History and Overview of Levittown Housing Developments

History and Overview of Levittown Housing Developments The family that had the greatest impact on postwar housing in the United States was Abraham Levitt and his sons, William and Alfred, who ultimately built more than 140,000 houses and turned a cottage industry into a major manufacturing process. -Kenneth Jackson The Levitt family began and perfected their home construction techniques during World War II with contracts to build housing for the military on the East Coast. Following the war, they began to build subdivisions for returning veterans and their families. Their first major subdivision was in the community of Roslyn on Long Island which consisted of 2,250 homes. After Roslyn, they decided to set their sights on bigger and better things. First Stop: Long Island, NY In 1946 the Levitt company acquired 4,000 acres of potato fields in Hempstead and began to build not just the largest single development by a single builder but what would be the countrys largest housing development ever. The potato fields located 25 miles east of Manhattan on Long Island was named Levittown, and the Levitts began to build a huge suburb. The new development ultimately consisted of 17,400 homes and 82,000 people. The Levitts perfected the art of mass-producing houses by dividing the construction process into 27 different steps from start to finish. The company or its subsidiaries produced lumber, mixed and poured concrete, and even sold appliances. They built as much of the house that they could off-site in carpentry and other shops. The assembly-line production techniques could produce up to 30 of the four-bedroom Cape Cod houses (all the homes in the first Levittown were the same) each day. Through government loan programs (VA and FHA), new homeowners could buy a Levittown home with little or no down payment and since the house included appliances, it provided everything a young family could need. Best of all, the mortgage was often cheaper than renting an apartment in the city (and new tax laws that made mortgage interest deductible made the opportunity too good to pass up). Levittown, Long Island became known as Fertility Valley and The Rabbit Hutch as many of the returning servicemen werent just buying their first home, they were starting their family and having children in such significant numbers that the generation of new babies became known as the Baby Boom. Moving On to Pennsylvania In 1951, the Levitts built their second Levittown in Bucks County, Pennsylvania (just outside of Trenton, New Jersey but also near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) and then in 1955 the Levitts purchased land in Burlington County (also within commuting distance from Philadelphia). The Levitts bought most of Willingboro Township in Burlington County and even had the boundaries adjusted to ensure local control of the newest Levittown (the Pennsylvania Levittown overlapped several jurisdictions, making the Levitt companys development more difficult.) Levittown, New Jersey became widely known due to a famous sociological study of one man Dr. Herbert Gans. University of Pennsylvania sociologist Gans and his wife bought one of the first homes available in Levittown, NJ with $100 down in June 1958 and were one of the first 25 families to move in. Gans described Levittown as a working class and lower middle class community and lived there for two years as a participant-observer of the life in Levittown. His book, The Levittowners: Life and Politics in a New Suburban Community was published in 1967. Gans experience in Levittown was a positive one and he supported suburban sprawl since a house in a homogenous community (of almost all whites) is what many people of the era desired and even demanded. He criticized government planning efforts to mix uses or to force dense housing, explaining that builders and homeowners didnt want lower property values due to increased density adjacent commercial development. Gans felt that the market, and not professional planners, should dictate development. It is enlightening to see that in the late 1950s, government agencies such as Willingboro Township were trying to fight developers and citizens alike to build traditional livable communities. A Third Development in New Jersey Levittown, NJ consisted of a total of 12,000 homes, divided into ten neighborhoods. Each neighborhood had an elementary school, a pool, and a playground. The New Jersey version offered three different house types, including both a three and four bedroom model. House prices ranged from $11,500 to $14,500 virtually ensuring that most of the residents were of somewhat equal socioeconomic status (Gans found that family composition, and not price, affected the choice of the three or four bedrooms). Within Levittowns curvilinear streets was a single city-wide high school, a library, city hall, and grocery shopping center. At the time of Levittowns development, people still had to travel to the central city (in this case Philadelphia) for department store and major shopping, the people moved to the suburbs but the stores hadnt yet. Sociologist Herbert Gans Defense of Suburbia Gans 450-page monograph, The Levittowners: Life and Politics in a New Suburban Community, sought to answer four questions: What is the origin of a new community?  What is the quality of suburban life?What is the effect of suburbia on behavior?  