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Barnum Avenue

Left to right: Town of Brookhaven Councilmember Jonathan Kornreich, Scott Declue, Joe Cristino and Neil DeVine at the town-operated Port Jefferson Boat Ramp. Photo by Raymond Janis

On a rainy evening in April 2017, Smithtown resident Joe Cristino drove north on Barnum Avenue in Port Jefferson when he approached the intersection of West Broadway.

Between poor visibility and unfamiliarity with the sideroads, Cristino continued straight as the light turned green. This decision would prove to be nearly fatal.

Within seconds, Cristino’s vehicle was in the Port Jefferson Harbor, having plunged off the Brookhaven Town boat ramp just west of the marina. Six years later, he and two indivduals who helped save his life met with Town of Brookhaven Councilmember Jonathan Kornriech (D-Stony Brook) at the scene to discuss potential progress.

Cristino recalled the moment he drove off the dock. “I see that I’m in the water, so I screamed out, ‘Help, please help,’ and I saw two people at the dock, and they came running into the water,” he remembered. “Next thing I know, I’m in the hospital.”

Cristino lost consciousness for hours, placed in a medically induced coma. Doctors did not know if he would be brain dead. He remained hospitalized for five days following the incident. 

Luckily for him, there were two good Samaritans — Scott Declue and Neil DeVine — who helped to pull him from the water, saving his life.

Declue, who had braved the 38-degree water to pull Cristino from the car, remembered the trauma of looking into the eyes of a seemingly dying man.

“It’s something you never forget,” he said. “All I remember was looking at him and seeing those eyes, like, ‘You’re my only hope.’” 

Declue recalled Cristino’s precarious physical condition: “He was foaming at the mouth, and when they pulled him out, he was in a [near] rigor mortis form, frozen.” 

DeVine had jumped into the water as well. Along with Tony Barton and Wayne Rampone Jr., DeVine helped to pull a life-rescue line and ring carrying Cristino and Declue, lifting them from the frigid water.

DeVine, a Port Jefferson resident, remarked upon the severity of the moment. “To fail at this attempt would have changed our lives dramatically,” he said.

Cristino, Declue and DeVine remain friends, united by shared trauma. 

Town of Brookhaven officials are working to alleviate longtime public safety concerns over the intersection of Barnum Avenue and West Broadway in Port Jefferson. Under the new plan, above, the town aims to redesign its boat ramp exit while adding landscaping and signage. Graphic courtesy Jonathan Kornreich

Layout changes

In December, Nassau resident Stuart Dorfman was pronounced dead at the scene after driving off the same dock. [See story, “Man suffers medical emergency, drives off dock in Port Jefferson,” TBR News Media website.] Six years after the original incident, the boat ramp remains the same.

DeVine, who passes by the intersection frequently, described an unnerving feeling of hearing about another tragedy. “Reading that in the paper definitely stirred up some feelings there,” he said. 

‘This hopefully will never happen again.’

— Jonathan Kornreich

The Town of Brookhaven is taking tangible steps toward remediating the issue. Kornreich, whose 1st Council District includes Port Jefferson, attended the dock reunion with Cristino, Declue and DeVine.

Kornreich noted that the dock issue first came to his attention after reading about the most recent fatality at the site, after which he approached the town parks commissioner, Edward Morris, asking for a redesign. The commissioner complied with the request. 

“There have been a number of these kinds of incidents,” the councilmember said. “We’re getting ready to repave over here, so as part of that I asked the parks commissioner, and we’ve redesigned” the intersection.

Kornreich presented engineering plans for the redesign, which include closing off much of the existing exit to traffic while adding trees and additional signage. The councilmember said the proposed layout changes should go into effect in the coming months.

Resolutions

Upon hearing the story of Cristino’s near-death experience, Kornreich expressed both consolation for the victim and optimism for the site’s future.

“This hopefully will never happen again,” he said to Cristino. “What you went through, no one should have to endure.”

Assessing the engineering plans, Declue remarked, “This is amazing compared to what’s going on here now.”

‘The only regret is that it didn’t happen sooner.’

— Neil DeVine

On why the safety hazard has stood unchanged for so many years, Kornreich suggested that simple solutions require the necessary public attention and political initiative. “It’s not politics, it’s not complicated,” the councilmember said. “It’s just that someone has to say, ‘Hey, there’s a problem here, and let’s fix it.’”

DeVine conveyed his confidence in the new plan. “The only regret is that it didn’t happen sooner,” he said. “But I’m happy that things are going to get done now, and I’m so thankful that Joe is here with us today.”

