By Scott Brinton
The incident, in which no one was hurt, frightened nearby residents. It was, they said, the most egregious offense in a long string of crimes that they've witnessed over the years at the pier. In the Herald's story, residents complained about loud drinking parties, drug dealing, drag racing and people having sex in their cars at the Town of Hempstead pier.
The burning car, which residents said could have set surrounding homes on fire, scared them, but they remain determined to clean up their neighborhood.
This past Wednesday, a group of concerned residents met with town officials at the home of Tricia Casey and John Odenwald, an engaged couple who moved to south Merrick from Manhasset a year and a half ago. Among the officials were Councilwoman Angelina Cullin (R-Freeport) and deputy town attorney Thomas McKevitt.
Residents said the problems at the Merrick Avenue pier, which they simply call a bulkhead, are particularly troubling during the summer months, when teenagers tend to gather there after dark. Donna Migdol, whose backyard faces the pier, said, "We've called the police so many times."
Migdol said her youngest child's bedroom looks out on the pier. "She asks me what's going on," Migdol said.
Residents also said that fishermen often relieve themselves in the bushes by their homes, because the pier has no restrooms. During the summer, fishermen crowd the bulkhead, remaining for hours at a time. The fishing, one man wrote to the Herald recently, is good in the canal, which leads to Merrick Bay.
Last Wednesday, McKevitt said the town is considering installing a "breakaway barricade," which is essentially a gate that can be locked, at the pier's northern end. The gate, he said, would be locked at night to prevent people from parking at the pier after 8 p.m. (The town doesn't permit people to park there at night now, but they often do anyway.)
In the morning, McKevitt said, the gate would be unlocked to allow access to the pier during the day. There's only one question: Who would lock and unlock the gate?
Before the town can install the barricade, it must conduct a traffic study at the pier, McKevitt said. Some residents, like Rob Lombardi, whose home also faces the pier, wondered why the study was needed.
Such a probe, residents said, would only show low traffic volume, particularly in the winter, when the town proposes to carry out its investigation. A traffic study won't speak to the issue of teenagers hanging out at the pier. McKevitt, however, insisted that the study was needed.
Some residents had offered to buy part or all of the pier and a spit of grass just to the south, extend their properties to the canal and close the pier to the public. McKevitt, however, said that wasn't possible. In 1982, the New York State Comptroller's Office offered an opinion that public roads leading to water should not be sold.
The deputy town attorney said there are myriad reasons why roads with water access are needed. If, for example, a blaze breaks out and there isn't a street hydrant nearby, a fire engine could siphon water from the canal. Residents said, however, that if the town sold the bulkhead to them, authorities could still get to the waterway during an emergency.
Nassau County Legislator David Denenberg (D-Merrick), who has followed the case closely, said he would look into the comptroller's opinion to see if it rings true.
Casey said she is frustrated because residents proposed installing a gate at the bulkhead more than eight months ago, but town officials were slow to react to the suggestion, until the media intervened and the car was set ablaze on Merrick Avenue. Speaking of the gate, she told McKevitt at the meeting, "You're still looking into it? No offense, but that answer isn't good enough." Casey would like to see the barricade erected as soon as possible.
McKevitt said, "Government doesn't always work as quickly as people would like it to." Before the town acts, it must be sure of what it's doing, he said. McKevitt recently spent days reviewing 150 years of documents in the town archives to see how the bulkhead came to be.
Cullin said the problems at the bulkhead owe, in part, to the police department's diminishing ranks. "It's a police problem. We don't have enough police," she said.
A short history of
the Merrick Ave. pier
¥1870 -- William Hewlett deeds the land that becomes the Merrick Avenue pier to the Town of Hempstead.
¥1924 -- The town gives the bulkhead to Nassau County.
¥1944 -- The south end of Merrick Avenue is returned to the town.
¥1951 -- The town renovates the pier and adds a median to better control traffic flow at the dead end.
¥1951 -- One week after the revamp project is complete, Thomas Quinn drives off the pier and is killed. Police determine that Quinn was driving drunk. His estate blames the accident on the median.
¥1957 -- Quinn's estate wins a judgment against the town for $99,000. The traffic median is removed.
¥1998 -- The bulkhead is once again renovated, and the grade is raised one to two feet.