What is the quality of politics and decision-making? Gans thoroughly devotes himself to answering these questions, with seven chapters devoted to the first, four to the second and third, and four to the fourth. The reader gains a very clear understanding of life in Levittown through the professional observation made by Gans as well as the surveys that he commissioned during and after his time there (the surveys were sent from the University of Pennsylvania and not by Gans but he was upfront and honest with his neighbors about his purpose in Levittown as a researcher). Gans defends Levittown to the critics of suburbia: The critics have argued that long commutation by the father is helping to create a suburban matriarchy with deleterious effects on the children, and that homogeneity, social hyperactivity, and the absence of urban stimuli create depression, boredom, loneliness, and ultimately mental illness. The findings from Levittown suggest just the opposite that suburban life has produced more family cohesion and a significant boost in morale through the reduction of boredom and loneliness. (p. 220) They also look at suburbia as outsiders, who approach the community with a tourist perspective. The tourist wants visual interest, cultural diversity, entertainment, esthetic pleasure, variety (preferably exotic), and emotional stimulation. The resident, on the other hand, wants a comfortable, convenient, and socially satisfying place to live... (p. 186) The disappearance of farmland near the big cities is irrelevant now that food is produced on huge industrialized farms, and the destruction of raw land and private upper class golf courses seems a small price to pay for extending the benefits of suburban life to more people. (p. 423) By the year 2000, Gans was the Robert Lynd Professor of Sociology at Columbia University. He gave his opinion  about his thoughts on the New Urbanism and suburbia in regard to planners like Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, saying, If people want to live that way, fine, though it is not new urbanism as much as 19th century small town nostalgia. More important Seaside and Celebration [Florida] are not tests of whether it works; both are for affluent people only, and Seaside is a timesharing resort. Ask again in 25 years. Sources Gans, Herbert, The Levittowners: Life and Politics in a New Suburban Community.  1967.Jackson, Kenneth T., Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States.  1985.

Top 8 Tools You Need to Use For Salary Research

Top 8 Tools You Need to Use For Salary Research Here at TheJobNetwork, we talk a lot about the job hunt, and your career path. Revamping your resume, searching for the perfect job opportunity, getting your smile and handshake ready for the interview†¦all crucial career elements. But what about the most practical career consideration of all: your salary? You need a paycheck to pay for life’s basic necessities, and the goal for most of us is to keep building on that so that we’re able to live comfortably while doing something fulfilling. Sure, dreams of Ferraris and designer clothes are great, but in reality most of us are just looking for solid pay for a day’s work. For years, salary was kind of a taboo subject- you didn’t talk about what you earned with anyone but your employer. And even now, there are a lot of unwritten rules: don’t bring up salary during an interview, let them mention money first, etc. So how do you know what you should (and could) be making? Where do you even start? Letâ €™s look at the top tools you can use to research salary, and figure out what you’re worth in the workplace.U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsIf you like stats and charts, this is the place for you. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics is the data-heavy arm of the U.S. Department of Labor. It’s a comprehensive resource for information about just about any career you can think of, with an extensive database providing information about employment rates, regional employment information, job outlooks and projections, median salaries, U.S. employment trends, occupation profiles, and demographic information.Pros: It’s not just a salary resource, but also one for general career information. You can find out not only what people are making in your field, but also what the requirements are, and job descriptions.Cons: Occupation information tends to be very high-level, without much variance for different job titles. Also, the salary information is usually median, so it ca n be tough to see the full range of salary info.PayScalePayScale is a massive salary database that is available to employers (to help them figure out what to pay) and employees/job hunters (to help them figure out what they’re worth, based on job title, industry, and region). Users can create a custom profile based on their current job, a job offer they’re considering, or just general job research. The site also offers general information and research on fair compensation, salary negotiation, and salary best practices.Pros: Casual users can get a free â€Å"salary report† based on experience or location.Cons: Much of the research and features of the â€Å"largest salary profile database in the world† are available as premium software for employers. Also, expect to give detailed (though non-personally identifiable) information about your current job