By JOSEPH KELLARD
The Triangle will take on a nautical motif, complete with a lighthouse, fishing boat, pilings and fish netting, and a police booth will be constructed in the parking lot across from the Oceanside Library on Davison Avenue, Nassau County Legislator Jeff Toback (D-Oceanside) announced at a chamber meeting last Thursday.
"[Nassau County Legislators] Joe Scannell, Michael Zapson and myself have been able to persuade the county executive to allow us to bring some of our tax dollars back into the community," Toback said.
The legislators secured a total of $100,000 for both the triangle and police booth projects, and they secured a sum somewhere between $100,00 to $200,000 for an as yet unspecified undertaking that will likely be a streetscape project, he said.
"I believe that the money for [the Triangle and police booth] is technically in the 2003 budget, but I'm hopeful that by the end of the year the projects will be completed," Toback explained.
The plan for the Triangle was designed by Kathy Towers, a member of the Chamber of Commerce, the organization that maintains the Nassau County-owned property in exchange for its use. Each of the Triangle's ornaments will serve a secondary purpose, she said.
The lighthouse, a 20-foot tower on a 4-foot concrete and stone base, will be adorned with bronze plaques dedicated to certain organizations and individuals. The fishing boat will be a planter for flowers. The fish netting that will stretch between the pilings surrounding the area will be made of reinforced steel cable, to serve as guardrails to protect the property from erratic drivers.
"We needed to do something with the Triangle, since it's an historical site, and I think the design represents Oceanside," Towers said. "We had been talking about this design for about six years at the Chamber. Originally, I started with a sketch of the lighthouse, and after discussing it we came up with other ideas."
The features and design for the proposed police booth are being worked out by Nassau County's Department of Public Works and the Fourth Precinct. The booth will be stationed as near to Davison Avenue as possible, Toback said, in the parking lot that is owned by the Town of Hempstead and used primarily by library and Walgreen patrons.
In May 2001, a car heading southbound on Long Beach Road drove into to the former police booth at the Triangle. The damage was so extensive it had to be taken down.
"I had been talking for years about the need for a police presence in front of the library where people speed up and down that street where children are crossing. The day the police booth was knocked down, Bob Towers said, 'Jeff, let's orchestra this. We've talked about this for years.'"
The unspecified project that Toback announced will be similar to the sidewalk beautification project that the Town of Hempstead is currently completing on Long Beach Road between Davison and Atlantic Avenues, Toback said. He and the Chamber are thinking about renovating the area in front of Levin's Pharmacy, between Davison Avenue and Poole Street.
"The money is there, but we just want to figure out the best way to spend it, whether to do a lot of work in a small area or a little work over a bigger area," he said. "What we're going to do is propose a couple of things, get some estimates, and then sit down with the Chamber and get some input on what they want to do."
