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INFORMATION ON SOUTH OYSTER BAY ROAD:
First of all, as I am sure most of you know, my whole civic career, before I was ever a Legislator was being a civic environmentalist. Therefore, it was no surprise that upon joining the Legislature I treasured my position on the Planning Development and environment Committee, and still do. That being said, let me try to explain what is going on. Let me also mention, that I am deeply saddened at the loss of trees, also. HOWEVER, ANY TREES, REMOVED, WILL BE REPLACED BY NEW ONES WITH BETTER ROOT SYSTEMS.
For years, now, residents have been complaining and upset about the road condition on South Oyster Bay Road, the raised and broken sidewalks, the broken curbing and the condition of many of the trees.
Finally, DPW, on the basis of the complaints and subsequent investigation, decided to do the whole road from the r/r/ tracks in Bethpage right to Jericho Turnpike. They walked the entire stretch, left letters at doors when people were not home, and spoke to others who were home about what was about to begin and the reason behind it.
The sidewalks and curbing will be done at the County's expense rather than the homeowner, which is the usual procedure. Most of the damages happened when "Sandy" hit our area. Part of the entire makeover does involve tree removal since the roots are doing so much damage. I know that they hired arborists and engineers to be certain that each tree slated for removal was truly necessary. ( I am not an arborist or engineer....just a tree hugger for years....but, in this case, we have to trust the experts who have guided the project.)
I do not think the figure of 200 trees is correct...but I will check the number and get back to you. I do agree that it is sad whenever any tree is removed, however. Please remember, as I said before, that any tree that is removed will be replaced with a new one.
I hope this gives you the background. I will continue to update you on this as it goes along and please do not hesitate to write to me at jjacobs@nassaucountyny.gov.
Most Sincerely, Judy
Quote:
AS PROMISED-FURTHER INFO ON SOUTH OYSTER BAY ROAD. This e mail was sent to some residents from Mike Martino-the spokesperson for the Department of Public Works:
Dear__________.
We understand your sentiments. The county explored every possible option to avoid removing these beautiful trees before it began this and similar projects throughout the county. In the end, there is no other way.
The
sidewalks along South Oyster Bay road are treacherous and with some lifted as high as 8 or more inches. The county is on notice and must make it safer for pedestrians.
If I may offer a personal anecdote, while I walked the neighborhood recently handing out a letter about the upcoming project I had to help an elderly woman over a broken sidewalk and watched a mother have to go in the street with her stroller to avoid the sidewalks. The county cannot allow such conditions to exist.
There will be a replanting program to follow with trees which have deep rooting systems to avoid the sidewalks from being lifted as the trees mature.
If you have any other questions or if you need a point of contact for the community, please have them e mail me at: mmartino@nassaucountyny.gov.
Thank you.
Michael Martino-Press Secretary-Nassau County Department of Public Works...Office: 516 571 9600
Hope this explains a little more, Judy
Personally, I feel they're hoping everyone is relieved to hear they ARE replacing the trees, but people are not realizing they will be tiny useless ones in comparison. After it's all done, I'd like to see the look on people's faces as all they'll see are power lines overhead.
I wonder if Sandy did do a number on the sidewalks because scrolling along down the road with Google Maps (taken Sept 2012) - it's really not as bad as they make it sound today. https://www.google.com/maps/@40.7778...-27W1QI4rw!2e0
Personally, I feel they're hoping everyone is relieved to hear they ARE replacing the trees, but people are not realizing they will be tiny useless ones in comparison. After it's all done, I'd like to see the look on people's faces as all they'll see are power lines overhead.
Exactly. The boulevard-feel and tree canopy provided by the current, healthy 30'-40' trees will never return. Most tree replacement projects in the County (i.e., W. John Street in Hicksville), involve the planting of replacement, dwarf trees that reach a height of only a few feet at full maturity. They also do not typically offer 1 for 1 replacement, remembering and then examining Plainview Road or Old Country Road Road today confirms this piece as well. The 30-40' feet trees that currently line S. Oyster Bay Road will never return. To omit this KEY detail, is huge and a deliberate misrepresentation. It's bad enough this project was kept under wraps when bidding closed in June. When I personally contacted Judith's office this past week, I was told she only found out about this extensive tree removal days prior to my call; they had received many complaints from residents in addition to mine; that there was no formal 'voting' process on this project; no notification to local legislators in advance; or public disclosure, in advance, to ALL residents, leaving zero time for comment, discourse, or protest, especially involving a controversial project of this nature. The landscape will be forever changed, just as you mention--the commercial-heavy regions of the thoroughfare and power lines on the West side of the road will be fully exposed.
