editorial i found ....some people against anything or every thing..and hes nassau??

[novadose454]

Lack of access dooms EPCAL development

In Michael White's nostalgic column about motorsports on Long Island ("Motorsports just seems to be more 'us,'" Riverhead News-Review, July 1), he reflects on NASCAR traffic a decade ago when he lived in Delaware. He then goes on to "romanticize about old-time Long Island ... when the baby boomers were coming of age ... and spent summer days ... working on cars."

As a 54-year-old lifetime resident of Suffolk County, I'd like to share my own Long Island baby boomer memory. It was 1968 or 1969, and we were stuck in a massive traffic jam -- along with thousands of other Long Islanders -- heading out to a huge air show at Grumman's Calverton site. The drive from our home in Smithtown should have taken about 35-40 minutes, but three and a half hours later, we were stuck by the side of the road, as the Navy's Blue Angels thundered overhead. An elderly woman nearby, a survivor of the air attacks in World War II, was nearly hysterical, but the county police were powerless to help her navigate an escape through the clogged roadways. Remember, this was 40 years ago, when the population and traffic on the Island were much less than they are today.

Flash forward 40 years, and I am again stuck in non-moving traffic in Wading River, but this is no special event, just the annual bottleneck of bumper-to-bumper traffic crawling its way out to the North Fork farms to go pumpkin-picking in the fall.

Whether it's a NASCAR racetrack, Shinnecock casino or ski mountain theme park, all the proposed uses for the EPCAL property refuse to seriously consider the serious traffic ramifications. Riverhead Resorts is proposing a theme park that will rival Disney World in size; however, Disney's Florida park is approached by multi-line roads from all directions. The Shinnecock casino has also been proposed for the Nassau Coliseum site, along with Wang's massive Lighthouse Project. But that site is reached by Meadowbrook Parkway, a three-lane highway that itself is accessed by Northern State, or Southern State, or Sunrise Highway. All the roads leading to the EPCAL property are basically one lane, and we keep being told that a direct exit off the LIE is not viable due to the surrounding Pine Barrens.

Both former supervisor Phil Cardinale and our current Supervisor Sean Walter have been accused of failing to capitalize on the value of the property Grumman gave the Town. Why don't people see that in many ways, the property is a huge white elephant -- a massive parcel of land that's largely inaccessible, rendering it useless for any proposed project expected to draw large numbers of people?

Manning Dandridge

North wantagh

[LongIsland63SS409]

Traffic is a part of life here!
If the NIMBY crowd does not like it then move.

Historically we live in a political area that was a problem back when LI was young and now.
When I was growing up my father used to say they should let Robert Moses build the bridge to CT.

http://www.nycroads.com/crossings/oysterbay-rye/

The infrastructure of our roads and highways are not properly designed.
Imagine if we were able to cross the LI Sound without going thru the city?

However one good thing is being built right as we speak but seems to have been forgotten already.

The Federal Government recently gave Riverhead $5.3M stimulus money to rebuild the Grumman rail spur.
The rail spur provides access to the area since it ties into the LIRR mainline.

Hope this comes up at the public meetings so we can educate the crowd how spectators can be brought in
without using the highways.

I subscibe to the Riverhead News Review and posted the following comment today:

Lack of access dooms EPCAL development - not true!

The Federal Government recently awarded $5.3M stimulus money to rebuild the EPCAL rail spur that connects EPCAL to the LIRR mainline.

Spectators can use mass tranist to access EPCAL during heavy event days.

The LIRR used this plan when Bethpage hosted the US Open last year. The LIRR had package deals and encouraged spectators to use mass transit. The surrounding communities had little to no impact with traffic issues.

The same approach can be used at EPCAL.

Mike

[Tmac]

Funny I can remember the Grumman picnics where thousands of employees decended on the Calverton site every year with lesser roads than now. I don't remember being stuck in traffic. It's called traffic control. A motor sports facility wouldn't be hosting a major event every weekend only acouple times a year making it most suitable for the site. Weekly use would only be local racers who depart at different times in many cases.

[novadose454]

i was wondering if he was on the other side....ever think like that?? ....ya never know

[FANTASY FACTORY]

Anybody that remembers the 'GOOD OLD DAYS" on long Island, was never here!
I may not have sat in traffic going to the tracks, but i always sat in traffic coming home
In 1970 i used to sit i traffic on Long beach road to get to the beachs, now i sit in the same traffic to get to Ace hardware or auto zone. while the beachs have been fee'd out of the reach of our kids.

[PitchBlackSS]

Wasn't there talks about an extension of the LIE for the Grumman Facility or at least a spur off the service road to help keep the traffic on surface streets to a minimum?

