Community Watchdog

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.

Jim Valentine has been trying to get debris that includes bottles, cans and dead fish that collect at the south end of Hall's Pond in West Hempstead cleaned up.
Newsday photo by Gwen Young

Hall’s Pond Park in West Hempstead is a beautiful community park except for the junk that accumulates at the south end of the pond. The water flows from north to south and brings downed trees, plastic bottles, cans, dead fish and all kinds of trash. The civic association has spoken to many local leaders about the problem, but they’ve done nothing. I emailed the Town of Hempstead. They called me back and said, “This is not our jurisdiction.” Then I contacted the county and got a letter from Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi in late March. Nothing’s been done. It’s an eyesore. There’s garbage just sitting in the water.
--Jim Valentine, West Hempstead

Deputy County Executive Ian Siegel asked parks commissioner Jose Lopez to send out a cleanup crew to the park at Nassau Boulevard and Hempstead Avenue after we called.

Unfortunately, that’s only a temporary solution.

“The ‘murky’ problem happens due to the fact that the pond needs a new filter/discharge system,” Siegel said.

Plans to overhaul the system have been on the drawing board for years and financing was secured through the 2004 Environmental Bond Act, he said.

“The County is in the process of awarding the contract for the design components and construction," Siegel wrote in an email. "We expect that the contract will be in front of the legislature in early June. Shortly thereafter, design work will begin.”

Contruction is expected to begin during the first quarter of next year.