Community Watchdog

If you’ve tried to get something done in your neighborhood but have basically been ignored after writing or calling officials about the problem, you’re not alone.

As Newsday’s Community Watchdog editor, that stuff happens to me, and my husband, too.

For instance, he called the town highway superintendent about a street sign that couldn’t be seen from Jericho Turnpike because of overgrown shrubs. The last time the weeds grew so high and obstructed the sign, my husband, a very patient fellow, called the highway chief and explained the problem.

The superintendent said since the sign was on Jericho, a state road, he didn’t have jurisdiction, but he would forward the complaint to the right party. Within a week, the sign was visible again.

This year, Mr. Community Watchdog followed the same pattern and called the highway supe. That was in early June, and again, he was told the request would be forwarded.

Fast forward to mid-October and nothing had been done. A state work crew was there the first weekend of the month, but that was to clear the storm drain. The trucks blocking traffic from the right lane were parked right under the shrubs that were obstructing the sign.

Stopped there for a traffic light, I rolled down my window and asked if they were going to cut back the bush so the sign would be visible. A very nice state Department of Transportation worker in a day-glow vest said, “That’s a town sign, you need to call the town.”

I politely told him that the town said since the sign was on a state road, the state had to take care of our complaint.

The nice worker said he was actually with the sign division in the DOT and “we don’t do street signs, that's up to the town.”

So what’s a Long Islander to do? My husband and I thought the street name should be visible because there’s an animal shelter on our block and there are plenty of drivers unfamiliar with the area who look for the street sign.

When I called DOT spokeswoman Eileen Peters asking her to clarify which agency was responsible, she made it clear: Problems on state road are handled by state DOT workers.

So while the DOT worker on the drain-cleaning detail was very polite, even he didn’t know the way the system works.

A car left on the street when a Town of Brookhaven paving crew came by left a large patch of asphalt missing from the street where Larence O'Rourke lives. The town repaved after our call.
Newsday photo/Ana P. Gutierrez

I live on Melvin Avenue in Farmingville. In July, the Town of Brookhaven repaved the road, but one car was left parked on the street and the workers paved around it, because the owner could not be located. This left a large 15’-long hole in the road. I’ve called the town several times to fix the problem, but nothing has been done.
- Lawrence O’Rourke, Farmingville

To O’Rourke’s delight, the town’s highway department dispatched a crew of workers to fill in the missing asphalt within 48 hours of our call.

All homeowners were given notice that the road crew would be there in July, town spokesman Kevin Molloy said. “We notify before any work starts...a day or two ahead of time.”

Until recently, the highway department would tow cars left in the street during a paving project, but that practice ended after damage to vehicles had been reported, Molloy said.

Now, the town revisits recently-paved roads about twice a year to fill in the car-sized depressions that occur when vehicles are not removed from the street in time, but it’s still helpful when residents report areas that need need to be filled, Molloy said.

Report potholes on roads maintained by the Town of Brookhaven by calling the highway department at 631-451-9200
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--Michael R. Ebert

Richard Spier is among many drivers who have been irritated about the unpaved overpass on Meadowbrook Parkway that crosses Front Street.
Newsday photo/Gwen Young

I have a complaint about the Meadowbrook Parkway. On the north and south sides of the parkway, between Hempstead Turnpike and Southern State, the road has been torn up for months and not repaved. I would appreciate finding out why for over six months nothing is being done to repave the highway.

--Richard A. Spier, Lido Beach

You’ve got plenty of company, Mr. Spier. We also heard from Howard Knepple and Alan Christie, both of Merrick, PJ Forcino of Uniondale, Pam Chiaramonte of Bellmore, Rick Lehman of Oakdale and other readers about the same problem.

There’s good news ahead. In about three weeks, the bumps and lumps on the overpass that spans Front Street on the East Meadow-Uniondale border should be gone, said state Department of Transportation spokeswoman Eileen Peters.

