By VICTORIA A. CARUSO
In Bellmore-Merrick, the Town of Hempstead Highway Department, the county Department of Public Works and the state Department of Transportation maintain the roads. Sunrise Highway, Meadowbrook Parkway and Southern State Parkway fall under the state's purview; Merrick road, the county's; and most residential streets, the Town of Hempstead's.
Despite its budget woes, the county cleared its roads, residents reported. Many town streets, however, remained completely or partially snow-covered until as late as Wednesday after the near-blizzard, which hit Saturday, Dec. 30.
Nassau County Legislator David Denenberg (D-Merrick) received more than 70 phone calls from constituents concerned that the Town had not plowed their streets. "People came up to me and said, 'You're an elected official. Can't you get our blocks
plowed?'" said Leg. Denenberg. "I gave every constituent who called the
Town's emergency numbers, and I also called myself. If the Town would have let
me, I would have sent county trucks down town roads."
Eleanor D'Angelo, who has lived 45 years on Prospect Place in Bellmore, said, "I have been through many snowstorms, and it has never been this bad. There have been worse storms, and we have been dug out faster. This was only a foot of snow. What would happen if we have a really bad snowstorm?"
Robert Delmonico, of Jefferson Street in Merrick, agreed. "[The Town] might have
gone down the street, but they must have had the plow up because they weren't pushing anything. The back roads were a disgrace. If you drove on them, you'd be moving all over the place, and if you stopped, you got stuck."
Delmonico, who had shoveled his two-car driveway and sidewalk over the
weekend, added that when the plow finally did come down his block, on
Wednesday, Jan. 3., it did more harm than good. "I looked out the window and
thought, good, they're finally plowing the street," he said. "But then I
realized what they did. I expected the driveway to be partially blocked, but
that wasn't the case. They had dumped about two feet of snow back onto my
sidewalk."
Despite the more than 3,000 complaints to the Town of Hempstead as
of Tuesday, Jan. 3, Supervisor Richard Guardino (R-Point Lookout) said crews
totaling some 250 employees began clearing the Town's 1,700 miles of roads
on Saturday morning and continued their effort throughout the holiday weekend. Town roads run east-west from the Queens and Massapequa borders between Hempstead
Turnpike and the southern shoreline, excluding the City of Long Beach.
The town's timing was the problem, said Guardino. "If we began
plowing at 8 a.m. [on Saturday], and then another eight inches of snow fell, it was going to look like we never plowed," he said. "Maybe we came out of the gate too fast
and did not deploy our personnel and equipment effectively or efficiently."
In response, D'Angelo said, "If you know you plowed too soon, go back and do it again. I hope this is an eye-opener for them and that we are not going to have a mess like this again."
D'Angelo, who like many residents was unaware that local roads fell under the jurisdiction of different agencies, said her first reaction was to blame snow mess on the County. "I figured there were so many things going on in Gulotta's administration and that they did not have the money to pay their employees to clean the streets," she said. "Guardino tells us how fiscally sound the Town is, so I can't understand why this happened."
Neither can Bellmorite Alicia Steger. "I'm very disappointed that our streets were not plowed and the safety of the citizens was compromised. On the one hand, we're very happy that the Town of Hempstead has a surplus for rainy days, but this was a snowy day.
"I saw school buses struggling, kids on snow-covered corners and fender-benders that didn't have to be," she said. "Local streets near the [Bellmore] railroad were a disaster."
Marcia Corso, of Hewlett Avenue in Merrick, said, "When the whole fiscal crisis
came out, the Republicans in Town of Hempstead spent so much money mailing
things out to residents stating they were not the Republicans involved in the
fiscal mess and that they wanted to distance themselves. If the Town has such
a surplus, then there should have been a contingency set up [for situations] like this."
Brandon Kay, a resident of Harbor Lane in Bellmore, said, "I have lived
here for over 40 years and have never seen anything like this. The condition of the streets was dismal and disgusting. The Town did a terrible job plowing everywhere I saw. We pay a lot of taxes to live here and expect much more."
Leg. Denenberg said in a prepared statement: "Despite touting a surplus of over $50 million for 2000...the Town of Hempstead's snow removal on residential streets was
nearly non-existent. I am surprised that the Town of Hempstead, which constantly touts its budget surplus, could not have plows out on a holiday to ensure public safety."
Despite accusations that the Town was unwilling to pay overtime to its workers for snow cleanup, Guardino said the cost of clearing streets was never an issue. "I met with my staff on Friday, [Dec. 29] and gave them specific instructions that I wanted the roads cleaned for the holiday weekend and that I did not care how much it cost. Although that was the direction from the start, it did not go well." The total spent by the Town for cleanup was not available at press time.
The Town of Hempstead has taken steps to find out what went wrong with snow removal by hiring Frank Scarangella as a consultant. Scarangella is the former deputy director of operations for the town's Highway Department. He was in that position in 1996 when 82 inches of snow fell. "Mr. Scarangella will review the department's operations from top to bottom and give recommendations on how we can do better," Guardino said.
Scarangella's hiring angered Peter Ruffner, of Seaford, chairman of the Town of Hempstead Democratic Party. "The town Democratic Committee deplores the Republican-controlled Town Board's action to hire Frank Scarangella as a consultant for $15,000," he said.
"I would think that Highway Department Commissioner Anthony Califano and his deputies, who have combined service with the Town exceeding a half-century of experience, would not need to hire a consultant, who retired from that same department, to teach them how to plow the Town's streets...." said Ruffner.
Scott Brinton contributed to this story.
