Santino holds meeting

Dog parks, emergency calls and parking tickets were among the many issues and concerns residents brought up at the town hall meeting hosted by Councilman Anthony Santino at Oceanside Middle School on May 21. About 40 people, mostly Oceanside and Island Park residents, attended the meeting at Oceanside Middle School.

Oceanside resident Marie Amsterdam was the first to speak, and asked about lifting the ban on dogs in town parks. Amsterdam founded a Facebook group last September asking for a dog park in Oceanside. Santino said that if he became Town Supervisor in the upcoming election, he would prioritize establishing a dog run in the Town of Hempstead. “If I get into the position in January where I’m able to do it, you can know that your request would fall on very friendly ears,” he said.

Two officers from the Nassau County Police Department’s fourth precinct, Sgt. Leslie Moulds and Sgt. Nicholas Stillman, spoke about recent crime trends and how residents could keep themselves safe. Moulds said that now that the fourth and fifth precincts were no longer merged, the plainclothes unit was reinstated. “Which is really fortunate to have,” she said, “because they’re very effective.”

The police officers repeatedly said that if people see a suspicious situation, they should call 911 instead of the precinct. “We don’t have a 311 system in the county right now, so everything goes through 911, and they will prioritize,” said Moulds. “Don’t feel guilty about taking time up from 911 operators because your situation is not [an emergency].”

Residents also asked about the planned development of Costco in Oil City. Santino said that Costco’s permits were all in place. As for criticism that the area cannot handle an increase in traffic, he said that Costco’s plans were not as bad as what could legally be in that area.

One resident questioned traffic enforcement at the intersection of Kingston Boulevard and Austin Boulevard. William Charpentier said that customers who parked in front of the Dunkin Donuts and the laundromat at that corner were receiving tickets, which was hurting business. His wife works at the laundromat.

“I’m sure there’s a lot of money coming from that,” he said. “Now the problem is that it’s hurting the businesses, okay… People that are handicapped, people that cannot put a big bag over their back, I’m speaking on their behalf.”

Santino said that ticketing cars parked in that spot was necessary to prevent accidents. “If we took the restrictions down and somebody coming out of the parking lot gets slammed by a car that’s not paying attention on Austin Boulevard because the person couldn’t see around the parked cars, that would be a tragedy, wouldn’t it?” he said. “That would be a terrible thing.”