[Art]

Someone might want to point out to Mr. Dandridge that in 1968 0r 1969 the expressway ended at exit 61. The Suffolk County Police department was in its infancy still and the five east end towns were not participants. So who was in charge of traffic? Probably no one. So it was two lane roads for the last twenty miles with people coming out for a truely "once in a lifetime thrill" of the the Blue Angels. Of course the roads would be mobbed! Elderly WWII survivors? Okay I will give you that, but with this question: Who in their right mind goes to see combat jets flying in precision maneuvers with issues like that?? Sounds odd to me. The world has changed quite a bit in 40 years, though not everyone has changed with it. Please tell me this isn't how everyone thinks.......


edit: Anyone who wishes to use this as a rebuttal to the letters section feel free. The facts I presented are true and correct to the best of my ability.

[novadose454]

Anybody that remembers the 'GOOD OLD DAYS" on long Island, was never here!
I may not have sat in traffic going to the tracks, but i always sat in traffic coming home
In 1970 i used to sit i traffic on Long beach road to get to the beachs, now i sit in the same traffic to get to Ace hardware or auto zone. while the beachs have been fee'd out of the reach of our kids.

that i will giveyou.....long beach road...and medowbrook and wantaugh was always packed on a hot summer day with beach traffic...everyone in those days went to the beach ...who had a pool in thier back yard...??? not many.....and the roads that feed the beach ....its still the same.....from west hempstead to long beach we went down lawsons blvd from ocean ave past the pacers autobody...hang a left to the garbage dump...another right onto long beach road and snail pace it to the beach......yup...those were the days.....i dont think ive been to any of our beaches in over thirty years.....

[FANTASY FACTORY]

My son hears me and mom talking all nostalgia a few nites ago, so he and his girl take a ride down to Long Beach for a dose of big fresh nite air, BAMN! $50 fine for being on the beach after 9 pm! NOT swimming or swapping spit. WALKING!

[novadose454]

get out??? wtf?.....seems like us dinasaurs have outlived our island.......go figure.....

[Tmac]

L.I. was better back then. Hot Dog Beach 1976 200 keg party with live music just had to buy a mug the rest was FREE. You can't go there now it doesn't exist. Why would someone name their child Manning, sounds more like a job site activity than a name. I don't think we out lived our Island we have been socially engineered to accept the NYMBY's crap. We just need to make some adjustments. There was a lot less people back than so it was easier to get around.

[novadose454]

in some ways it was better..other ways it was bad.....riots on bussing...valley stream was in turmoil over this....lots of stuff going on ...but........for me..it was good....i wasnt political then...didnt know..didnt care....things different now...for sure.

[FANTASY FACTORY]

In retrospect, There are alot of things i wish my kid could have seen, keggers at west end, camping out under the Azores, the original version of Nathans 2. bands at Alley Pond, action up on the clearview. white castle in hollis.

[novadose454]

ahhhhhhhhhhhhh the origional nathans...in oceanside...what a place....rows and rows of picnic tables...big stage...god...those were the days....loved that place...

[FANTASY FACTORY]

with the WHIP!

[Tmac]

Nathans was the place back then. I did more biker then car stuff there though. Yeah kids today have kind of been cheated out the real Long Island life style. The place just got so crowded and NIMBYED. Even the cops were different back then, they leaned on you when you did stupid stuff but with a couple exceptions were cool if you didn't give them crap. I had a cop stop me in my 56 Nomad and ask me if he could drive it just down the street and back.

[LongIsland63SS409]

Nathans was the place back then. I did more biker then car stuff there though. Yeah kids today have kind of been cheated out the real Long Island life style. The place just got so crowded and NIMBYED. Even the cops were different back then, they leaned on you when you did stupid stuff but with a couple exceptions were cool if you didn't give them crap. I had a cop stop me in my 56 Nomad and ask me if he could drive it just down the street and back.

Very true LI was a different place back then.

Mike

[novadose454]

yup...yup...yup

[Art]

You know, after talking with a few other people, I call bullshit on the letter from the paper. If you are a "life long resident" of Suffolk County why do you sign yourself as living in North Wantagh? I don't recall North Wantagh as ever having been in Suffolk County.
And you are all hitting good points. Stuff you could do, places you could go..... We now live on the Island of "no".

[FANTASY FACTORY]

From the archives of the isle of Dr. NO!
http://i26.tinypic.com/35kvlog.jpg

[novadose454]

damn.....great pic....anything from inside....???

[FANTASY FACTORY]

google "roadside rest"

[Tmac]

That was the place. It looks different with daylight on it, I was usually there at night. Parking lot packed cops waiting for the stupid stuff. It was a nice ride from E. Northport down sagtikos to Ocean Pkwy. I guess you can still do that in the evening air but I couldn't do the hardtail and the 10 over girder with a rake. I ain't got that body anymore. I'm livin in the payback one now.

[novadose454]

it was easy for me...i lived on dogwood ave in west hempstead....just a short ride but it was always nice..
i had a 60 chevy impala 350/350 four speed....sweet ride it was too..