OFSD Eyesore

As longtime residents (38 years) of the Oceanside Terrace Community we need help transforming an eyesore on Oceanside School District property at the Merle Avenue School on Oceanside Road south of Foxhurst Road.

The former tennis courts have been repurposed into a parking lot for Dept. of Buildings and Ground’s vans, trucks, snow plows, and other vehicles. Besides the vehicles permanently parked there, piles of sand, topsoil, and wooden pallets were dumped on site and abut the chain link fence. In an effort to hide the mounds of sand, the building and Grounds Dept. constructed an unsightly jerrybuilt plywood fence. It would have been better had they contracted a commercial fence company to install conventional wood picket fencing or woven aluminum slats into the chain links as a blind. The appearance of this area is deplorable. Since it is on a heavily traveled main street on entering Oceanside from the north, it does not show well to people visiting or looking to move here. Oceanside residents should be proud when showing their town and school properties, not feel ashamed or embarrassed each time people drive by because of its seedy, industrial look.

In May my longtime neighbor, Barbara, phoned the head of buildings and grounds to make him cognizant of this. He was agreeable to what was said. Unfortunately, he did nothing except have the grounds crew build a plywood fence blind to hide the sand piles from Oceanside Road. She then went to the Oceanside school district’s administration building and spoke to Ms. Marino. She was told, “it was not their area.” I was under the belief that the Dept. of Buildings and Grounds was responsible to the Oceanside School District.

I have attached photos of the area. Perhaps if you could run this story and assign it to an investigative journalist you might have more success in with this issue. Thank you.

Yours truly,

Barbara Epstein

Michael Greenfield