SUFFFOLK CLOSEUP: Housing Costs On Long Island At Record Highs

SUFFOLK CLOSEUP

By Karl Grossman

$600,000

That’s what the “median home price” in Suffolk County had risen to—a record high—as was reported late last year based on data provided by OneKey MLS. (With a Long Island base in Farmingdale, OneKeyMLS describes itself as New York State’s “largest multiple listing service” for real estate and the “ninth-largest multiple listing service” in the U.S.)

How can most people afford $600,000 for a house?

“They can’t,” says Jim Morgo, an expert on housing here. He was formerly Suffolk County government’s commissioner of economic development and workforce housing, and for 17 years president and chief executive officer of the Long Island Housing Partnership. Earlier, Morgo, of Bayport, was a Suffolk County legislator with a focus on housing and also a teacher.

And that $600,000 is for all of Suffolk County. 

In Smithtown, Realtor.com, also a real estate listing operation, currently says the “median home listing price” is $695,000.

On the East End, the median price is far more. 

Realtor.com says the “median listing home price” in Southampton is $3.4 million, in East Hampton it’s $2.7 million and in Sag Harbor $3 million.

Gulp!

Our friend and neighbor in Noyac, next to Sag Harbor, was over recently relating how her son and daughter-in-law left Suffolk buying a house in North Carolina for somewhat over $400,000, in a coastal community no less. And a “very large house” to boot.

That’s one way that younger people, many younger people, are handling the astronomical cost of housing here. And it is why younger people, indeed many people, not only find it impossible to stay in Suffolk County but to come and settle here. 

Back to that $600,000 “median home price” in Suffolk. After a $100,000 down payment, a $500,000 30-year fixed rate mortgage would run $2,500 and more a month based on what’s become the mortgage interest rate of more than 6%  That monthly charge would be about $35,000 a year. And that’s before insurance and property taxes. 

Morgo says the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department places its “standard for housing costs at no more than 33 percent of your monthly income.” 

Thus the current level of housing costs here is “unachievable for many people,” he says.

And, he notes, “it’s no better for renters.”

Still, says Morgo, “a lot of things can be done to make the situation better.”

The “basic solution is providing more supply,” he says. 

Morgo is excited about Governor Kathy Hochul’s plan unveiled late last year, the Pro-Housing Community Program, an initiative that would reward local governments for instituting housing programs. 

“Increasing the housing supply in New York is critical, and I’m using every tool a government has at her disposal to make an impact,” said the governor. 

The program would “give priority consideration for up to $650 million in state discretionary funds to localities committed to housing growth,” a state announcement said.

Commented the state’s Housing and Community Renewal Commissioner RuthAnne Visnaukus: “Local governments are a critical part of the solution to the housing shortage in New York State and we now have a program in place to reward their efforts. Communities who do their part to increase housing supply will receive a boost in their applications for some of the state’s most in-demand discretionary funding streams. This is a win-win for everyone and an important step toward growing the housing that New York needs.”

At the start of 2023, Hochul announced in her “State of the State” address a “New York Housing Compact.” It would have required cities, towns and villages in the state to add housing every three years by 3% on Long Island and New York City and 1% upstate. The state would have been able to override local zoning decisions if localities didn’t meet targets. The program sought to add 800,000 new housing units over a decade. 

Although supported by housing advocates across the state, it was challenged in the state legislature amid opposition from some local government officials and state representatives—including from Suffolk—as an infringement on “home rule” and dropped by the governor. In its stead has come a carrot: an incentive through the Pro-Housing Communities Program.  

This year in her “State of the State” address, Hochul was focused on affordable housing. “Gov’s new housing try,” was the headline in Newsday. Explained Hochul’s office in a statement, the governor “today announced the next phase of her long-term strategy to increase housing supply and affordability as part of her 2024 State of the State address.” 

More on that and other initiatives to deal with the crisis in this space next week.

Karl Grossman is a veteran investigative reporter and columnist, the winner of numerous awards for his work and a member of the L.I. Journalism Hall of Fame. He is a professor of journalism at SUNY/College at Old Westbury and the author of six books. 

