Eric Alexander

Director, Vision Long Island

Recently celebrating 20 years of advocating for Smart Growth — epitomized by the kind of transit-oriented housing in walkable downtown communities that Long Islanders have slowly begun to embrace in recent years — is a testament to Eric Alexander’s greatest strength. That is, having the power to help good-intentioned developers overcome their worst nightmares: The dreaded LI NIMBY, who protest every proposed construction project to declare “not in my backyard!” His efforts to lend visioning and technical support has fostered more than 100 such projects across the Island over the past two decades, creating more than 13,000 units in Long Island downtowns from Manorhaven to Southampton and plenty of places in between. His annual Smart Growth Awards contest is also a must-attend event for local movers and shakers. A tireless force for positive change in the community, Alexander’s voice is regularly heard whenever there is a public hearing seeking comments on a proposed large-scale, multi-unit residential building anywhere in Nassau or Suffolk. The NIMBYs and naysayers may minimize his impact, but there’s no denying that Alexander’s energy helped see through projects that critics doubted would ever see the light of day, let alone a shovel in the ground. And as LI planners work to build enough affordable housing to stop the Brain Drain that has been sending the region’s future workforce to the mainland, Alexander is among those we thank