Community Watchdog

Pictures, petitions, letters - they'll all help to explain what's messing up your quality of life.

If you have photos, correspondence to and from local officials about your complaint, copies of petitions you've collected to get a problem fixed, please send them to me. If you have a computer and printer and can scan the material, send the attachment(s) to watchdog@newsday.com. If you don't have a computer, send the information by mail to Gwen Young, Newsday/Community Watchdog, 235 Pinelawn Rd., Melville, N.Y. 11747. Be sure to include your daytime contact information.

Copies of your documents will help me understand your problem more quickly so I can clearly explain your problem to local officials.

I've been able to talk to some of you who have written or called. I'll start reaching out to officials as soon as possible and will keep you posted.

Neighborhood problems and complaints coming to watchdog@newsday.com aren’t all new.

There are homeowners who have been lobbying and waiting for years to get problems fixed. Many have been shuffled from person to person at town hall and are discouraged when nothing happens. Others stay optimistic for years until giving up. We hear persistence pays, but in these cases, it hasn’t.

One woman has been trying to get sidewalks by parking lot B7 at the LIRR Bethpage train station repaired for the past three years. Tree roots are pushing up the concrete, creating four-inch gaps and broken curbs, she said, creating dangerous walking conditions. Even the parking lot is a hazard because of all the potholes that haven't been repaired.

A woman who bicycles to work has been trying to have a traffic signal at Hempstead Tpke. and Newbridge Road in East Meadow regulated so that pedestrians who want to cross the turnpike can do it safely. Even when the signal for walkers to cross is lit, there’s too much traffic she said, and Nassau County and state officials are saying the other agency is responsible.

Write or call me with your problem and please be sure to include your daytime contact information. I hope I can help you.

Gwen Young

Thanks for your calls and emails about problems in your neighborhood or about issues you’d like to see addressed.

Nearly all the complaints or problems I’m learning about involve homeowners who have pleaded their cases to local elected officials, and they're unhappy with the lack of response.

Some of the new issues: Residents in East Farmingdale are upset about the lack of maintenance in their community and feel they’ve been forgotten by Town of Babylon officials. A North Woodmere man has lobbied unsuccessfully for "Curb Your Dog" signs on his street and is sick of his lawn being made messy by pooches. A couple whose SUV was hit by a Town of Hempstead sanitation truck in February is still waiting for the $500 deductible they had to pay to have their vehicle repaired. Long-time Brentwood homeowners are unhappy because their neighbors leave garbage containers in the street 24-7 and there’s no Town of Islip ordinance that prohibits that practice.

After describing what’s wrong, here are what readers are saying to sum up their frustration with on-going issues:

"Officials refuse to do anything about my problem."

"We’re just frustrated."

"It’s just a disgrace. You pay high taxes and no one cares about you."

"There’s no satisfaction from this administration."

"I feel like I’m getting the runaround."

They’re happy to listen to you but they don’t do anything."

"A lot of us are just frustrated."

Apparently, there are a lot of homeowners in Nassau and Suffolk who have something in common besides high taxes.

Stay tuned.

We're getting mail -- a lot of mail.

Based on the phone messages, as well as questions and complaints coming to watchdog@newsday.com, it's clear there's a wide range of problems on Long Island making readers unhappy.

Someone in Amity Harbor says a narrow street has become an obstacle course for drivers, resulting in accidents, especially in pre-daylight hours, because of all the parked cars there.

Homeowners on three streets in Seaford are fed up with crumbling curbs they believe were caused by snowplows last winter, and they’re not pleased with the response by local officials.

A colony of feral cats roaming a neighborhood in the Village of Westbury has frustrated one resident enough to contact North Hempstead town officials, the Nassau County Legislature and a state senator for help.

Repaving problems, dangerous traffic conditions and school issues are also commanding our readers' attention -- and complaints. Some of these may be passed on to Newsday’s beat reporters who specialize in particular areas.

We're here to help.

Gwen Young

A homeowner in Miller Place has been trying to get her road and a neighboring street paved for the past three years. In Centereach, a water runoff problem has been exacerbated by asphalt berms installed across the street. A driver in Huntington says the intersection of Little Neck Road and Route 25A is dangerous because vehicles block the "box" where the roads meet, hampering her field of vision.

These are some of the complaints coming by email and phone calls to Newsday’s Community Watchdog column.

I’ll be working to help you navigate town or village government and find out why neighborhood problems are taking so long to fix.

If you have a problem or complaint, please email the details to watchdog@newsday.com or call 631-843-2700.

Include your name, address, daytime phone numbers and the Town where you live.

I’ll do my best to help.

Gwen Young

Getting the run-around from Town Hall?

Got a problem on your block the village won’t fix?

Are you running out of gas trying to get the highway department to repair that huge pothole?

Gwen answers reader questions and hounds local officials in a weekly column.

Is there something in your neighborhood not getting fixed? Let us know.

E-Mail Gwen at

watchdog@newsday.com

You can also call or write...

Newsday Watchdog
235 Pinelawn Rd.
Melville, NY 11747
(631) 843-2700

Please include your name, address and daytime phone number.