Organizer heralds 50 U.S. flags on street as beautification project, dissenters disagree

Fifty American flags hanging from utility poles on Shore Road in Glen Cove will stay there through the summer as part of a grassroots beautification effort.

The flags, one for each state, went up just before Memorial Day, attached to utility poles down Shore Road and The Boulevard when the road hits Sea Cliff.

"We're just trying to bring some community pride to our neighborhood and for our country," said Lora Cusumano, founder and organizer of Shore Road Neighbors, the group that had the flags installed. "It was important for us to get it up for Memorial Day weekend because we did want to honor all of our heroes."

Cusumano, a real estate agent who lives on the road, said her group had worked to promote safety and beauty on the recreational waterfront in Glen Cove and Sea Cliff. The flag project followed virtual meetings, she said. They raised $5,000 in donations online and from organizations for the effort, she said, and got permission from PSEG Long Island which gives permission to use the poles that are jointly owned and maintained by LIPA and Verizon. Part of the money was used to pay a PSEG-approved contractor to hang the flags, she said.

PSEG Long Island spokeswoman Ashley Chauvin said in an email that a "permit to attach American flags to utility poles in Glen Cove was submitted by the Shore Road Neighborhood Association and was approved by PSEG Long Island in accordance with LIPA’s policy."

"Everyone that we discussed it with thought it was great," Cusumano said. "However, it does seem that there are a couple of people that were not so excited to have the American flag up."

One of the dissenters is Doris Meadows, a retired publicist and news writer who also lives on the road.

"The American flag, I love it enough not to use it as street decoration," Meadows said. "There's a way flags are supposed to be treated. It's supposed to be taken down at night and put up in the morning."

The U.S. Code states it is the universal custom to display the flag only from sunrise to sunset unless illuminated.

"If you want to decorate our street, we'd love to have baskets of flowers on the poles and will even help support that," Meadows said. Cusumano has done good work trying to address the problem of speeding cars on the road and with neighborhood projects, Meadows said, who added that she was concerned the flags would not be cared for and would become tattered in the elements.

Cusumano said Glen Cove and Sea Cliff officials had been supportive of the idea. On Friday, however, Glen Cove spokeswoman Shannon Vulin said in an email: "The city had no role in this."

Sea Cliff Village administrator Bruce Kennedy called the flags a welcome addition.

"People love it, you know?" Kennedy said. "I think it was really cool that Ms. Cusumano put the effort to make it happen."