The Town of Hempstead repair crews marked their 50,000th pothole repair of 2018 last week. A number of Merrick and Bellmore civic association members said they were satisfied with the town’s progress against the pothole plague, but also indicated there was still work to be done.
Since Jan. 1, the town has received over 3,300 complaints of potholes, according to Mike Fricchione, spokesman for Town Supervisor Laura Gillen. The highway department generates a ranked list of the pothole complaints, and then patches them, prioritizing the worst cases.
“They’re very responsive with filling the potholes,” said Joe Baker, president of the South Merrick Community Civic Association. “There’s good communication with the town.”
Alan Jasper, the association’s community improvement chairman, patrols the Merrick area and looks for potholes, both big and small, and sends a list of his findings to Hempstead Councilwoman Erin King Sweeney’s office.
“In the past, it was difficult to get anything done,” Jasper said. “But it has improved. The worst spots and the worst sections are done.”
Jasper described the town’s current method as “cut and paste,” with a small, square segment of the street being cut out and filled in with new pavement. He said this is a more efficient method than the former repair process, which often resulted in potholes reforming. With the cut and paste method, the problems stay fixed longer, Jasper said.
Now, according to Jasper, most of what remain are “minor annoyances.” Bigger potholes, such as ones on Merrick Avenue between Merrick Road and Sunrise Highway, for example, have been fixed.
Still, potholes reform often, and Jasper keeps an updated list of work that needs to be done that he consistently forwards to King Sweeney’s office.
Not all Merrick and Bellmore residents are satisfied, however.
On the South Bellmore Civic Association Facebook page, a post about Bellmore’s road conditions led to a number of residents voicing their concerns.
One resident, Ken Thalheimer, wrote, “While there seems to be a great deal of attention to Merrick Road, there are some in far, far worse conditions. I invite you to take a slow spin down Lakeview Road … the road is atrocious, yet no one speaks of it.”
Alison Frankel, the civic association’s president, said that she is in constant communication with town officials, but that getting the roads fixed can be a “long, drawn-out” process.
“They’re not quick fixes,” Frankel said. “They can take up to a year. And a lot of the time, the issues in Bellmore and Merrick are only handled because of the complaints sent in.”
Frankel pointed to the Jericho Turnpike in Syosset, which she said has neatly paved, “beautiful black top,” and is restored every few years. Meanwhile, however, Merrick Road in Bellmore still suffers from “horrible” pothole conditions, she said. Frankel did note that road repair crews work on an almost daily basis.
Frankel and other civic association members plan on meeting with King Sweeney and County Legislator Steve Rhoads in the coming weeks to discuss the potholes. Working with Rhoads and the county Department of Public Works, the association was able to secure a capital plan to establish paved sidewalks on Bellmore Avenue, which currently only has dirt or grass sidewalks in some areas. The department is currently drawing up the plans, according to Frankel, but she is hopeful construction will begin by fall.
Gillen’s office notes that the best ways to report potholes are to visit www.toh.li/helpline, call the helpline directly at 489-6000, or download the “Hempstead-on-the-Go” application.
