Long Island Index builds a better website

Coming from the ideas that it received last year from its Build a Better Burb Contest, the Long Island Index launched a new website last week that aims to give the information needed for effective suburban revitalization directly to residents.

The site, www.buildabetterburb.org, launched on Dec. 7. It was based on a contest that the Long Island Index, a project that gathers and publishes information about Long Island in yearly reports, that solicited entries for a reimagined Long Island. The ideas ranged from the grandiose — a radical rezoning of Long Island that would create pockets communities surrounded by open space and agriculture — to the grounded — figuring out how to best conserve and utilize Long Island’s freshwater resources.

The submissions were put on the Long Island Index’s website and residents were given a chance to vote. There was a peoples’ choice winner, as well as five projects chosen by a panel of jurors.

“A lot of the people, myself included, were sort of scratching their heads and saying, ‘I don’t really understand what they’re talking about. My training and background is not in design or architecture or planning,’” said Ann Golob, Director of the Long Island Index. “And understandably, the folks who were submitting the ideas were talking to the jurors who came from the same background they do. So we sort of felt like we kind of missed the audience we were going for.”

The new Build a Better Burb website aims to fix that problem, though. The information has been streamlined and made easier to understand, since not everyone is an architect or urban planner.

The site is divided into four sections: Housing Reinvented, Thinking Regionally, Parking and Transit, and A Sense of Place. Each section features original articles with information and large photos that can be used as examples for what residents could have in their communities.

“I understand people being scared when they don’t know what it’s going to be like,” Golob said. “I understand people not wanting to accept someone saying, ‘Oh, it will be OK. Don’t worry about it. I know what I’m doing.’ No, you should be skeptical of that. So we really wanted to give people the knowledge and the tools. And we sincerely believe that seeing is believing.”

The website incorporates the projects from the contest and adds to them, giving more information and examples to residents. One section shows how parking structures can actually be aesthetically pleasing instead of just large concrete slabs. Another shows how communities can reinvent themselves with modern design techniques and still maintain their sense of place. And for those that want more detailed information, there are four reports (one for each section) that discuss zoning ordinances and what can be done to make some of these ideas reality.

“Every month we’re going to add more data to the website,” Golob said. “We’re going to find new ways to get more articles, more photos. We’re going to ask people what other tools would be helpful for us to get out there. And we really hope this will help Long Island communities have this conversation in a much more informed and knowledgeable way.”