The City of Glen Cove is urging residents to take part in a new Clean Mobility Survey, a key step in developing a plan to expand access to safe, sustainable transportation options across the city. The 14-question survey, open until May 31, is part of a grant-funded initiative aimed at improving connections in Glen Cove by upgrading pedestrian paths, bike infrastructure and public transit.
“This project is not just something that we’re doing just because we want to grant an award for it,” Koorosh Leibowitz, grant administrator for the Glen Cove Community Development Agency, said. “It’s something that as a Glen Cove resident, as a City Hall employee, it’s something that I also live by. This is my experience. At least for me, it’s a little more than just a project.”
The Clean Mobility Plan stems from Glen Cove’s 2024 Comprehensive Plan, which identified the need for better pedestrian and bike connections as well as an evaluation of the city’s fixed-route Loop Bus. Last November, the city received a Clean Mobility Grant from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, initiating a two-phase process that begins with a planning study and could lead to a state-funded pilot project.
“The survey is to help determine, at least with our consultants — and when I’ve spoken to them, they want to use the survey as sort of a barometer of what could our potential pilot project be for the city,” Leibowitz said.
The planning phase is focused on short-distance, local improvements, not regional transit. “We’re not looking to really say, OK, how can we better connect Glen Cove to Manhattan?” Leibowitz added. “That’s not the case with this study. It’s really just sort of micro-transit — or not so much micro-transit, but more just getting around in our own little community.”
Ann Fangmann, executive director of the Community Development Agency, said that the mobility work is rooted in longstanding goals. “One of the recommendations coming out of our comprehensive plan process was a more developed bike study to cover infrastructure,” Fangmann said. “Bike share is one of those concepts that it was recommended should be explored.”
She noted that Nassau County had once approached Glen Cove about launching a bike-share program, but the effort fell apart. Now, potential locations like the Glen Street train station or the waterfront’s Esplanade are being reconsidered for bike-sharing kiosks. “Especially, let’s say, you’re at Long Beach or even here in Glen Cove, you get off the train,” Fangmann said. “If we had a bike share, for instance, at Glen Street Station, you could finish what’s typically called the last mile.”
The survey also addresses the city’s Loop Bus service, which runs weekdays and serves as a vital transit link for many. Consultants are now examining whether electrifying the bus system would make sense, given its current usage.
“So people have been coming to me for years and saying, can’t you just electrify the loop bus and get us grants to do that?” Fangmann said. “It’s not as easy as it sounds.”
Despite enthusiasm for change, officials acknowledge that Glen Cove’s infrastructure poses challenges. Many of the city’s main arteries, such as Dosoris Lane and Glen Cove Avenue, are overseen by the county or state. “We’re fairly limited here,” Fangmann explained. “Unfortunately, some of those north-south connections and east-west connections that we want to bridge here in the city are county- and state-owned.”
Areas like the corridor from downtown to Garvies Point and Brewster Street are already being considered, she said, for conceptual designs to improve safety and walkability. “That’s definitely been identified as a location that needs more robust safety measures and possibly signage and other, you know, visible cues to get you from the downtown to the waterfront,” Fangmann said.
Panzenbeck acknowledged the difficulty of shifting habits. “It’s hard because people love their cars,” she said. “It’s very hard . . . to convince people that they can ride the bike or walk or use their own ways of getting around other than their car.
“We encourage all residents to participate in the survey.”
The Clean Mobility Survey can be accessed by visiting
glencoveny.gov or by scanning the QR code on fliers posted throughout the city. The responses will remain anonymous, and will help determine which pilot project the city pursues next.