Declue noted that tragic events do not always come to tidy resolutions. He thanked Kornreich and the town for recognizing the public’s concern and putting a plan in place. 

“You don’t have good outcomes like this all the time,” he said.

As for Cristino, who opted not to sue the town for the injuries he sustained, he remained appreciative of the potential remedy, though reminding the town not to let up until the intersection is made safe for all.

“Let’s try to get the ball rolling so that no one else will have to suffer a horrible event as I had,” he said.

Mayor Margot Garant was joined with all the different groups who made the new Barnum Avenue parking lot possible this week at a official “ribbon cutting.” Photo by Julianne Mosher

The Barnum Avenue parking lot is officially open and ready to be used. 

As part of the village’s downtown revitalization project, the lot was upgraded to include 46 new parking spaces, an electric vehicle charging station and filtration system to mitigate flooding and stormwater runoff. 

On Tuesday, May 11, village officials, along with the Port Jefferson Chamber of Commerce and representatives from the county and state, celebrated its grand opening.

“We are very, very proud of this new parking lot,” said Mayor Margot Garant. “This is the first new parking lot in the Village of Port Jefferson in over 50 years. I think that’s amazing.”

And it started about six years ago when there was a vision to remove an eyesore and put in something new. 

Located east of the Joe Erland baseball field, an old, vacant building was once located on the property. 

The Barnum Avenue parking lot. Photo by Julianne Mosher

The several-year-long process to remove the building, clean it up and turn it into a free municipal lot that is futuristic in its amenities finally came to fruition in March of this year. 

The new 32,000-square-foot lot includes 46 new spaces oriented diagonally, including two handicap spots and two EV charging stations. The lot has a one-way entrance, to help alleviate traffic congestion. 

Almost entirely technology-driven, the lot is free to everyone — all a visitor has to do is register with the barcode scan. 

“We’re trying to encourage most of our merchants and their employees to park here for free to keep all the high proximity spots available for patrons,” she said. “That way, they can have a better turnover at your shop or your restaurant.”

Garant added that last week, the village had over 4,800 parking sessions with a revenue just under $12,000.

“That means we are back to a pre-pandemic number, folks,” she said. 

The lot came to be thanks to a $200,000 jumpstart grant from Suffolk County back in 2019. The funding also helped make the lot eco-friendly, adding bioswales bordering the foot entrance on Barnum Avenue to aid in flood mitigation. Those bioswales help with stormwater runoff.

“Being conscious of stormwater runoff, and what it can do — the damage it can cause to the harbor — and making sure that when we add asphalt, we are collecting the water and it’s not bringing contaminants into our bays and waterways, that was critically important to this project,” said Suffolk County Legislator Kara Hahn (D-Setauket).

Overnight parking not permitted and will be tracked.

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Photo by Julianne Mosher

The long-awaited Barnum Avenue parking lot has officially opened, and it is something the village has never seen before. 

“This is a unique lot,” said Mayor Margot Garant. “This is the first lot in 50 years that we’ve added to the village.”

The new 32,000-square-foot lot includes 46 new spaces oriented diagonally, including two handicap spots and two EV charging stations. It’s a free municipal lot with a one-way entrance, to help alleviate traffic congestion. 

Located east of the Joe Erland baseball field, an old, vacant building was once located on the property. Deemed an eyesore, it was a several-year-long process to remove the building, clean it up and turn it into a free municipal lot that is futuristic in its amenities. 

“People think it’s just pavement and drawing lines,” Garant said. “But this is 70% technology — everything is cloud-based with new technology.”

Photo by Julianne Mosher

And that’s part of a pilot program the village board approved, with the goal to improve the ability to find parking. In April, the Parking Logix counting system will be installed at the Barnum lot to assist residents and visitors in giving them a real-time counting and management system. 

Kevin Wood, the village’s parking and mobility administrator, said the counter will be able to show drivers how many spots are available in the lot before they even pull in. 

“I had always taken notice of parking anxiety,” he said. “It’s a real thing … people get worried thinking, ‘Am I going to find a spot?’ People fighting for spots, this takes a little of the edge off.”

And that’s just part of it. The parking lots within the village will continue using QR reader technology through Honk Mobile to help people pay from their vehicles, not need to search for quarters and reduce touch points on meters in a pandemic world. 

“We’re way ahead of the curve on that,” Wood said. “We had instituted it before COVID. You don’t have to visit a meter; you can be in your car and shoot the QR from your window and pay in your car.”

