Community watchdog: Loose plate is risky

There is a rectangular plate that says "TELEPHONE" on my front lawn. It covers a hole, underground wires and dirty, undrained water, and I've learned it belongs to Verizon. The plate is a plastic or vinyl and badly cracked with sharp edges; it's no longer bolted down, so when the cover moves, the hole and wires are exposed. My grandchildren will be visiting me, so I've been trying to have this repaired because it's dangerous. I've called Verizon no less than four times. The last time, I was on for an hour and put on hold 20 times. Finally, they said they'd send someone out. That was more than a month ago.

--Carol Wolf, Central Islip

A Verizon crew was there shortly after we contacted spokesman John Bonomo. Not only did they replace the box and plate on the lawn of Mrs. Wolf's condo, but they also fixed one down the street that was in worse shape.

In an email, Bonomo said, "These boxes have been in the ground for years. They are subject to and designed for light traffic, i.e. pedestrians. Every now and then a vehicle will turn around or park on the grass, rolling over them and they can cave in."

The lawns in this community are really small, so we think it's unlikely there are vehicles driving over the plates. But if riding lawn mowers or other heavy landscaping equipment is used, that could be causing the problem.

For issues involving Verizon, call 800-VERIZON.

On the west side of my property in North Patchogue is a parcel that stretches from Morris Avenue to Woodside Avenue, owned by the Town of Brookhaven. There is a 7-Eleven and a shopping center nearby that generate a lot of litter. The town occasionally has cleaned the accumulated trash over the years, but that service has become harder to get and is superficial at best. I'd like to have this eyesore regularly cleaned.

--William Helmich, North Patchogue

Within a week of our call, a town of Brookhaven crew went to spiff up the problem parcel.

Town spokesman Jack Krieger said the highway department generally schedules visits once a month for litter hot spots -- areas that generate a high volume of complaints from residents. "This location hasn't been receiving a lot of calls, so we visit it less frequently," he said.

Now, the town is considering installing a snow fence there to help prevent the litter problem, Krieger said. Workers will try to figure out where the debris is coming from as they continue to inspect the area in the coming months.

"Then a determination will be made as to the proper location for a snow fence, if it is deemed to be the solution," he said. Krieger encouraged Helmich or other nearby residents to call the town at 631-451-8696 when a cleanup is needed.

We're still getting complaints about illegal parking on Route 110 near the Melville 7-Eleven, but we're told police patrols will be stepped up once again to deter the problem.

Terry Paddack of Amity Harbor contacted us last year because of truck drivers parking illegally on the shoulder of Route 110, causing a blind spot for customers exiting from the store's parking lot.

Suffolk's Second Precinct Sgt. Steve DeSantis told us in July that police would start to patrol there on a more regular basis. He also suggested that truckers park in the Costco parking lot, across the street, just south of 7-Eleven. (We received several comments from truckers saying that suggestion was impractical because they'd have to cross four lanes of traffic on Ruland Road, and almost everyone knows Long Island isn't a pedestrian-friendly region.)

After hearing that the problem has resurfaced, we called DeSantis again, and he agreed to re-enter the location into the precinct's patrol-check system. Last year, the location also was entered after our call, but it was dropped after police conducted 16 patrol checks during the summer and officers were expected to visit the 7-Eleven as time allowed, he said. Only two summonses were issued there from July 2010 through last month.

"Unfortunately, it's one of those situations that's uncorrectable," DeSantis told us. "Without putting up a physical barrier, you won't fully stop it. But we hope to alleviate it by continuing to educate the public through the summonses."

Anyone with concerns about enforcement of traffic signs in the Second Precinct can call 631-854-8200.