THE NEW COMMUNITY JOURNAL
FRIDAY JULY 20, 2012
Number of Poor in the Suburbs on the Rise, LI Unprepared The Suburbs, once the spitting image of wealth and stability, have seen a large overall increase in poverty in the last few years. According to the 2010 census, the number of people living below the poverty line has increased 66% from the previous decade; as of 2010 18.9 million suburban Americans were living below the poverty line, up from 11.3 million in 2000.
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tracks in order to reach millions of tons of waste rock at an abandoned iron and titanium mine located near the source of New York’s Hudson River and the highest peaks of the Adirondacks. David Whorton of American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association estimates that in the past 30 years, the number of short line railroads has grown from about 70 to about 550. In general, short lines are mom-and-pop businesses serving two to six customers which usually connect with another short line, regional, or major freight railroad, such as CSX Transportation or the Norfolk Southern Railway.
Long Island has always experienced pockets of poverty, created by race and income segregation, but for the first time Long Island is seeing foreclosed homes, overgrown yards, plywood windows and closed storefronts even in the better-off subdivisions. At this point, Nassau and Suffolk have the second and third highest foreclosure rates in New York State, respectively, putting them only behind Queens. These increases in poverty are putting new strains on government agencies, parish outreach programs and aid organizations. Families are waiting in lines to receive food at pantries that are continuously emptying out. The number of food stamp cases in Suffolk went up to 40,699 in April from 26,193 two years ago. Of Suffolk's 1.54 million person population, almost 195,000 people are on Medicaid.
On June 14, the federal Surface Transportation Board cleared the way for the New York freight line to be operated by the Saratoga and North Creek Railway, owned by Chicago-based Iowa Pacific Holdings which also operates two Texas short line railroads that, due to oil and gas drilling, are said to be booming.
Suffolk's Social Service Department is having trouble keeping up with demand. The average wait for Medicaid applicants is currently 29 days. Because of reduced state aid, both Nassau and Suffolk have tight eligibility rules for social service programs. About 468,000 people in Suffolk and Nassau, out of a population of about 2.7 million, live in households earning up to 200 percent of the poverty line, and they don't receive federal or county aid, so they're barely scraping by.
The abandoned tracks will be reopened from North Creek to Tahawus, 100 miles north of Albany. The first phase of the project will be completed this summer. It will involve reopening six miles of tracks between North Creek and North River, where the rail company is negotiating with Barton Mines to ship garnet. The railway company expects to reopen the tracks to Tahawus within a year.
Dr. Richard Koubek, Vision Long Island board member and chair of the Welfare to Work Commission, recently organized a convened a conference to discuss the alarming growth of "working poor" on Long Island. The topics discussed in this conference will be used by the Suffolk County legislature to create a report on poverty rise in the region. Some long term solutions, such as smarter use of social-service resources, more economically sustainable developments, and more use of mass transit, housing and job training have been proposed, but they don't address the immediate challenge at hand. To address the immediate crisis, more spending and more staffing to fix the safety n e t a r e n e c e s s a r y . To learn more check out the original article at the NY Times.
New York state railway identifies an economic resurgence
The project was sued unsuccessfully by several environmental groups, including a local Sierra Club chapter, in order to derail the project because of the 13 miles of tracks that go through state Forest Preserve land, where motors of any kind are prohibited under the state constitution's "forever wild" clause. The concern is not the train traveling through, but rather the violation against the Forest Preserve, a national historical landmark, much like the previous violation in 1942. Rising fuel costs and congested highways are making rail shipping more economical than trucking, Backers of the project hope that the planned reopening of the 30-mile rail link will provide a boost to the economy of the faded towns along the Adirondack line and a new shipping option for product such as minerals, logs, and paper products. The rail line may give existing businesses in the Adirondacks an economic boost, new job and business growth, and explore existing markets and potentially aid developing markets. Read more on this subject at the Washington Post
As part of a widespread resurgence of short line and regional freight lines, a railroad company is renovating rusty, overgrown NASSAU COUNTY EDITION
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