Marianne Garvin

Bob Keeler: A Better Long Island for All Keeler is a former Newsday reporter and editor. It’s time for our local leaders to lead the way to the future with a strong dose of regional thinking Perhaps the most difficult attitude to nurture in Long Islanders is regional thinking. Despite the best efforts of the Long Island Index and Newsday, the Long Island newspaper, regional thinking remains a still-desirable but still-distant goal.

I’ve been involved in the effort to build affordable housing on Long Island for more than three decades–most of that time at the Community Development Corporation of Long Island. One of the most encouraging trends that I’ve seen is the increasing decline of the NIMBY (“Not In My Back Yard”) attitude that has been far too prevalent on Long Island. I’m more hopeful than ever that its decline will now pick up speed. I understand the instinct. LI is primarily a community of single-family homes.