to create a sustainable future for “Our Island.”
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