The-Helm_1966-08-04; Lynbrook Helm Independent Review

              .ST-;
East Rockaway Lynbrook Malverne
Vol. 5, No. 47 Ae?*!^!.;^^^^^ New York, Thursday, August 4, 1966 LY 3-1300 ' io<;i Per Copy
Politics Muddy Road
Lynbrook Vamps battle fire at home of Jay Kem-per,
40 Lancaster Ave. , where damage was re-ported
as considerable.
state Senator Norman F. Lent
and Assemblyman Robert M.Bla-keman,
both Republicans, have
issued a warning to residents of
Hewlett and East Rockaway areas
not to give up in their fight again-st
the East Rockaway Road widen-ing
project.
Lent and Blakeman scored the
Nickerson Administration for pe-rmitting
Democratic party spo-kesmen
to make misleading sta-tements
to the press and public
that the County has abandoned the
widening project.
"Although the Nickerson Ad-ministration
may well decide ag-ainst
this horrendous scheme in
the future," Blakeman said, "I
have documentary proof that at
this point there has been no su-ch
determination aod continued
opposition, pressure and vigila-nce
from local residents will be
necessaryif we are to be success-ful
in our fight."
Lent and Blakeman referred
to two letters Lent received last
week in response to continued in-quiries
regarding the status of the
roadway. One letter from Depu-ty
County Executive Daniel T. Sw-eeney
states that "This matter is
still being studied by the Depart-ment
of Public Works". A second
letter addressed to Lent by Herb-ert
J. Simins, County Commissi-oner
of Public Works, dated July
27, 1966, states, "Various alter-nate
methods for performing this
improvement are under investi-gation
by the Division of Highways
and General Engineering of this
Department which has not as yet
completed its studies. When I ha-ve
determined which alternate
provides the most professional
and complete solution to the prob-lem,
my recommendation will be
sent to the County Executive for
his approval and action."
Simins letter indicated that it
will be several months before va-rious
proposalsbeing studied will
be submitted for review.
"I am calling upon Mr. Nick-erson
to immediately clarify the
status of this project," Blakeman
said, "Local residents are fed up
with the cat and mouse game pre-sently
being played by the Depar-tment
of Public Works which has
been considering this matter for
almost a y e a r ."
The widening project origina-lly
called for the widening of East
Rocka^vay Road to an 80 foot right
of way between Broadway in Hew-lett
and Atlantic Avenue in East
Rockaway. It would change the
existing two lane highway into six
lanes of traffic plus two parking
lanes, thus destroying the heart of
an exclusively residential com-munity.
Assemblyman Eli Wager CD-Wood
me re) denounced the " s c a re
t a c t i c s " and "deliberate distor-tions
of fact" of Senator Lent
and Asseniblyman Blakeman in
their attack on him after he re-cently
announced that the Nas-sau
Dept. of Public Works had
shelved its plans for an 80-foot
right-of-way for East Rocka-way
Road.
Wager made the following st-atement:
"If they sincerely op-posed
the road and supported the
community they would welcome
my announcement. Lent knows
the truth, contained in a letter
to him last week from Comm-issioner
Herbert Simins. Lent
was told that the road is being
re-studied, that alternate pro-posals
are being considered, and
that it is impossible to predict
when these new studies will be
completed.
"The facts are these: (1)
The 80-foot plans were program-med
for a Board of Supervisors
hearing in late August or Sep-tember.
This hearing will not
take place and I predict no hear-ing
on any plan will be held this
year; (2) The plans were never
recommended to the County Ex-ecutive
for approval, nor by him
to Supervisors Caso and Purcell
for placement on the hearing cal-endar.
Incidentally, the Town Su-pervisors,
by their objection, can
prevent this or any plan from rea-ching
the hearing stage; (3) This
plan was an engineers'plan evol-ved
out of the public demand for
road improvement following the
tragic death of ayoungwoman last
year; (4) This road-widening pro-posal
is no more the product of
County Executive Nickerson than
when it was proposed by County
Executive Patterson and Sprague
years ago. To label it as. such is
gutter politics.
"In conclusion, I re-state my
call for a cooperative community
effort by the villages and citizens
involved to devise a plan for im-provement
of the road consistent
with the community's best inter-ests
and the safety of the motor-ing
public."
American Field Service students, representing 20 different countries,
Club during their recent visit to Lynbrook.
enjoy the.hospitality of El Patio Beach