By JOSEPH KELLARD
Since 1998, when Bob was president of the Oceanside Chamber of Commerce - which uses and maintains the Nassau County-owned property - he and his wife envisioned a new look for the triangle, the town's historic landmark that was the site of Trolley Stop 102 in centuries past. Kathy and her friend, Ceil Rockefeller, contemplated putting a trolley car, clock or watchtower there, yet none of these seemed quite right.
"We wanted something that would say 'Oceanside,'" Kathy explained, "something nautical and with a home-town feel."
So with the input of several Oceansiders over the years, Kathy drew up a rendition that will include a 25-foot lighthouse on a four-foot concrete-and-stone base, pilings with fishnetting around the perimeter of the property, and possibly a fishing boat doubling as a planter for flowers. Individual plaques will be mounted around the lighthouse that honor victims of the September 11 terrorists attacks, war veterans, firefighters and police, and local service organizations and houses of worship.
Further, the lighthouse will be installed where an existing evergreen stands, at the front and center of the triangle (a new tree will be planted at the rear of the site). With the lighthouse placed strategically in this position, motorists heading southbound on Long Beach Road are more likely to notice that the road forks and thus less likely to drive into the triangle area, Kathy said.
Architect Dove Hadas noted that the pilings will be made of bollards and the fishnetting of reinforced steel cable to act as guard rails to at least slow down errant drivers, several of whom have barreled through the unprotected site in recent years.
The groundbreaking is expected this week, said project manager Dennis Rockefeller, who estimates the renovations will be completed in three to five weeks.
Still the site of a Nassau County bus stop, the triangle was once home to a county police booth before one errant driver destroyed the structure in May 2001. After that and subsequent accidents there, Nassau County Legislators Jeff Toback, Joe Scannell and Michael Zapson secured a total of $100,000 to renovate the triangle and for a new police booth, which has since been constructed in a Town of Hempstead parking lot across from the Oceanside Library on Davison.
At first, the triangle renovations were expected to begin at the end of 2002. But in addition to delays with the engineering designs to ensure the guardrails could withstand unwelcome motorists, the project was more complicated than originally imagined, claimed Toback, who said there are various electrical conduits underneath the property that had to be dealt with.
"It's made its way through all the red tape," Toback said. "Now that it's finally going to come about, it's certainly exciting to me and to the people in the community and to the chamber."
"I was president of the Chamber when we started this venture back in 1998," Bob said, "and with the help of many people, we're finally seeing it pass. I've always considered the triangle the center of Oceanside, and I'm so happy that it will be cleaned up and made a safer place to be."
