See what Long Islanders say are the challenges of living here

The standard of living on Long Island is rapidly going downhill. We need a moratorium on new building. Traffic is becoming unbearable. We also need to force the schools to reduce their ever-increasing budgets to be more in line with the rest of the nation. School taxes are out of control. Inflation, which is affecting the whole country, is further adding to the special problems of living on Long Island.

High taxes.

Taxes. I live in a 55+ senior development and our guidelines do not allow any children to live here nor are school buses allowed in the development, yet we do not pay lower school taxes, 80% of our taxes are for the schools. So unfair.

I didn't own a home before the pandemic, and now it feels like the opportunity has fully run away from me. I'm continuing to save for a down payment, but it feels futile in the face of the dramatic annual increases in home prices each year.

I used to live on Long Island, I left 10 years ago. I miss the people, the proactive and very intelligent and helpful people. However, people are leaving droves and the cost of living is so high I could never go back. I hear businesses are going under. Ten years ago there were many choices of drug and grocery stores, a friend was telling me it is now harder to shop because of closers. I am also concerned about the safety of all the bridges and tunnels that connect Long Island. When I lived there it was a wonderful place with a great education system, to me best in the country, and I think it still is. Businesses and people are moving away from an educated area to areas where people are not well-educated and there is are worse health care systems. For many people who would love to come back but can't it is very sad!

I love living in Williston Park except for the high taxes for seniors like me. DUIs also seem to be out of control everywhere on the Island.

Taxes and terrible traffic! Besides those, so many roads and highways are in awful condition and sometimes only get quick fixes.

There were very few decent jobs for college graduates seeking basic jobs like in teaching. Local government for decades has driven up property taxes to rapacious and unsustainable levels and purposely zoned out two-to-six-family houses, garden apartments and apartment houses. 

Traffic is unbearable. It's a nightmare trying to go to the North Shore from the South Shore and vice versa and it's no fun heading east or west either. The property taxes are high, but the social services are much better than in low-tax regions.

The toughest part of living here has become a casino being forced upon us residents against our will. I can't think of a better way to degrade and ruin our environment, our families, our communities, our small businesses and our county economy than to place a casino here. The site is right between two colleges and a high school, next to residential neighborhoods in Uniondale, and smack in the middle of traffic-choked Nassau. 

The higher cost of everything.

Taxes are way too high once you retire.

Speaking on behalf of both my 67-year-old mom and myself (37), as poor (and in my case multiply disabled) Black residents of public housing, the biggest challenges here are the cost of basically everything and, for me, the inadequacy of our barely-there public transit. Since the pandemic began, the cost of groceries has gone up every year. I'm tired of having to choose between decent, adequate food and paying important bills. We can never breathe. In addition, the state of public transportation on Long Island is abysmal and has been for a very long time. Besides the fact that the climate crisis demands that we rely less on individual vehicles, many on Long Island can't afford our own vehicles. Investing in better, more extensive, affordable public transit benefits everyone, including the small businesses. 

I'm a boomer with no mortgage so I'm managing the awful inflation. The traffic is horrendous and illogical. They put the red/green lights on entrance ramps in residential neighborhoods like Round Swamp Road, yet allow the Route 110, Southern Parkway entrance to be flooded like the armies of Armageddon all day backing up the traffic. The rare moments traffic flows on that Southern "Catatonic" State parkway leaves you prey to maniacs wildly speeding between cars. A virtual death trap.

Real estate taxes are very high, higher than almost anywhere else in the country and the world. Traffic is miserable, you never know how long a short trip is going to take. Some of our infrastructure is in serious need of repair. Most of the people here are kind, considerate and generous to charity. It's only when national politics comes up do we become rambunctious.

I love living on Long Island. I value the quality of life on Long Island -- the parks and culture, the weather/change of seasons, access to outstanding medical care, diversity, access to NYC, and yes – the quality of public education. But the biggest challenge is the high property tax. School property taxes are unsustainable, and people are being driven away, especially those on fixed incomes, like many seniors. Though there are Senior Tax Exemptions, they are inadequate and entail income thresholds that many of us don’t meet. Many seniors have incomes too high to qualify for exemptions, but still too low to live comfortably, given the cost of living on Long Island. In my case, as for so many others, it’s been decades since I had kids attending public schools. One solution to compel people to stay here, is to reduce if not eliminate school property taxes for seniors who no longer have children in the public schools. Another solution to reduce property taxes, and allow people to continue to live on Long Island, is school district consolidation, perhaps no more than one for each town, city and village. 

Very high taxes and igh insurance rates.

Definitely high school taxes for a retiree! Taxes could force us out of Long Island. Traffic is horrendous, even in the HOV lane.