Authors Posts by Kyle Barr

Kyle Barr

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Regina Bornello, center, surrounded by her husband and children. Photo from Gofundme page

A Gofundme for the family of a woman who died in a Riverhead motorcycle crash Monday has already raised over $70,000 from more than 600 people as of Thursday.

Riverhead police announced July 14 that Regina Bornello, 45, of Rocky Point, was involved in a motorcycle crash the day before on Sound Avenue in Riverhead. Police said in a release that Bornello’s 2006 Harley Davidson motorcycle was travelling westbound on Sound Avenue when it entered the eastbound lane and struck a 2003 Honda Civic driven by an unidentified 50-year-old man. The Civic turned over and the Riverhead Fire Department had to extricate the owner who was taken to Peconic Bay Medical Center, according to police. Bornello succumbed to her injuries at the scene of the crash, police said.

According to the Gofundme, Bornello is survived by her husband Dennis and three children. 

“Heaven has opened its gates to a loving mother, a loving wife and a beautiful person to all that know her,” wrote John Brush, of Oakdale, on the Gofundme page he created.

Left, the Broadway Beach ramp was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy in 2012; right, the newly recostructed stairs and drainage system installed by Brookhaven town in 2020. Photos from Town of Brookhaven

Last week, the Town of Brookhaven highway department announced it had completed the $1.165 million stormwater treatment and shoreline stabilization project at the northern end of Broadway in Rocky Point, finishing a slate of over $6 million projects since Hurricane Sandy ravaged Long Island’s coastline eight years ago.

Town officials said the Broadway Beach sustained extensive damage including substantial sand, beach grass and vegetation erosion, as well as the destruction of the gabion-basket wall system, the beach access stairway and the concrete walkway after Sandy in 2012. 

At the end of last year, the town voted to enter into an agreement with the North Shore Beach Property Owners Association to start the project, which was set to start in early 2020 and finish by Memorial Day, May 25. 

In order to reduce risk of damage from future storm events, the gabion-basket walls were completely removed and replaced with steel bulkhead for toe of slope stability and an armor stone revetment wall. Highway officials said the bulkhead — which now protects areas of the bluff that have experienced significant levels of erosion in the past — has a much longer life span than the gabion-basket walls and will better protect the drainage infrastructure and shoreline from high storm surges, nor’easters and hurricanes. A new drainage system and stormwater treatment unit were also designed and incorporated into this project, ensuring that polluted stormwater is not directly discharged into the Long Island Sound.

“The completion of this project will ensure that we are less vulnerable to damage from future storms,” said Highway Superintendent Dan Losquadro (R) in a release.

The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency Hazard Mitigation Program has approved for 90 percent reimbursement of the total project cost of $1,165,000. U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY1) helped secure a total of $4.5 million in FEMA grants. The last 10 percent, or $116,500, comes from the town’s highway budget as a capital project.

In the release, Zeldin said the project is “bolstering our area’s storm resiliency,” and is “preventing future water damage.”

This project is the last of a $6 million total Hurricane Sandy response for nearly a decade. This includes:

• Gully Landing Road, Miller Place — Total Cost: $1.4 million; 90 percent funded by FEMA

• Shore Road and Amagansett Drive, Sound Beach — Total Cost: $1.3 million; $233,651 FEMA funded

• Friendship Beach, Rocky Point — Total Cost: $1,045,648; 90 percent FEMA funded

• Hallock Landing Road, Rocky Point — Total Cost: $996,829; 90 percent funded by FEMA

• Sills Gully Beach, Shoreham — Total Cost: $875,000; 90 percent FEMA funded

• Riverhead Drive, Sound Beach — Total Cost: $239,210; 90 percent FEMA funded

• Landing Road, Miller Place — Total Cost: $145,845; 90 percent FEMA funded

• Woodhull Landing Beach, Sound Beach — Total Cost: $70,000

• Hagerman Landing Road, Rocky Point — Total Cost: $43,572

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The concept drawings for the Port Jefferson Crossing development include the sight of Station Street, a one-way road which will be built by the Village of Port Jefferson to connect the eastern side of the project. Image from design plans

Conifer Realty had its first public hearing in front of the Port Jefferson Village planning board July 9. Amongst a few comments about safety and general aesthetics, Conifer representatives also revealed they were requesting that the planning board, and later the board of trustees, consider a renovated sidewalk and other amenities in place of village parkland fees.