title, salary, location, etc. in order to get your salary report.Salary.comLike PayScale, Salary.com is a co mprehensive salary software that draws on a massive database of salary information, parsed out by region, job title, experience, etc. It has an enterprise software component for businesses and employers to research and compare salary data, as well as a free salary profile available to employees and job searchers. Notably, the site also has a Cost-of-Living Wizard, which lets you enter information and determine what your cost of living would be in various locations. This is very helpful if you’re moving and need to find a job, or are considering transferring in your current job.Pros: Straightforward interface, and a huge database of job and salary information. The site also has a number of general job search and career development articles.Cons: Many of its resources are available as paid options.Idealist Career Salary SurveysIf you work for a nonprofit company, or are looking for a job with one, you know that they can be a different kind of beast than their corporate siblings . Compensation may be handled differently, so the standard resources might not be as helpful. If you’re looking for info on nonprofit careers, Idealist has compiled a number of different links and surveys to help you find the information you want on working for nonprofits.Pros: It’s a comprehensive resource for nonprofit career information (job openings, career development, pay and benefits information).Cons: The focus is limited to nonprofits, so it can be difficult to compare nonprofit salaries and jobs to other fields and industries.BufferIdeally, all of our companies would have a salary calculator where we could plug in our job title and level of experience, and see what the salary range is. (I mean, we’re all a little nosy about what other people are making, right?) Practicality often calls for more discretion, and most companies would prefer not to have that knowledge public. The exception to that rule: Buffer, a social media company who has pioneered the whole â€Å"transparent salary† concept over the past few years. Their Transparent Salary Calculator really only tells you what you’d be making if you worked at Buffer, but it’s still a handy tool for reference.Pros: If you have a similar job title and level of experience, this can help give you a baseline to take with you into a new job offer salary negotiation, or a request for a raise. Also, yay transparency!Cons: It’s very specific to a small social media company, so if you have a role outside of the 20 or so job types listed at Buffer, it’s not especially helpful.Educate to Career Job Seekers Salary CalculatorIf you’ve been around the block for a while, career-wise, you probably know roughly what people make in your field, or what you can expect long term. If you’re just starting out, say, as a recent grad, you probably don’t have that sense yet. Educate to Career helps students, recent graduates, or other job seekers figu re out what they can make based on the field, job title, relevant experience, and location.Pros: The database covers all states and regions, and factors in education level as a predictor of salary. It’s a straightforward search, and gives information on median salary, starting salary, top earner salaries, and likely market salaries. The states are broken down into regions, which gives very specific reports.Cons: The site is very student-focused, so the general career information is geared more toward students and soon-to-be grads than the average job hunter.U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity CommissionWhether you’re figuring out your market value or hoping to negotiate a higher salary for yourself, it’s important to know what’s legal or illegal when it comes to your pay. The U.S. government’s Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) publishes information about discrimination, equal pay, and the latest legislation that affects employee compensa tion.Pros: If you’re concerned that you’re being underpaid or discriminated against by your employer, this is an excellent place to start.Cons: It’s not a huge database, or a flashy interface- just straightforward information about employment practices.Salary ExpertIf you want to know more about salary on a global scale, Salary Expert has a database for that. Like other salary search engines, Salary Expert allows you to get reports and make comparisons on salary and cost of living across the globe.Pros: If you’re fantasizing about moving to London but are concerned about your earning potential and the cost of living, this is the tool to use. You can browse salary and cost of living data without signing up for any services.Cons: The most advanced salary data is part of a premium software package purchase.Next Steps After You’ve ResearchedOnce you know what you’re worth, you’ve got the tools you need to move toward your higher salary. W e’ve got you covered on what to do next:Your Comprehensive Guide to Negotiating SalaryHow to Earn a Six-Figure Salary in Your Lifetime11 Tips for Getting the Salary You WantHow to Negotiate Your Salary in An Interview6 Tips for Negotiating the Salary You WantWhen you’re ready to talk money, you should have every possible tool at your disposal. These resources can help you be armed and ready to advocate for yourself, and make sure that you’re exactly where you should be- or could be. Good luck!