Residents petition for road repair

It may not be the largest road repair project in the world, but Warren Drive that features a straightaway which leads into a circular cul- de-sac in Woodmere is important to resident Susan Pulaski.

Pulaski, a retired schoolteacher, began a campaign to have her immediate street repaired three years ago after being laid up with a fractured knee, and she saw grass sprouting out from the cracks in the road.

Patching the street has not helped and the declining elevation of Warren Drive creates huge puddles when it rains she said and a possible sinking of a storm drain in front of a neighbor's home.

"We need work here," said Pulaski, who collected 17 other signatures on a petition she sent to the Town of Hempstead and Nassau County Legislator Howard Kopel (District 7).

On a walking tour of Warren Drive, Pulaski showed where grass and weeds have come through the road, the previous patching is breaking up, there are many cracks in the street and the brick which outlines the circle is pitted and broken.

Though Dickens Street, the road that leads to Warren Drive off of Longacre Avenue, was previously paved five or six years she said, Warren Drive was in Pulaski's words "skipped over" and the town has "neglected us for a long time."

In addition, Pulaski pointed out that the corner at Dickens Street and Longacre Avenue also collects water and creates a huge puddle after it rains.

"To me it's not acceptable,” said Pulaski, who sent l etters to the town's Commissioner of Highways Thomas Toscano as recently as July 2 and Kopel on June 30.

However, Pulaski's efforts could be paying off. In a July 13 letter, Toscano stated that "the engineering department is responsible for road improvements and once again we are requesting they consider a road improvement."

It was confirmed by Town Spokeswoman Susan Trenkle-Pokalsky that the engineering department will do a survey and at the same if any short term repairs are needed the highways department will make them. This engineering study will encompass conditions of the road, if elevation is needed, and what repaving is necessary.

"If any repairs are needed from engineering they will make recommendations for a future road project," said Trenkle-Pokalsky, who noted that with this year's highways budget is set and any repairs would be placed on next year's calendar.

A bit pessimistic because she was told previously the town was going to do a survey, Pulaski said, "a study is wonderful."

Though Kopel's jurisdiction does not include town roads, the legislator was impressed with Pulaski's grassroots efforts comparing it to the old saying of 'the squeaky wheel gets the grease.'

“I applaud it,” said Kopel, who blames citizen non-participation for a few issues such as low voter turnout, high taxes and out of control spending. “I wished more people would get involved overall.”

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