The plans for the northwest end of Pearsall Avenue, in the Long Island village of Cedarhurst, look like precisely the kind of development greater New York needs: a modern, 98-unit apartment complex, within a couple blocks of a lively main street and a train station offering 55-minute service to midtown Manhattan. New residents could move in, work in the city, and spend their money locally. Everybody would win.

It might never happen. Like far too many similar projects, it’s stuck on the front line of a larger battle: whether the American Dream will evolve to accommodate more people and prosperity.