Brookhaven Supervisor Mark Lesko called it "Blight into Light," unveiling his sweeping scheme to redevelop Brookhaven one blighted area at a time, using a video to display a panorama of largely vacant properties he aims to reclaim.
The Plaza Theater in East Patchogue is the poster child for this effort, an area the town declared blighted last year. The "blight" designation enabled the town to acquire the derelict movie theater through eminent domain, an effort solidly backed by residents.
Lesko now proposes conducting a town wide study of blight that could designate other areas for redevelopment. Lesko would also make it easier for builders to get town approvals for such projects, including access to sewers, and tax breaks. The town would award benefits by ranking the builder's redevelopment plan on its merits, including community support.
Making sure that there's wide support is important, especially because some communities have misused "blight" studies to condemn homes, an abuse of eminent domain that many states now forbid.
"Blight into Light" is a snappy slogan for a good idea, just so long as the communities deemed "blighted" see the light and fully support redevelopment.
Watch "Blight into Light"
Sarah Lansdale Executive Director, Sustainable Long Island
Blight into Light isn't only a snappy slogan for a good idea, it is exactly the kind of movement many Long Island communities so desperately need. With Brookhaven Supervisor Mark Lesko planning to redevelop Brookhaven "one blighted area at a time" many community advocates are waiting for their specific town supervisor to make the same move. Organizations such as Sustainable Long Island have helped communities across Long Island identify priorities for development and develop practical strategies to build safer, stronger, healthier, and more vibrant areas. Some of their major revitalization projects include work in Huntington, New Cassel, Port Washington, Roosevelt and Wyandanch. Each of these communities, along with dozens more across our region, has a unique history and different sets of challenges and opportunities. However, there is always a set of common goals: to bring stakeholders back into the planning process, connect them with the experts and resources they need to create a shared vision for the future of the community, and help them transform that vision into reality. With the attention and focused resources provided by elected officials such as Supervisor Lesko, we can revitalize our communities and ensure that Long Island is prosperous and beautiful for generations to come.
Eric Martin Long Island, NY
I have just finished reading your Editorial on the "Blight Into Light" plan for the Town of Brookhaven. Let me commend you on a great idea and the amazing job you have done in only a short time in office. I hope other town leaders follow you down the path of sustainability sooner rather than later.
My only concern with your plan is what are you going to do with the old homes and buildings? How are they going to be removed? The "Blight into Light" project is great for the revitalization of these neighborhoods and the Long Island community but I feel there will be a blight on the "Blight into Light" projects if current demolition practices are used to remove the old structures from these communities.
Traditional bulldozer style demolition hurts the very Long Island community that you are trying to revitalize. Buildings, like everything, have a lifecycle. When a building is no longer fit for use and has to come down, does this happen just as all of its parts and components wear out? Most old buildings have some systems and building materials with useful lives. The trick is efficiently identifying the materials and getting them out of the building. When redeveloping a Long Island property, it is difficult to see the old buildings as anything but obstacles. Also, it is important to consider whether their contents and/or components may actually be resources that have net value.
Current demolition practices are not sustainable. They are also not in the best interest of Long Island and our environment. They hurt our community by over-burdening our already fragile landfills with valuable building materials that are not at the end of their lifecycles just because the homes and buildings they make up are. Those same building materials can benefit a fellow Long Islander who might not be able to afford brand new building materials.
Building Deconstruction and Building Material Reuse on Long Island is the systematic dismantlement of building materials and building components, specifically for re-use, recycling, and waste management. It differs from demolition where a site is cleared of its building materials by the most expedient means and a majority of the demolished materials are hauled to a landfill for disposal. Building Deconstruction is new by name, but not by practice, as the recovery and reuse of building materials in order to build new structures is as old as buildings themselves. Reuse of materials might be considered one of the "original" green building techniques, along with the use of local materials. In the pre-industrial era, building material conservation was driven by the high intensity of the labor effort required to harvest and prepare them. Reuse of materials provided an economic advantage. In the mid-to-late 20th Century, the emergence of machine-made and mass-produced materials, chemically complicated materials, and the relatively low cost of oil allowed this basic idea of "waste not, want not" to fall from usage in the creation of built environments.
We live in a different world now. The cost of oil is out of control and puts a heavy burden on some Long Island families who have to pay the increasing gas prices. And there is no end in sight to our dependence on foreign oil. Dumping fees are continually going to rise. Especially as the number of landfills decrease because of capacity issues and remediation is needed on the sites that are still in use. The reusable building materials from your "Blight into Light" projects could be worth a significant tax write-off when donated to a not-for-profit organization on Long Island like The ReUse People (TRP) and receive a tax-deductible receipt to help offset the overall cost of the "Blight to Light" projects. These services are among the first steps in the green building process and provide a faster payback and better return-on-investment than any other product or service offered by the green building industry on Long Island.
I truly believe Sarah Lansdale, the Executive Director of Sustainable Long Island, when she said, "With the attention and focused resources provided by elected officials such as Supervisor Lesko, we can revitalize our communities and ensure that Long Island is prosperous and beautiful for generations to come." Please Supervisor Lesko I implore you, don't leave a blight on the "Blight into Light" projects, choose building deconstruction and building material reuse over current demolition practices and help turn it into a force for the sustainable development and future of Long Island.