Legislation To Improve Water Infrastructure With Sales Tax Increase

County Executive Ed Romaine, Presiding Officer McCaffrey Announce Landmark Legislation to Protect Suffolk’s Drinking Water Bills introduced by Assemblyman Fred Thiele, Senator Monica Martinez will provide funding for sewage treatment and infrastructure 

HAUPPAUGE, NY— Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine and Presiding Officer Kevin McCaffrey were joined today by environmental and labor leaders at a press conference announcing an historic deal that will transform water protection in Suffolk County and pave the way for clean water for future generations.

“I thank Presiding Officer Kevin McCaffrey, Assemblyman Fred Thiele, Senator Monica Martinez all of our environmental and labor leaders for their work to get us to this day,” said Romaine. “Today we begin rewriting the environmental history of this great County.”

“Only through the work of my colleagues in the legislature and the leadership of Assemblyman Thiele and Senator Monica Martinez could this have been accomplished,” said McCaffrey. “Clean water is bipartisan issue, one that cannot be affected by politics, and we came together to provide a better environment for this and future generations.”

The legislation, which has been introduced in Albany, will secure a funding means to provide money for both sewage infrastructure and I/A systems for private homes. The money will be generated by a .0.125% sales tax increase, which is subject to a referendum vote in November 2024.

“We now go to the people so their voices will be heard,” said Romaine. “They will have the chance to say yes or no.”

The I/A systems will remove other nitrogen and other contaminants before they taint drinking water. Sewage infrastructure allows more homes to be connected to sewage treatment facilities, eliminating the use of outdated cesspools.

Legislators Trotta And Kennedy Oppose New Water Tax Proposal

Suffolk County Legislators Rob Trotta and Leslie Kennedy Stand Firm in Opposition to Sales Tax Increase for New Water Restoration FundLawmakers Will Not Support New Tax Until $200 Million in Hijacked Water Quality Funds Has Been Restored

Legislator Kennedy Legislator Trotta(Smithtown, NY)… Suffolk County Legislators Rob Trotta and Leslie Kennedy were the only two lawmakers to stand in opposition to a Home Rule Message approved by the Suffolk County Legislature today in support of New York State legislation that would amend Suffolk County’s water quality restoration fund allowing for a 1/8-cent sales tax increase to fund sewer expansion and waste water systems.

While both Legislators Trotta and Kennedy are champions for water quality, they remain steadfast in their belief that it is disingenuous for local government to subject taxpayers to higher taxes when the Bellone administration raided $200 million in clean water funds (the subject of a pending lawsuit) and has diverted $39 million of the existing 1/4-cent sales tax to the general fund, which most residents mistakenly believe is being used to promote water quality while accumulating $800 million in reserves.

“The Bellone administration betrayed the public by misusing hundreds of millions of dollars earmarked for clean water initiatives. If Suffolk County paid back the $200 million in clean water funds that were raided and utilized the $39 million in 1/4-cent sales tax monies already collected under the previous clean water referendum, we would be able to accomplish the same things an additional 1/8-cent sales tax could for the next 25 years,” said Legislator Trotta. “Let’s spend the existing funds correctly before we reach into the pockets of our hard- working taxpayers once again in the name of water quality,

” Trotta added.If the New York State bills are approved, the Suffolk County Legislature will then vote on legislation to place a referendum on the ballot this November for voters to decide if an additional 1/8-cent sales tax increase is desired.

SUFFOLK CLOSEUP: Frazier Dougherty's Memorial "A Celebration Of A Bold Life"

SUFFOLK CLOSEUP

By Karl Grossman

“A Celebration of a Bold Life” was the title of a memorial for an extraordinary person, a pioneer of public access television in Suffolk County — indeed, the lead creator of a model for public access TV in the nation. Frazer Dougherty died last September at 101.

The memorial at the studios of LTV in Wainscott (LTV for “local television”) on January 14 included a video and photos of Frazer’s remarkable life and testimonials from relatives and folks he worked with at LTV.

It began with daughter Ariel Dougherty telling the 150 people assembled: “Frazer’s death is not only a loss for his family and friends but also for the many, many people he encountered throughout his numerous adventures.”

He was born in Pennsylvania, and the family later moved to Virginia. The video related how, with war breaking out in Europe, Frazer considered enlisting in the Canadian Armed Forces. But he had met the woman who would be his first wife, Page Caroline Huidekoper.

