By:JOSEPH KELLARD
The Town of Hempstead has created the position of walking street sweeper to clean dirt and litter along Oceanside's main commercial thoroughfares. This program, initiated by Supervisor Kate Murray and Councilman Anthony Santino, will serve as a pilot program that, if successful, may expand to other communities under the town's jurisdiction.
From 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. every weekday, Mark Musto, an employee of the town's sanitation department, will take to Long Beach Road, Atlantic Avenue and Lawson Boulevard with a broom, shovel and pushcart and clean around the curbs and sidewalks. Musto got started on his daily duties in Oceanside about three weeks ago.
"We're confident that having a single individual, broom and push cart in hand, patrolling the downtown area of Oceanside will result in a noticeably cleaner business area," Murray said.
Santino introduced the idea of a permanent street sweeper to Murray as an extension of the town's efforts to keep Oceanside clean and as an outgrowth of its streetscape beautification project, in which the town has renovated sections of north Long Beach Road with new curbs, brick-paved sidewalks, ornamental lights and benches. Murray was receptive to Santino's proposal, and put all the resources together to make the program a reality.
"It's just a natural progression from our streetscape project to have someone out there with a pushcart and a broom five days a weeks sweeping the sidewalks and the areas around the curb," Santino explained.
At the community meetings they've hosted in Oceanside and on the phone, Santino and the town had received many suggestions to both renovate its sidewalks and hire a street cleaner like those in neighboring villages such as Rockville Centre. Asked why the pilot program was initiated now in Oceanside, Santino said, "I've heard from a lot of people in Oceanside over the years who have said that it would be something nice for the Oceanside community."
Santino added that putting together such a program also involves finding the right personnel to do the job and getting the supervisor and the town's sanitation department to initiate its development. "I think this kind of personal, one-on-one street sweep, which sort of harkens back to simpler times, when this kind of project was more commonplace, is going to make a dramatic difference in Oceanside," Santino concluded.