The project, called Port Jefferson Crossing, would be located directly adjacent to the Long Island Rail Road train station and would take over the property of a now-decrepit cafe.

Kathleen Deegan Dickson, of Uniondale-based law firm Forchelli Deegan Terrana, said the developer was requesting such reduced parkland fees because of its plans to renovate the sidewalk on the southern side of the project which borders a still-to-be constructed road called Station Street. The developer plans to add trees, benches and other plantings near the intersection with Main Street, then gift that stretch of sidewalk with added amenities to the village.

“It was certainly our hope that the planning board would give some consideration to either a reduced or eliminated parkland fee in light of the fact we are improving and dedicating land back to the village,” Dickson said. “While we’re not going to pretend it’s a park it will have some features that will add a nice community benefit to the areas.”

Alison LaPointe, special village attorney for building and planning, said the determination of parkland fee is a two-step process, first with the planning board determining if there is parkland fee that needs to be assessed based on availability of parkland in the vicinity of the project, accounting for the number of new residents coming in with the planned apartments. If the planning board finds a parkland fee is necessary, the matter gets transferred to the board of trustees to determine a reasonable fee for that need. The planning board doesn’t have the availability to assess specifics of the fee, though it can account for what is already available, which may include the Texaco park just a little over a block away from the proposed site.

“The planning board has the ability to assess whether or not additional parkland facilities are deemed necessary in the vicinity,” LaPointe said.

The village has usually used the Town of Brookhaven’s formula for assessing price on parkland fee, namely a multiplier formula that requires 1,500 square feet of public green space per unit in a housing development or $1,000 fine per unit if that space can’t be provided.

The issue of parkland fees has come up in the village before, namely with The Shipyard apartments developed by Tritec on West Broadway. Original parkland fees for that development were reduced due to Tritec then saying they were providing amenities on their rooftop and in a plaza. At the time, in 2018, the village building and planning department ruled it could satisfy the parkland requirement for about 21 of that complex’s 112 units based on square footage.

In 2019, the village changed code to eliminate rooftop decks, patios and other common areas not accessible to the general public from being considered park or recreational facilities for the purposes of developers reducing the parkland fee paid to the village.

Planning board member Barbara Sabatino requested the applicant provide the total value of what Conifer plans to dedicate to the village. 

The project currently has plans for three floors, with the first floor being 3,200 square feet of retail and the next two containing 37 one-bedroom apartments and eight two-bedroom apartments. The front part of the project will take up 112 lineal feet of frontage on Main Street, and current designs show two different designs for the two halves of the building, one a “lofty style,” as put by the developer’s architects, and the other a red-brick Georgian style. Some planning board members commented on the general flatness of the exterior, but LaPointe said more of these comments will be ironed out after meetings with the Architectural Review Committee.

Only one resident commented on the proposed plans. Rebecca Kassay, the co-owner of the Fox and Owl Inn in Port Jeff, asked whether Conifer plans to have solar panels on its roof. Joanna Cuevas, senior project director for Conifer Realty, said there are currently no plans for solar panels, but the developer could assess the cost benefit of including those.

Another planning board meeting is set for Aug. 20, and is available for further public comment.

The North Fork Cruisers hosted a car show in Port Jeff to support the Rocky Point VFW Post 6249 July 11. Photo by Kyle Barr

The sweet sounds of ’50s ’60s and ’70s pop and blues drifted out over the cars settled in front of the Port Jefferson Frigate ice cream and candy shop Saturday, July 11. Despite the humidity from tropical storm Fay passing by the day before, crowds gathered in the small parking lot to look at a host of cars in all varieties to support the local VFW post that has struggled financially from the pandemic.

The nonprofit North Fork Cruisers hosted its first Car Show for Veteran Suicide Awareness, with proceeds going to the Rocky Point VFW Post 6249. The post has taken a significant financial hit due to the pandemic to the tune of approximately $10,000 to $12,000, according to post Commander Joe Cognitore. The post takes in a lot of its revenue from renting out the VFW hall during the year, but all of that was halted since March. 

Present at the show were classic Mercedes from the ’50s and other novelty cars like a pink Thunderbird and the much renowned Batmobile often seen around the North Shore. The music was provided by Long Island’s DJ Night Train and Larry Hall, of Brazier Insurance Agency, donated the trophies handed out at the end of the show. Also present was Louis Falco, the founder of Operation-Initiative Foundation, a nonprofit that supports veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder. 

