by Richard M. Kessel
Wow. With all of the recent clamor about making Long Island the nation’s 51st state, you would think elections for governor could be as soon as this November. Melville as state capital? Hey, what about Merrick or Montauk?
You've got to give Suffolk Comptroller Joseph Sawicki a lot of credit for moving first on the 51st state effort. Mr. Sawicki was a very sincere and dedicated assemblyman, and you can’t argue with his notion that Long Island gives to both Albany and Washington more than it gets. If nothing else, Suffolk’s comptroller has raised the issue of Long Island being shortchanged to a much higher and more public level. In the end, that’s a good thing for Long Island.
But, to undertake an academic study for the next six months or so when we have so many other pressing issues makes no sense. Especially because we all know that despite the exciting publicity generated by the issue, it’s not going anywhere now – or ever.
Actually, making Long Island the 51st state is not new. Back in the 1970s, a famous gadfly, Walter Sterling, proposed it to the Nassau Board of Supervisors and seven officials, including then-County Executive Ralph Caso, actually gave it a look.
Several other state legislators and civic groups also suggested making the Island a state, but it never went anywhere. It got some good publicity, but not much else. Is it any different today? I don’t think so.
While there are a number of arguments that make statehood for Long Island sound attractive – imbalance of taxes to state aid, mandates that raise our taxes and policies that discriminate against the suburbs – New York State, the Empire State, is made of diverse parts that would be lost if we, or any other part of the state, broke away.
If Long Island, why not eastern Long Island or Staten Island, or Buffalo, or the Bronx? Actually, despite our state’s daunting challenges, I wouldn’t change a thing when it comes to our parts.
What we should be studying is how to deal with our problems, like traffic, high taxes, energy needs, in ways that make sense. Maybe Tom Suozzi was right when he talked about peak pricing for the LIE [Long Island Expressway] (if Mayor Bloomberg gets his congestion pricing, what about a fee for all non-Long Islanders who travel out east and clog our roads?).
Maybe we should cap property taxes but give opt-out powers to those school districts who vote for higher spending. What about a wind and solar farm somewhere, anywhere? These issues, and others, deserve our focused attention, not an idea that we all know isn’t happening.
If anyone out there actually thinks statehood is in our future, I've got the Throgs Neck Bridge to sell you. Great publicity for the study, but what about doing something really important, like figuring out what to do to make this great place even greater. If you really believe that statehood for the Island can actually happen, hold your breath and see what happens.