Wood said that the last month visitors were required to pay for parking was in November, and 55% of the transactions were paid for through this new technology. 

He added that the QR reader in the Barnum lot will be used to track how long people park in their spots when they check in, and hopes that business owners will encourage staff to utilize the space. 

There will be no overnight parking (from 1 a.m. until 6 a.m.) in the Barnum lot, Garant said. “Code is going to enforce that.”

The only things remaining, along with the counter, is the additions of bioswales bordering the foot entrance on Barnum Avenue to aid in flood mitigation. Once constructed, the bioswales will look like two dips in the ground with plantings overlaying them, and a brand-new sign will be installed at the Joe Erland field. 

A ribbon cutting is planned in the upcoming weeks.

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The site of the planned parking lot on Barnum Avenue. File photo by Kyle Barr

The Village of Port Jefferson finally has an amount attached to plans for the Barnum Avenue parking lot, coming in lower than had been initially anticipated.

The winning bid for the Barnum parking lot was approved at the Feb. 18 village board meeting, showing Connecticut-based F&F Concrete saying it can do the project at $795,069. The company won out over five separate bids. 

At the same meeting, the board approved the $200,000 in jumpstart grant from Suffolk County that was originally announced last year. Unlike other kinds of grants, Mayor Margot Garant said, the jumpstart funds become immediately available after they are approved.

While all the money is now there for the lot, officials said the village is waiting on the grant to finalize, with the village needing to show before shovels go in the ground.

“Ideally, the village would like the project to start as soon as possible so that the lot would be open for our peak season, but that timing has a few factors to consider including but not limited to the weather, execution of the contract, insurance being satisfactory and all county grant requirements being met,” said Joe Palumbo, the village administrator in an email.

With the grant funds, the village administrator said Port Jefferson will be using approximately $600,000 from parking meter revenue. Garant said the parking capital account currently amounts to $800,000. At the end of every year, unspent revenue from the account that’s not used for salaries and other upkeep ends up in the capital account. 

“We have that money in place,” Garant said.

Though village officials had originally anticipated the project would come in at around $900,000, officials were pleasantly surprised to see the winning bid came in somewhat under that amount. 

The parking lot is expected to contain 44 new spots, located off Barnum Avenue and east of the Joe Erland baseball field. Based on residents feedback, the two-way ingress and egress planned on
Caroline Avenue have been made one-way. Surrounding plantings have also been bolstered, but the 32,000-square-foot lot will still include two electric car charging stations and two bioswales bordering the foot entrance onto Barnum Avenue to aid in flood mitigation. Once constructed, the bioswales will look like two dips in the ground with plantings overlaying them. Port Jefferson grant writer Nicole Christian had said those plantings and green initiatives were a large reason the county provided the village the $200,000 grant.  

The intersection of Barnum Avenue and West Broadway in Port Jeff Village now features left and right green arrows. Photo by Alex Petroski

Changes have finally been made to a Port Jefferson Village intersection closely situated near the Town of Brookhaven boat launch ramp within the Port Jefferson Marina.

The New York State Department of Transportation installed new traffic signals at the intersection of Barnum Avenue and West Broadway Dec. 12 in the hopes of further alerting northbound drivers on Barnum not to proceed through the intersection, as just yards away on the other side lies the boat ramp directly into Port Jefferson Harbor. The new signal features green left and right arrows, replacing the standard green signals that used to hang above the crossing.

The change was made after a letter was sent to the department by Village Mayor Margot Garant earlier this year calling for safety improvements in the aftermath of an April 6 incident in which a man in his early 60s drove into the harbor via the same boat launch. DOT Regional Director Joseph Brown responded to Garant in a letter dated Sept. 15, saying the department had conducted an investigation which included an accident analysis, turning movement counts, pedestrian counts and field observations of the area. The letter also said the DOT would heed Garant’s request and change the traffic light.

On Oct. 30, 69-year-old Lake Grove resident William Whalen was pronounced dead at the hospital after he was pulled from a submerged vehicle in Port Jefferson Harbor. His vehicle entered the water via the troublesome intersection.

“I think it’s one of many steps we’re going to continue to take,” Garant said of the new traffic signals during a Dec. 18 board meeting. “For those who are paying attention the green arrows help, but I think clearly for those people who are having either a medical problem or maybe an ulterior motive, they might just continue to drive through. I don’t really know.”

