While Supervisor Kate Murray and the Town of Hempstead board ponder their decision regarding the fate of the Courtesy Hotel site, they would do well to keep in mind that our own history is the best guide to planning our future. In May 1947, the TOH board approved a historic zoning change, which paved the way for the development of Levittown, America's first planned suburb. Facing a postwar housing shortage of epic proportions, Hempstead Town had the brave foresight to set a bold precedent for what was then a sleepy potato farm community, and facilitate what ultimately heralded the greatest period of growth in the history of Long Island.

Sixty years later, Long Island suffers from another severe dearth in the housing market, which continues to squeeze throngs of middle class residents - especially those in the ever-vital young adult demographic - off the Island. This shortage is especially acute in the rental market, in which only 20 percent of the Island's housing is multiple-dwellings, compared with a national average of 33 percent, according to a recent report.

Left unchecked, the resulting mass exodus of our young workforce will have an ever increasingly devastating effect on Long Island's economic vitality. Much like Levittown (albeit on a smaller scale), the proposal for upscale apartments on the Courtesy Hotel site by Trammell Crow Residential, as well as a plan for senior housing on the adjacent AVF carting site, are designed to directly combat this shortage. Flanking both sides of the West Hempstead train station, the sites are uniquely suited to conform to "smart growth" principles and transit-oriented zoning that have been implemented with broad success throughout the country. Importantly, the projects also happen to enjoy near unanimous approval by residents of West Hempstead.

Just as it did then, Supervisor Murray and the Town Board will need to modify existing zoning regulations in order to push these worthy projects forward. Over 250 West Hempstead residents took time off their schedules to urge the board to do just that during a public hearing. Will our elected leaders have the foresight to challenge precedent and adapt to the new realities that exist in Long Island's housing market, or will they surrender to blinding timidity and inaction? Will our supervisor apply the lessons that have been validated by the evolution and growth of her beloved hometown, or will she allow ulterior factors to prevent her from making the decisions that benefit her constituents most? With history as the greatest teacher, let us hope that the supervisor and the town board will choose sensibility over single-mindedness. Their lasting legacy is riding on it.

Joseph Azose