I will be writing under the pseudonym "Paul James". I won't give the reason just yet for why I chose this name. One of our first assignments for this course was to post a writing sample. For ICM 501 we needed to host a blog. Here is one post that I composed last summer. Looking forward to receiving some writing feed back!.
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Happy post- Fourth of July to all those reading this blog! Summer is definitely here and we are now suffering through our third heat wave in the Northeast. Summertime means it’s the season for fun, beach going, barbeques and of course enjoying some interesting alcoholic drinks. Of course we hear it all the time…”If you’re going to drink..then drink responsibly and don’t drive”
Seems simple enough, right?? Then how come we continue to see DWI arrests and accidents caused by DWI on a consistent basis throughout the summer? As most of you know, I am from Long Island, a prime destination spot for summer vacationers…and apparently also people with DWI’s. Patch is a site where people can contribute articles about things that are happening in their community. They recently posted this question, “Is there an alcohol problem on Long Island?”. It’s a more complex question then you might think. And my answer to this question is this…sort of.
I believe part of the “alcohol problem” is based on stupidity and poor planning: not having a plan when going out for a night of drinking, not having a designated driver (DD), not setting a limit as to how much you can drink and still get home safely, showing off in front of friends while having a good time, and then being unwilling to accept the consequences of your actions if you make a mistake (which I think has become a societal thing, but that is meant for another post). But I also believe that Long Island is designed for drunken driving accidents. This may be the case for a lot of suburban areas, but for our sake let’s look at Long Island critically.
Most of Long Island is set up as suburban hamlets; pockets of homes surrounded by big highways (LIE, Northern and Southern State Parkways, Sunrise Highway) and if you are lucky you might have a “Main Street” that runs through your town. I use the term Main Street loosely because several towns have what you would call a main street (Merriam Webster defines main street. as”the principal street of a small town”). For example, the town I live in, Hauppauge, does not have a typical Main Street. In fact there is no street in Hauppauge that I know of called “Main Street”. The closest thing we have to a main street is a county road which has a number of fast food restaurant venues, a 24 hour diner and a supermarket. Other towns share main streets. Main Street in Smithtown is Jericho Turnpike, our Route 25, which spans LI from Greenport on the North Fork to the 59th street Bridge in Queens. The road changes names several times in that span, yet it is still considered “Main Street” in several of the towns it runs through.
So, why do I bring up Main Street? Simply because we do not have enough of them. Too much of Long Island is spread out and distant from each other. There aren’t enough town centers; not enough places to walk to, not enough public transportation, and not enough main streets. Some of you reading this might argue, there are plenty of main streets. “What about Main Street in Huntington you might say? How about Port Jefferson’s main street and Main Street in Bay Shore or Babylon, or even in Patchogue?” Yes, I’ve visited all those places, and they are nice to spend time in …but they require me to drive my car to get there. Yea, I could take a cab. I ran into this problem last weekend when I was with a group of friends who wanted to go out on a Saturday night to Babylon and no one wanted to be the DD. A cab would have cost me more than 3 or 4 drinks to get there and back. The train seems like a logical option: drive to the station and take the train to one of these towns. Then, stumble your way back to the train and take a cab home after a night of drinking. This is an OK idea, but not the most ideal.
Although I’m definitely not condoning drinking and driving, I can see why it is happening so often on Long Island. The ideal way to get around is to drive. We’ve become so accustomed to driving everywhere that driving to the bar has also become second nature. But I’m a proponent of change, and I say more main streets will mean less DWI’s. Not only will more main streets provide towns with a center and “identity”, but they also create places for all people to walk to. Just look at New York City. Many young people are moving to Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan (yes, mostly for work purposes) but also because these areas contain the perfect “main streets”. Near your apartments, these main streets all have restaurants, bars, and night life that you canwalk to. A cab ride home might only be a couple of bucks (instead of $30 if you’re traveling 15 miles or more on Long Island), and most subways are only a block or two away.
Long Island needs a re-design, and main streets are the way to do it. Main Street can act as a hub for other forms of transportation as well. Bus Hubs and LIRR stations need to be designed near main streets. Apartment complexes and affordable homes need to be developed around main streets. Business, restaurants and bars will flock to main streets. These re-design ideas all have one thing that is particularly important. It takes the car keys out of our hands. Not only will that save you on gas, but it will also save some lives by taking DWI’s off the roads.
Do you think we need more main streets in our communities on LI? Let me know what you think, or suggest another idea below.
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ReplyDeleteGreat post. It is well written and you make a lot of good points. I do not know anything about LI but I can relate. I live in Bristol, CT and I have to drive at least 15 minutes to the bars in West Hartford. A taxi ride is to much money and the bars in Bristol are not fun. More towns should offer a cheaper taxi service on the weekends. If we want to keep drunk drivers off the road it should be more affordable to get a taxi. A taxi from Bristol to Hartford (15 minutes) with 4 people would cost about 65 bucks. Crazy!