By Mike Russo
Months have passed since the LIRR began cutting down trees along the tracks near the Baldwin train station, but residents are still angry about the results. Many who live in the area have expressed their frustration with the LIRR, complaining that its vegetation management program has turned the tracks into an eyesore, leaving areas along the tracks looking lifeless and barren, and that residents should have been told about what the clearing would involve.
We weren-t even notified, said Denise Cassese, who lives between Pine and Grove streets, across from the tracks. I haven-t spoken to anyone who received a notice before the work began. Cassese said that residents weren-t notified by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority until last Oct. 1, two days after work had already begun.
According to LIRR representatives, cutting down trees was necessary to ensure a clear path for trains and to prevent branches from becoming entangled in signal and communication lines. In addition, a train-s ability to brake may be impaired by leaves on the tracks, which leave behind a slippery substance known as pectin.
Railroad President Helena Williams described the slip-slide danger last fall, and said that her No. 1 priority was to prevent it and to ensure the safety of LIRR passengers.
Many residents have said they understand the need to trim along the tracks to keep trains- paths free of debris, but they feel the railroad went too far. The people who work for the Long Island Rail Road are pigs! said Mike Petrizzo, 56, who works at Pathmark in Baldwin and commutes to work by train. Obviously, certain trimming is necessary, but I-m more concerned with the cans and bottles that litter the tracks. Petrizzo added that he feels the railroad should replant smaller trees.
John Doherty, a resident of Baldwin since 1967, said the trees had lined the tracks for as long as he could remember, and then one morning he woke up and they were gone. How dare they chop down trees that have been there for years? Doherty said. He added that railroad workers did a sloppy job, leaving large stumps behind. The trees, he said, buffered the noise of passing trains, but now the trains are loud. Doherty said he can hear them from his home on Harvard Avenue, three blocks away.
Not everyone thinks the foliage clearing was a bad idea, however. Marie McDavis, whose home on Brooklyn Avenue overlooks the tracks, said that it was nice that some of the trees were cut down because the area now looks cleaner. Indeed, more trees were left on the Brooklyn Avenue side of the tracks than on the Sunrise Highway side. McDavis said she believes the remaining trees will provide sufficient shade for her home, and that she now feels safer when she walks along the tracks, because there are no bushes where people can hide.
Town Councilman Anthony Santino, who plans to host next week-s meeting at the South Hempstead Fire House, at 555 May St., agreed that LIRR destroyed the green buffer zone along the tracks without properly notifying the Baldwin community. It left a bare, barren and desolate area, Santino said.
He added that the railroad had done the same thing along the tracks in Rockville Centre and Lynbrook, although green fences have since been installed for security purposes as well as to improve the appearance of cleared areas. Baldwin, however, remains unchanged. It left the tracks as an eyesore running through the heart of those communities, Santino said.
Anthony Rifilato and Anthony Bottan contributed to this story. Comments about it? MRusso@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 207.
