New Town of Oyster Bay beach stickers have seniors feeling at risk

Seniors are expressing their disappointment in the Town of Oyster Bay’s new beach sticker policy. Several have spoken out and said they believe the new stickers, which clearly display the word “senior” at the top, could make them a target for car thieves and that the town could have found a better solution to the issue.

The new sticker policy for the town was implemented for several reasons, according to Brian Nevin, Oyster Bay’s public information officer. It was primarily implemented at the behest of seniors in the community to streamline the process of visiting the beach.

“For quicker access, senior citizens had requested a specialized pass,” Nevin said. “Next year, a different system will be utilized for those seeking the non-mandatory sticker.”

The stickers are not mandatory for free access to the beach, and they have not been since 2000. The stickers make it easier for officials to identify seniors so they can be waved through the beach entrance.

Another goal of adding the word “senior” is to reduce the chances of others borrowing cars with the sticker to get free beach access.

Jeanne Zaino, a senior and resident of Bayville, said she didn’t believe the issue of borrowed cars was serious enough to warrant adding a sticker. The prominence of the word “senior,” she said, could put some residents and their property at risk.

“We’ve had issues in Bayville, like everywhere else, and someone could come by and notice a bright yellow sticker that says senior,” Zaino continued. “They might rather go after one of those than the car of you know, a 40-year old man and his family, whether at home or just in a parking lot at the grocery store.”

One of her friends had her grandson scrape “senior” off the sticker. Zaino mentioned that she had reached out to Town of Oyster Bay Supervisor Joseph Saladino’s office, and had been told that the addition of the word senior was a mistake which they could not undo due to the cost of returning them and ordering a whole new batch of stickers, especially so late in the season.

Zaino and others, like Ed Lieberman, a former Sea Cliff mayor, said they also believed there were better ways to address the issue. Both Lieberman and Zaino pointed out that having the sticker in a different color to denote the fact that they were seniors would have been enough.
Lieberman also said that there was no need to change the stickers this year, and that “if even one senior perceives that their safety is in jeopardy, that’s too many for me.”

“I would think that the town in their infinite wisdom could come up with a better approach,” Lieberman continued. “By changing the color it would be a resolution to the town’s desire to control who enters the beaches by a much simpler method without exposing seniors to any actual or perceived harm because of their senior status.”

Ann and Dan DiPietro, two senior residents of Sea Cliff, said that while they do not have stickers, since they mainly go to Sea Cliff Beach which is owned by the village, not the town, they still found the principle unnecessary. Dan pointed out that to him it felt very much like a way of “othering” seniors as a group, and putting them at unnecessary risk.

“I’m not crazy about the idea of differentiating,” he said. “It seems to me that, you know, it just makes us stand out in a way that I don’t feel comfortable with.”