Like it or not, Long Island is what it is today because past giants had the vision—and the resolve—to get things done. No one can deny the influence (and controversy) of power broker Robert Moses, whose imprint is all over our region’s parks, parkways, and roads. Master Planner Lee Koppelman, the legendary past chair of the Long Island Regional Planning Board, safeguarded our environmental resources for generations to come. Visionaries like them are rare in government today. Instead, the most forward-thinking leaders are found in the private sector. Thankfully, we can still look to people like Terri Elkowitz and John Cameron, whose leadership is highlighted in this Long Island Road Warriors edition. Their energy and creativity are commendable—but they can’t do it alone. Real progress requires reinvigorating planning within our government institutions.
Koppelman’s tenure as Long Island’s planning czar began in the 1960s and spanned over three decades. During that time, Nassau and Suffolk Counties prided themselves on robust planning departments staffed with professionals brimming with creativity and ambition. Their enthusiasm for the future yielded regional master plans and strategic tools that prepared us for growth and sustainability. But those departments—and the forward-thinking spirit that fueled them—have been systematically dismantled. Today, Nassau County’s once-proud planning department has been relegated to a single desk tucked away in the Department of Public Works. In Suffolk, of the 100 or so positions budgeted for both planning and economic development functions, nearly a third remain vacant. The message is clear: planning is not a priority. However, there are glimmers of grit, innovation, and accomplishment with the historic passage of the water quality act that will create the largest investment of wastewater infrastructure in a generation, the transformation of a federal superfund site into productive reuse, and the full-scale expansion of services and record ridership increases in Suffolk County transit services.
At the town and village level, planning offices are understaffed and overburdened. Layers of red tape and regulatory overreach stifle creativity and long-term visioning. Builders and developers will tell you: today’s planning culture is defined by delays and denials, with officials more likely to say “no” than to ask “how?” Even transportation planners—tasked with shaping the future of our mobility—are trapped by bureaucracy and funding shortfalls. Ambitious, transformative projects that once defined Long Island’s growth are no longer pursued. Instead, we wait. If you hit a pothole on the Northern State Parkway between Wantagh Parkway and Route 135, don’t worry—that stretch is expected to be repaved sometime between 2032 and 2033. If another catastrophic hurricane strikes before 2031, too bad—the Loop Parkway Bridge, a designated coastal evacuation route, won’t be replaced before then.
To be clear, routine maintenance—pavement markings, sign replacements, signal upgrades, graffiti removal—is important. But why does the state Department of Transportation’s project list for Nassau and Suffolk focus almost exclusively on these small-scale fixes? Where are the bold, visionary initiatives that once defined our region? The needs are glaringly obvious:
- Widen the Sagtikos Parkway.
- Reconstruct the Meadowbrook Parkway/Southern State Parkway interchange.
- Complete the Route 347 reconstruction.
- Fund and start the Oakdale Merge fix.
- Electrify the LIRR Port Jefferson line and the Main Line to Yaphank.
- Designate the former Lawrence Aviation property for future railroad operations.
Long Island deserves more than just wish lists and deferred projects. We need to see the work of Terri Elkowitz and other private-sector visionaries come to fruition. We need to listen to John Cameron and the Long Island Regional Planning Council before their recommendations become just another echo in the wind.
We need planning. And we need execution.