The civic association is one of the more important aspects of a community. Typically run by volunteers, the civic association serves as a connection between the community and the local elected officials, with their goals being to improve neighborhoods, foster fundamental change in the area, and inform and involve the community on projects, developments, and areas of concern.
Legislator Chad Lennon (R-Rocky Point), who began his first term representing the Sixth District in the Suffolk County Legislature in January, held a roundtable of all the civic associations in his district on Monday afternoon at the Longwood Public Library.
Attendees included representatives from Ridge, Yaphank, Sound Beach, Rocky Point, and Middle Island. The Sixth District also includes Shoreham, East Shoreham, Miller Place, Upton, and parts of Coram and Mount Sinai.
Legislator Lennon is the Vice Chair of the Veterans Committee and serves on the Committees on Environment, Parks, and Agriculture; Health; Public Safety; Public Works, Transportation, and Energy; and Ways and Means.
Frank Bailey, Recording Secretary for the Middle Island Civic Association, would like to see further involvement with the Boy Scouts, namely the Little Warrior Scoutmaster program. Bailey says he’d like to have the Scouts correspond with Lennon regarding “good citizen” requirements and regulations. Lennon said his office can certainly assist with requirements for Eagle Scout projects.
Tracy Lukas, Treasurer of the Yaphank Civic Association, mentioned that their Sunday community cleanup was endangered by speeding vehicles on Sills Road. Lukas says that the group tries to do monthly cleanup events.
“My best suggestion would be to talk to the COPE officers to coordinate a time, date, and location for the next cleanups,” said Lennon, referencing the Suffolk County Community Oriented Police Engagement officers. COPE officers are available in all seven SCPD precincts and serve as a bridge between the Department at-large and the communities. They work on an individualized scale, serving school officials and districts, advocacy groups, business owners, and civic associations to address local concerns and non-emergencies.
“The only thing that may happen is if they get a call, they may have to run because of the call,” said Lennon, stating that such police work is more reactive than proactive. “It’s why we see a lot more patrol cars on the south shore, because that’s more where the calls are coming from, instead of on the north shore. I’ve seen it, it’s frustrating, and even if you call the police department to inform them of excessive speeding, the most they might be able to do is patrol the area more.”
Lennon says that his office is more than happy to get a constituent in touch with a COPE officer.
John Schroder, Vice President of the Yaphank Civic Association, says that emergency response time is “dangerously slow” for recent calls placed on Main Street. While one incident in question was not “urgent,” it did result in fighting and an injury. He asked Legislator Lennon if the County is looking into building police classes.
“The County just did a bunch of promotions from Inspectors down to Sergeants on all levels,” said Lennon. “They also have a class graduating soon and they’re looking at two classes a year. They are having issues recruiting and lists are expiring without hiring everyone they might want to hire. I talked to the Commissioner [Robert Waring] last week and he said that they’d like to see background checks go faster and continue to push recruitment. You can’t push it too much, but it’s the nature of the work.”
Chad Charleston, President of the Yaphank Civic Association, said his top concern and questions pertain to open usage of marijuana, namely while driving.
“There’s virtually not a single day that I’m not walking down the street, particularly Main Street, that a car doesn’t fly past me and I’m getting an incredible smell of pot,” said Charleston. “It’s amazing to me. And I know it’s legal, but so is alcohol; I can’t drive down a road with beer in my hand.”
Charleston says that he has seen drivers actively smoking marijuana while at a red light, typically with their windows rolled down.
Lennon says that roadside testing for alcohol is relatively straightforward, with a breathalyzer test applied onsite, or a blood test at a precinct after an arrest if a breathalyzer is refused. Blood alcohol content can be accurately and quickly measured. On the other hand, no such test exists for marijuana, making it much more difficult to prove impairment. Additionally, marijuana tends to stay in one’s system weeks after ingestion, making the results of a blood test moot.