Quote:
I wonder if Sandy did do a number on the sidewalks because scrolling along down the road with Google Maps (taken Sept 2012) - it's really not as bad as they make it sound today. https://www.google.com/maps/@40.7778...-27W1QI4rw!2e0
No, I'm sure Sandy was not the major culprit as it relates to the sidewalk, and the damage is not nearly as bad as the Press Secretary claims via what I lightly state as blatant exaggeration. This is not Seaman's Neck Road, the condition of the sidewalks are perfectly walkable on an overwhelming majority of the road. After walking the 4.4 mile stretch myself, yes, there are a handful of sidewalk slabs that warrant attention across the thoroughfare, but these targeted areas could be easily addressed by a less invasive, less expensive spot treatment process--these isolated slabs do not justify a six million dollar plus project during the time of a deficit, particularly a project that has garnered such a high level of resident opposition over the past several days, nor does it give the automatic green light to just 'take on the whole road'.
In addition, there are innovative, field-tested methods that can be utilized to repair sidewalks without destroying trees. Many cities and counties across the country use a combination of sidewalk grinding, cutouts, meandering, and ramping, for instance, methods which preserve the trees and improve pedestrian safety too. Further, other towns and counties have focused on implementing task forces to handle this specific matter, incorporate the public in a meaningful manner from the start, hold public meetings outlining proposed tree removal, post 30 day notices on trees slated for demolition to notify the public in a visible and clear way, and most importantly, they use field-tested methods to preserve trees while also improving pedestrian safety. Here's a great article posted from the STOMP site tonight: Healthy Trees, Smooth Sidewalks: Tech Transfer
I've personally driven past (last week) and we now walked (this weekend) the entire 4.4 mile length of S. Oyster Bay Road where this project is underway and scheduled. Personally counted over 180 trees marked with white X's for demolition, with another 20 that have already been completely destroyed, their stumps and piles of fresh dirt visible near the Plainview Shopping Centre, and further north. The number is completely accurate. I find it telling that not even legislators covering the affected District have an accurate count of the trees pending demolition and all of the pertinent project details, that arborists as stated were hired to justify the removal of healthy trees (the public should have access to a report of such nature), and, that the community is forced to find out about a project of this scale, in this way.
Feel free to post this response on the local page--the STOMP Petition covers a lot of this content as well in greater length too.
Last edited by MobileVisitor09; 09-29-2014 at 12:53 AM..
Reason: #savethetrees
Just a quick update, Operation STOMP and several local concerned residents will be on News 12 today at 3:00 PM and 5:00 PM! Please set your DVRs and tune in to hear about our organizing efforts to preserve the 200 S. Oyster Bay Trees scheduled for demolition--and our request for the exploration, consideration, and use of well-researched, successful methods used in other regions of the Island and country that simultaneously address sidewalk repair while saving as many trees possible.
Please share the news to alert your friends, family, and neighbors!
Last edited by MobileVisitor09; 09-30-2014 at 12:51 PM..
Someone mentioned seeing news crews on the street earlier today. I just caught a 1 min segment on News12 live on their website where they interviewed 1 person (was that you?).
Someone mentioned seeing news crews on the street earlier today. I just caught a 1 min segment on News12 live on their website where they interviewed 1 person (was that you?).
Yes, we were in Plainview this morning. That may have been me.
They did a short sound bite at 12 PM, and will be showing segments on television at 3:00 PM and 5:00 PM.
If you are a Cablevision subscriber, you can access the article and videos at their site too!
Has the destruction made it down to Our Lady of Mercy? This is where the tree canopy had become almost perfect by about 2010, after at least 50 years of growth. It was unbelievable to me how they started destroying that soon after. They had been picking off sections of trees near the church for the last few years. They periodically cut out trees since late 2000s north of the Plainview shopping centers as well. Some were removed where the sidewalk was flat, but many other oaks left standing where the sidewalk was so far raised, there was a gaping space of several inches underneath. It was like there wasn't any rhyme or reason. They planted a few hornbeams and honeylocusts as replacements, but most haven't been replaced, and may bare sections have remained since as far back as 2009. I can't believe the residents in such an upscale community could be satisfied with such a disregard to aesthetics.
