Systemic racism, disenfranchised communities, racial disparities, and voter suppression-all dog whistles used by some leaders in politics to garner support from minority communities and squelch all opposition to the paralyzing policies in place that continue to segregate and disenfranchise communities across the country, especially in Suffolk County.
Over the next few weeks, Messenger Papers will take a hard look at the policies in place on the County and State level that have slowly degraded a thriving community, and how new leadership is bringing hope back to the area.
For too long, the residents of Coram, Middle Island, and Gordon Heights have been neglected by their local leaders and the peoples’ voices have not been heard. From retirement homes, to churches, and community development, the previous Presiding Officer of the Suffolk County Legislature had failed to meet the needs of his community. Now, there’s a fresh face at the table now and he has an agenda built around community revitalization. Legislator Dominick Thorne (R-Medford) has vowed to revisit the many complaints that were ignored, and questions that were left unanswered; to be the representative people here so long deserved. It is time to give back to the community. These three hamlets are very diverse, and we can presuppose that they were only visited on election years, where they were made empty promises. When the next election season rolled around, the excuses flowed, the blame game unfolded, and the promises ensued once again.
Diversity is a complex topic with many layers. Researchers try to dissect a community’s diversity through the measurement of racial and ethnic divisions using the dissimilarity index. The index measures the percentage of two groups that would have to relocate so that those groups become evenly distributed in an area; the closer to 100, the more segregated an area. In 2019, as per the Census, Suffolk County had an index value of 63 and was ranked among the 10 most racially segregated counties in the United States.
This racial segregation is apparent, when, looking at these three communities within the Longwood School District, we see double the percentage of Black-to-White population as is the average for Long Island; 11.74% and 12.4% in Coram and Middle Island, respectively, compared to 8.8% for Suffolk County, and almost six times as much in Gordon Heights – 50.78%. Even with a large Hispanic population in Gordon Heights, there are 2.21 times more Black or African American residents than any other racial demographic.
These communities are located in the highly rated public school district of Longwood Central School District, whose students’ test scores regularly outscore the state averages. It is ranked Number 5 out of 691 for most diverse schools in the state and in the top 100 for athletes in the state.
The area was represented by former Suffolk County Legislator (and Presiding Officer) Rob Calarco (D-Patchogue) since 2011 until he was ousted by Legislator Dominick Thorne (R-Medford) in his successful, second attempt, to unseat the silent representative. In his first few months on the job, as the first Republican Legislator for the 7th District since the 1970s, Thorne has tirelessly been visiting all corners of the district, speaking with constituents, and answering the call to serve.
“On November 3, I attended my first community meeting held at the Breakthrough Chapel in Coram to start to identify the needs of the Longwood community, needs that have been overlooked for more than 40 years,” said Thorne. “A tour on the 4th of November revealed; closed stores, scores of homeless and drug infested bus stops that had been the center of the community detriment. Also, my team and I were able to meet with many residents that deeply care about their hometowns of Gordon Heights, Coram, and Middle Island. We engaged all local leaders, including three civics, four churches, and the fire department, to ask what I, as a public servant, can do to help heal the communities while promoting business, economic development, creating jobs and all while building-up those most venerable people.”
Thorne has met with the residents of Conifer Village and Pinehurst regarding quality-of-life issues in their residence, issues that have been ignored for far too long by leadership that didn’t care about the constituents. He is working to remediate the issues in their homes that are threatening their health.
Crime is another area of concern to the residents of Coram, Middle Island, and Gordon Heights.
“After a meeting with Commissioner Harrison of the Suffolk County Police, as well as Commissioner Pierre of Department of Social Services, the work began. A collaboration between the Town of Brookhaven Councilman Loguercio, Suffolk County Police Department, Social Services, and my office took immediate action to clear the bus stop on Mill Road and Route 25 of criminal activity and began to make it safe for the residents of Coram,” said Thorne.
Town officials have received continuous complaints about crime, homelessness, and the state of disrepair of properties along the Longwood corridor. Unfortunately, these problems are outside the scope of Brookhaven Town Council. These community concerns have roots in the jaded policies created by the one-party rule in Albany and the 16-year Democrat majority in Suffolk County.
In November 2021, a “red tsunami” swept Suffolk County and the Democrat tenure in the Legislature came to an end. New representatives were elected, representatives like Thorne, that have made it their personal mission to revive their communities, and to create legislation that protects and helps the citizens that live in those communities.
Follow The Brookhaven Messenger as we continue this exposé over the coming weeks, culminating with coverage of the ‘Take Back 25’ clean-up initiative taking place on April 2. This clean-up event is organized with local government, non-profit organizations, civics, schools, businesses, and community leaders to clean up the Longwood corridor.
We will work to bring to light how forgotten and disenfranchised the constituents here felt because of previous government leaders, and how that is changing day by day.
