Community Watchdog

Nassau County Crossing Guard Theresa Joseph now helps students who cross Wantagh Avenue and Straight Lane instead of the front of Island Trees Memorial Middle School.
Newsday photo by Gwen Young

Assistant Principal Cathleen Potorski has been lobbying Nassau County officials for a pedestrian push-button traffic signal in front of Island Trees Memorial Middle School on Wantagh Avenue in Levittown for more than 25 years.

In March, we wrote about her long-standing request. Two months later, the county did a traffic survey.

"Our initial finding is that it would not be a good location for a traffic signal because of the geometry of the location," Public Works Commissioner Ray Ribeiro said Friday. He explained that the school driveway and Hawk Lane, the closest side street to the front of the school, don't line up and installing a signal there now could create traffic chaos.

Ribeiro said the school would have to align one of its circular driveway entrances with Hawk if they still want a traffic signal. The survey numbers alone don't warrant a signal, he said. That also was the conclusion of a survey from 2000.
Meanwhile, Nassau's Eighth Precinct decided to move crossing guard Theresa Joseph, who worked for 10 years at the school's front entrance, down the block to Straight Lane where a signal already exists.

The county removed the painted crosswalk in front of the school at the request of police, and students are encouraged to walk to the light at Straight Lane to cross.

Gigliola Alleva says the storm water basin adjacent to her Westbury home is so overgrown with weeds and garbage that it's invading her property and breeds mosquitoes.
Newsday photo by Gwen Young

I live on a dead-end street next to a large Nassau County sump. Weeds are growing like trees and spread seeds all over my property and the road. I call every year for them to clean out the area. They come do a little bit but they leave the weeds that are overgrown and come onto my property. I’ve lived here 53 years. They used to do a thorough cleaning, but now they just do the minimum. There are a million bottles and cans at the bottom and there’s water that brings mosquitoes. My husband is allergic to mosquito bites. When I call them to clean it out the right way, they say they have no manpower.
Gigliola Alleva, Westbury

Nassau’s Commissioner of Public Works Ray Ribeiro arranged for a department supervisor to meet with Mrs. Alleva so she can show him where the problem areas are. The cleanup will likely take place this week, he said.

Over the years, storm water basins have undergone a transformation. If you’ve lived on Long Island for a very long time you might remember them as treeless, fenced-in areas that looked like reservoirs after heavy rains. Now, they’re more like wild preserves that many Community Watchdog readers in Nassau and Suffolk have complained about, calling them eyesores and nuisances because of the pesky insects and animals that breed in them.

Nassau is responsible for 500 of the basins in that county, Ribeiro said. Towns and villages are responsible for the rest. General routine maintenance by the county consists of cutting the grass on the perimeter of the sump, but sometimes the basins need more substantial work to help them drain properly.

Nassau residents who have maintenance questions about a county storm water basin can call 516 571-6900.

Related site on this topic:

Mel Weinfeld wanted road markings restriped on Sunnyside Boulevard in Plainview.
Newsday photo by Gwen Young

Since late September 2007, I have been trying to get a dangerous condition corrected. All pavement markings have faded or virtually disappeared at the Long Island Expressway overpass area at Sunnyside Boulevard (see video on newsday.com/watchdog). At night, there is no lighting, and turning from the North or South Service Roads is an accident waiting to happen. I’ve called and written to Town of Oyster Bay officials with no response. Can you please help correct a dangerous situation?
— Mel Weinfeld, Plainview

When you’re right, you’re right.

Town highway department reps went to see what Mr. Weinfeld was complaining about and then scheduled the overpass to be restriped next weekend, weather permitting, town spokeswoman Marta Kane said.

Work has to be done on a weekend because of the area’s high traffic volume.

Asked why pavement markings stay faded for so long before they’re restriped, Kane said, “We try to do it on an as-needed basis,” but with several hundred miles of roads, it’s a tough job keeping up.

Town residents can report local roads that need restriping by calling the public works department at 516 677-5757.

