RSS 2.0 FeedAugust 12, 2010, Merrick Life
About time for a sign?
North Merrick residents welcome a new 4-way stop sign at Camp and Chapin Avenues.
The Town of Hempstead installed four-way stop signs at the corner of Chapin and Camp Avenues in Merrick. Claudia Borecky, president of the North Merrick Community Association, said the installation “is a long time coming.”
Hempstead Town Supervisor Kate Murray and Councilwoman Angie Cullin expressed their appreciation to the NMCA for collaborating with the town on this issue. “The safety of our residents is our top priority,” said Supervisor Murray. “This intersection has been the site of accidents, and we are pleased to be able to have the Town of Hempstead Traffic Control Division install the necessary signage for the well-being of our residents.”
“This was one of the first problems that I took on when I became President of the NMCA over a year ago,” said Ms. Borecky. “The town rejected our requests time and time again, saying that stop signs weren't warranted.” She quoted parts of her letter dated April 25 (the ninth such letter) to Supervisor Murray, Councilwoman Cullin and Town Attorney Joe Ra which state: “Residents complain that motorists travel at excessive speed on Camp Avenue between Meadowbrook Road and Merrick Avenue at all hours of the day. Further, residents reported to me [Claudia Borecky] that several motor vehicle accidents occurred on Camp Avenue at or near its intersection with Chapin Avenue.
In letters of response [to previous pleas from residents] from Town Attorney Joseph J. Ra, he wrote that ‘a review of the accident records since 1999, supplied by the Nassau County Police Department, did not indicate a problem correctable by the installation of the type of traffic controls you are requesting,’ ” she continued.
“A report from the Nassau County Police Department, from Police Officer Glen Neuman, indicated that 72 accidents took place on Camp Avenue in Merrick in the past 10 years – that amounts to an accident approximately every seven weeks.” “On Monday, April 19, 2010, another serious accident occurred on Camp Avenue just feet away from its intersection with Chapin Avenue. A vehicle, believed to have been traveling at excessive speed, collided with a car parked on Camp Avenue with such force that it pushed the car into a car parked in front of it. Ironically, only feet away from this accident sits a radar speed trailer. This is the exact location where Attorney Ra refused to install stop signs that the North Merrick Community Association requested in eight previous letters in the past year,” she said.
“Within the past three years, cars drove right into two of the corner houses at that intersection,” Ms. Borecky wrote to Merrick Life. “The residents lived in fear that every time they heard a car speeding down the block...it would wind up in their living rooms or run them down in their yards. I was not going to give up on my neighbors.” The NMCA visited every house on Camp Avenue and Chapin Avenue, getting petition signatures and asking residents to write letters to the town. Legislator Denenberg made similar requests.”
“I think we would never have gotten this far. It took 38 years and a community to get what my mom fought for and could not get it done,” said area resident Mary Beth Byrnes in an e-mail to Ms. Borecky.
Councilwoman Cullin said, “I am so glad that the residents reached out to my office to make me aware of their concerns so Supervisor Murray and I, along with the entire Town Board, could address this serious matter.”
All sides came together this past Thursday afternoon to celebrate the installation of the signs. Merrick Life congratulates the members of the community who did not give up on this cause and hopes that drivers become more aware of the signs, as this reporter saw it already not heeded.
- From the Merrick Life Facebook page, Holly Giammetta-Cimorelli “likes this” and Seth Tabor “could not be happier about this. Long overdue. Thanks.”
