SEPTEMBER 2020 • LONGISLANDPRESS.COM 15
PANDEMIC REPERCUSSIONS ESCAPE TO LONG ISLAND
BY KARL GROSSMAN
Investigative journalist and professor of
journalism
For many New York City residents, the
COVID-19 pandemic has spurred their
escape to Long Island and other less-congested,
greener pastures.
Fierce competition for properties on LI
— especially in the Hamptons and elsewhere
on the East End — made it difficult
for some renters to find a place to stay. For
families with children, schools outside
the city are seen as a refuge.
“I think the biggest factor is everyone’s
mental well-being,” one Manhattan
father of two who moved his family to
their East Hampton weekend home full
time told The New York Times.
Moves east from the city to the Island are
not new. Suffolk County in the late 19th
century became a getaway for New York
City people. Historic centuries-old communities
became, in part, also summer
communities as the Long Island Rail Road
extended eastward.
And Long Island, as we’ve known it in
modern times, is largely a result of the
post-World War II migration of people
from the city. But that occurred in a
matter of years, not like this new movement
going on — in a matter of months.
There’s been almost a doubling in enrollments
at the private Ross School in
East Hampton, and Avenues: The World
School, based in Chelsea in Manhattan,
has set up a satellite campus in East
Hampton.
It’s not just the Hamptons that are being
impacted by city people seeking escape.
The North Fork real estate market has
already heated up. Moreover, a regional
phenomenon is at hand.
“Although tracking region-wide relocations
is difficult, existing data and anecdotal
evidence suggest a clear COVID
effect,” the Times reported. “If people do
head for greener pastures, residents and
brokers suggest, it may be because the
city can seem, at least for the time being,
like a shell of its former self. Indeed, they
say, activities people once took for granted,
like strolling in parks … have become
difficult or impossible.”
The East End-based Express News Group
newspapers noted that the East End has
seen this before, after the Sept. 11, 2001
terror attacks.
“Schools rapidly accepted new students,”
they reported. “And the region was
noticeably busier — until it wasn’t …
Little by little, some families did trickle
back to the city, while others established
new homes for themselves. Whether
the same will happen post-COVID-19 is
impossible to say.”
That would be the question after a —
hopefully! — successful vaccine or an
effective treatment for the virus becomes
reality.
POINT OF VIEW
“It’s not just the Hamptons that are being impacted by
city people seeking escape.”
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