By Jonann Brady
The county Department of Public Works currently sends a sweeper once a month down the length of Grand Avenue, from the Southern State Parkway to Atlantic Avenue.
Under the pilot program, alternate-side-of-the-street parking rules will be in effect from 4 a.m. to 7 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays so businesses will be minimally affected. The Town of Hempstead will be posting signs along Grand Avenue later this month, and police will ticket cars not obeying the rules.
"It's a historical project," said Legis. Joe Scannell, who made the announcement last Wednesday morning, along with Sanitary District No. 2 Commissioner Jerry Brown and Town of Hempstead Councilman Anthony Santino, at the Baldwin Shopping Center.
Santino hailed the project as a "great example of every level of government working together for the betterment of Baldwin."
The deteriorating state of Grand Avenue has been a sore point with Baldwin residents for years, and litter has become the locus of much vocal and bitter complaining. After meetings with Brown and other sanitation officials, Scannell said he approached the Department of Public Works about the initiative about six months ago. Though there are only two street sweepers for the entire county, the project will have a negligible fiscal impact on the county and no impact on taxpayers, he said.
David Chauvin, a spokesperson for County Executive Thomas Suozzi, said that the initiative was "important to Baldwin, and we had the time and service to provide [it]."
Most business owners said they supported the plan as long as the parking rules wouldn't overlap with business hours and the plan wouldn't incur any additional cost to taxpayers.
"[The times] wouldn't affect me," said Len Benjamin, owner of MinuteMan Press on Grand Avenue. "As long as it's not a major cost, it's a good thing. I notice stuff on the street. Sweeping twice a week, it doesn't get a chance to build up."
Israel Vasquez, co-owner of Create-A-Bagel, said that although his shop opens at 5 a.m., he believes the benefits outweigh any potential inconvenience. "It will benefit more than affect us," he said.
Residents also applauded the plan, though some said it was a long time coming. Kevin Kamen, who has long been a vocal advocate of alternate-side-of-the-street parking and more frequent sweeping, said, "Hallelujah! I'm just delighted to see the work of many come to fruition. Clearly this is something that needed to be done a long time ago."
Brown explained that such projects don't happen overnight, and that the street-sweeping plan is just one of several Sanitary No. 2 initiatives in the works, including putting more pressure on businesses to follow codes and getting schools and other groups involved in the Keep American Beautiful program.
