Underground fix needed for Oyster Bay streetlight to work

The streetlight across from my house has been out since superstorm Sandy, even though it was "fixed" a few weeks later and worked on and off for awhile. My neighbors and I have called the Town of Oyster Bay a few times and have been told the light was either fixed or there was no record of our complaint. In September the town replaced the lantern; still, the new light has never shone.

-- Barry Wiederman, Plainview

The Town of Oyster Bay repaired the light on Manor Street within a few days of our call. The repair required pinpointing an "issue with the underground line," town spokeswoman Marta Kane said, adding that the work had been planned before our inquiry.

Why did it take so long? Kane said the crew's initial visit occurred on one of the days the light was working.

"Sometimes . . . the light works temporarily even if there is an underlying issue," Kane said. "In many instances, the homeowner may not even be aware the town responded, as the light eventually goes out again. When that happens it's often due to a break underground."

When a crew visits and finds the light working, it is removed from the town's to-do list, Kane said. It goes back on the list -- which may contain up to 100 lights -- when a new complaint is received, she said. When workers return, they will be aware of previous repair attempts and know to look for another cause.

Kane said the town aims to prevent outages by using road improvement projects as an opportunity to replace underground wiring laid decades ago when homes were built.

To report a streetlight problem in Oyster Bay Town, call 516-677-5915. Be sure to know the nearest house number or cross street and indicate the number on the light's pole.

-- MICHAEL R. EBERT

In Dix Hills, it's almost impossible to make a left turn from Sandra Drive onto Vanderbilt Parkway. Vanderbilt is curved there, so drivers can't see if cars are coming. We'd like a mirror installed that could show if the road is clear of traffic before we pull out to make a left turn.

-- Lois Landsberg, Melville

Don't count on a traffic mirror showing up -- Suffolk County does not endorse them.

We found that out when we asked the county's Public Works Department about the possibility of installing such a mirror on the double-yellow line county road.

With mirrors, "it's difficult to gauge the speed of an approaching vehicle and determine if there's an acceptable gap to turn," county spokeswoman Vanessa Baird-Streeter said. "We would never install or endorse an installation of one."

The county will continue to remove foliage along the roadway to maximize sight distances for drivers, she said.

A county database doesn't have a record of any accidents at that location in the past three years, she said, and until this complaint hadn't received one since 2001. The county, in response to that one, installed a yellow sign to caution eastbound drivers on Vanderbilt that a side road is ahead.

Suffolk residents with safety concerns involving county roads can call the Public Works Department at 631-852-4010.

-- MICHAEL R. EBERT

Here's a right-turn-only sign that's hiding in plain sight.

The sign is attached to a utility pole at one exit of the Morton Village shopping center on Old Country Road in Plainview. But as neighbor Liz Fox pointed out: It's not exactly user friendly.

The sign, which aims to prevent drivers from making a left turn onto heavily traveled Old Country Road, is positioned to the left of the parking lot entrance lane instead of to the right of the exit lane -- far from the drivers who need to see it.

To the parking lot's credit, the exit lane has a right-turn arrow on the pavement. But, as Fox pointed out, it's typically covered by cars waiting to exit.

The county Department of Public Works told us the sign is the responsibility of the shopping center manager. We've been calling the property management company, Philips International, since October but have gotten no response.

"We're constantly going out to crashes," Fox told us.

She's not exaggerating: For the stretch of Old Country Road from one end of the shopping center to the other, Nassau County police report 260 accidents from Jan. 1, 2011, through Nov. 1, 2013, the most recent date available. Admittedly, some were parking lot fender benders.Twenty-eight of the total occurred on Old Country Road near the parking lot exit; accident data specify that half of those were at the exit, identified in police reports as Old Country Road and Carol Street (the road directly across from the exit). Three appear to involve vehicles making a left turn from the exit, according to accident report data.

Three crashes are a small piece of the accident total. And it's impossible to say if a sign positioned where exiting drivers could see it would have prevented them.

Clearly, it wouldn't hurt.

-- JUDY CARTWRIGHT