At Tuesday’s board meeting, Plandome Manor trustees discussed recent vandalism in the village and surrounding communities.
Mayor Barbara Donno said for the past two years, residents have noticed street signs were broken and removed from street corners. Since the spring there’s been an uptick in the incidents, she said, and in total about 10 signs were removed in the village.
“This seems to be the first year that this has really escalated, and it’s been a real problem for a lot of villages,” she said.
One of the signs was broken off and placed in front of her house by her mailbox, she said.
In the case of Plandome Manor, only street signs were removed, but Donno said in other communities people reported stop signs were tampered with, too.
“Manhasset residents have been complaining about the fact that stop signs are being moved, and they’re concerned about it because that’s dangerous,” she said.
The village asked for increased patrols from Nassau County Police during late hours to try to prevent future incidents, Donno said.
Since the Third and Sixth precincts merged, there have been two problem-oriented police officers to patrol the entire Manhasset area. Donno said County Executive Edward Mangano had asked for more funding so the department can provide an extra problem-oriented officer for each area of the precinct.
Two nearby villages, Flower Hill and Baxter Estates, have also experienced problems with street signs, Donno said.
Another recent incident in Manhasset involved newly installed planters bought by the Chamber of Commerce that were overturned on Plandome Road.
“It’s unfortunate because the chamber has spent a lot of money on those things,” Donno said. “Fortunately the planters weren’t broken but it killed the plants that were in them.”
When police investigated, they found that the incidents took place around times when people were coming back from Mets games, she said.
“What they think is happening is that maybe there’s kids that are getting out of the train at around 1 a.m. just walking down Plandome Road,” Donno said.
She said if that’s the case, then parents should be talking to their children about it, because when it involves stop signs, someone can get hurt.
