The Oyster Bay Civic Association continues to be the lead agency on keeping the streets of Oyster Bay clean. It's a quality of life issue said members at the Thursday, Sept. 21 meeting held at the Italian American Club.

Keeping streets clean was part of the proposed parking solutions for the hamlet that was scheduled to be presented to the Oyster Bay Town Board on Sept. 26. The OBCA was scheduled to speak after the Citizens for the Preservation of Open Space at Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Park. At the Thursday meeting, Ms. Knight, OBCA president, said their plan was a two-part proposal that began with a parking solution for the town; and was followed by a presentation by architect Lou Baldino of a rendering of Theodore Roosevelt Park which will restore it to its former beauty without breaking the deed which states that there is to be no carousel or mechanical amusement devices.

Ms. Knight was reluctant to reveal the parking plan (on Sept. 21) until it has been heard by the town board (on Sept. 26), but said at the meeting that it will include two-hour parking and no parking at night [in the downtown business area] so that the streets of the hamlet can be swept clean.

She said the proposed parking regulations will be enforced by the police according to Sgt. Colossano of the 2nd Precinct POP unit. She said the police plan to have a person working on alternate days in Oyster Bay and Syosset to enforce the new parking regulations.

Rob Brusca asked her how the parking would be enforced since marking tires didn't work previously. Ms. Knight said Police Officer Jim Rizzo used to take down the license plates numbers and they will suggest they do that again.

Another item that needs fixing are painted lines on the west side of South Street in the area of Appliance World and Snouder's and down West Main Street. All the parking stalls in the downtown business area are inaccurate, she said. The sign on South Street at the former Foodtown driveway between Townsend Square and Terrific Ten says "no standing" and that should be taken down and a parking space added.

Ms. Knight said a crossing guard at the Roosevelt Elementary School is asking for a turn light from West Main Street to Lexington Avenue be discontinued and instead the regular light and a sign that says "No Turn on Red" during school days from 7 to 4 p.m., the same as it says on the corner of Audrey Avenue by the Coin Gallery.

Ms. Knight added they propose to make Maxwell Avenue a dead end street.

Another traffic area of concern is at the intersection of Berry Hill Road-Lexington Avenue and South Street-Pine Hollow Road. The suggestion is a left-hand turn signal off South Street onto Berry Hill, to coincide with the left-hand turn off Pine Hollow Road onto Lexington Avenue.

Another suggestion is that at the left-hand turn into Stop & Shop on Pine Hollow Road, there be an arrow added to the light to allow more time for cars to cross the northbound traffic lane.

She said she doesn't think they will get all the plan's proposals but said she hoped they would.

Ms. Knight said Renaissance Properties are also interested in solving the parking problems in town. She said she received a call from CEO of Renaissance Properties, Michael Picker, who represents such sites as Mariner's Walk in Oyster Bay. She said Charles Wang of Island Properties is interested in getting the parking problems in the hamlet taken care of and he has asked Mr. Picker to be active in helping find solutions. She said that OBCA attorney Tony LaMarca provided Mr. Picker with a copy of their traffic plan and that the town has the original proposal from the OBCA.

OBCA member June London asked what is happening at Volpe Auto Repair on Spring Street where a building that was involved in a fire has not been fixed for some time. Ms. Knight has talked to Jack Libert, commissioner of planning and development who is in charge of code compliance and is following up on the problem.

Ms. London asked about several other areas of the town that need taking care of, including the parking lot that runs from South Street to White Street that has been closed off to traffic while renovations go on. Ms. London commented on the lot which she said has garbage strewn about and a trailer for sale parked there. (A town spokesperson said if there is a problem with a property in town, residents should report the issue to Code Compliance in the town's department of planning and development at 624-6200.)

The town spokesperson said the reason the entrance to the parking lot was closed is that the façade of the building on the south side of the entrance was in disrepair and the owner was asked to fix it up. The entrance was closed for safety reasons so that no one gets hit by a piece of falling façade.

