I
lived in Brentwood, Long Island my
entire Ironworking Life. My brother
lives in Farmingville. When the market
hit it's peak I sold my house and I
moved. My brother didn't. My brother
can't sell his house now. With the
predator creditor policies of this
administration it will get even worse. I
love Long Island and always will. I
dream someday I will return.
My brother dreams some day he will be
able to sell his house and leave. I
remember watching the neighborhoods
change many times. Both were multi-
ethnic working class areas that were
pleasant to live in and every one got
along quite well. Every one had one
thing in common. Home ownership, hard
work, and mowing the lawn.
This was our bond. Whenever the
neighborhood got worse was when we went
thru fazes of absentee ownership with
rentals. We would stay and improve our
lots anyway which raised the value of
the properties. This would result in the
absentee owner selling to cash in on the
equity of our hard work and
dedication. Then things would get
better. Now there is only a downside of
this trend which becomes permanent. The
areas are over run by people that
are fleeing their own country's corrupt
and ruthless economy. There is
tremendous gang activity and violence.
Push in robberies are frequent. The
hundreds of thousands of Illegal's that
are convicted of these crimes in America
will be released back onto the streets
and not deported. The worse part is the
strain on services, schools, hospitals,
and priorities of law enforcement that
are forced to deal with an epidemic of
overpopulation of an underground economy
that doesn't contribute to the revenues
that provide these services.
This theft of services drives down wages
and property values. One other simple
thing I would like to mention happened
to my step-daughter one day. She was
driving and was hit by a van of
illegal's. They had no insurance. After
a while since it wasn't severe and the
car wasn't new we let it go. It seemed
the cops on the scene were pushing in
that direction anyway. We asked however
what would happen to the driver that had
no insurance and the officer said " if
arrest him I would also have to arrest
half of this neighborhood". Most of the
people in my new neighborhood of all
ethnic backgrounds share the bond of
having moved here to get away from
this. We now bond together in our
exclusive community to fight the attack
of the well funded, unelected, tax
exempt foundations in their attempt to
bankrupt local municipalities. I applaud
Steve Levy for trying to fulfill his
fiduciary responsibility to the law
abiding citizens in spite of the attacks
on his character by those who benefit
from this theft of services and
destruction of equity.
William J. Wahlsteen