Holding out for the ‘old’ bridge

The scars of Hurricane Sandy are still plainly visible throughout Meadowmere Park. It’s been more than five and half years since the storm flooded the enclave of roughly 100 homes, tucked away on an island between the Nassau County and Queens border.

While residents renovate and raise their homes, the Town of Hempstead is looking to fortify the Meadowmere Park Bridge, which links the Meadowmere and Rosedale sides of Meyer Avenue. A $2.4 million grant from the Governor’s Office of Storm Recovery was announced in December of 2016, but some residents are not excited about the possibility of a rebuilt bridge.

“If I have to I’ll chain myself to the bridge,” said Ruth Samuelson, the president of the Meadowmere Civic Association. “I’ll do that before I let them change the aesthetics of Meadowmere Park.”

This concern stems from the town’s plan to fortify the bridge and expand the width so that it could accommodate emergency vehicles. “Over my dead body will they widen that bridge,” Samuelson added. “I don’t know what idiot thought to widen and harden that bridge, but it was a very bad idea.”

She added that the civic association has been passing around a petition against the plans, and said that many residents have already signed.

Dennis Ramdawah lives next to the bridge, and said that his main concern is that once built, “It’s not going to be used only for emergency vehicles,” he said. “That would totally change the dynamics of the area.”

A compromise might be possible. Ramdawah said that the town should be able to ensure that only emergency vehicles would use the bridge, and he would be alright with that, but he expressed concerns about the feasibility of doing so.

Residents will have an opportunity to share their concerns and opinions about the plan at a meeting on June 12 at 7 p.m., at the Meadowmere firehouse, 14 Meyer Ave. “The community will ultimately decide what they want to do with the bridge,” said Mike Fricchione, a town spokesman. “But to qualify for the GOSR money, it has to be more resilient and stronger, and able to handle an emergency vehicle.”

East Avenue, a narrow road that eventually intersects Rockaway Turnpike, is currently the only way in or out of Meadowmere Park in a vehicle. Samuelson wants it to remain that way, believing the plans to be a slippery slope, “Once it becomes a bridge for emergency vehicles then it’s opened up for more traffic,” she said. “It’s strictly a footbridge, it’s a focal point of the community. We just wanted it repaired as it is.”

Should the rest of the community agree with Samu≠elson, Fricch≠ione assured that, “If, at the end of the process, the residents are not pleased with the designs, then the State will find other uses for the allocated resiliency funding.”

Have an opinion the Meadowmere Park Bridge? Send your letter to the editor to jbessen@liherald.com.