'Two' many utility poles in Valley Stream?

Members of Envision Valley Stream discussed cleaning up streets, parks and waterways, creating a teen center and ways to cut down on excess telephone poles at their meeting on May 31 at Sip This on Rockaway Avenue.

President David Sabatino brought up the issue of “double poles” in Valley Stream and said it is something he would like to see changed. “LIPA comes in and puts up a new pole,” he said referring to the Long Island Power Authority. “They take the old pole and cut it in half because they move their infrastructure to the new pole and then leave Verizon, Cablevision and everybody else’s on the old pole.”

Sabatino wrote a letter to village officials on the issue and is now going around Valley Stream finding instances of double poles. He said he has found 70 cases so far and is going to start looking in the west end in the coming weeks.

“I think it’s completely unacceptable,” he said. “We pay a boatload of fees to these utilities, the least they can do is keep their infrastructure attractive and safe. There are some instances where these double poles are actually tied to the new pole.”

Sabatino said double poles make it difficult for handicapped people to get around and force them to go into the street or onto someone’s lawn. He also urged the people in attendance to let him know if they spot any double poles in their neighborhood.

In addition to cleaning up excess poles, members of Envision also seek to clean up litter. After walking by Hendrickson Park, Gena Rositano, a PTA member at Shaw Avenue School, said she noticed a lot of garbage. She then brought up the idea of organizing a cleanup at the park.

Sabatino touched on the idea of creating green streets in Valley Stream, which he said would manage storm water runoff more effectively, absorb water and heat and cut down on excess pavement by turning it into planted areas. He added the street would be more aesthetically pleasing and provide a great service.

With the village’s courtroom moving to its new location on Rockaway Avenue in the future, residents asked what would happen to the current courtroom in Village Hall.

“It’s going to be repurposed for other uses,” Sabatino said. “There’s been talk for using it as a possible venue for community events. They already hold village board meetings and things like that, so it opens up a lot of time in the schedule.”

Sandy Seyfried brought up the idea of having the Henry Waldinger Memorial Library take over a portion of the current courtroom to hold meetings and to accommodate other needs of the library.

The idea of a teen center in Valley Stream has also been floating around, according to Sabatino, but there is still a lot of work to be done on that front, including finding a location, finding an estimated cost and ways to come with sources of funding.

Envision will hold its next meeting in September.