$265,000 in streetscaping expected in W. Hempstead

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The Town of Hempstead has awarded a contract to Westbury-based Roadwork Ahead Inc. to do extensive streetscaping on the north side of Hempstead Avenue, from Westminster Avenue to Woodview Road, in West Hempstead. The work is anticipated to start in mid-September and to be completed by the end of October.

The contract, estimated at $265,000 by town spokesman Mike Deery, would cover new concrete sidewalks, brick pavers, old-fashioned street lights, new trash receptacles and newly planted trees. The area is directly behind National Wholesale Liquidators, Ariana Waterfall Catering, a Wendy’s and a deteriorating building owned by Breslin Realty, which has been scheduled for demolition for months.

Funding for the project will comes from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Community Development Block Grant Program. The program provides annual grants that help address community-development needs nationwide.

Asked why this part of West Hempstead was chosen, Deery responded, “There are many areas in town that could benefit from this grant, and we thought this was one of them.” He added that town officials had also heard pleas from the West Hempstead Community Support Association and the West Hempstead merchants to rejuvenate the area.

Rosalie Norton, president of the West Hempstead Community Support Association, said that about two and a half years ago, she and other association members began meeting with town Councilman Ed Ambrosino, and executives from the town’ss Office of Economic Planning and Development. “That area is in terrible condition, and we had to continually convince them that it should be streetscaped,” Norton recounted. “We wanted to have the whole area changed, so it could attract new businesses.”

Norton said that she and other association members met with the town a handful of times about the project, and one day she got a call from Ambrosino, who told her that the money was going to be allocated to the project. Of the association’s accomplishment, she concluded, “its just perseverance.”