The project has been delayed because once workers started peeling off layers of asphalt, engineers found that an armored joint -- part of the bridge structure -- was corroded. “It was not a simple bridge deck repair,” she said. “They had to repair some of the structure underneath.” The part had to be designed and manufactured before repairs could be completed.” Once the road is ready to be repaved, the 1 1/2 –inch steel plates that are so annoying to drive over will be taken away and new asphalt poured.

“We regret the inconvenience,” Peters said. “We’re doing everything we have to do to get it right. We don’t need any bridge collapses on Long Island.”

Report state road problems by calling 631-952-6020.

Two-weeks worth of bottles, cans and other recyclables form a backdrop behind Islip Town Supervisor Phil Nolan and Christopher A. Andrade, the town's DEC commissioner.
Newsday photo/Gwen Young

A teacher and some students at our school would like to start a recycling program, but we need Town of Islip workers to pick up the recyclables like they do at Gardiner Manor School, which is in the same Bay Shore School District. Islip Supervisor Phil Nolan at first told me it wouldn’t be a problem, but then he changed his mind and said he had to check the legality. We just want the same service Gardiner Manor is getting.
--Johnna Grasso, principal, South Country School

The town would be happy to collect recyclables from South Country or any other school within its borders, but the Bay Shore School District hasn’t responded to the town’s offer to do the pickups for a fee.

Christopher A. Andrade, the town’s Department of Environmental Control commissioner and president of the Islip Resource Recovery Agency, said letters were sent to the school districts in June, July and again in August, asking for a list of schools that would participate in the town’s recycling program.

The town would provide recycling containers and charge $45 to cover costs for pickups at each school whenever the containers were full. But none of the school districts, including Bay Shore, has signed the required inter-municipal agreement (IMA) mandated by the town attorney.

“I’d love to get everyone that doesn’t have their own recycling program signed on,” Andrade said. “I want to see it on a district-wide basis.”

In e-mails responding to various Watchdog questions about recycling in the Bay Shore School District, Maureen Dutcher, assistant superintendent for business, wrote, “There is no official districtwide policy for the handling of recyclables…Because what is being recycled (and how it’s being recycled) varies from building to building, each building may be doing things a bit differently so there is no written districtwide policy.”

The district doesn’t have a recycling-collection clause in its garbage contract with a private carter she said, but, “We plan to solicit bids when the current contract expires” in June next year.

Bay Shore isn’t the only district that doesn’t appear to have a high priority for recycling. In September, last year, the state’s Commissioner of Education Richard P. Mills sent a letter to school superintendents across New York, urging them to work with the state Department of Environmental Conservation to start or continue recycling programs. Attached was a one-page, five-question survey about each school’s recycling efforts.

Lori O’Connell, a spokeswoman for the DEC, said that of the hundreds of letters and surveys sent by Mill’s office (there are close to 700 school districts in New York), only 139 were completed and returned to the DEC. Of the 124 school districts in Nassau and Suffolk, only 13 completed surveys, she said. “It’s actually one of the higher responses,” compared to other regions in the state, O’Connell said.

Anyone with questions about recycling in the Town of Islip should call 631 224-5645.

Patrick Boles and John McArdle, both of Oceanside, say trash spoils the landscape of Bay Park in East Rockaway, and lines its bulkhead and other areas of the Nassau facility
Newsday photo/Gwen Young

Bay Park in East Rockaway, a Nassau County park, is a disgrace with garbage, litter and cigarette butts all along the bulkheads where people fish and sit. The garbage cans are overflowing and attract green flies and yellow jackets. At the end of the park by the water, the garbage and litter is disgusting. The bathrooms were not working for a long time so people were urinating against the outside bathroom walls. Complaints have been made to the county, but we have seen the same litter there for weeks. We were told that the park is cleaned daily but we rarely see anyone cleaning it.
--Patrick Boles, Oceanside

This was a magic wand, Abracadabra moment. It happened so fast, we’re cautiously saying the problem’s fixed.

We called Deputy County Executive Ian Siegel and asked him to hook us up with Jose Lopez, Commissioner of Parks, Recreation and Museums.

Siegel e-mailed Lopez, who phoned the next day. We told him about Mr. Boles’ complaint and described our own observations.

