By:Laura Lane
County Legislator Norma Gonsalves, a Republican from East Meadow who represents North Merrick, said last week that the county has set aside $63,000 to $70,000 to draw up plans to revitalize parts of the Jerusalem Avenue business zone, beginning at Pat's Farms on Merrick Avenue and extending to a strip mall about a half-mile west.
Improvements are to include new lampposts, sidewalks, decorative brick work, benches and trash cans.
The Legislature also plans to spend $55,000 to carry out the revitalization project. And Gonsalves believes there's a good possibility that the county will provide additional funds for the project in its budget next year.
"There will be money down the road to do some of the actual revitalization," the legislator said. The whole idea is when we dress up an area, it will become attractive to those who want to rent and also will encourage patrons" to frequent the stores.
Design work for the project should take eight to 10 weeks. After that, the county will collect sealed bids for the construction work, which could begin this year. If it doesn't, Gonsalves is confident it will start by the spring of 2005.
Gonsalves planned to announce the project formally at an April 21 North Merrick Community Association meeting, after press time. As word about the planned revitalization got out last week, it was met with mixed reviews. Pat Tuosto, owner of Pat's Farms, said last Sunday that he hadn't heard about plans to improve the area around his market, but he welcomed the prospect of any revitalization. I-m happy they are going to make things look nicer, Tuosto said. If I had a wish list, it would include benches and lighting." He added, "If they put the big planters in, I-ll put flowers in them in front of my store and across the street.
But not everyone embraced the revitalization project. Mary Ramo, president of the North Merrick Community Association, said Gonsalves should have included a small business zone on Meadowbrook Road, just east of the Southern State Parkway, as part of the project.
The district comprises a strip of stores and Grandpa's Auto, an apparently abandoned gas station that's partially boarded up. Many in North Merrick consider the gas station to be a blight on the community and would like to see something done to give it a facelift.
The association had previously approached Gonsalves, requesting that county money be set aside to redo the Meadowbrook Road business zone, but according to Ramo, the legislator didn't respond to the request. So Ramo approached New York state Sen. Charles Fuschillo Jr., a Republican from Merrick. Fuschillo made sure that $66,000 in unused state money, which was to be directed to another town project, was earmarked for the Meadowbrook Road revitalization.
Susie Trenkle, a Town of Hempstead spokeswoman, said the town will do the design work for a revamp project at Grandpa's Auto, but the construction work will be the county's responsibility. Gonsalves said that because the town will design the project, the $66,000 from the state will go toward construction.
The project is at its beginning design stage. At this point, the county has not told the town what it would like to see done in the Meadowbrook Road business district, said Trenkle. Last Monday she said, We were only just contacted to do the in-house design. We need the project specifications from the county. This is in the very early stages for the town.
Trenkle added, Although the town hasn-t received the paperwork [for this project], we are willing to work with [Senator Fuschillo] and all the public officials to help the community improve this area."
Ramo also wonders about $10,000 worth of benches, planters and trash cans that the North Merrick Community Association bought with grant money in 2000. These amenities were supposed to help revitalize sections of North Merrick's business district. Instead, they're now sitting in storage at the Town of Hempstead, Trenkle said.
A contractor was supposed to have installed them around North Merrick, but never did. The contractor also took all of the hardware needed to install them, Trenkle said. She didn't know the name of the contractor, but said the Merrick Chamber of Commerce, which was involved with the project, probably would. At press time, it was unclear who might have hired the contractor.
Ramo said she's happy to see revamp projects in the works for North Merrick, but she noted that the community has not traditionally received its fair share of government revitalization money. The community, she said, has been put "on the back burner."