Peter Oleschuk, of the North Fork Cruisers, said with the event they were “just looking to do something nice for our VFW which has been closed these past few months and hasn’t been able to fundraise.”

The event raised around $440 for the VFW post, which Cognitore said was generous of the numerous people and veterans who donated at the show. He also thanked Roger Rutherford, the general manager of The Frigate, for facilitating the car show in front of his business.

Post 6249 is planning further ways to fundraise to plug its funding hole, including a GoFundMe page which should be available to donate to within the next week. The VFW is also planning for its 13th annual golf outing to support veterans organizations come Sept. 21. 

For more information on how to support the VFW, call 631-744-9106. 

For more on Operation-Initiative, visit www.opinitfdn.org.

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Over the weekend, people formed lines outside C’est Cheese’s door to patronize it one last time before it would close Sunday, July 12. Photo by Joe Ciardullo

The well-known Main Street cheese, beer and wine shop C’est Cheese announced its doors would close July 8. By Sunday, July 12 at 6 p.m., the store’s doors were shut.

Joe Ciardullo. Photo from Facebook

The shop, known for its bevy selection of artisanal cheeses, beers, wines and coffee, announced its closing on Facebook, saying, “Your support throughout the last nine years have been overwhelming,” adding, “in this industry we have a saying the cheese fam is the best fam, and could not be happier with the family we made with the love of cheese.”

Owner Joe Ciardullo opened up the shop in September 2011. The 14-year Port Jeff resident said the COVID-19 pandemic had definitely impacted his business, though it was secondary to the main reason he is closing his business. 

“In terms of my decision making, running a business is challenging — the day-to-day operations got to be very overwhelming in these times,” Ciardullo said. “Working in food service, it’s a fickle town. There’s not a lot of businesses that last. I’ve been fortunate to have lasted this long.”

He thanked the numerous customers who have patronized his shop over the years. On Friday, July 10, customers formed a line running along the sidewalk to get one last chance to say goodbye to the shop.

 The pandemic has been a roller coaster, Ciardullo said, and the business has had to “reinvent ourselves every few weeks,” which grew into a challenge: from the initial wave that meant he had to lay off staff and establish a delivery service, to allowing outdoor dining, to finally allowing some indoor dining. The worst of it was when some customers would come into the shop not wearing masks, though the owner constantly requested they do so.

“When Phase 3 came along, that became the wake-up call that I needed to do something different — I wasn’t comfortable allowing people in my shop without masks.”

Though for right now he’s focused on selling shop equipment, he said plans for after that are still up in the air, though he plans on spending a little more time with his family.

Stock photo

On his daily update with reporters July 14, an exacerbated-sounding Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone had a rather simple message: “Wear a mask, wear a face covering, there’s too much at stake for you not to.”

This comes on the heels of new virus data for Suffolk County, which says the positive test rate broke 2 percent today as the number of new positive tests rose by 102 to a total of 42,214 in Suffolk County. The number even beats the positive test rate for New York City, which is sitting at 1.4 percent as of reporting. The overall New York State positive rate is 1.5 percent.

“This is the first time the number of new positives has risen since May 31,” Bellone said. “The numbers are moving in the wrong direction.”

While the number of people in the hospital with COVID-19 remained relatively the same at 41, along with 14 people in ICU beds, the county executive said the number of increasing cases is due to young people, especially those 30 years or younger. Since June 24, 42 percent of positive cases have come from this age group, Bellone said. 

This news also comes on the heels of a release from Gov. Andrew Cuomo who cited a Fourth of July weekend party in Holtsville as an example of how new infections are being spread. While the governor’s office put the number at 35 percent testing positive, the county put the number at 4, meaning 22 percent of partygoers were confirmed with the virus. The county did not issue any citations for the party as the number of people was under the 25 required limit for gatherings. The county executive said police did not respond to this particular gathering in Holtsville, and he did not reveal

“It’s an example of why it’s critically important that we remain vigilant,” Bellone said. “If you attended a Fourth of July gathering, you should be extremely sensitive to how you’re feeling, and when in doubt go get tested.”

Bellone added they have been doing contract tracing for events tracing back to the Fourth of July weekend, but did not have other examples of other gatherings where people have tested positive. If the county has to, Bellone said police will step up enforcement about gatherings. 