Lopez responded, “I’ll have my guys immediately get on that.”

We’ll let you know the results.

If you have questions or concerns about any Nassau County park, call 516 572-0218.

James Dunphy says the new pavement markings on Loop Parkway ramp to Meadowbrook Parkway are causing accidents and should be removed.

Dunphy also thinks the new "fish hook" signs and corresponding pavement markings around the Jones Beach water tower are confusing and the traffic circle should be changed back to the way it used to be.
Newsday photos/Gwen Young

Is anyone looking into how much worse the recent change in the ramp from Loop Parkway to the Meadowbrook Parkway is? I have been in three major traffic backups due to accidents on the Loop approaching the Meadowbrook. Drivers are scrambling to get over to the left lane because of the new pavement markings (see video at newsday.com/watchdog). What happened to our nice, easy merge of two lanes into one lane? Also, the redesigned roundabout at the Jones Beach tower was unnecessary. Now, drivers are trying to figure out what lane to be in! Get rid of the wacky arrows and signs (see video) and let the roundabout do what it was built to do—let traffic move freely.
—James P. Dunphy, Long Beach

Apparently, the nice, easy merge wasn’t so nice and easy for everyone. (How many readers have tried to merge there, but drivers on the left wouldn’t let you in?)

Loop Parkway is a state spur that connects Point Lookout and other barrier beach communities in Nassau to Meadowbrook Parkway. For years, traffic heading north on the Loop to the Meadowbrook merged from two lanes to one as the ramp quickly narrowed. There were no pavement markings to indicate the merge and often enough, drivers didn't squeeze in fast enough.

“There were so many run-off-the-road accidents that our maintenance people were constantly there repairing the guardrail,” said DOT spokeswoman Eileen Peters. So DOT traffic engineers decided that new signage and the pavement stripe marks that James Dunphy and others complained to us about, would help save both drivers and guardrails.

But despite advance signs stating which lane to be in to head north or south on the Meadowbrook, the engineers recently observed drivers waiting until the last moment to merge.

“We do recognize that people need advance warning,” Peters said, “so we’re going to add even more signs and revise the pavement markings to give the motorists even more notice.”
The good news is that drivers haven’t been running off the road and into the guardrail since the hatch marks were installed, she said.

As for the Jones Beach traffic circle, it was changed to a “modified roundabout,” with pavement markings and different turning angles to slow down vehicles. The “fishhook” signs and road markings are straight out of the federal Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices, Peters said.

“We suspect people are just unfamiliar with them,” she said. “As they get used to them, we do not think there will be a problem.”

Report problems regarding state roads by calling 631 952-6020.

Jack Frankel of Bethpage says the relay mailbox on his street corner blocks his view when making a left turn. The box was removed by the Bethpage Post Office after a call from Newsday's Community Watchdog.
Newsday photo/Gwen Young

There's what the U.S. Postal Service calls a relay box sitting on the corner of my street. The mail carrier says it hasn't been used in years, but it presents a hazard because it interferes with my line of sight when I need to make a left turn from my street. The Bethpage Post Office doesn't use it and it has no business being there anymore.
-Jack Frankel, Bethpage

Making that left turn should be easier, Mr. Frankel. USPS spokesman Tom Gaynor said the Bethpage postmaster had his maintenance crew remove the drab olive green metal relay box after we called.

The box had been used by a mail carrier on your route who recently retired, Gaynor said. When the new carrier took over, he decided he didn't need it, so the postmaster agreed to have the box removed.

You don't see as many of these drab olive green relics around these days, except in communities where the mail carriers still need to store daily mail while completing their routes. For instance, there are still 22 routes in Mineola where mail carriers use the boxes, Gaynor said.

Anyone with a question about relay boxes, or other postal service questions, including ZIP codes and post office locations, may call 800-275-8777.