So, in 1940, he joined the National Guard. With the attack on Pearl Harbor and the U.S. entering what would be World War II, he transferred to the Army Air Corps and was a B-25 bomber pilot, flying 63 missions in New Guinea. A photo displayed his plane pierced with bullet holes.

The war won, back home he became an industrial designer and test pilot of the Airphibian, a flying car. The video showed Frazer flying and driving it. The Airphibian is on exhibit at the Smithsonian, and there were photos of Frazer sitting proudly in it at the museum.

He was very much involved in the civil rights struggle and supporting Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He was at the March on Washington and the marches from Selma to Montgomery.

He married Frances Ann Cannon Hersey in 1963. (She had been the girlfriend of a young John F. Kennedy and then wife of writer John Hersey before marrying Frazer.)

Frances Ann and Frazer spent most of the 1970s sailing around Greece and its islands, and then moved to East Hampton.

Frazer was fascinated by TV and its potential for community use. East Hampton was being targeted for large-scale development in the early 1980s. Developers were pushing the Town Board to abolish the town’s Planning Department to prevent it and its director, Tom Thorsen, from doing what the developers wanted. The board’s GOP majority complied.

However, then-East Hampton Town Supervisor Mary Fallon, at a public hearing, faced hundreds of East Hampton residents outraged by the department’s elimination. As they blasted it, she broke down. Frazer, with a video camera, recorded the scene. He took the tape to Sammons Communications, which had the town’s cable TV contract, and it was aired.

TV foremost conveys feelings and emotion; thus, showing the episode on TV had a great effect, significantly expanding opposition to what was happening. Fallon would resign as supervisor. There would be other government changes. The Planning Department would be reinstated. And Frazer would tell me later how it demonstrated the effectiveness of local TV.

Meanwhile, led by Frazer, working with Jill Keefe, Marty Katz and Bill King, LTV was being established. Frazer asked me to be on its board, and, impressed by the communication abilities of local TV and how LTV could be a national model, I joined it.

“Frazer was LTV’s champion,” Genie Henderson, an LTV producer, board member, its longtime archivist and former executive director, said at the memorial. Frazer was LTV’s “nonstop promoter to anyone who would listen,” she said. “Who can forget the man who was everywhere with a camera — parades, fairs, benefits, lectures, nature walks, heated debates …”

And “thanks to his perseverance, here we are,” she continued. “For me and for I know dozens if not hundreds of others who got involved with this ‘we the people’ notion, it was about the community … LTV virtually opened up the community.”

“Originally inspired by Frazer’s mantra — ‘Never throw anything away’ — we didn’t,” said Genie. And the LTV archive is now “30,000 shows strong,” which, “thanks to a partnership with the East Hampton Library, are now being digitized and made available for viewing online. It’s an exceptional, eclectic and highly unique collection — and all thanks to one man who had the will and the vision to create a platform for the people and by the people.”

Frazer hosted a daily two-hour morning show on LTV, “Hello Hello,” making 1,400 programs.

LTV is funded with cable TV franchise fees through East Hampton town and village and contributions from individuals, underwriters, grants and studio rentals. It is under the steady hand now of Michael Clark as executive director.

When cable TV was starting, the Federal Communications Commission in 1969 adopted a requirement that cable TV systems with 3,500 or more subscribers operate an “outlet” for “origination cablecasting” for “local production and presentation.” That requirement, unfortunately, no longer exists.

In addition to writing, I’ve long done television, too. For 33 years, I’ve hosted a TV program, “Enviro Close-Up,” broadcast nationally by Free Speech TV.

But TV should also be local. (I host, without any compensation, a local program on LTV, “Environment Long Island.”) LTV and Frazer Dougherty have pioneered a model for local TV.

Karl Grossman is a veteran investigative reporter and columnist, the winner of numerous awards for his work and a member of the L.I. Journalism Hall of Fame. He is a professor of journalism at SUNY/College at Old Westbury and the author of six books. 

SUFFOLK CLOSEUP: Journalism And Transparency In Government

SUFFOLK CLOSEUP

By Karl Grossman

“I love the Press Club of Long Island,” said Brian Stelter. “I love journalism organizations. We need more of them. We need them to be healthy and vibrant.”

