1. newsday.com
$3.99 |LI EDITION
Sunday
April 19, 2015
RANGERSSERIES TIEDAFTER HOME LOSS SPORTS
T H E L O N G I S L A N D N E W S P A P E R
COPYRIGHT 2015, NEWSDAY LLC, LONG ISLAND, VOL. 75, NO. 228
How parent, teacher and student protests could
reshape testing — on LI and across state
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2. BY CARRIE MASON-DRAFFEN
carrie.mason-draffen@newsday.com
T
rucking company
owner Brad Caraccio-
la, fed up with the
metro area’s high
housing prices, traffic-
clogged roads and the cost of
doing business, says he lobbied
his wife “like a politician” to
leave New York City and
relocate to south Florida.
Caracciola, a 38-year-old
father of three young children,
lost the debate. He and his
wife moved to Old Westbury.
Michelle Blum grew up in
Marlboro, New Jersey, graduat-
ed from Hofstra in 2010 and
decided to stay on Long Island
because she said she came of
age here and fell in love with it.
But Blum, 26, the owner of a
Bethpage-based nutrition-con-
sulting company, Nutrish
Mish, says of the many friends
she made in college, “I am the
only one who still lives out
here, that I know of.”
Long Island needs its young
more than ever. The Island is
graying. A recent economic
report from the Long Island
Association, the region’s larg-
est business group, cited a
Cornell University study show-
ing that while the number of
Nassau residents 65 and older
is expected to rise by 20.8
percent between 2015 and
2030, the number of residents
45 to 64 years old is expected
to drop by 15.7 percent. A
similar pattern is expected for
Suffolk.
And the Island’s labor-force
— those working or looking
for work — has shrunk to the
lowest level in more than a
decade. In February, it stood at
1.425 million, the lowest num-
ber for that month since 2002,
See YOUNG on A32
LIBusiness
HELP WANTED Carrie Mason-Draffen answers workers’ questions newsday.com/business
TECH REVIEW
BE KIND TO
THE PLANET,
WITH APPS
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LIBUSINESSnewsday.comNEWSDAY,SUNDAY,APRIL19,2015

3. Millennials seek ways to keep younger workers on LI
when the labor force was 1.419
million, state data show.
At the same time, the Island
lacks what young residents are
clamoring for: affordable
housing, better job opportuni-
ties and leisure and entertain-
ment options.
30% considering leaving
A survey this year by an
advocacy group, The Subur-
ban Millennial Institute in
Garden City, found that 30
percent of 18- to 36-year-olds
are considering leaving the
Island because of a lack of job
prospects. Meanwhile, a study
released in December by the
research group Long Island
Index found that 37 percent of
the Island’s 18- to 34-year-olds
live with family members.
That was the highest percent-
age since the group began
asking about housing costs
concerns in 2008, when 27
percent lived with family.
“For Long Island these
concerning trends highlight
the importance of policies
aimed at retaining younger
workers and enhancing job
opportunities to promote
economic growth,” said John
A. Rizzo, chief economist of
the Long Island Association.
While the Island faces
hurdles in keeping its young
people, suburban-issue ex-
perts said there’s hope. They
point to factors such as a
well-educated population and
strong research and education-
al institutions as lures.
Lawrence Levy, executive
dean of the National Center
for Suburban Studies at Hof-
stra, said Long Island could
make itself more attractive to
young people if it builds
apartments and increases its
investments in public trans-
portation and the arts. But
that requires a balancing act,
to ensure it preserves open
space and other natural as-
sets, he said.
“The most important thing
the regional leaders can do is
to come up with a plan to
persuade local people, wheth-
er elected village officials,
civic groups or chambers of
commerce about the value of
embracing smart growth and
transit-oriented development
and be prepared to invest in
communities prepared to
move forward,” he said.
Caracciola and Blum both
belong to a local charity and
business networking group,
Long Island Elite, which is
composed mostly of young
executives and entrepreneurs.
The members are business
people who live here and have
promising careers, but who
are well aware of the challeng-
es the Island poses for young
people.
A dozen members of the
group gathered at Newsday to
discuss the Island’s pressing
issues.
Caracciola, a Smithtown
native, discussed issues he
faced in deciding where to
live. He was keen to move to
Florida because the state has
no income tax, has lower
property taxes — and he
could get much more housing
for the money in the Sunshine
State.
“I was the guy emailing his
wife pictures of what would
be an estate on Long Island in
Florida,” said Caracciola, who
owns GroundForce Logistics
in Manhattan.
Blum said her love for Long
Island grew as she got her first
apartment here and her first
job, and later started a busi-
ness.
But, echoing Caracciola’s
concerns about the Island’s
costs, she said her classmates
were scared off by the pros-
pect of paying off hefty stu-
dent loan debt while shoulder-
ing Long Island’s high hous-
ing costs and property taxes.
“Sometimes the numbers
just don’t add up,” Blum said.
Lacked housing options
Melissa Kaiser, 34, a South
Nassau County resident and
an Astoria Bank vice presi-
dent and branch manager,
said housing options for
young people haven’t pro-
gressed much since she relo-
cated to Long Island 13 years
ago from her home state of
Washington. She came be-
cause she felt her banking
skills were “undervalued”
there. When her former em-
ployer, Washington Mutual
Bank, expanded to New York,
she decided to come east,
enticed by a career opportuni-
ty, a signing bonus and the
payment of her relocation
expenses.
Those early days on Long
Island meant dealing with a
tough housing situation.
YOUNG from A31
We need to
encourage
entrepreneurship,
and encourage a
lot of these kids to
stay here and build
a business here.”
