If village residents felt left out about the announcement of New Hyde Park Road reopening, they weren’t the only ones. At the Sept. 17 board of trustee meeting, board members mentioned their frustration about being given no notification until the very last minute.
“The project overall continues to move forward and everything is slightly ahead of schedule right now,” trustee Rainer Burger said. “New Hyde Park Road was opened as you all know on August 24. I do want to extend my apologies to our residents as well as the rest of the community for the lack of notification. Unfortunately for myself, the mayor and the board, as well as the rest of the village hall, we were not aware of the opening until a half hour prior to reopening. I was walking to my home from work and all of a sudden I got a frantic phone call from the mayor and I popped up to New Hyde Park Road in 20 minutes. The governor had already came and gone. It was all frustrating. We apologize to our residents because we would have given some notification, but we got virtually none.”
Burger also said the board is getting frustrated with 3TC and the MTA over some safety issues that have arisen from the reopening.
“On New Hyde Park Road itself, the village has noted and made aware to the MTA and 3TC a number of safety issues that we’re looking to address as soon as possible. We have gotten very frustrated because some of them we’re looking for some immediate action and it’s not moving along as quickly as we requested.”
Some of those issues include the misalignment of the northbound and southbound lane, a crosswalk and pedestrian visibility issue and a left turn lane into the commuter lot issue.
“Luckily that [commuter lot] is not being used right now, but we’re looking to correct it,” Burger explained. “Myself and trustee Pallisco found a safety issue with the future pedestrian bridge. All of those items are being addressed. We did get notice for the realignment of the road, which is in the county. As we know, New Hyde Park Road is a county road—they approve striping plans and so forth. The mayor has reached out to the county to expedite it.”
Trustee Richard Coppola also warned residents about leaving their car doors unlocked.
“Nassau County Police are still warning people about leaving their doors open and having people rifling through their cars and consoles,” he said. “Please keep your cars locked at night because people are still going around looking for change, computers and house keys. Please be aware of that. On North 12th Street in front of a house, someone came by and keyed a car. Just be vigilant of what people are doing. If you see something strange, don’t hesitate to call 911.”
The next village board meeting is Thursday, Oct. 1 at 8 p.m.
