Although considered to some as a main road, Lincoln Avenue in Holbrook to most seems off the beaten path.
On the outskirts of a quiet neighborhood, Lincoln Avenue has developed a reputation for being a sort of passageway between the Ronkonkoma Train Station and Veterans Memorial Highway-– which serves as a gateway to either the Long Island Expressway or Sunrise Highway.
Lincoln Avenue also lines the perimeter of Long Island’s MacArthur Airport, making this semi-hidden road essential for those traveling by train, plane and automobile.
Recently, there has been a lot of disturbance in the area due to unassuming culprits— the Uber drivers. At all hours of the night, these drivers line the avenue waiting for calls to transport. Being equidistant to the airport and the train station, this area has become known as a “hot spot” for drivers looking for work.
However, while they wait for a call, they seem to be blocking residents from entering their driveways, from parking and from even driving down the street.
While police have been called to the scene of many confrontations, still, the neighborhood has been rattled by its new intruders.
“This has been going on for well over a month now. I had been noticing a lot of cars in the area,” said Patty Armine. “Little by little, day by day, more and more cars started appearing. At first, you think nothing of it, but then as time went on they started multiplying. One day, I was driving past Robert Street Park, which is a very small community park, and I saw about seven cars in this tiny parking lot. I drove past and saw middle-aged men on their phones.”
It was at this point that Armine started talking to her neighbors. She’d come to find out that these people that were being seen at the park or lining the streets were Uber drivers awaiting work.
“Almost all of us have called the cops because it’s intrusive,” Armine continued. “One night, a woman sat in front of my house, with her lights shining through my windows at 10 p.m., that’s when I lost it. I told her to leave and that she was loitering. We have a lot of kids riding bikes here, these cars are even parked in the morning by bus stops. It’s unsafe to have these strangers integrating into our quiet neighborhood.”
Armine, along with countless neighbors, have been actively trying to get the situation under control. They have continued to notify authorities and have even asked the drivers to leave themselves.
Still, this is an ongoing issue in this small Holbrook community that is awaiting a resolution.