— Nonprofit consultant
Karen Signoracci Suero
LI BUSINESS
❛ I really did have
to live in a room
in a house with
people I didn’t know,
and that was the
only option I had.”
—Bankvicepresident
MelissaKaiser,speakingof
herearlydaysonLongIsland
It’s up to the
millennials to
say, ‘We don’t want
to have to leave
Long Island. We
don’t want to live
in our parents’
basement.’
— Hotel manager
Rob Salvatico
YOUNG ADVOCATES
❛ ❛
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4. “I really did have to live in
a room in a house with peo-
ple I didn’t know, and that
was the only option I had,”
she said. “We don’t have
affordable apartment living
for kids to transition from
college to an apartment com-
plex with everyone their age
that has the downtown that
they can go to and will keep
them here.”
Efforts to build affordable
apartments have been op-
posed by community groups
fearful of greater housing
density.
Garden City resident Rob
Salvatico, 42, who manages
his family’s Hotel Indigo and
Holiday Inn Express in River-
head, said the number one
objection to multifamily
complexes are what he de-
scribed as unfounded fears of
large numbers of children
overwhelming local school
districts.
Call to ‘speak up’
At a recent meeting on a
proposed luxury apartment
complex in Rockville Centre,
Salvatico said builders pre-
sented research showing that
the ratio in such units was
about 0.14 schoolkids per
apartment.
“We spend all this money
making sure our kids get the
best education, and in turn
the taxes increase,” he said.
“All this money to educate
them, then we can’t keep
them. I think the answer to
keeping them is greater densi-
ty, smarter locations.”
He believes young resi-
dents can counter opposition
to multifamily complexes by
attending community meet-
ings and government hearings
to push for housing options.
“If you guys speak up, it
will happen,” Salvatico said.
“It’s up to the millennials to
say, ‘We don’t want to have
to leave Long Island. We
don’t want to live in our
parents’ basement.”
He also called for more
entertainment options for
young people. When he was
in his 20s and 30s, “if you
wanted to go out on a
Wednesday or Thursday or
Friday, you had to go into the
city,” he said. “Things to do,
to me that’s the first draw of
living somewhere.”
Karen Signoracci Suero, 36,
a Mineola resident and con-
sultant to nonprofits, urges
the promotion of entrepre-
neurship among college stu-
dents. Some local schools
offer entrepreneurship cours-
es or degrees. Hofstra, for
example, offers a bachelor’s
of business administration
with a concentration in entre-
preneurship and Stony Brook
University offers a similar
degree, and both schools hold
annual competitions offering
prize money.
Signoracci Suero believes
more should be done to teach
entrepreneurship in schools,
leading to job growth.
“We have an influx of
college students coming
every year to this Island,” she
said. “Just to get your MBA or
a business degree isn’t
enough. We need to encour-
age entrepreneurship, and
encourage a lot of these kids
to stay here and build a busi-
ness here.”
Downtowns seen as draw
Several group members
said more bustling down-
towns would appeal to young-
er residents.
“If we are going to attract
people here and keep people
here from Park Slope and the
Upper East Side and all those
wonderful, glamorous sexy
places, we need the Garden
Cities and the downtown
Huntingtons, Rockville Cen-
tres, Babylons,” Signoracci
Suero said. “And we need
those mom-and-pop stores to
stay open and to be available.
I want to get a beer. I want to
get a cup of coffee. I want to
push my stroller and have my
dog with me.”
The successful revitaliza-
tion of areas like Patchogue,
which is revamping its decay-
ing downtown with mixed-
use apartment complexes
near the train station, high-
lights the Island’s existing
opportunities for redevelop-
ment.
“We’ve already got the
infrastructure here,” said
lawyer Adam Guttell, 38, an
East Hills resident, and a
partner at Martin Clearwater
& Bell in East Meadow. “You
have the Long Island Rail
Road that goes all the way
through the Island. Just think
of the railroad and what’s
near it. There’s nothing with-
in walking distance.”
Salvatico agreed. “The
road map, whether we like it
or not, is already drawn for
us, and it’s the LIRR,” he said.
The South Shore’s Babylon
line, with its proximity to
beaches, would be ideal for
millennial apartment com-
plexes and entertainment
sites, he said.
“To me, at some point
that’s a developer’s dream —
a very frequently running
train along a major highway
with access to Long Island’s
natural beauty,” he said.
“Those are all cool towns
that could be revitalized on
that basis.”
LI BUSINESS
So I was
lobbying
very hard, like a
politician, to get my
wife to go to Florida.
We know who won.”
— Trucking company
owner Brad Caracciola,
who unsuccessfully lobbied
his wife to head south
I am the
only one
who still lives
out here.”
— Entrepreneur
Michelle Blum,
comparing herself to
friends she made at
Hofstra University
LI residents by
the numbers
Long Island’s labor
force (employed and
unemployed residents
combined) is at its
lowest level in more
than a decade:
Feb. In thousands
2015 1,424.50
2014 1,442.30
2013 1,469.70
2012 1,466.60
2011 1,447.90
2010 1,456.20
2009 1,476.20
2008 1,472.10
2007 1,465.20
2006 1,461.00
2005 1,438.40
2004 1,436.00
2003 1,429.00
2002 1,418.90
Source: New York Labor Department
Percentage of 18- to 34-
year-old Long Island
residents who live with
a family member
2008 27%
2010 24%
2011 26%
2012 24%
2014 37%
Source: Long Island Index
FOR CHANGE
❛❛
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LIBUSINESSnewsday.comNEWSDAY,SUNDAY,APRIL19,2015