By JOSEPH KELLARD
The Greenbergs found debris strewn throughout the green, including syringes and beer bottles, unusual objects dumped in the creek such as a shopping cart and oxygen tank, and graffiti-covered signs and benches.
„Instead of taking photos of my daughter and wife, I took photos of what was wrong with the park,¾ Greenberg said of the narrow park on Terrell Avenue, between Atlantic Avenue and Silver Lane along a creek with crumbling retaining walls.
A board member of the Oceanside Civic Association, Greenberg posted the photos on the OCA¼s Web site later that day, April 9. „I just put the photos up on the Web site Sunday night and told people the appropriate people to call about this area,¾ he said. „Call the county executive and have him take a walk in the park with the parks commissioner.¾
Greenberg heeded his own advice, calling the offices of County Executive Tom Suozzi, U.S. Rep. Peter King and the county parks department the next day. He returned to the park on Tuesday evening and found that it had been cleaned up. „All the debris was gone, all the garbage,¾ he noted. „They took the graffiti off the signs. They raked everything. They trimmed hedges. They made it look really nice.¾
However, Dave Ring, assistant to the county parks commissioner, denied any cause-and-effect between Greenberg¼s and other residents¼ calls and the cleanup. Rather, Ring said, the department performed its annual spring spruce-up of Terrell Avenue Park, the smallest of the county¼s 83 parks, in which trees and bushes were pruned, sink holes were filled with topsoil, the soil was seeded, dead leaves and branches were raked up, and debris was pulled from the creek.
„That cleanup had been planned before we had any idea that these photos were up on that site,¾ Ring said.
Greenberg was skeptical. „They might have had a plan, but nothing had been done for many years,¾ he said. „The age of the debris and garbage was obvious, with several sun-faded bottles ... And Ring told me they were responding quickly because of the number of phone calls they received.¾
A regional director of 22 county parks monitors Terrell Avenue Park, and the department conducts a weekly cleanup at the small Oceanside green, Ring said. „Obviously, Terrell Park won¼t get as much attention as some of our biggest parks, like Bay Park in East Rockaway or North Woodmere Park,¾ he said. „But it is visited each week, at minimum just to pick up the garbage.¾
Dan Segarra, whose home abuts the park, said the county does clean the park regularly, perhaps not every week but at least every other. But he said the park is often difficult to maintain because of the young adults who frequent it, usually after dark. „Having the park next door was one of the reasons my wife and I moved here,¾ said Segarra, who bought his home over three years ago. „Unfortunately, we didn¼t know about the teenagers here.¾
Segarra claimed that sometimes when teens drink in the park, they kill some of the many ducks there, either by hitting them with their cars or by targeting them with beer bottles and rocks. „That¼s the biggest concern here: the cars coming up and down and blowing the stop sign in front of my house,¾ he said.
Ring said these are police matters that are out of the parks department¼s control, but Segarra would like to see no-visiting-after-dark signs posted in the park.
Amy Rosenkranz, who lived three doors down from the park for two years, said that residents once started a petition to try to get lamp posts installed in the park in the hope of deterring the nocturnal teenagers, but nothing ever came of it. „If they get some kind of light at the back of the park, the kids aren¼t going to hang out there,¾ Rosenkranz said.
Greenberg said he wants to look into getting two existing flood lights repowered.
Last Thursday afternoon, the first day of spring break for Oceanside schools, some boys ã Tyler, Peter, Phil and John ã all students at nearby School 2, were in the park riding their bikes and, they said, „looking for fish¾ in the creek. They said that at different times they have seen bikes, scooters, shopping carts and many beer bottles in the creek. „They flow over from Bay Park,¾ Peter said.
Tony Sandodal, an employee of neighboring Grossman¼s Nursery, who occasionally lunches at the park, said, „I see a lot of lunch bags around, but today it¼s much cleaner.¾
Helene Gourlain, a nanny who strolls with her charges through the park a few times a week, said, „I like coming here to have a moment of silence.¾
To keep smaller, „passive¾ parks like Terrell Avenue clean and to further enhance and make the green an enjoyable place for all, the parks department sets up partnerships with local organizations, like a chamber of commerce or civic association, to assist in the effort. „We have a lot of properties, and obviously our resources are finite, and this makes it difficult to get around to every park, although we try our best,¾ Ring said. „By adopting these organizations, we¼re better able to maintain the passive parks.¾
Greenberg said that the OCA plans to meet with the parks department to see whether the association can adopt Terrell Avenue Park. „One thing we would do is beautify and maintain the area by planting flowers and doing litter patrol,¾ Greenberg said. „And we would like a complete cleanup of the old construction debris, and possibly get the county to fix the crumbling retaining wall.¾
Comments about this story? JKellard@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 287.