Ms. London said, "We are talking about the need for parking and look at this parking lot, it is disgusting." She said additionally, that along much of the north side of East Main Street there is garbage left out on the streets.

Bob Martin, Oyster Bay Chamber of Commerce vice president, expressed his frustration in dealing with the garbage on the street of the hamlet and in asking the town for help on the issue. Someone commented that whenever they report a problem like garbage to town hall the answer is always that their's is the first complaint call the town has received.

Assemblyman Rob Walker, who was the guest speaker for the evening, said when his office receives complaint calls his staff tries to answer them whether they are county, state or federal problems. He will pursue the problem to the source, he said. "You may not like my answer but you deserve an answer," he explained. His district includes East Norwich, East Meadow, Locust Valley, Glen Head, Glenwood Landing and Westbury and is the largest assembly district in Nassau County.

He said the little things are what matters and those quality of life issues such as garbage collection and grass cutting matter. He said one of the problems in dealing with landlords and garbage problems is that after giving out a violation notice, and then a summons - the case can go to court but they have to wait six months before they get a court date.

He said a Hicksville resident complained about a vacant house where the grass was being allowed to grow unmowed - and said, he thought the easiest thing to do was to go himself and cut the grass, as a faster and easier solution.

Judy Barnett said town sanitation workers regularly take the top garbage bag from her trash container but leave the one on the bottom there. She has called the town to complain and said that in an hour or so they will come and take the rest of the garbage but asked how that can keep happening.

Ms. London asked if the low income housing on Lexington Avenue could have their landscaping improved. It is minimally maintained, she said. She said the housing at Lake Avenue is better maintained. Mr. Walker said he would get back to Ms. Knight with an answer. "You want it to be vibrant," he said, understanding her message.

Fran Leone said when she lived in an apartment in the hamlet the landlord didn't provide a place to get rid of garbage. That is one of the problems that have plagued the hamlet for years - resulting in overflowing garbage in the trash receptacles.

Mr. Martin added that the hamlet has illegal apartments with people sleeping on mattresses 24-hours a day in shifts and absentee landlords who don't care about the quality of life in the area. He said, "Enforcement is super-lacking in town."

Mr. Walker said illegal housing is a drain on local resources including the schools, and sanitation. He said it was important to think outside of the box in finding solutions that would work and said he is looking at ways to do that.

He said, for instance, that the utility company is not required to inform the town about adding meters (to cover different apartments in a house), which would be a way to discover illegal apartments.

The dialogue continued as the assemblyman and members discussed varying issues including the recent outsourcing of jobs by Newsday; changing the way school taxes are collected; the possible sale of KeySpan to a British company, National Grid; the windmills being considered off Jones Beach that Donald Trump is against, in his plan to build the new Boardwalk restaurant; centralizing schools; people on Medicaid taking taxis to a hospital appointment, which is paid by Medicaid; the fact that when the school tax is evaluated, Long Islanders have experienced housing prices going through the roof while in the rest of the state they are stable - which affects the state aid formula.

The discussion ended with Mr. Walker coming back to a question about TR Memorial Park. He said when the town used its first $200,000 dedicated to park improvements, they worked on the playgrounds, and landscaping around the fountain and flagpole area. He said irrigation was the biggest problem since all the sprinkler heads had to be turned on by hand. It was a system built in the 1960s that had to be rebuilt.

OBCA secretary Judith-Ann Barnett mentioned that Ms. Knight was named a Woman of Distinction by New York State under the direction of Assemblyman Rob Walker. She and several other Oyster Bay women were nominated for the honor. This is the second time Ms. Kight has won a Woman of Distinction Award: The first one was presented by the Town of Oyster Bay, said Ms. Barnett.

Ms. Knight said the OBCA is revising their bylaws. Their attorney Tony LaMarca has made some suggestions and they have asked Bill Von Novak to join them as they decide what to change.