Who ya gonna call? No one knows

It seems a simple enough question for Island Park residents: Who is responsible for notifying businesses on Austin Boulevard that they need to shovel the sidewalks outside their stores?

The majority of Austin Boulevard is outside the boundaries of the Village of Island Park, so snow-removal enforcement isn’t the village’s responsibility. That leaves either the Town of Hempstead or Nassau County.

But when asked, the Town of Hempstead said it’s the county’s responsibility. And Nassau County said it’s the town’s responsibility.

“My concern is that it’s a six-lane boulevard and we have children, elderly, lots of train people have to walk in the street,” said Patti Ambrosia, an Island Park resident who has spent three years trying to get someone to take responsibility for the snow on Austin Boulevard. “And when the snow happens and they’re out there at nighttime, you can’t see them.”

It’s against the law to leave your sidewalk unshoveled. It’s something that the village is cracking down on this season. “We’re going to have a code enforcer going around about two days after a storm, and if we see walks that aren’t shoveled, we’ll send out either summonses or notices, depending on the condition,” said Mayor Jim Ruzicka. “More than likely, it will be a notice at first that you’re in violation and you have a day or two to clean your sidewalks.”

But village code enforcers have no say on the parts of Austin Boulevard that are outside the village boundaries. It is a county road, and many people believe it should fall to the county to let businesses know when they are in violation of the law. It was a sentiment echoed by Susan Trenkle-Pokalsky, a Town of Hempstead spokeswoman. “Everything we have tells us it’s the county[‘s responsibility],” she said. “On county roads, they’re responsible for the adjacent sidewalks.”

Nassau County spokeswoman Kara Guy said, however, that the town is responsible for code enforcement. In fact, the county doesn’t even have code enforcers — just police officers, which it doesn’t assign the task of informing people or businesses that they need to shovel.

Section 12-4 of the county’s Highway Law states that the county has sole jurisdiction over county roads, with certain exceptions for villages and cities. Furthermore, the law says that the county is responsible for sending notification if sidewalks on county roads are damaged or covered by snow or ice.

But the county says this ordinance doesn’t apply to removing snow from sidewalks. “We have no ordinance for clearing of snow off sidewalks and no enforcement capabilities,” said Mike Martino, a spokesman for the county’s Department of Public Works. “… [T]o have one, the Legislature would have to pass both a law and an enforcement code.”

According to Richard Millet, deputy commissioner of public works, homes and businesses on county roads are responsible for shoveling their adjacent sidewalks. The county has no enforcement for this, however — people are just supposed to do it. “Everyone who’s adjacent to a county or state road is responsible for that sidewalk,” Millet said.

“I’m hoping everyone will be a good neighbor, the county will do its job and the business owners will do theirs,” Ambrosia said. “A lot of it is just a common-sense issue

for me.”