By JOSEPH KELLARD
"There's a reason a gang member wrote that," said Steve, an 11-year Arrow Street resident who gave only his first name. "It wasn't that he wants to go to math class. There's a drug business that they're operating here."
Steve is among several residents of his block who want the footbridge demolished ‹ a step being considered by the Town of Hempstead, which maintains the span that runs across Neptune Creek, connecting Arrow Street to Arch Lane a block from the back of Oceanside High School. The bridge is the cause of heightened criminal activity there, Steve believes, attracting a constant stream of teenagers going to and from the high school and the nearby TJ Maxx shopping center at all hours of the night, many of them drunk or under the influence of drugs, he said.
Kids have long vandalized property on Arrow street, from dumping garbage on cars to breaking side-view mirrors and windows, Steve said. But now they are using drugs in broad daylight, cursing at neighbors who speak to them, getting into fistfights and burglarizing cars, he added.
"I've looked outside my living room at 4 p.m. and seen a group of kids passing a joint to each other in the middle of the street," Steve said, claiming that dismantling the bridge would improve neighbors' quality of life immensely.
The problem for him and fellow Arrow Street residents is that others want the bridge to stay, particularly some who live on the other side of the bridge and rely on it as a shortcut to the busier side of town from Oceanside Road and beyond. "It's a great access for people on this side of the bridge to go to other neighborhoods of Oceanside without having to get on the busy streets like Waukena," said Bob Kratsky, who lives next to the bridge on Neptune Avenue.
Kratsky pointed out that many students at OHS and School 4 on Oceanside Road use the bridge, as well as people who do everything from attending Temple Avodah to shopping at the TJ Maxx center, to a wheelchair-bound woman who visits a friend on Arrow Street.
"The bridge has been there for decades and serves a vital function for families whose children attend School 4," said Steve Uslaner, an Arch Street resident whose child uses the bridge. "If they close the footbridge, the kids would have to walk up to Waukena and then down Oceanside Road."
The first-name-only Steve wishes the bridge could stay up, and sympathizes with those who would be inconvenienced if it were torn down. But he believes their situations don¹t compare to what Arrow Street residents are going through. "It's at the point now that the problems we're experiencing on this side of the canal far outweigh someone having to drive their child to school," said Steve, noting that he will have to do the same when his kids start attending OHS.
Another Arrow Street resident with a son in high school who uses the bridge knows that other students wouldn't want it taken down. But she believes it should be demolished just the same, rather than remaining in its present state of disrepair. "It's a disaster right now," she said of the bridge, which has rusted fencing that is partially torn up. "They come, put in a new piece here and there, but it's a botched job. Š If that's the way it's going to be, then I'd want it down, too. Š And we've had a lot of aggravation with the kids who hang out around here."
Because of the kids who regularly congregate on both sides of the bridge, drinking beer and smoking pot, residents approached the town about installing gates on each side of the span and locking them with chains at night. About two years ago, the town obliged, and since then officials have made about six attempts to repair the bridge, including raising the fencing and gates higher to deter kids from jumping over them.
However, miscreants cut the locks and chains with bolt cutters and tore down the fencing. In the town's latest attempt to refurbish the bridge in May, workers began installing high poles to frame higher fencing, but vandals destroyed them the same night. Since then, the town has kept the gates locked.
"It's not for a lack of trying on the town's part," said town spokeswoman Susan Trenkle. "We've tried, but it's a matter of every time we try to fix it, it gets torn down again."
Still, people like Kratsky believe the town should invest the money not just to repair the bridge, but to totally rebuild it. "I'd like to see some money thrown at the bridge to make it look much nicer," Kratsky said. "... It's distressing to see money thrown into a useless parking lot on Long Beach Road," he added, referring to the lot the town was required to install after condemning and demolishing the former Oceanside Motel on Long Beach Road.
Asked how a new, beautified bridge would stop the vandals, Kratsky replied, "How are you going to develop your town if you live with the fear that some bad people might destroy your work? Š It's not the bridge's fault that property gets damaged. Are you going to close every alley and parking lot where there's public access?"
"I don't see why citizens who pay taxes should be deprived of this bridge," said Irene Hizme, a wheelchair-bound Neptune Avenue resident who said she has used the bridge to visit a friend on Arrow Street. "Why should we give in to a few bad kids?"
"Why should we as taxpayers be exposed to this ongoing, escalating problem?" Steve replies.
But Kratsky, whose wife grew up in their Neptune Avenue home, believes the vandalism is isolated and has cycled up and down for many years. In the early 1980s, neighbors took axes to the wooden steps to stop unruly kids from using the bridge, including to drive cars over it. If vandalism is a problem, Kratsky said, then that calls for better security and policing.
While the town considers the pros and cons of taking down the bridge, Trenkle said that before officials make their decision, they will investigate the situation further, and take other measures to try to contain the vandalism and other criminal activity that occurs there. More lights will be installed at the end of both streets that abut the bridge, and the town will work with the 4th Precinct's Problem Oriented Police unit to do extra patrols of the area. "From there we'll see what the next step is," Trenkle said.
"Anything that works, we're in favor of," said Steve. "But if they break the lights, then what's our next recourse?"
Comments about this story? JKellard@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 287.
