Thursday, October 1, 2026
Time to take back our streets
To the Editor:
What is it going to take for the people in this community to open their eyes and stand united against the unfortunate reality of disrespectful and dangerous teenage behavior?
I grew up in a nearby community and have been raising my children in Rockville Centre for 15 years. I simply cannot condone the tone and attitude that is allowed from our teenagers any longer. As a teenager, I was no angel, and I had eight siblings (I could tell you stories that would make your head spin), but we all understood and respected the boundaries and our town’s level of tolerance, and tried our teenage best to adhere.
It was clear both inside and outside our homes that anything beyond normal teenage high jinx wasn’t going to be tolerated by local police, the community or any parents. As a matter of fact, my neighbors had free rein to call me over and tell me or any other kid not to do something, and we listened. Sometimes they weren’t even sure of your name, but knew what family you belonged to and would call, “Hey you Duffy kid or Ryan kid, don’t do that,” and that was that. The most disrespectful act was if a teenager turned away and made a comment under their breath.
I have never heard of a teenager assaulting a parent who was scolding them for bad behavior. And I most certainly have never heard of a group or gang of teenagers cursing and verbally abusing a woman in her own neighborhood as she’s out walking her dog. In the community I grew up in, we looked out for each other, we were taught right from wrong by parents, neighbors, teachers and friends, and a sound respect for adults and authority resulted in a better environment for all.
If we were drinking, we hid it or ran from any adult so that we wouldn’t get into trouble. In this town I walk my dog at night, and have seen teenagers walking in packs, holding cases of beer. They brazenly stare me down, with no fear of being caught for breaking the law and as if I answer to them. I’ve driven down streets and come across the same scene. Not only are teenagers drinking in public, but they don’t even get out of my way. I beep the horn and they give me the finger, and I have to go around these brazen teens, who act more like gang members than children of our village. I have also seen them walking down the street with a rolling cooler. Really?
Teenagers can be stupid and are going to do stupid things, but what is happening here is too much tolerance and even acceptance, which is a recipe for disaster. I’m not a psychologist, but I do not think that violence is typical teenage behavior.
We may not know the details of the horrific attack that occurred in our community on the night of June 18, but because we all sat back and allowed the village’s teens to run amok, a very kind family’s life has been turned upside down. A gang of Rockville Centre male teens preyed on a woman and her husband, beating him as if they were trying to kill or seriously maim him. Fortunately, Good Samaritan neighbors came to the couple’s rescue and stopped the teenage assailants from brutalizing the victims further. This family now has the unfair task of fighting our town’s battle.
It’s time to stand up for them and ourselves. This is our town.
Katie Schumacher
Rockville Centre
The slow death
of civility
To the Editor:
I have vacillated about writing this letter. Am I overreacting? Am I out of touch with today’s youth? The more people I speak with help me see that issues with disrespectful teenagers are more of a widespread problem than isolated incidents, and I feel inclined to discuss it.
Last week’s top news included a story about the school bus bullying of Karen Klein in upstate New York. We were horrified as we watched the video. I’m sure many parents said “my child would never do that,” but can they really be sure?
I recently had an incident near the stores on Long Beach Road with a group of middle-schoolers who refused to move when I was going in and out of a store with my young son. Apparently “excuse me” from a grownup isn’t enough, in 2012, for people to step aside. There was no attempt to move, no attempt by the kids to be on their best behavior, even as they stood there representing their school in all its colors.
I can only imagine the headaches these storeowners must suffer in dealing with these packs of kids — they must be hesitant to scold them for fear of the young and entitled going home to complain about how they were wronged to their indulgent parents, who then vow to never shop there again. It was unfortunate, it escalated, and their sheer brazenness and inability to be the least bit respectful of an adult was mind-blowing.
It wasn’t just at the stores on Long Beach Road. A trip to a South Park Avenue ice cream shop involved a game of moving around a nonmoving pack of girls and then driving down a nearby street, where a group of boys stared down my car while they were playing basketball as if I was intruding on their road. And the list goes on.
Believe me, I understand that this isn’t just a Rockville Centre problem, but rather an Anytown, USA problem. I’m sure many will say it can happen anywhere and will suggest I’m overreacting, but I really believe I’m not. It simply saddens me. It’s a widespread epidemic of bad manners, foul language being acceptable and cursing like a sailor on social media, regardless of which grown-up “friends” view your permanent stain on the Internet.
As I took to Facebook to rant about this (so 2012, I guess), I heard from plenty of parents who’d had similar incidents around town. Is it the warm weather, the shortened school days that afford kids the free time to mill around, basically resulting in a bad case of looking for trouble? I guess kids today are just brainless. I don’t know, and in all honesty, does it really matter? Do arrogant youth really need any explanation?
I sadly watched the elderly bus monitor in total defeat, and listened to the psychologist try to make sense of what happened. What’s wrong with kids today? Her answer: It’s parents! Adults today aren’t setting the standards for cultural rules. Pure and simple, you treat each other with decency and respect.
I couldn’t agree with her more, as I sadly experienced the direct result of that in a community I love so much. God help our youth. Let’s try to revive manners and common courtesy before they, too, go the way of rotary phones, VHS and bell-bottoms. Please don’t tell me that civility is going out of style — I’m not a fan of the rudeness that is coming around the corner to take its place.
