Saturday, October 31, 2026
A downed fence near Long Island Rail Road tracks, a private elementary school and a church in Lakeview has been temporarily repaired after community members raised concerns about its condition.
The roughly eight-foot metal fence held by wood posts along Donlon Place is across the street from the United Methodist Church of the Good Shepherd and nearby Overton Academy, and just southwest of the Lakeview LIRR station. The fence is owned by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. According to community members and Overton officials, the fence has been down since July.
The portion of the roughly half-mile fence across from the school has been repaired by LIRR crews as part of a temporary solution. Metal fence posts were installed in front of the old fence and strung with caution tape.
“A more permanent solution will be made in the coming days,” an MTA spokeswoman, Kayla Shults, said.
The Overton Academy is a private school and day care center for children ages 2 to 12 years old. According to its director, Simone McEachin, the downed fence prevented them from doing nature walks with children over the summer due to it impeding their path. She said it also presented safety concerns for children getting off school buses, with some children needing to be escorted from their bus to the school.
According to McEachin, LIRR crews addressed the issue from Oct. 19 to Oct. 21. Now that the fence has been partially repaired, nature walks have resumed.
“Now we’re able to actually walk in the direction of where the fence was missing,” she said, “and not have to cross any streets with children. This does make it a lot easier for us.”
The downed portion of the fence was originally noticed by Kevin Hibbert, a 55-year Lakeview resident, a physician and a member of the Lakeview Civic Association. But when Hibbert brought the fence to the attention of community leaders, he was told it was an LIRR problem, and that there was little that local elected officials could do.
“It’s a public-safety issue, to protect the people in this constituency,” Hibbert said.
Portions of the fence remain in disrepair. A section near the intersection of Donlon Place and Woodfield Road, directly across the street from the Church of the Good Shepherd, is still down, and has no caution tape.
According to the church’s secretary, Susan Penuela, though the fence doesn’t pose a concern to the church because it’s across the street, it has “been like that for years, falling apart.”
Another section, farther south on Donlon, nearer to the residential part of the street, is almost completely down, though caution tape has been put up in front of it. Though there are trees and bushes preventing direct access to the LIRR tracks, part of the fence is still completely down.
The tracks have a third rail, as do many tracks along the LIRR’s rail network. High-voltage third rails provide trains with electrical power, and they are dangerous to touch.
According to MTA timetables, some 36 trains run through Lakeview each weekday.
Hibbert called on the MTA and LIRR to “do better” in the future by taking better care of the Lakeview station and the surrounding are. “I just want people to be responsible and take care of Lakeview,” he said. “Just make it safe for people.”