“If that number climbs to 5 percent we’re not going to be able to reopen our schools, and that will be terrible for kids and parents,” he said.

The county executive said 10 lifeguards employed by Suffolk County have been confirmed with COVID-19, but officials said they were not confirmed with the virus from being on the beach during the holiday, and more likely were infected during gatherings with fellow lifeguards. All 10 are now in quarantine.

On the positive end, however, Tuesday also marked a third day in a row where no new people have died due to complications with COVID-19.

On the state side, Cuomo added another four states to the list of places people must quarantine after coming in to include Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Wisconsin. 

 

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Police said they are looking for several people who were allegedly involved in stealing money from cars in Sound Beach early July. Photos from SCPD

Suffolk County police are seeking the public’s help to identify and locate persons who allegedly stole cash from multiple vehicles in Sound Beach earlier this month.

The 7th Precinct said several people stole cash and a wallet from vehicles parked in residential areas on Greenlawn Road and Sunrise Drive from the evening of July 1 to the morning of July 2. Two of the men were caught on surveillance video in the area.

Police said they are looking for several people who were allegedly involved in stealing money from cars in Sound Beach early July. Photos from SCPD

Suffolk County Crime Stoppers offers a cash reward of up to $5,000 for information that leads to an arrest. Anyone with information about these incidents can contact Suffolk County Crime Stoppers to submit an anonymous tip by calling 800-220-TIPS (8477), utilizing a mobile app which can be downloaded through the App Store or Google Play by searching P3 Tips or online at P3Tips.com. All calls, text messages and emails will be kept confidential.

A kitten was rescued by Suffolk County Police July 10 from a Terryville storm drain. Photo from SCPD

Suffolk County Police officers responded as quick as a cat to a little kitten reported stuck in a Terryville storm drain Friday, July 10.

Police said officers responded to 39 Clymer Street at around 6 p.m. after a 911 caller reported a kitten had fallen into the drain on the side of the road. The officers notified the Emergency Service Section.

ESS Officer Michael Viruet then climbed into the drain, police said, and rescued the kitten. The baby cat was adopted by a local resident once removed from the drain.

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Tesla Science Center Executive Director Marc Alessi at the current Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe in Shoreham. Photo by Kevin Redding

When the pandemic swept through Long Island in the past few months, when businesses closed and schools went online, the Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe in Shoreham has had to reimagine its efforts while hoping to still have in-person events at newly renovated buildings next year.

Last October, the nonprofit submitted its site plans to the Town of Brookhaven, with designs including first renovating the small, two-story house at the front of the property before starting renovations on the lab itself. Marc Alessi, the executive director of the science center, said construction had to halt due to the pandemic, but now the project has resumed after Phase 1 of reopening.

But in that time, the center has laterally moved its focus, according to the nonprofits’ executive director. Moving on to the virtual medium has allowed the center to refocus its education efforts, he said, while compelling them to come up with new fundraising opportunities. 

“It’s gratifying that even before we open our doors we’re starting to provide that content and this programming,” Alessi said.

From June into this month, the center has promoted multiple online activities. This includes a Sprint for STEAM: 5k Virtual Run/Walk/Roll for Virtual Education, where the center is hoping to raise $125,000 for virtual education programs through support or donations. The center has also started a Virtual Summer STEAM Camp for kids, led by the center’s new education director Hannah Weiss. Later this month, the center is also starting a Virtual Education Certificate Program with the New York Institute of Technology, which will specifically help teachers learn about different technologies used in distance learning. Alessi said several school districts nationally, plus a few on Long Island, will be participating, and kids from other states and even other countries are looking to participate in the virtual summer camp. This is in addition to the center’s Tesla Unwired video podcasts with scientists and other people in the tech world, which started back in April.

Alessi said this move to digital education meant they had a better foothold in a lagging economy being slammed by the pandemic.

“With everything that’s happening, we’re going all in on providing this virtual content,” he said. “We hired an education coordinator. We didn’t lay off staff, we hired staff during this crisis.”

The center is also hosting its annual Tesla Birthday Bash on July 11 differently this year, with demonstrations of a 17-foot Tesla Coil being hosted online, and the center will be showing an online and drive-in version of the movie “Tesla” several weeks before it comes out. Tickets for the drive-in screening are $150 per car, with the money going to support the center’s online education initiatives.

