Some Long Island residents say Hochul's housing plan will mean influx of new students
NEW HYDE PARK, N.Y. - In Albany Monday, the bickering goes on over bail reform as New York is still without a state budget.
Another controversial debate also continues with Gov. Kathy Hochul's suburban housing plan.
Some on Long Island worry that, if passed, it might mean an influx of new students.
It's a thorny issue in the suburbs, and part of the reason for the state budget delay: Hochul's Housing Compact Plan.
"It is the ultimate unfunded mandate," Roslyn School Board President Meryl Waxman Ben-Levy said.
Ben-Levy worries that, at 3% growth in housing, rezoning areas with a half mile of LIRR stations, will bring an influx of new students, and no way to pay for new hires.
"It's teachers. It is bus drivers. It is cafeteria workers. It is custodians," Ben-Levy said.
"Would increase traffic, and cars parked on our streets, threaten the environment, strain emergency services and utilities and surely overcrowd our classrooms," North Hempstead Town Supervisor Jen DeSena said.
It's an ongoing mantra from Nassau's town supervisors to Hochul - local control over housing. She visited Long Island recently.
"We'll have a very different future once we execute this plan," Hochul said. "We've tried the do-it-on-your-own for generations."
Hochul says that hasn't worked.
Both Republicans and Democrats agree affordable housing is needed, but disagree on how to get there.
"With the availability of more housing, the market itself would reset the cost of living that we have now," said Laura Harding of Erase Racism.
Harding and other proponents say increased building would mean rents and home sale costs would go down.
"The housing compact does actually give double credits to localities who build affordable housing," Harding said.
"We have the best school districts in the nation, and they have to face things like a 2% cap," Hempstead Town Supervisor Donald Clavin said.
With a 2% tax cap, he asks, how to afford new infrastructure necessary to provide for new students.
"We've expanded a little bit to be able to maintain the capacity and the educational integrity that we provide, but an increase in students in that magnitude would be a travesty for us," Herricks School Board President James Gounaris said.
Many residents hope both sides are listening.
Budget extender legislation passed Monday gives Hochul and legislative leaders until April 17 to negotiate a full budget.
