PART 5: This is the last of the 5 posts that I have written to try to explain and maybe enlighten the real estate community and the public at large about the revolutionary changes that are now unfolding in real estate in America. This post is more about the lack of affordable housing than anything else but it is illustrated through the grueling traffic patterns and grid lock that is a reality now as the much needed working class try to make a living working 3-4 hours a day and commuting for the rest of it!!!
"TRADE PARADE"...If You Are Looking for Fun, This Ain't It!
PERHAPS, if you were living in New York in the 80's and early 90's you have some exposure to the Hamptons. If you did get to the Hamptons at that time, you were experiencing something that was just beginning--the glut of new homeowners making their way to this area. They had the promise of owning a summer home. There were ways for one to buy a vacation house and be able to fit right in to the area in an affordable way.
it was a great time to be a New Yorker, both in the city and here in the Hamptons. And no one ever really complained about the traffic. An hour and a half was the expected length of time for a trip out east. It was a time to relax on the Jitney or the train as you made your way out to the sea shore, each weekend.
About the time of the largest growth in housing in the 1990's, the Hamptons became the most popular resort on the east coast. People warned of the coming swarms of people on the roads--like the Cape! "There is nothing so awaful as what happened to Cape Cod!", the "knowing" would say..."Just you wait; it's coming this way and you won't be able to enjoy the beaches for the crowds!"
PREDICTIONS WERE WRONG!
Well, thats not quite what happened. We got traffic, alright, but it wasn't going to the beaches...there were lots of those too but the real issues came as the new houses being built, exploded in numbers, overnight! This was keeping the work force busier than they had ever been and the builders were making more money than some of the famous people out here!
Houses got bigger, estates became the way to live here with tennis, pools and all the accouterments that come with a way of life few can imagine. These places were being built on lots that were formerly vacant or had small houses that needed to be renovated or torn down. So, the work force was still thriving and more and more houses were going up.
Suddenly, about 2010, something started to change.
What happened next was totally predictable: Afforadable houses were literally all torn down. There were only big houses on all kinds of lots and prices were heading North like never before.
And those workers who were so busy? Well they could not afford to live in the Hamptons anymore--they went west. They found affordable houses first in Hampton Bays and East Port, then further west as those areas caught on.
ITS CALLED THE TRADE PARADE, and it is no picnic!
Now, there are the trades people: builders, carpenters landscapers, delivery trucks with their wide vehicles and trailers. There are housekeepers, chefs, nannies and store clerks and all other types of workers needed to service pools, tennis courts, homes and grounds. The need is immense for the upkeep and care of these homes and gardens.
All of the trades-people live west of the Hamptons and they have to drive out to work in the Hamptons EVERY WEEKDAY--TWICE A DAY! Back and forth each day. Some commutes become hours long and places like Southampton Village is a summer-hell-scape, both in the morning until about 11:00 and then again at 3:00 until 5:00 or 6:00--in the summer heat!
HOW WILL THE TRADE PARADE END?
The Village of Southampton has a very precarious situation with what has been happening for the last 20 years. Traffic from mid-island to the Hamptons has been building with every passing year. The Village fathers have known about the potential traffic disaster for over 20 years and have done nothing about it.
We are almost at the end of Long Island; the trade parade goes all the way east to Montauk, so we are talking a very long parade, indeed!
Moving in each direction depending on the time of day, you will find hundreds if not thousands of cars, trucks and landscaping wagons that add length and breadth to the trucks, as they manuver along the local roads. Trying to avoid the massive traffic jams on the "Big" highway, these tradesmen move to the back roads and wreck havoc on local Village neighborhoods. Fights break out; runners are run over, baby carriages are run off the road and the police force is overwhelmed...but the trade parade must go on!
"WE ARE RUNNING OUT OF DIRT!"
A wall of metal blocks Village streets as people look to avoid the main Rt. 27/39A heading east. The same traffic pattern in reverse happens later on--to the west, back to their homes mid-island and beyond.
The Town is trying everything with traffic patterns but the trouble comes when the traffic builds to the point of sitting, crowds of automobiles sitting for hours. It isn't pleasant any more. This is the first sign of the end of the "Trade Parade".
THIS IS A CRISIS
A community can not exist where you can't drive, can't walk, can't ride a bike, can't enjoy the scenic view. Where traffic sits, polution rises, stress is through the roof and quality of life is defeated. Common scense tells us this and yet this is how many years now have we watched the "Trade Parade" get longer, more dense as it sits on our streets??
IT TAKES A DOWNTURN--A BIG ONE
There will come a time when we will have another housing downturn and the way of life out here in the Hamptons will require a different sort of population. Farms are still active here and with farming becoming a more vital form of occupation again, this may re-introduce a stable year round population. People will move on to the next popular resort area and less and less of a workforce will be needed here. Substantial price drops in real estate will also bring a middle income population back into the fold; a little less luxury will be the trend.
Hopefully this will not be the end of the Hamptons but the start of a new beginning for us. I know there are similar stories out there--other resort areas that have either experienced this kind of madness and made it work or other areas that have simmered down and gained some sanity again.
Please share yours!
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