Laura Patton
Rockville Centre
The village needs more cops
To the Editor:
As most readers know, we have seen a spate of increased crime in the village. Many people want to point fingers. They wish to blame teenagers, parents, drinking, etc. The fact is, the real problem is too few police for too many crimes. And that is no one’s fault unless it goes ignored for much longer. We cannot survive with four or five patrol cars on duty at any one time. If one gets tied up with an accident report, another two with a domestic disturbance and another with a DWI arrest, who’s left?
Therefore, I publicly call on Mayor Francis Murray and Commissioner Charles Gennario to set up an exploratory committee to examine the prospect of detaching Rockville Centre from any association with the Nassau County Police Department. I’m not sure of the exact numbers, but the cost of that relationship exceeds $12 million a year.
Instead, we must align ourselves with the State Police. The price tag is less than half that of the Nassau arrangement. We would use state resources for major arrests and crime investigations, for example. We could create a consortium with other South Shore village police departments to share forensic investigations using one lab. The result would be a savings of many millions of dollars, which could be put toward hiring at least 10 more officers to patrol the village.
In the end, as much as we would like to rely on good parenting and good citizenship, it is good policing that we need. We have great policing now — just not enough of it.
Mr. Mayor, Commissioner Gennario, please get on this. Make it happen. Do it soon. Our village’s future depends on it.
Ted D. Gluckman
Rockville Centre
Village and school claims aren’t true
To the Editor:
After reading “Parking still irks Broadway residents” (June 14-20), I felt it necessary to clarify some issues regarding parking and traffic on Broadway.
It is true that some of us tolerated some additional teacher parking when the school district closed part of the staff parking lot at Watson Elementary School — apparently unconcerned then that its staff would need to walk farther to work, and also never considering the impact on the surrounding neighborhood. However, what started as a few more cars parking on the block (only 18 spaces were eliminated when the parking lot was closed) has, over the years, turned the entire south section of Broadway into a faculty parking lot.
School Superintendent Dr. William Johnson’s claim that “this is not new” is inaccurate. The situation is, in fact, a growing problem that now decreases visibility as residents pull out of their driveways, and makes the street less safe. For a block with a significant number of small children, not to mention the children who attend Watson, this is a major concern.
Every conversation I’ve had with village staff has confirmed that the school district has no authority to determine the parking regulations on any streets in Rockville Centre. It is our hope that the village, which does have that authority, will resolve these issues immediately.
There are many measures that might be put in place that will not impose a hardship on the staff at Watson. One idea that has come up is to reopen Lakeview Avenue for parking next to the school. Another is to convert part of the unused land between Lakeside and Peninsula Boulevard into a parking area that would be just steps away from the school. There are many possible adjustments that can be made to non-residential area parking that could cumulatively solve this problem. Adding parking restrictions to Broadway isn’t an unreasonable request, and shouldn’t be tossed aside.
In the story, Village Administrator Keith Spadaro said that the speeding issue on Broadway “has been taken care of” as they now “have officers enforcing speeding regulations on that block.” Unfortunately this simply isn’t true. There are no officers enforcing traffic regulations on Broadway. There is, however, a new speed-monitoring device on the block. That is the only effort we’ve seen to date. Police officers actually monitoring traffic and speeding here would be a welcome addition.
According to the monitoring device, the posted speed limit on Broadway is 30 mph. This seems surprisingly high given that a school is just down the block. It’s also curious that the speed limit on our residential side street isn’t the same as North Village, Lakeview and DeMott avenues — each of which are heavily trafficked and have stop lights and double yellow lines dividing traffic. Shouldn’t the speed limit on a residential street down the block from a school be lower?
The speed limit is reduced to 20 mph only a few houses away from the school. It seems reasonable that, given the concerns of the residents and the number of children on the block, the 20-mph zone be extended to the entire two-block length of Broadway. And having police officers actually enforcing the speed limits is also a good idea that should be enacted — not just mentioned in the press.
We appreciate the Herald’s reporting on this matter, and hope you will help us keep the village accountable in addressing the concerns of its taxpayers.
Rob Pellizzi
Broadway resident
Village needs to deal with parking
To the Editor:
I’ve been a resident of Rockville Centre my whole life, as have my mother and my grandparents.
To address a point that was raised in “Don’t pass the blame along” (June 14-20), one of my main reasons for writing to the Herald, “Village should help prevent DWIs” (May 31-June 6), was because I had parked at my girlfriend’s house on North Lewis Place, which gets a good number of police driving by at night. Please also recall that this was a Saturday night when I was out in town.
I knew that I would probably leave my car at my girlfriend’s, so I went to the police station, signed the book and got a parking pass. Before going out, I placed the pass on my dashboard, as instructed. When I woke up the next morning and went out to my car, to my surprise, once again, was a ticket.
The word “resident” was written on it. Outraged, I went to the Police Department to ask what this meant, and why I would get a ticket when I followed the proper procedures. Their reason: “A resident of Rockville Centre is not allowed to receive a parking pass for the night.” When I tried to argue my case, I was sent away and told, “Take it up in court.”
So while I appreciate the response to my letter, saying that these requests are always honored is incorrect. I stand by my original statement that something must be done about the parking in Rockville Centre.
Gregg Jackowitz
Rockville Centre
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