Herb Zayer needs volunteer drivers to take the extra step of holding the doors to his condo open so he can use his walker.
Newsday photo/Gwen Young

I’m a disabled vet and, I have to use a walker. I contacted the Doubleday Babcock Senior Center in Oyster Bay to inquire about transportation from my apartment to obtain medical aid. The Nassau County booklet for Senior Citizen Affairs states that door-to-door transportation for medical services is available through the center. But the center states it only goes curb-to-curb. I require someone to help me because I cannot hold my front door and storm door open while I use my walker to leave the house. I’ve written to the county executive with no help. I’m a prisoner in my own home.
--Herb Zayer, Oyster Bay

You’ll be able escape now Mr. Zayer, thanks to an understanding staff and volunteers at the center.

But the door-to-door reference in your edition of the county booklet is wrong. County officials said the error has been corrected on its Web site and will be changed in future publications. It should state that the center offers curb-to-curb service.

There’s a big difference.

In the parlance of those who work with seniors, door-to-door service generally means a client needs to be lifted or requires other physical assistance to leave the house. That’s something the center's volunteer drivers, who are seniors themselves, can't provide, said Executive Director Gail Speranza. Seniors who want rides from volunteers need to be able to walk to and from the car on their own, she said.

So if at some point, Mr. Zayer or other members of the center said or demonstrated that they needed drivers to help them with more than a ride, the center wouldn’t be able to provide them with a volunteer.

When we called Gail Speranza and explained that the assistance Mr. Zayer currently needs is for someone to hold the doors open for him, she then arranged for the center's social worker and head of Elderly Transportation Service to interview him at his home. They visited several days ago and saw that he can walk without help from an aide.

After their visit, Speranza said, “His situation was reassessed, and the center will be able to help him with transportation.”

Patricia Donnelly complained about trash build-up in two Centereach bus stops. Suffolk County Transit had the stops cleaned after the Community Watchdog team gave them a call.
Newsday photo/Ana P. Gutierrez

Bus stops in the Centereach area are a total disgrace. Garbage is always piling up on the ground and spilling onto the road. Shopping carts are occasionally used for garbage. The worst example of the mess is the shelters on Route 25 at Holbrook and Mark Tree roads. No one seems to care about the problem.
- Patricia Donnelly, Centereach

To Donnelly’s delight, the two Suffolk County Transit bus stops have been cleaned.

Within 48 hours of our call, Suffolk County officials dispatched a crew to clean up the stop at Mark Tree Road, which had trash stacked in the corner of the plexiglass shelter.

At Holbrook Road, the county contacted Deer Park-based Signal Outdoor Advertising, a marketing company that maintains the shelter under a contract with the Town of Brookhaven.

“The way we monitor locations is with our Department of Public Works vehicles regularly visiting them to see if they need to be cleaned,” said county spokesman Dan Aug.

Aug said there is not currently a “fixed” maintenance schedule for county bus stops, but noted that residents looking to request a cleanup can call the Suffolk County Transit information line at 631-852-5200.

--Michael R. Ebert

In Sunday's column Sept. 14, we wrote about a Town of Hempstead bulkhead in Oceanside that needs replacing. The state Department of Environmental Conservation said that instead of the usual 12-to-15 weeks it normally takes for an application to be approved or denied, this is taking more than nine months. A DEC spokeswoman said that was because the Town of Hempstead submitted more than one application for permits at once.

A reader wrote to say, basically, that's unacceptable:

"Even if this is considered a major project, DEC as 90 days under the Uniform Procedures Act to make a decision, if the agency has not asked for more information in 90 days the Town can ask for a 5 day letter to get the permit or a request for more info. This agency has to get their act together and have more accountability for those not doing their jobs. Or put the local office in it's place and send your next permit application to Albany, since these people can't get their act together."

The blog commenter used the signature "load of pooey."

The writer sounds knowledgeable as far as the law is concerned, but we wonder how often government agencies hold other government agencies to the letter of the law, even to expedite work everyone agrees needs to be done. Things would probably get done faster if time limits were followed, but with everyone in the public and private sectors crying about shrinking resources, we should probably consider ourselves fortunate that anything gets done. It's not just Long Island, it's the rest of the country, too. It's just that we pay a lot more in taxes than the rest of the country, waiting for things to get fixed. And the wait gets longer and longer.