Garant said the village’s only recourse at the intersection is to add more signage, which she said the village would pursue, as West Broadway is a New York State road, and Brookhaven owns the boat ramp and marina. A spokesperson from the town declined to comment and instead directed inquiries to the office of Councilwoman Valerie Cartright (D-Port Jefferson Station)  regarding additional plans to prevent drivers from entering the harbor. Cartright’s office declined a request for comment.

Michael Schwarting and Frances Campani, of Campani and Schwarting Architects in Port Jefferson, in a joint letter to the editor and in a presentation to the village said they thought the new signals might not be enough. The architects suggested the exit from the ramp could be narrowed so that it does not perfectly align with the intersection.

“Narrowing the exit from the ramp so that it does not align with the Barnum lane running north would make it almost impossible to turn in,” the letter said. “It is pedestrian friendly, would not be very expensive and would add to the visual quality of the intersection.”

Village Deputy Mayor and Trustee Larry LaPointe said during the meeting he liked the architects’ idea.

“I thought that was a very good design,” he said. “I’d like to see the town consider that.”

In December 2005 60-year-old Setauket resident Richard Levin drove into the water on the same ramp and onlookers had to pull his unconscious body from the fully submerged car. Levin died days later as a result of the incident. The wife and executrix of the estate of Richard Levin named the town and village as co-defendants in a lawsuit in 2007. A New York State Supreme Court judge ultimately dismissed the case in 2011, finding the municipalities were not at fault.

Good Samaritans and SCPD Marine Bureau divers help a driver submerged in Port Jefferson Harbor April 6. Photo by Andrew Tetreault/Fully Involved Media Group

Following an April incident in which a man drove into Port Jefferson Harbor via the Town of Brookhaven boat ramp located at the north end of Barnum Avenue, Port Jefferson Village is calling for action.

Village Mayor Margot Garant announced during a board meeting June 5 the village has sent a letter to the New York State Department of Transportation and State Sen. Ken LaValle (R-Port Jefferson) asking for the traffic signal at the intersection of Barnum Avenue and West Broadway to be changed from having a standard green light to a green left arrow and right arrow. The April 6 incident saw a man in his early 60s drive into Port Jefferson Harbor via the ramp at about 5:30 p.m., according to the Suffolk County Police Department. The car was found submerged underwater and a few good Samaritans helped remove the man from the car. Members from the Suffolk County Marine Bureau dive team went in the water to search for possible additional victims. The driver was treated for serious injuries at Stony Brook Hospital and his current condition is still not known, according to Garant.

“People sometimes are losing their way on a misty morning or a foggy morning or a rainy morning or on a sunny morning,” Garant said during the meeting.

In the aftermath of the incident in April Garant called on the Town of Brookhaven to step up and do something to resolve the recurring issue, as the ramp is town property.

“It’s only a matter of time before this happens again,” she said.

A spokesperson for the town that asked not to be named responded to Garant’s calls for action at the time.

“The Port Jefferson boat ramp has existed at its current location for generations,” the spokesperson said. “A number of measures are in place including a multitude of ‘Do Not Enter’ signs, road arrows and other traffic control measures to clearly indicate that this is not an entrance.”

This is not the first time the positioning of the town ramp beyond the village intersection has been the source of controversy.

According to documents obtained from Brookhaven in May, both the town and village were sued by the wife and executrix of the estate of Richard Levin in 2007. Levin died Dec. 5, 2005, after driving into the water via the ramp at about 6 p.m. Alice Cialella, an eyewitness of the incident who was directly behind Levin in traffic, said Levin had his left blinker on, hesitated momentarily, then accelerated through the intersection and plunged into the harbor via the ramp.

“As a result of the negligence of the defendants in failing to properly maintain the intersection of Route 25A and Barnum Ave., in failing to properly safeguard against motorists driving onto said Port Jefferson ramp into the water, in failing to properly illuminate said area, in failing to provide fencing and warning lights — as a result of the aforementioned Richard Levin died,” the lawsuit read in part. “[The] town failed to submit any evidence that it maintained its property in a reasonably safe condition by providing adequate fencing, lighting or warning of the dangerous condition on its property.”

Judge Joseph Farneti of the New York State Supreme Court dismissed the lawsuit in January 2011 because the “acts or omissions of defendants were not the proximate cause of the alleged accident.”

Christopher Kelsch, a former village resident who was given a Carnegie Medal by the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission for trying to save Levin, said in an April phone interview he’d like to see action to prevent similar future accidents.

“People are dying here and it’s a simple fix,” he said. Kelsch also testified on behalf of Levin’s case in the 2011 lawsuit.