‘Grandma’ Hochul brings carrots (and checks) to LI

With help from Shawn Ness

She’s taking her (budget) show on the road.

Gov. Kathy Hochul went deep into Long Island today to tout her $233 billion budget plan, trying to drum up support in the politically vital suburbs.

Speaking from Kings Park in Suffolk County, the governor defended her proposal to scrap the hold harmless policy that protects schools from state aid cuts. She also boasted about her plan to spend $40.2 million toward combating retail theft.

And, among a whole host of other initiatives, she extolled the virtues of a $650 million housing incentives plan, which she said demonstrates her fearlessness in dealing with the hot-button issue of suburban housing development.

“As a new grandma, I'm going to say this,” Hochul said. “A lot of young people grow up in great communities and they think, ‘Someday when I have a family, I'm going to raise the kids near grandma and grandpa because they can babysit.’”

“But now those kids can't afford to live in the town they grew up in. That is heartbreaking,” she said.

Hochul then talked of carrots and sticks. She said her varied attempts to develop suburban housing throughout her governorship showed her willingness to try different approaches on the issue.

Last year, Hochul found out her sticks had barely the impact of twigs.

Her attempt to push a politically radioactive proposal to mandate more housing in New York City suburbs — a region perhaps more resistant to state-mandated zoning changes than anywhere else in the country — was ultimately abandoned.

And the year before, she tried to legalize apartments on single-family lots.

That plan, too, was set aside.

“Last year, we started the conversation and it was weaponized,” Hochul said of her previous housing proposal. “It was