Community Watchdog: Bank tidies yard of vacant house in Smithtown

The house next door has been vacant for two years. The grass is waist-high in the front yard. I and others on the block have been in touch with the Town of Smithtown several times to get it taken care of, but nothing is done. Perhaps you can help get the town to do some regular maintenance on the property, which is a real eyesore.

- Tom Hartin, Smithtown

Done.

When we called the town in early July, the town's Department of Public Safety officials said workers visited the neglected property because of Hartin's calls and issued a court appearance summons to Bank of America - which owns the foreclosed home - for failure to cut high grass and weeds.

The bank's management company then mowed the overgrown lawn. Joe Nowotny, supervisor of the Smithtown's public safety investigations division, said the bank agreed to cut the grass about twice a month.

"Once these companies visit a property for the first time, maintenance seems to happen on a regular basis," he said.

When it comes to neglected yards, Nowotny said not much can be done until a court authorizes the town to enter the property in question and correct the violation. In this case, the problem was resolved before the Aug. 17 court date.

Town of Smithtown residents concerned about neglected yards can call 631-360-7533.

- Michael R. Ebert

A little less trucking on Middle Neck Road

I live on a street that is adjacent to Middle Neck Road in the Village of Flower Hill. Middle Neck runs between Route 25A and Port Washington Boulevard. Posted at each end are "No trucking except local delivery" signs. But the sign closest to Route 25A is about 150 feet north of the intersection, so trucks entering the road have committed to the route and can't turn around. The noise from these trucks is terrible.

- Lewis Loria, Roslyn

We hope things have quieted down since the sign's been moved.

After our call, the state Department of Transportation took a look and suggested that the Village of Flower Hill move the sign to a spot on Middle Neck Road, a few yards north of Route 25A - between the corner and entrance to Dunkin' Donuts. The village relocated the sign less than a week later.

In previous dialogues, the DOT had denied the village's requests to place the sign directly at the corner since drivers could misinterpret it as indicating that trucks were not allowed on Route 25A. But the new location makes the sign "more clearly visible" to those on Route 25A without being confusing, said DOT spokeswoman Eileen Peters. Loria told us he was so pleased, he went to Village Hall to thank officials.

Peters also shared results of a traffic study done on Middle Neck last year to assess the extent of the road's truck traffic. The study concluded that trucks constituted about 5 percent of total vehicles during morning rush hour.

"Although this is a relatively low truck usage, DOT engineers do understand the residents' concerns," Peters said.

Flower Hill residents with concerns about truck traffic on residential roads can call 516-627-5000.

- Michael R. Ebert

Time to repair Old Central Avenue in Valley Stream

Old Central Avenue in Valley Stream is broken and a rough ride. I wrote the Town of Hempstead through Supervisor Kate Murray's Helpline and was told it's a Nassau County road. After two letters to Nassau County, I received a response from the public works commissioner stating that the road is the town's responsibility. It seems that I'm getting the good old-fashioned runaround.

- Albert Arnone, Valley Stream

This is a typical problem on Long Island, the land of overlapping jurisdictions. After making a few calls, we learned that Old Central Avenue apparently is maintained by the Village of Valley Stream.

Village engineer Tony Cella told us that the troublesome section of Old Central Avenue, a 150-foot or so stretch of pavement located at the intersection with Woodland Road, would be repaved by the fall. He noted that the road was on the village's paving list before our call.

"By September or October, it should be done and completely overlaid," he said. Translated, that means one or more layers of asphalt would be installed to improve the section's structural capacity, smoothness and drainage.

Cella also said village officials told Arnone in March that the repairs were slated for this year, but Arnone told us that communication never took place.

Village residents with concerns about their roads should call 516-825-4200.

- Michael R. Ebert