More than just new pavement

Employees and customers of the Meadowbrook Shopping Center will not have to cope with exposed manhole covers, potholes and ponds of rainwater much longer. Repair work on Parking Field 3, which town-contracted workers began last month, is due to be finished in May.

The lot, behind the shops and adjacent to Prospect and Roosevelt avenues, will feature repaved asphalt, new concrete curbs, a renovated drainage system and two new lights.

Town Supervisor Kate Murray and Councilman Gary Hudes visited the site last week. “This facelift will enhance safety for drivers and pedestrians in East Meadow, especially those who patronize or are employed at the variety of businesses in the area,” Hudes said. “Community members will be pleased with the results of this project.”

“This project is a symbol of our town’s commitment to investing in our communities,” said Murray. “Especially our business districts and downtowns.”

Crews began the renovation work on March 12. The project will cost the town $363,000 and is expected to be completed by the middle of next month.

While the result will be a better parking lot, some employees of nearby businesses complained of parking-lot woes that would not be fixed and problems that have occurred since contractor Roadwork Ahead began the work. “I’m sure there are a lot of other places that could have used a better parking lot,” said Christie Brown, of Levittown, the manager at American Lock and Arm Corporation in the shopping center. She acknowledged that the parking lot turns into a lake when it rains, and said she was glad the lot will be better illuminated. “If there’s one good thing that comes about, it would be the lights,” she said.

But the real issue, Brown said, is that there are too few spaces available for shoppers, clients and employees because people who fall into none of those categories park there. She said she often sees Nassau University Medical center employees and visitors parking in the front and back lots. (The hospital is just across the street.) And while signs indicate a three-hour parking limit, it is rarely enforced, she added.

“[Police] never check, ever,” she said. “I’ve been here like 13 years. I don’t think I ever saw a cop come around and check the three-hour limit.” Employee-and-customer-parking-only signs are what Brown would really like to see near her office.

For his part, Steve Shaughnessy, a salesman at East Meadow Florist, had only positive things to say about the renovations. “With the potholes, it was like a minefield back there,” he said. He also didn’t like driving in the back when it rained. Shaughnessy said that water would accumulate several inches deep in numerous spots.

The flower shop moved from a Hempstead Turnpike location to the Meadowbrook Shopping Center about three years ago, and Shaughnessy said he likes the increased traffic.

Pardeep Kumar, manager at Jake’s Wayback Burgers, said he didn’t believe the parking lot needed immediate renovations, and when he saw the construction beginning, he was hoping the workers were altering the bend on Roosevelt Avenue. “It’s quite dangerous,” he said. “I try to be very careful.” Asked whether he thought construction would improve the parking lot, Kumar said, “We’ll have to see when they’re done.”

Stefanie Lenkowicz, a chiropractic assistant at Long Island Chiropractic Wellness, said she was glad to hear that the parking lot problems had attracted a Herald reporter, because the renovations of the drainage system, had caused flooding in the office’s basement that ruined some medical equipment and supplies, as well as the floor. Lenkowicz said that workers originally denied that they caused the problem, but returned a few days later saying, “‘We’re very sorry. It was us,’” she recalled.

Town of Hempstead press secretary Susan Trenkle-Pokalsy said that once a bill is sent to the contractor, an insurance company would determine who was at fault.

While some businesses, like East Meadow Florist, were given a week’s notice about the renovations, Lenkowicz said that a letter was delivered to Long Island Chiropractic Wellness that stated that construction would begin the next day. Trenkle-Pokalsy confirmed that letters had been mailed out, and that their delivery to some of the business could have been delayed.