Across Long Island, suburbanites echo the same refrain in every village hall where a housing development is on the agenda: \u201cWe don\u2019t want our neighborhood to look like Queens.\u201d<\/p>\n
Over 100,000 new residents have been added to Long Island in the past 20 years, with a modest annual growth rate far below 1%, but activists in the villages<\/a> where most of the housing is being added are not happy with the influx of people onto the already crowded island.<\/p>\n In Mineola, where the village board has approved over 1,000 new units in the past 20 years, more than any other village on Long Island, resentment is growing. Seventeen-year-old activist Thomas Breslin, who was born and raised in the village, got involved in local politics because of the changes he saw in his community.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s huge concern that our village is going to look like Queens, [but] we want to maintain our suburban character,\u201d Breslin said.\u00a0<\/p>\n In Great Neck, another area of Long Island that has seen some of the fastest development, residents have organized several campaigns against projects on the peninsula.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cDevelopments are being haphazardly put up throughout the peninsula,\u201d said activist Nancy Sherman. \u201cIt will change the character of the community.\u201d<\/p>\n Not-in-my-backyard, or NIMBY, activist groups like these are common throughout Long Island\u2019s 96 villages, and they share similar tactics, organizing strategies, and arguments.<\/p>\n Not-in-my-back-yard activists claim their villages will see increased traffic, a burden on schools, and strain on plumbing if apartment buildings are approved and cast themselves as the defenders of suburbia.<\/p>\n These NIMBYs often organize public pressure campaigns on WhatsApp channels or Facebook groups like All Things Mineola, which has 6,300 members, or Great Neck Guardians and Save Kings Point Park, which each have over 1,000 members.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cIs it too late to keep Mineola suburban?\u201d one user wrote.<\/p>\n \u201cAgain more queens coming to Mineola. So glad I didn\u2019t return. What a great town it was,\u201d wrote another.<\/p>\n Residents flock to board meetings in protest of the latest development, and it often gets ugly. Residents lob accusations at board members, mayors shout back at their neighbors, and lawsuits against the village are announced.\u00a0<\/p>\n In one meeting in Great Neck earlier this year, a resident shouted at the board, \u201cIt disturbs me to learn that the park, our state legislature, private entities, development companies, and others are engaging in a partnership that is occult.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n After a heated exchange, another resident was kicked out for refusing to end his filibuster.<\/p>\n Lawsuits claiming that a village did not comply with the State Environmental Quality Review Act or their village code before approving construction are common.<\/p>\n In Williston Park, residents have commenced a lawsuit<\/a> blocking the construction of an 18-unit apartment building, arguing that the building does not have appropriate setbacks.<\/p>\n In Great Neck, residents have brought a SEQRA lawsuit against the United Mashadi Jewish Community of America and the Village of Kings Point for attempting a land-swap to build a parking lot for the organization\u2019s 54-foot-tall community center.\u00a0<\/p>\n And in 2022, Sherman and several others successfully blocked the demolition of a 100-year-old car dealership to build a 75-unit apartment building in the Village of Thomaston with a SEQRA lawsuit. After the village backed down, activists got the board to declare the building a landmark. Since their victory, Sherman has won a seat on the village board along with two other activists, Jay Chagrin and Aaron Halpern.<\/p>\n Thomaston Mayor Steve Weinberg said he was shocked by the community\u2019s response.<\/p>\n \u201cI got to experience the no-holds-barred, \u2018we\u2019re gonna attack you on every front. We\u2019re gonna commence a lawsuit. We\u2019re gonna file criminal complaints,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cThe opposition\u2019s position was they didn\u2019t want any change in the community.\u201d<\/p>\n Ultimately, Weinberg and the board backed down.<\/p>\n \u201cEven if I think something is a good idea, if my residents are against it, I\u2019m not gonna do it. They have an important voice in this process,\u201d said Weinberg.<\/p>\n Village of Great Neck Mayor Pedram Bral was elected after running a campaign criticizing then-Mayor Ralph Kreizman\u2019s approval of a 191-unit apartment complex, but he has since changed his mind about the project\u2019s benefits and development in general. Bral said he is focused on making Great Neck more affordable and has overseen the construction of several apartment buildings during his tenure<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the driving forces for me is that, if we want to make sure that Great Neck is affordable 10-15 years from now, that our children can still afford to stay in Great Neck, we need to increase the number of living spaces and apartments,\u201d said Bral.<\/p>\n Mineola Mayor Paul Pereira said he has also received considerable pushback from residents over developments.<\/p>\n \u201cThey think we\u2019re building too high, too quick, too dense, and that we\u2019re losing this kind of suburban feel,\u201d Pereira said, but he warned that looking at what is said on Facebook groups does not give an accurate picture of the community.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t really pay attention to what is said on social media,\u201d he said. \u201cI think that gives a skewed picture of what the public really thinks.\u201d<\/p>\n