Huntington Station Committees – Insanity is …

“The measure of success is not whether you have a tough problem to deal with, but whether it is the same problem you had last year.” – (John Foster Dulles, Secretary of State in the Eisenhower Administration).

The Huntington Station Action Now Committee (formerly known as the Huntington Station Action Coalition) is charged with identifying the root causes of Huntington Station’s problems and developing possible solutions. According to Town Hall officials, the Action Coalition issued a report in March 2010 that recommended both concrete proposals that could be implemented quickly and longer-term approaches to both addressing the continuing security issues in the community and supporting Huntington Station’s continued revitalization.

On Friday, December 16, nearly two years later, the group met again to further discuss the issue and set up new committees.  The majority of leadership of the group do not live in Huntington Station which is typical.  Ironically, one of the biggest problems is the committees themselves.  The many committees that have been formed were made up of the same people year after year, most of whom do not live in Huntington Station or send their children to Huntington Schools.  In general people who are not connected to the “right people” or are independent thinkers are excluded from the committees.  There are always a few new people permitted in, but those people eventually get discouraged and move on to other things.  While the powers that be were meeting, and evaluating and studying and convening and reconvening, those who live in the area were trying to make sense of it all.  During the decades of studying the problem, the issues were worsening.  Property values were dropping, gang and crime were growing, the number of illegal apartments began to spread throughout the town and one of the local public schools were closed down.

There really is no need to further study the issue but if we stop evaluating, we may have to roll up our sleeves and act.  As Albert Einstein said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

The problem has been very well researched, written, studied, evaluated, visited and revisited. The following is a partial list of committees, legislation, information and other means of evaluating the problem.  We only went as far back as 1986, but the committees to study Huntington Station go back to the 1960’s.  Here is our list:

1986 – The Task Force on illegal housing – (Appointed by the Town Board in March, 1986, to study the problem of illegal housing.)

1987 – The citizens advisory committee

1987 – Citizens for a better Huntington Station

1989 – Huntington Station revitalization Plan – prepared by consulting firm Conklin Rossant. (See page 24 of the link)

1993 – Comprehensive Plan Update (See Page 24 of the link)

1999 – H.S. Revitalization committee

1999 – Huntington Housing survey is conducted by Stony Brook University

2001 – Crack House Law & The Slum Lord Offensive

2001 – Anti-Gang Task Force (page 14)

2001 A new plan prepared by the consulting firm Fox Fowle

Weed & Seed

2001 – Huntington Station Forum

2002 – Campaign for Pride & Beautification in Huntington Station

2002 – Operation H.A.I.L. storm (Huntington Against Illegal landlords)

2002 – Huntington Station Revitalization committee

2003 – Huntington Station Overlay District Legislation

2003 – Huntington Station Moratorium Area Report

2003 – Gang Summit

2003 – Lowndes Avenue Task force

2003 – Vision Long Island is hired as a consultant to conduct economic analysis, and a new plan for Huntington Station. (see comment below from Eric Alexander of Vision Long Island)

2003 – EDC and BID is formed

2004 – C.A.S.T (Community and Schools Together) -(page 14)

2004 – Community Development Input Session Results

2004 – Comprehensive plan

2004 – Town Hires Planning Firm of Wallace, Robert and Todd (WRT)

January 2004 – Planning Today For Huntington’s Tomorrow

2004 – Housing Enforcement Action team (H.E.A.T.)

July 2005 – Safe Communities Initiative

2005 – The Thompson Report

2005 – Take Back the Blocks Program

2005 – Phase One of the Huntington Station Route 110 Streetscaping/Sidewalk Rehabilitation Project

2006 – Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee (CPAC)

2006 – The Northridge Plan

2008 – Comprehensive plan update – Horizons 2020

2008 – 5 Year Annual consolidated plan

2008 – Operation Persistent presence

2009 – Code Enforcement Task Force

November 2009 – Huntington Station Action Coalition

April 19, 2010 – Steps to a Safer Revitalization

July 2010 – New Iniatives To Fight Huntington Station Crime

2010 – Broadway/110 revitalization committee

May 2010 – Code enforcement summit

September 2010 – Huntington Anti-Gang Community Advisory Committee

July 2011 – Berland’s Anti-Blight Legislation

2011 – Huntington Station Action Now