The science center came to be in 2012, when along with the website The Oatmeal, a small North Shore nonprofit, purchased the land with $1.4 million raised to help purchase the land. Alessi, who was brought on as executive director in 2016, said restoring the site and creating a museum is a $20 million project, of which they have raised $10 million in the past few years.

“We always felt this was a world historic site, and the fact that the world saved it really multiplies that feeling,” Alessi said.

As reconstruction continues on the laboratory building, famous for its historical nature also having been designed by renowned early 20th-century architect Stanford White, it unveils new mysteries. Workers rebuilding the chimney on the lab itself uncovered an arched brick opening in the base of the eastern chimney wall June 5, and the science center is still trying to understand why that was built into the original structure. 

Otherwise, the site plans for the larger context of the Tesla Center are still under review with the Town of Brookhaven.

But the future of the site still depends largely on what happens in the next year or so. Just like many places billing themselves as galleries or museums, many who want crowds to be able to come through and visit are depending on a vaccine for COVID-19 to more effectively ensure visitors’ safety.

“We’re lucky we’ve always stayed very lean as far as operations, and we’ve been able to create these air-tight budgets for this year,” Alessi said. “If this crisis lasts another year into next year, it could impact our programming.”

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Superintendent Jessica Schmettan. File photo by Kyle Barr

With this school year coming to an end, the Port Jefferson School District is looking back on the last few months of school to figure out what did and what didn’t work regarding distance learning.

Though Superintendent Jessica Schmettan said she would rather call the rush to create a learning apparatus for students at home an “emergency remote instruction,” she added, “We did the best we could considering the circumstances.”

It was a case, she said, of creating something from nothing. Now with some experience under its belt, the district has commissioned a committee to help establish its reopening agenda. The nearly 50 members of the task force are broken up into four subcommittees, Schmettan said, including facilities, curriculum and instructional, social and emotional wellbeing, and personnel. Included on the committees are representatives from the teachers union, clerical union, facilities union and members of parent-teacher groups like the Port Jefferson Parent Teacher Association, Parent Teacher Student Assocation and Special Education Parent Teacher Association. 

Last week, these local PTA groups released an open letter, which was published in the July 2 issue of the Port Times Record, saying that instruction was uneven across different teachers, where some held live sessions, others would use prerecorded sessions while others only posted content to Google Classroom.

The letter suggested a number of items the district could improve on, including live or prerecorded teaching time that matches what students would receive on a normal school day, and clear schedules for students to follow, including time for outdoor activities.

Schmettan said much of that is likely to be discussed within the committees. There were differences between staff members in how they were able to adapt, she said. Most teachers were using Google Classroom for schoolwork along with Google Meet and Screencastify for hosting teaching broadcasts, though some did use other online subscriptions to have students complete coursework. 

Schmettan said the biggest lesson the district has learned is that not all students are going to respond the same way to the same instruction. Likely, she said, the district will set minimum expectations for both teachers and students as far as what each will be required to do in that distance learning plan. What that will look like will be part of the committees’ discussions.

“We have to differentiate for all the learners involved, and we have to account for their individual needs on a much greater scale than we were able to do the first round,” she said.

Though practically all districts prefer in-person classrooms to distance learning, the Port Jeff superintendent said the thing students most lack from online education is the social aspect of school. The committee will have to consider how that might be amended, as well as how better to facilitate the physical component of education if students are not around for phys-ed teachers guidance.

“When you’re in a distance learning model, you’re isolated, you may not have that same interaction you have within a classroom, or you may not have that ability to discuss concepts with your age-appropriate peers,” Schmettan said. “So much is lost from not having that social impact and play, it’s a detriment to a lot of our students.”

All this still depends on what state guidance will be, whether schools will have to take a hybrid model of in-person/remote education at different parts of the year, if schools will remain virtual or go back to a full in-person learning experience. The problem is, there are different levels of government potentially giving contradictory advice. 

At the state level, there is already the NYS Education Department’s reopening task force, as well as Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s (D) reimagine education council. Meanwhile, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has released school guidance for how best to distance children. This week Betsy DeVos, secretary of education, has effectively demanded that all schools reopen and become “fully operational” on a conference call with governors, despite southern and western states seeing a massive surge in COVID-19 cases in the past month.

“We have to plan for three different scenarios and hope that we can have [the students] back in the classroom full time,” Schmettan said.