Nassau County closes DPW garage in Inwood

Nassau County officially closed the Department of Public Works garage on Alemeda Street in Inwood on July 28, upsetting residents and firefighters as they are left waiting for trucks and equipment to come from the Bay Park facility in East Rockaway during snow- storms and emergencies.

In March, Nassau County first announced that, in an effort to save money, it was considering closing the garage and relocating its 14 trucks and 15 employees to the department’s facility in Bay Park in East Rockaway. It costs between $45,000 to $50,000 annually to operate the Inwood yard, county officials said.

The move, according to, Michael Martino, a spokesman for the Nassau County Department of Public Works, eliminated the need to spend as much as $4 million to renovate the Inwood facility. “The resources were allocated to the Bay Park facility as it has a new building which can better protect the equipment, which include heavy machinery, dump trucks, pay loaders and other essential vehicles,” Martino said. “Some equipment will remain at Inwood, as the salt dome will continue to be operational.”

Rich Magliaro, chief of the Inwood Fire Department, said that it would have to deal with less manpower during emergencies and snowstorms as a result of Nassau County closing the Department of Public Works garage on Alameda

Avenue.

“We are definitely upset over the closing,” he said. “During snowstorms and any storm, for that matter, it’s going to be a mess (in Inwood.)”

Inwood Fire Department may waste precious time in emergencies waiting for plow and sand trucks, which aid in spills, to arrive on the scene from East Rockaway, according to Magliaro. “County police and my trucks will be tied up waiting for them,” he said.

An Inwood resident on Bayview Avenue, who declined to be identified, said she is happy the county closed the garage. “I think it’s wonderful,” she said. “Now we’ll save money on taxes and East Rockaway is not that far away.”

Tom Caracciolo of Waterfront Boulevard in Inwood said he attended a Jan. 25 meeting about the Department of Public Works garage, organized by Nassau County Legislator Howard Kopel (R-Lawrence), at the Inwood Buccaneers Clubhouse. “A lot of people aren’t too happy about it,” he said. “During a snowstorm the county was right there to clear snow and now they will have to come from East Rockaway which will bring more traffic through the Five Towns.”