Residents for a More Beautiful Syosset has been working diligently to clean up and beautify Syosset since its inception a few years ago. One of the projects that members completed was turning the utility strip on Jackson Avenue into a 300 foot community garden. The garden was created and maintained by funds the group both raised and had donated.

Last week, Verizon began construction on Jackson Avenue from Jericho Turnpike to Ira Road to put fiber optic cables underground to meet customer demand for voice and fax lines and high speed internet service. This construction work forced Verizon to rip up the community garden.

Verizon has the legal right to perform the construction, and the Residents group approves of the work as it is being coordinated with the road reconstruction planned by Nassau County. The concern that Residents had was restoring the garden.

The garden was designed by a landscape architect so there were always flowers blooming year round. The community donated money and time to beautify the garden and downtown Syosset.

"The garden finally looked together," said Lorraine Donlon, corresponding secretary for Residents for a More Beautiful Syosset. "We spent so much time and effort and we were finally done."

According to James Courtney, construction manager for Empire City Subway Company, a subsidiary of Verizon, the garden will be restored at no cost to local residents or the Residents group. "We are going to restore the garden as it was," said Courtney. "I have a landscaping company that is going to go in there and I have gotten plans from people from the Residents group. It will be restored to a minimum of what it was and it will not cost the Residents group anything."

Courtney also explained that a new concrete sidewalk will replace the current temporary asphalt sidewalk that is presently there.

Verizon plans to begin work as soon as possible to restore the garden, according to Courtney. "Once the sidewalk is in, we can begin restoring the planting material," he said.

For more information about Residents for a More Beautiful Syosset, please visit www.syosset.org or call 364-2649.