Readers Write: The many changes Manhasset has undergone

The Island Now

My wife and I  have  resided in the same house in Manhasset for 50-plus  years. 

It is a great place to live and bring up ones children.  We have seen our  town go  through vast changes.

Manhasset is considered to be an upper middle class community. This was then true as  well as today. It provides an  excellent commute train to Manhattan. Thus it is the residence of many who are employed in Manhattan.

During this period we have seen the number of cars increase drastically. The LIRR parking lot contains about 600 spaces which one of the park commissioners told me  that in the 1960s this was sufficient. Most  wives  were homemakers.  Families owned one car. Wives often dropped husbands off  at  the LIRR thus reducing the  parking problem.

Today  virtually all families own at least two cars. Families with teen age children often have three or four cars. 

There is no practical way to enlarge the parking lot. It has been estimated that it would take nearly 3000 spaces to alleviate the parking problem.  Adding to the overall problem is that quite a few wives from  beyond Manhasset drop their husbands  off at our RR station as it is such a  great  commute.

Many years ago a multistory parking facility was proposed.  

A  referendum  was conducted which was so soundly defeated that the then North Hempstead Supervisor, May Neuberger, vowed that she would never ever bring that up again. 

We have all learned that many solutions may temporarily alleviate a problem but in the longer term actually compound it. 

Also 50 years ago no teenager drove a  car  to school.  Today parking is a serious problem at our high school. There are in place some restrictions on teen  age parking a the high school.

The next very noticeable difference is in lawn care.

I  don’t  recall then ever seeing a lawn care maintenance  vehicle. Everyone  had a power lawnmower and  often hedge clippers. We took care  of our own lawns.

If  one  was inclined to, or could not not work, a kid  was hired to cut the lawn. Today lawn maintenance vehicles  are ubiquitous. 

Also Christmas house decorations  have mushroomed.

In the “old days” if one  was inclined to decorate their home it was done  personally. There was a committee from the  Historic Onderdonk House (in North Strathmore)  that went around the  our community just  before Christmas and selected the best decorated house. Today decorations are massive, few  if any done  by the  homeowner. 

Theodore Theodorsen

Manhasset

teTheodorsen@gmail.com

Share this Article