Opinion: If change must come, let's change it as it was

The winds of change blow daily on the east end of Long Island. It is a combination of young people with new ideas and old people trying to keep their best memories from the past. Somehow in the end, the future happens.

The older he gets the more changes he can see. He knows where the change happened. Young people on the other hand clearly see what needs to change and why. The very busy go to work to make ends meet and pay the bills. Then there are those nomads who blow in and out of the eastern cities like the ocean breeze.

There is love for home. A pride for what it is and always has been. If you are unhappy, the house is a mess. If you are happy, the house is great. For many who live on the east end of Long Island it's awesome. For others who exist on the eastern edge it becomes a race they feel they are losing. The reality is that it's getting more expensive to thrive in the Hamptons for people who work on the east end. The NY Times recently reported that earnings of $150,000 a year put some people in many locations in the lower working class category. With two income earners in a household, anything is possible, but for some it becomes a terrible struggle.

In Telluride, Colorado, the city just started an affordable housing project to build homes so they can have teachers for their schools. It seems that a teacher's salary is not enough to live anywhere near the schools. Does this sound familiar?

Those of us blessed with children and grandchildren seem to know that they will have a harder time finding housing. They may have a better lifestyle with all the new gadgets, inventions and electronic technological breakthroughs, but will they be able to afford the homes and second homes that many of us have had?

Some believe that too many are riding the current real estate wave to maintain an expensive lifestyle in the Hamptons. Many people can't own a house with their earnings without using it to rent out in the summer. Then there are those who can buy three homes as well as those who lose their only home.

How have we all created a situation where our children and grandchildren will have to be far more successful than we were in order to live anywhere as well as we do? Some say, that's not my problem. Maybe it isn't. Others are certainly now experiencing the cumulative sting of prices and costs rising faster than profits and wages.

Who has the answers or better yet who is looking for answers? We live in a growing “every man for himself” environment. The Hamptons has a track record of raising record amounts of donations for the underserved in recent years. This is to be applauded, but the flip side is that the number of those who need this help is increasing at an alarming rate.

The face of America looks a lot like Dickens. It's the best of times, it's the worst of times.