He was speaking at the start of “A Chat with Brian Stelter” aired recently online—and open to the public—by the Press Club of Long Island. (It can be viewed by going to the club’s website https://pcli.org and clicking on the NEWS button.) Stelter is former anchor of “Reliable Sources” on CNN and author of the books “Top of the Morning,” “Hoax,” and, last year, “Network of Lies.”

This has been a challenging time for media—under fire by those who would disinform and are frustrated by tough reporting like Stelter did on CNN and in his books.

The Press Club of Long Island, which is having its 50^th, its golden anniversary this year, is dedicated to the free and accurate flow of information. Democracy is dependent on an informed citizenry. And historically and now there have been obstacles.

Consider the club’s extensive investigation on how New York State’s Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) is implemented—or isn’t—by governments on Long Island. The 16-month project was conducted by Tim Bolger as chair of the club’s Freedom of Information Committee. The cumulative grade Long Island localities received was a C. 

Bolger is editor in chief of the Long Island Press and also Dan’s Papers.

As Chris Vaccaro, then president of the Press Club of Long Island, said: “Freedom of information laws exist for a reason, and the results of the audit are pretty eye-opening. It’s our hope that the audit will eventually help improve transparency by local governments and agencies that received low grades. We also commend the governments and agencies that scored high marks.”

As Bolger noted: “In our report card, agencies were graded on whether they responded to records requests within legal deadlines, if they provided documents that FOIL requires them to maintain, if they denied requests in writing, if they identified their FOIL denial appeals officer, if we had to appeal an improper denial and if they emailed the documents when requested, all of which is required by law.”

Scoring A-plus included the clerk of the Suffolk County Legislature, the Suffolk County clerk and the town governments of Riverhead, Southold, Southampton and Huntington. Smithtown received a B. 

But others were dismal or middling in their FOIL compliance. 

As Bolger reported, some 64% “failed to respond to our requests by the legally required deadlines,” 46% “failed to provide a list of documents they’re required to maintain” and 17% “scored failing grades.” 

The results of the investigation in 2016 and 2017 were widely reported.

Or consider the swift and strong action of the Press Club of Long Island when Pat Biancaniello, editor of Smithtown Matters, and David Ambro, managing editor of the Smithtown News, were kicked out of a rally for then U.S. Representative Lee Zeldin featuring an extreme conservative speaker, Sebastian Gorka. This happened although they were invited by the Zeldin campaign organization to attend, 

“The press serves an important role to keep Americans informed of facts that allow us to inform our own independent judgement on matters before our community, nation and world,” declared the Press Club of Long Island. 

There was an apology from Zeldin who was not at the rally. 

There’s much to be done in a never-ending free press struggle—on Long Island, in the United States and world. Ever since Johann Gutenberg invented the printing press nearly 600 years ago, there have been many in power threatened by people being able to communicate freely, and they have worked hard to prevent that.

What caused me in 1974 to organize what became the Press Club of Long Island and become its first president was reading about a reporter being jailed for not revealing the identity of a source. In the ensuing years—which included action by journalism organizations—nearly all states have enacted “shield” laws to protect journalists from having to divulge sources. But the laws vary significantly.

And there was this headline in The Washington Post last month: “A CBS reporter refusing to reveal her sources could be held in contempt.” The investigative journalist is Catherine Herridge and her stories involved her looking into a questionable U.S. government probe of a scientist.

There’s no federal “shield” law. 

And, meanwhile, there are no legal restrictions preventing the U.S. government from obtaining a reporter’s records from phone companies and email providers in order to identify sources. Bipartisan legislation has been introduced in Congress—the Protect Reporters from Exploitive State Spying Act—the PRESS Act—to stop this. The bill passed the House of Representatives unanimously but there’s been no Senate vote. 

 Says the bill’s Republican sponsor in the House, Kevin Kiley of California: “As acknowledged by America’s founders, the freedom of the press to report on and disseminate information is critical to our republic.” Its Democratic House sponsor, Jamie Raskin of Maryland, says: “Our Constitution provides that no law shall abridge the freedom of the press and inspires us to protect journalists against government overreach and abuse.”

Karl Grossman is a veteran investigative reporter and columnist, the winner of numerous awards for his work and a member of the L.I. Journalism Hall of Fame. He is a professor of journalism at SUNY/College at Old Westbury and the author of six books.