I work in Syosset, live in Hicksville and drive South Oyster Bay Road many times a week. There was little to no damage to the northern red oaks along that roadway from either hurricane Irene or even Sandy. Judy Jacobs doesn't know what she's talking about. Sounds like she's just giving lip service to tree lovers, while towing the line for this inept and corrupt county. There were a couple of very large pin oaks that toppled over onto S. O. Bay in Sandy, but they fell from the interchange cloverleaf of Northern State Parkway.
Has the destruction made it down to Our Lady of Mercy? This is where the tree canopy had become almost perfect by about 2010, after at least 50 years of growth. It was unbelievable to me how they started destroying that soon after. They had been picking off sections of trees near the church for the last few years. They periodically cut out trees since late 2000s north of the Plainview shopping centers as well. Some were removed where the sidewalk was flat, but many other oaks left standing where the sidewalk was so far raised, there was a gaping space of several inches underneath. It was like there wasn't any rhyme or reason. They planted a few hornbeams and honeylocusts as replacements, but most haven't been replaced, and may bare sections have remained since as far back as 2009. I can't believe the residents in such an upscale community could be satisfied with such a disregard to aesthetics.
I work in Syosset, live in Hicksville and drive South Oyster Bay Road many times a week. There was little to no damage to the northern red oaks along that roadway from either hurricane Irene or even Sandy. Judy Jacobs doesn't know what she's talking about. Sounds like she's just giving lip service to tree lovers, while towing the line for this inept and corrupt county. There were a couple of very large pin oaks that toppled over onto S. O. Bay in Sandy, but they fell from the interchange cloverleaf of Northern State Parkway.
Not yet, Middle Island, but ALL of those trees are scheduled for demolition. Every tree lining 4.4 miles of S. Oyster Bay Road, starting at Jericho Turnpike and ending near the train tracks in Bethpage will be destroyed. This work in Seaford, as well as the removal of already 40 trees on S. Oyster Bay Road near the Plainview Shopping Center, was conducted without the County adequately informing and involving the public. There are multiple, successful, field-tested methods that simultaneously address sidewalk repair and tree preservation. Little information has been publicized, and, typically, the destruction is conducted before residents can organize and even understand.
I implore you to drive down S. Oyster Bay Road. You have to see every white X to really grasp the level of unnecessary destruction. While we are completely understanding of pedestrian safety and the need for spot treatment of certain slabs of sidewalk, we are completely against the removal of 200 trees, (400 if you count in Seaford) in this manner, without informing and involving the public. Please spread the news, the Petition links, join our OPERATION STOMP Facebook page for updates. Contact local news sources. We are trying to get the word and facts out to all residents of the area. EVERY county road and the trees that line them are at risk due to this "aggressive campaign," such as Woodbury Road, Old Country Road, Stewart Avenue, Round Swamp, etc.
Please PM me or e-mail the organization, OperationSTOMP@gmail.com if you'd like to help out or have further questions too. Thanks so much for the reply and reading.
Are they working their way down the street daily as we speak?
I haven't been by the roadway yet today but I have requested a sincere pledge and concrete affirmation from the top officials at the Nassau County Department of Public Works, as well as Legislators Jacobs, Schaefer, and Walker, that all work cease, including demolition of any further trees, until the public can be meaningfully engaged and properly informed. Further, we have requested specific reports to be made available to the public, particularly considering bidding for this work first began in June 2014 (have requested arborist reports, environmental assessments, engineering files, timelines, etc.). Lastly, we have requested that the County utilize field-tested, successful measures that can be implemented to simultaneously address sidewalk repair and tree preservation, saving the trees and improving pedestrian safety together at the same time.
So, to answer your question--I have urged and requested that work cease. I do hope that this request is honored on behalf of the 550+ residents that have signed the Petition, Operation STOMP, and the countless amount of residents who are still in the shade regarding this entire project and what was to ensue.
A group of concerned residents plan to meet tomorrow to discuss and plan the next steps in the evening, please contact OperationSTOMP@gmail.com if you'd like further information or want to help out in a specific way. Thanks everyone, sorry for spamming the City-Data wall with this content, I usually curse posters like this but I hope I get a free pass because of the urgency and importance.
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