Community Watchdog

A reader who saw that the Town of Islip town board recently passed restrictions on when garbage cans and how long they can stay at the curb, wrote this comment:

"No one listens to the Town of Hempstead codes...no full trash cans at the curb before 7pm the day before...cans must be removed no more than 3 hrs after being collected."

it's about enforcement. The towns can have all the codes they want, but if their not enforced, what good are they? Of course, it's a double-edged sword. We all want enforcement because they're directly related to our quality of life. But it's the same with traffic laws - there are so many drivers who violate them because there isn't enough personnel to enforce them.

Long Island has changed over the years and so have the people. There was a time when people were considerate of their neighbors, when they didn't throw garbage from their car windows, when they didn't run stop signs and red lights. It seems that many "newcomers" have changed the rules.

Better enforcement might help. But adding more personnel on the state, county or town level to make a real difference almost always means higher taxes.

Richard Fiorentino says the utility wires in his backyard need to be more taut so they don't hang so low to the ground.
Newsday photo by Gwen Young

I have been trying to have something done about the utility wires in my back yard for many years. The lines hang very low and I think they are dangerous. I have contacted LIPA, Cablevision and Verizon and all say it’s the other’s problem. There is also a problem with a circuit breaker in my yard that blows several times a year, causing a loud explosion and loss of power to the whole neighborhood.
--Richard Fiorentino, Hauppauge

Cablevision sent out a crew after we called and they confirmed the problem wires belong to Verizon.

After we described the problem to Verizon, a manager was sent to the Fiorentino home. “We did see that it was our cable that was drooping,” spokesman John Bonomo said.

The cable would be lifted to make it taut. “Hopefully that will be to his satisfaction," Bonomo said. "He was very appreciative that we were there today.”

Anyone with similar problems should call Verizon’s general repair number at 890-6611. No area code is needed in New York.

LIPA responded to the outage problems by sending workers house-to-house to determine the cause, spokeswoman Elizabeth Flagler said.

They decided there could be too many homes on one circuit and a solution would be to put half the area customers on another circuit. “That should take care of the loss of power,” she said.

We have complaints from residents throughout Nassau and Suffolk about roads that need to be repaved, crumbling sidewalks and curbs that need to be fixed and frustrations of readers who have been trying to get the work done by the town where they live.

This is especially true in the Town of Smithtown. Probably 95 percent of the homeowners who contact us complain that their roads are in really bad shape, but their road isn’t on the list for immediate paving.

When we spoke to Highway Superintendent Daniel Ryan on a related issue a while back, we learned that even if you make it on the “to do” list, it can take years before your street will be paved because of budget limitations.

Newsday reporter Stacey Altherr had a story on Newsday.com May 16 that indicates things might be any better for a while.

Whether or not there’s a political agenda, it’ll be taxpaying homeowners who have to put up with the results.

In Smithtown, that might mean yet another paving season will pass without their ragged roads being repaved. Someone should tell the elected officials that what most of us want is for our quality of life issues - including paved roads where needed - to be taken care of by the person in charge regardless of the political affiliation.

Joe Nowotny, the Town of Smithtown's investigations division supervisor for the Department of Public Safety called to report that the large hole in a fence surrounding a preserve in Commack was fixed. Town workers began the repair job on Monday morning and finished by early afternoon.

The break in the fence had been there for at least a year, but the town acted quickly when we called about it last week. Our call was prompted by a reader who complained about fires being set in the sump-turned-preserve behind her home on Gannet Drive.

Kudos to both the town and LIPA for working quickly to keep out trespassers.