The Village of Mineola has been waiting quite some time for downtown housing to come into existence and still nothing concrete has been accomplished. Numerous concerns have been voiced and I will comment first about traffic.
To get an idea of what is involved, Tuesday morning July 3 I counted the vehicles passing in both directions and 2nd Street just west of the intersection with Roslyn Road. For 10 minutes from 9:00 to 9:10 a.m. the count was 156, which times six is 936 for an hour.
I did the same for Roslyn Road just south of the intersection with 2nd Street. For 10 minutes from 9:15 to 9:25 a.m. the count was 176, which times six is 1,056 for an hour.
On July 6 from 9:00 to 9:10 a.m. I did the same on Old Country Road by the Subway restaurant. 440 vehicles poassed in both directions, which would be 2,640 in an hour.
In each case, I could see that traffic was no more than light to moderate and flowed smoothly. A much larger volume wouild still be a problem. The number of vehicles that would be associated with the future Winstron-Churchill and 250 Old Country Road is of no concern whatsoever. It is not as though they would all be come in and out in droves day and night.
From my observation, the streets around 250 Old Country Road should remain as they are. The main entrance must be on the north side. This leaves 3rd Avenue unobstructed for train station activity. Third Street is one way westbound and can be accessed from Mineola Boulevard southbound and from Old Country Road via 3rd Avenue. Third Street passes by 250 Old Country Road on the north and continues west to 4th Avenue, which is one way southbound leading to Old Country Road.
Traffic lights are in place at both 3rd and 4th avenues and Old Country Road. The traffic, as indicted in the foregoing, would have no negative effect on Old Country Road.
Some of the comments I have read indicate tht they do not have a comprehension of the sitatuino and don’t know what they are talking about. Maybe they should actually go there and check it out. There can still be a pedestrian entrance on 3rd Avenue and Old Country Road, which could also serve as an emergency exit is ever needed.
Other apartment houses in Mineola have underground parking. Being that there are no structures on the north side of 250 it would be easy to design it as needed. A counterclockwise driveway circling to the main entrance would work very well.
New York City has a (Greenwich) village in the city. Let’s have our city in the village too. This location is the best Mineola will have to offer fro easy commuter living in any kind of weather. The Mineola mayor has made what has hit me as somewhat off-color comments about “a little Manhattan” and various other height issues. No matter how high it will be it won’t have as much effect as that white elephant that hosues Social Security and Astoria Bank.
I can’t help but feel that the mayor and trustees are only expressing their private opinions and nothing I have heard indicates that any effort has been made to ascertain the views of the electorate that voted them into office.
Granted there are probably many in Mineola who don’t give a hoot either way such as the outlying areas, but many do want it to happen. They are not the ones who don’t like people.
I hope this will be apartments only (no stores) and the bigger the better. Mineola has more stories than it can support.
I like the artist’s rendering of how it can look and solar panels bring it up to date. There should be as much back up built in as possible: Better than being left completely in the dark if something should happen.
Village governments come and go but the people remain. Mineola needs this project to be bright and grand. Hopefully it won’t be ruined by any dark and nerdy forces and have to be lived with a long time.
Charles Samek
Mineola
