The New York City, tri-state and metropolitan area includes urban, suburban and rural landscapes. Today, we face issues such as congested traffic, pollution and an overall decreased quality of life due to urban sprawl limited modes of transportation. Further, people are fleeing the greater New York area to live in most cost-effective parts of the country because of the ridiculous costs of living. However, there are ways to fix all of these problems and create stable economic growth for the future as well. The ways of the future will be transportation by monorails, large affordable housing surrounding monorail and Long Island Rail Road stops and renewable energy such as solar panels and windmills powering our energy needs. All of this, along with infrastructure updates and the additions of a bridge or bridges for cars connecting New York and Connecticut as well will make so many transportation options available which will reduce overall congestion, pollution minimization from renewable energy and huge economic gain community hubs that are easily accessible.
In the past, Long Island and Connecticut were supposed to have a bridge stretching over the Long Island sound connecting the two land masses. Engineering pioneer Robert Moses initially planned to make New York State Route 135 a bridge to extend to Westchester County or Connecticut across the Long Island Sound (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_State_Route_135). Local officials blocked the project from moving forward; I believe we need to keep that same energy and vigor with our infrastructure and transportation ideas. Taking congestion away from New York City is exactly what Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill De Blasio are enacting legislation to do right now. Although things like this may seem overzealous and ambitious, it is not only feasible but desirable. Think about all of the jobs that would be created and/or simply needed to construct a bridge across the Long Island Sound. The economy would certainly see an uptick and certainly would enjoy easier travel to nearby Connecticut and all of New England, increasing interstate commerce. EZ Passes and bridge tolls would certainly help revenue for the state as well.
Monorails connecting not only Long Island to the city but other states as well and upstate New York will be the way of the future and most likely the preferred method of transport. This is because of how quick it can get from Point A to Point B. Its speeds well exceed how fast cars and trains travel and are only rivalled by planes. Plane traffic and simply practical limitations but a cap on the effectiveness of them as a mass transit vehicle. Monorails, like the bridges mentioned earlier, will require large amounts of labor and will spawn greater and easier interstate and intrastate travel, booming business. Imagine getting fresh produce from upstate New York and having it in a supermarket in Suffolk County in under an hour. The effectiveness of monorails seen in countries such as Japan get me very excited about what New York and America can be in the future.
Monorails and trains can be powered by renewable energy, yet another economic stimuli added to the puzzle. Windmills and solar panels can be put on every house, every monorail, every train and train stop, and basically atop everything except the ground (they can be put on some places on the ground as well). Wind farms next to a Long Island Bridge would be such an excellent view driving north or south to either New York or Connecticut. Such large projects would, again, demand labor and increase the local, state and federal economy and workforce. Not to mention, maintenance of these projects would be a whole industry in and of itself.
Yet another economic force that will drive us into the prosperous future will be building affordable housing surrounding major Long Island Railroad and monorail stops. Minimizing urban sprawl can maximize land use and density problems currently faced with the way too pricey to live greater New York City area. Spacey apartments can be made and do not have to be ridiculously expensive with such high supply. The demand will realistically always be here for housing in the area as long as people to not continue to be driven out due to problems like congestion and high costs of living. When these things are be accounted for by the changes listed above, these affordable housing projects will explode and create such a large and stable middle class that this area can become to feel almost utopia-like. Technology will work to everybody’s advantage, and these affordable housing units can also run on renewable energy. We can truly see prosperity in every aspect of life with these proposed changes.
It would be silly to talk about every positive and not the negatives. For renewable energy, we have to be wary of making fossil fuels obsolete too quickly, which can destroy many jobs and slow the economy from a loss of jobs. Many jobs will still be created from renewable energy construction and maintenance but ensuring that one industry is not left decimated for the growth of another is important economically. A negative of these easier modes of transportation and affordable housing can be overcrowding. As people migrate easier to this area, so do the amount of people who want to make this their home. There is the very real possibility of Nassau County becoming to look more like Manhattan and Suffolk County beginning to look more like Queens and Brooklyn. However, local zoning boards can ensure that high rise buildings being created do not get out of control and leave the very dense housing to mainly areas immediately surrounding the train station and monorail stops. Long Island will certainly look very different, but different may not necessarily be better or worse. Just different. There is also other issues involved such as obtaining the resources to create solar panels, which requires mining for rare minerals. This is one issue that I simply do not know the answer for. From my understanding, mining for these minerals is expensive and there is also only a finite number of these minerals. Hopefully this is an issue that will be resolved in the future.
Also, there is the notion that criminal activity may increase because of the easier transporatition and more dense way of living overall. People from suburban and rural areas may feel as if they are somehow less safe due to the greater influx of people. I personally do not think this should really be of concern as increasing the number of law enforcement officers (that we will be able to pay handsomely with our booming economy) should be no issue.
Another beautiful way of the future that I think will change the greater New York City area as we know it forever is the mass use of hydroponic grow operations to mass produce fruits, vegetables, and bring agriculture downstate overall. Hydroponic technology takes out the risk of having crops ruined by nature as humans can completely manipulate everyting from temperature to weather conditions to light to even mineral ratios necessary to create the absolute best products. Abandoned buildings or warehouses due to factories leaving and economic infeasibility can be replaced with huge grow operations producing massive amounts of food and other products. Manufacturing will increase as well and some industries may even be able to grow and manufacture products on site. Imagine growing cotton in a warehouse and being able to produce a T-shirt from that very same cotton in the very same warehouse. The possibilities are endless. There is no reason why as New Yorkers cannot achieve all of these great feats and live life the way it should be lived. New York is on of the most well-known import hubs in the world. We can become known as a massive export hub as well. Change is inevitable, and I am so excited to experience what will be offered by way of technology and ambition in the future.
A drawback from the grow operations may be that upstate farms may experience an economic hit. I believe their products will still have a place and not suffer. Worst case scenario, in my opinion, would be that farmers would also move indoors and use a hydroponic grow system. At the end of the day, produce is produce and whether or not it was spawned indoors or outdoors does not change that fact. In fact, if people also seem to think that produce made with hydroponics is somehow less than made in nature or outdoors, or vice versa, I can see a very cool and interesting niche market arising. Sort of like the organic craze that hit in the early 2000’s, the next produce craze could indeed be food not created in hydroponic grow operations (or produce that is made the way it is now). However, a niche may also be created where hydroponic produce will become more sought after and ultimately expensive and seen as a higher quality commodity. Ultimately, I truly believe there will be a place for both in the future.