Moving to Longuyland, need help being more specific
May 31, 2015 6:19 AM Subscribe
We are moving to Long Island and want to live within an easy commuting distance (under 30 minutes) of Melville, where my husband will be working. We'd also like to live somewhere we can walk to get a cup of coffee.
My husband just got a great job in Melville so we are moving to the area with our nine month old son. We started looking for homes to rent in Melville and Plainview, and noted that neither seems to have any type of town center. Just generic shopping centers with big parking lots.
As far as I can tell, Huntington would be an easy solution to this problem, but since I'll be looking for work as an MSW, I'm worried that moving so far north on the Island will limit my options or at least mean a longer commute... which I'm trying to avoid to maximize time with el bebe. Port Washington, Port Jefferson, and Long Beach all seem like they will mean 40+ minutes in traffic for my husband.
My questions are: Are there other towns that are close enough to Melville and still have some kind of area to go for a walk and grab a bite to eat? Am I wrong or exaggerating the added difficulty of searching for work from Huntington? Are there other major advantages to living in Melville or Plainview or any other town that might override these concerns? One example would be really terrific daycare.
My husband just got a great job in Melville so we are moving to the area with our nine month old son. We started looking for homes to rent in Melville and Plainview, and noted that neither seems to have any type of town center. Just generic shopping centers with big parking lots.
As far as I can tell, Huntington would be an easy solution to this problem, but since I'll be looking for work as an MSW, I'm worried that moving so far north on the Island will limit my options or at least mean a longer commute... which I'm trying to avoid to maximize time with el bebe. Port Washington, Port Jefferson, and Long Beach all seem like they will mean 40+ minutes in traffic for my husband.
My questions are: Are there other towns that are close enough to Melville and still have some kind of area to go for a walk and grab a bite to eat? Am I wrong or exaggerating the added difficulty of searching for work from Huntington? Are there other major advantages to living in Melville or Plainview or any other town that might override these concerns? One example would be really terrific daycare.
The commute between Melville and Huntington is short and sweet.
Where exactly will you be looking for work? In Manhattan?
posted by waterisfinite at 7:37 AM on May 31, 2015
Where exactly will you be looking for work? In Manhattan?
posted by waterisfinite at 7:37 AM on May 31, 2015
Think a bit farther west -- the north shore towns of Nassau County pretty much all have an old fashioned downtown village with a coffee shop and a few restaurants, and in a lot of cases the town's rental housing stock is immediately adjacent to the downtown village.
You are right to observe that in general the providers of, and clients for, social services aren't on the north side of the Island (either in Suffolk or Nassau), but the drives wouldn't be long at all.
"Really terrific daycare" is going to be the hardest thing on your list to find. There's really a squeeze between huge costs for rents and quality staff, and low demand (due to nannies and SAHMs) among people who can afford to pay the fees that enable a daycare to profit after paying those costs. I'd spend at least as much time finding a daycare you like and that would make sense with your MSW salary and that doesn't have a 3 year waiting list...
posted by MattD at 7:47 AM on May 31, 2015 [1 favorite]
You are right to observe that in general the providers of, and clients for, social services aren't on the north side of the Island (either in Suffolk or Nassau), but the drives wouldn't be long at all.
"Really terrific daycare" is going to be the hardest thing on your list to find. There's really a squeeze between huge costs for rents and quality staff, and low demand (due to nannies and SAHMs) among people who can afford to pay the fees that enable a daycare to profit after paying those costs. I'd spend at least as much time finding a daycare you like and that would make sense with your MSW salary and that doesn't have a 3 year waiting list...
posted by MattD at 7:47 AM on May 31, 2015 [1 favorite]
Babylon/West Islip has a cute little downtown area and would be easy for both of you to commute from, if you're worried about being on the North Shore. It's also easy to get to Manhattan from.
posted by bleep at 1:01 PM on May 31, 2015
posted by bleep at 1:01 PM on May 31, 2015
I grew up on the north shore. A bit further west in one of the towns MattD is probably thinking about. Yes you can totally commute from Huntington to most Nassau or Suffolk.
Because of the way the roads are laid out east-west or north south commutes aren't so bad. You just want to avoid diagonals. I actually think one of the major employers of social workers in Suffolk is located in Huntington itself., although the facilities are mostly not there.
I personally wouldn't want to live in Huntington. It's the most "town" like area. But I grew up out the so have a set a biases that may not be rational
Since neither of you will require the train my advice is to focus on towns with bad train service to the city but have a village-y area. They trade at a discount. Check out the Oyster Bay line towns. Also you pay for school districts so if that's not an issue even better.
posted by JPD at 8:32 PM on May 31, 2015
Because of the way the roads are laid out east-west or north south commutes aren't so bad. You just want to avoid diagonals. I actually think one of the major employers of social workers in Suffolk is located in Huntington itself., although the facilities are mostly not there.
I personally wouldn't want to live in Huntington. It's the most "town" like area. But I grew up out the so have a set a biases that may not be rational
Since neither of you will require the train my advice is to focus on towns with bad train service to the city but have a village-y area. They trade at a discount. Check out the Oyster Bay line towns. Also you pay for school districts so if that's not an issue even better.
posted by JPD at 8:32 PM on May 31, 2015
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