“It’s difficult to prove that case,” said Lennon. “Just as I might be able to smell alcohol on someone, I don’t know for sure if they’ve ingested it. The same goes for marijuana. You can go through the field sobriety test, but it can be more difficult to prove impairment that way.”
Lennon says that if police witness someone smoking marijuana while operating a vehicle, they can make an arrest on the spot. Attendees also asked if smoking marijuana while driving is legal, as to them, it doesn’t seem to be. Lennon asserted that while recreational usage of the drug is legal in New York, usage while driving is illegal.
Alicia Palifka, a trustee of the Rocky Point Civic Association, said that her organization is trying to form an advisory committee for the Rails to Trails program across northern Brookhaven. The Rails to Trails Conservancy program works with communities to preserve and transform unused railways into walkable nature paths and recreation areas.
The northern rail line once extended from Port Jefferson to Wading River, with one of the stops being Nikola Tesla’s lab in Shoreham. The line was taken over by LIPA in 1975, with the Railroad Trail coming to fruition in the last few years.
All attendees echoed the need for more trash receptacles and regular garbage pickup along the trail. Legislator Lennon said that his goal is to have more garbage bins across the trail and possibly have a mixture of County and Town-level waste contractors remove it. One attendee spoke of the Setauket Greenway, which has been operational for more than fifteen years, and that mirroring their trash pickup model might help the Railroad Trail.
Residents also voiced concerns of a large boat that was dumped on the Railroad Trail. Legislator Lennon said that the County just increased fines for such illegal dumping. The physical trail itself, plus ten feet on either side, are maintained by LIPA, while grounds further removed from the trail are maintained by the County, which may cause some territory issues in determining who is responsible for removing large-scale trash and blights.
“With anything like that, send pictures and an exact location, so that the responsible agency can determine if it’s within their boundaries and where it can be found,” said Lennon. He also said that COPE officers might be a useful bridge between the community and the proper agencies if they are provided with accurate information.
Legislator Lennon also brought up a harrowing issue that plagues Suffolk County: human trafficking.
“The victims are underage boys and girls as young as twelve to adults,” said Lennon, referencing a discussion with the Sheriff’s department.
“The adults 18 and over are 99% female. So, this is ongoing in our community. It seems like right now, most of the traffickers are drug dealers. What they’ve found is that while they can sell a drug once, they can sell a person over and over again, and they will take in these young people, exploit them, or there will be people who are addicted to drugs, and they’ll keep them on a steady diet just to be at this level to traffic them over and over again.”
Lennon says it’s happening in hotels and homes across the community. He said that he is still looking for further information and he looks to have representatives from different law enforcement agencies go to PTA meetings and inform the parents and teachers of the crisis.
Lennon also says that while Suffolk County has a Human Trafficking Court, attempts are being made to form a special court for underage victims.
Lennon also reminded attendees that if they see someone actively selling drugs to not take pictures and to not confront them, but to simply call the police from a safe location and report to them where the deal took place. Determining frequent sites of drug sales might help create links to human trafficking sources.
A member of the Middle Island Civic Association brought up development, hoping that open properties receive restaurants or other means of local economic stimulus, rather than large-scale development.
“A lot of folks in our district have said that they don’t want sewers because of overwhelming development,” said Lennon. “There are no talks of any sewer projects coming into the district right now, there’s not even a discussion of a sewer study here. I am not pushing sewers because of the feedback I get from everyone. If property is owned by the County, that’s under my jurisdiction. If a property in question is owned by the Town, contact your member of the Council and give them your feedback on it.”
Cynthia Eaton Tvelia, Secretary for the Ridge Civic Association, said that she hopes to have larger turnout for the hamlet’s summer events this year, and put out the invitation to the other civic groups to collaborate on events such as the summer concert to increase turnout and apply for joint grant funding.
Lennon also fielded questions on increased sports fields for local high school sports teams, the current state of the County IT Department, reports of personal drones flying over homes, and even the ongoing search for a new district office amid health concerns at the current office in Mount Sinai. The district email and phone numbers will still connect constituents with the Sixth District office.