Elaine Lampert tripped on a sidewalk on Old Country Road near her senior housing apartment in Plainview a couple of weeks before this photo was taken.
Newsday photo by Gwen Young

I live at a senior housing complex in Plainview. We’re having a lot of problems with the sidewalks nearby on Old Country Road. I spoke to everybody in the Town of Oyster Bay and nobody has come to check. I fell on the sidewalk by a funeral parlor and got a black eye. We are seniors and we can't walk anywhere because the sidewalks are pulled up because of the trees. I have to walk in the gutter. Our people here are falling and we can’t even walk to the stores.
--Elaine Lampert, Plainview

Apparently the town employee Mrs. Lampert kept calling to complain about the sidewalks didn't make it clear to her that Old Country Road is under Nassau County’s jurisdiction.

That means Nassau can order property owners to fix broken sidewalks and pay for the repairs.

We talked with Nassau's Public Works Commissioner Ray Ribeiro who arranged to have someone contact Lampert so she could point out the trouble spots.

With miles of roads and sidewalks to oversee, the county doesn't have a crew dedicated to inspecting them, Ribeiro said, so the department relies on people calling in problem areas.

Once a call comes in, "We identify what needs to be repaired," he said. If a tree is involved, an expert determines whether it needs to be taken down first.

Property owners are notified that they have two months to get the sidewalk fixed.

After two months, the county re-inspects. If the work isn’t done, the owner gets a second notice and another two months to complete the work, Ribeiro said. After a third inspection, if the sidewalk is still in hazardous condition, the county does the work and bills the owner.

Anyone with a sidewalk complaint should write to the Department of Public Works, Commissioner Ray Ribeiro, 1194 Prospect Avenue, Westbury, NY 11590.

Related sites on this topic:

James Ryan wants to know why litter along an LIE service road in Nassau Couny is ever-present.
Newsday photo by Viorel Florescu

The westbound service road of the Long Island Expressway near Exit 41 is choked with debris. I called Nassau County numerous times last fall to get the debris removed. They cleaned up the area, but why can't the county have a crew maintain it?

--James Ryan, Oyster Bay

We got the county’s Department of Public Works to schedule a spring cleanup for the service road west of Robbins Lane.

But don’t expect the road to be maintained regularly yet. The county's contract with a California company that oversaw cleanup of the service roads expired last year and a replacement hasn't been hired, said Senior Deputy Commissioner Ray Stefanowicz.

The county’s LIE service roads had been maintained by Adopt-A-Highway Maintenance Corp. The county’s road maintenance crews have been handling grass-cutting and tree-trimming duties, but roadside debris goes uncollected “unless it gets to be outrageous,” Stefanowicz said. “We hope to have...things back to normal sometime this summer.”

To request debris cleanup for a county-owned road, call 516-571-6900

--MICHAEL R. EBERT

Just an additional comment regarding LI street signs.

It would seem to me that safety should be a top prioriy in view of the increase in traffic accidents
In NJ, they have a sign and a turnaround at major intersections.Not possible to do here, of course. But the bext best thing would be more specific signage way in advance of the exit or major cross street to enable drivers to have enough time and clearance to make their move to get over safely, without cutting of another vehicle.

We have noticed more & more that the signs are RIGHT at the turn off & not far enough ahead.
Aren't lives worth the resaerch & money more than things like Trump on the Ocean, which local governments seem to have plenty of time to dispute?

--Suzanne Germaine, Massapequa Park

See Sunday's column for more comments.

Last week, we asked readers what they think about overhead street signs and if street signs should be bigger.

Dozens of readers said YES to overhead signs and bigger ones. State and county officials agree that overheads would be helpful to drivers. But don’t expect to see an explosion of them at Long Island intersections anytime soon.

The state has a handful of them on Route 110 and Route 25. State Department of Transportation spokeswoman Eileen Peters said, “We do consider them, if it’s appropriate and there’s no conflict with utilities in the area. We do install them where it’s feasible and appropriate.”

Mostly, the state uses advance street signs before major intersections, a system also used by Nassau County.

Gilbert Anderson, Suffolk Public Works Commissioner said the county follows federal highway signage regulations, but if a request was made for an overhead sign at a particular intersection, “We would consider it.”

Nassau Public Works Commissioner Ray Ribeiro said there’s no argument overheads are effective. But with undergound cables, utilities, sewers and other obstructions, it’s almost