The State of New York and Town of Hempstead feel they have the right to choose who should suffer. It's always going to be the honest, hard working, law abiding, tax paying citizen - as it is in this case. Without provocation, these two governmental branches have picked my husband and me, along with some other homeowners on our residential street, as their latest victims.

This past April, because of a request of the East Meadow Fire Department, the New York State Department of Transportation installed a traffic light at the merge point of North Bellmore Road and Route 106 (Newbridge Road). This light is red for an extended period on our street, during which time there is rarely any intersecting traffic on the main road. It also creates a pile up of cars that often runs halfway down the block. Car stereos from waiting autos at 6 a.m. Sunday mornings and late on weeknights. Car horns blast repeatedly when the light is red or green. Car exhaust from idling autos pollutes the environment and exposes residents to cancerous toxins. I, for one, am terrified to go out onto my front lawn to water my plants. When the light is green, cars and trucks speed wildly in order to make it through before it turns red again.

To make matters worse, DOT robbed the last three homeowners of the emergency side lane at the curb in front of their properties. We lost it too. All service and residential streets in Nassau County have that side lane. It's for emergency purposes and service deliveries such as oil, UPS, landscapers, construction. The state turned it into a second driving traffic lane. Since our narrow street now has two northbound lanes by the merge point there's no parking in the street either. My husband and I only have one vehicle and a one car driveway. In our case, the state has denied us the right to have visitors too. We've become prisoners.

We have contacted the Town of Hempstead and were told that it's not their jurisdiction. They will do nothing to assist in the matter. Why doesn't the Town of Hempstead care about its own residents? Why would the state come in and put a traffic light on a street they know nothing about and destroy the lives of good people? Who is going to help us?

Patricia Hubschman