In the wake of Hurricane Sandy and the Nor’easter, the Village of New Hyde Park has sidewalks to fix and tree stumps to remove, and has almost certainly been fully restored with electrical power, village officials said.
Deputy Mayor Robert Lofaro said at a village board meeting Tuesday night that as of five days ago, the Long Island Power Authority Web site showed “zero” outage in New Hyde Park.
But that was an adjustment from the day before, when it indicated 86 houses were still without power.
Lofaro said that included Highland Avenue and other areas where village officials knew the power was back on – and told LIPA so.
“The numbers were totally inaccurate,” Lofaro said, adding, “We think everyone has power.”
Lofaro said there are 75 sidewalk locations in the village that need to be repaired and 25 tree stumps that need to be removed.
He said the stumps can only be removed with the presence of crews from National Grid because their removal may disrupt gas lines. The contractor the village regularly uses isn’t available so Lofaro said the village may seek another contractor to do the sidewalk repairs. He said a number of light poles and signs also need to be replaced or repaired.
“We still have a lot of repairs ahead of us,” said Lofaro.
Village Department of Public Works Superintendent Tom Gannon estimated there will be $300,000 in street repairs from the storm.
One New Hyde Park resident suggested the village DPW should remove potentially dangerous trees on private property as part of the post-storm restoration of the village.
Park Place resident Andrew Faglio told a story of a near fire at his house due to a 30-foot tree in a neighbor’s yard that collapsed during the storm.
“It sounded like Godzilla hit the street,” Faglio said.
When the tree fell, Faglio said it severed a 4,000-volt power line that struck a chain link fence and sent a power surge through a ground wire to Faglio’s house. The electrical power surge melted tiles in his basement floor and Faglio said he found his basement smoldering when he ran down to turn the breakers off.
He said the tree, which was visibly dead, should have been removed years ago. He said he thinks there are similar trees on private property around the village that should also be taken down as a preventive measure.
“I feel there are a lot of trees that should be inspected,” Faglio said.
Gannon said he and his DPW crews are currently conducting a survey of trees planted in the medians of sidewalks for that reason.
“We are going through the village and inspecting for trees that may come down,” Gannon said.
New Hyde Park Mayor Daniel Petruccio said the village board should consult with village attorney John Spellman, who didn’t attend the Nov. 20 meeting, to determine whether it can remove trees from private property.
“That’s got be a gray area for us,” Petruccio said. “We never dealt in this area before.”
Lofaro said 85 percent of the 80 trees that went down in the hurricane were live trees. He said he had reservations about the village embarking on a tree removal program.
“Most of the trees that went down were healthy,” Lofaro said, adding, “I don’t want to live in a treeless village.”
Lofaro said the two recent storms had forced a “hiatus” in the ongoing street repair project in the village. He said a top coat of asphalt was ready to be poured on south 12th Street and other streets where preliminary repairs and resurfacing had been done. Gannon said there was concrete work remaining to be done on south 11th and 10th Street and on 6th Avenue.
“We had to remove some trees, and do some cement work we weren’t anticipating doing,” Lofaro said.
Village Trustee Donald Barbieri said it’s not clear whether the recent storms would alter the state Department of Transportation’s timetable to resurface Jericho Turnpike. He said the state DOT is currently working with Keyspan on laying underground gas lines in advance of the resurfacing.
The DOT will be installing count-down traffic lights to make the New Hyde Park business district safer for pedestrians and handicap ramps, Barbieri said.
• Lofaro said the village will be issuing $1.3 million in serial bonds with principal payments of $100,000 over 13 years. That funding enables the village to maintain its decade-long road improvement project. He also said costs from the hurricane will “put a strain on cash flow” for the village, which he said maintains a $500,000 reserve fund.
• Barbieri said the annual village tree lighting celebration will start at Marcus Christ Hall on Saturday, Dec. 1 at 3:30 p.m. Barbieri said music groups from New Hyde Park Memorial High School will be performing at the indoor celebration that precedes the tree lighting in front of Village Hall.
• A local talent show, “Spotlight New Hyde Park,” is slated for January with contestants 13 to 21 years old, competing at the William Gill Theatre in Village Hall on Jan. 10 and 11 at 7 p.m. Youngster up to age 12 will compete in competition on Jan. 13. All residents interested in competing can register online at www.VNHP.org.
