Long Island has the two deadliest roads in the region for pedestrians. Long Island Bus is bursting at the seams with new riders. The Island is also facing a major housing crisis — Suffolk and Nassau Counties are first and fourth in the state in the number of loans at risk of foreclosure. In an editorial this weekend, the New York Times looked at some of the challenges which underlie all of these problems:

Housing in the land of Levittown, the national symbol of affordable starter homes, has for years been out of reach to young couples and the working class. … Demographers have documented an exodus of people who grew sick of living in their parents’ basements. … For all that, there are few legal rental units, and efforts to build higher-density “smart growth” developments have been vigorously, often rabidly, opposed… McMansions have been eating up the island’s dwindling open space and farmland, while its downtowns and infrastructure wither from age and neglect.

The way out is through smarter planning which focuses development around transit, strengthens downtowns, meets the Island’s need for affordable housing, and makes residents want to walk and bike to their destinations.

But too many of Long Island’s elected officials aren’t standing up for these kinds of change. In an op-ed published in today’s Newsday, TSTC’s Ryan Lynch (a former resident of Northport in Suffolk County) took state and local elected officials to task for failing to increase Long Island Bus funding and opposing vital transit projects like the Third Track on the LIRR’s main line corridor, and the Port Jefferson rail yard which would have increased the LIRR’s Port Jefferson branch service. He also called on those elected officials who support transit projects to do so more publicly. One of the interesting patterns coming out of TSTC’s “Long Island on the Issues” candidate survey (the last response was published today) is that 90% of the state legislators who responded support the Third Track — but few have been vocal champions for it.

Lynch cites New Jersey, which has largely embraced transit-oriented development and has witnessed a “brain gain” of young, highly-educated families as a result. Long Island, on the other hand, has been the victim of a “brain drain.” He asks readers to consider “whether your elected officials are serving your transportation needs” and makes the case for transit investment:

As the economy plummets, energy concerns increase and transit ridership grows, elected officials on Long Island – from the state senators and Assembly members we elect tomorrow to the supervisors, mayors and county executives who’ll seek our support in the years to come – must ensure that a robust investment in Long Island’s transit infrastructure is undertaken. This investment will create a system that will meet our 21st century transportation challenges, protect our environment and jump-start our economy. It may even mean that people like me will start moving back.