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Huntington Station

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Supervisor Frank Petrone. File photo by Rachel Shapiro

By Joseph Wolkin

Huntington Station is being revitalized as a state Brownfield Opportunity Area through Huntington Town. The designation is now one of 38 statewide which helps communities with tax credit incentives and enhances chances to receive grants.

For Huntington Station, a 640-acre portion of the town has been added to the brownfield initiative, centered on the Long Island Rail Road station. Administered by the New York Department of State, the BOA is meant to encourage municipalities to revitalize sections of towns in need of redevelopment.

“We at the Department of State are proud to have supported the work done by local leaders to envision a path forward in the renaissance of the Empire State and leave a vibrant economic legacy to our cities and towns,” New York Secretary of State Rossana Rosado said in a statement. “Brownfield Opportunity Area designation not only signals our commitment to assisting the communities to reach their own goals for revitalization, but also provides real incentives to attract private and public investment to these blighted areas.”

The Town of Huntington’s BOA designation followed planning activities financed by a $340,000 state grant.

In the initial application for the designation Huntington cited at least 27 potential brownfield areas, including garages, parking lots and vacant locations near the train station.

Along with Huntington, Riverhead Town and Southampton Town were among the 12 new recipients of the brownfield designation. Riverhead was awarded a $567,000 grant to finance planning activities, while Southampton received $236,900.

“The Brownfield Opportunity Area designation will help augment and speed the ongoing revitalization efforts in Huntington Station and help restore what was a vibrant community a half-century ago,” Supervisor Frank Petrone (D) said in a statement. “This designation will help the town take advantage of the New York State Brownfield Cleanup Program tax credits and get preference in applying for grants and financing, which should provide significant boosts in implementing the town’s plans.”

“The designation of Brownfield Opportunity Areas facilitates the restoration and development of devastated communities across the state,” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) said in a statement. “Each of these sites possesses tremendous potential for economic development and job creation, and these designations will equip local partners with the resources they need to implement their vision for community revitalization.”

The focal point of the project, according to a state press release, will be building a hotel, making streetscape improvements, and adding commercial, retail and parking development within the area. Additionally, the plan includes the remediation and redevelopment of brownfield sites near the train station.

Some factors that played a role in Huntington Station’s selection during the application process included environmental impact, land use laws and community input.

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Greenlawn Park was taped off Saturday morning after a dead body with lacerations was discovered at the end of August. File photo by Gabriella Espinoza

Earlier this summer, Supervisor Frank Petrone (D) announced the decision to increase patrol in Huntington with park rangers, who would monitor town parks and improve security, and this past weekend these rangers finished their training.

Starting last Thursday night, Sept. 1, five of the eventual six rangers went through orientation and preparation procedures, and experienced their first nights out on the job.

Huntington Station resident Jim McGoldrick was not able to get a glance of the rangers in work during the weekend, but praised the idea.

“I think it’s a great move on the town,” he said in a phone interview. “Every little bit helps. It’s coming together, and is helping the community.”

A.J. Carter, town spokesperson, said the weekend was a success, in a phone interview: “People were very happy to see them. They were given information from the community; people responded very positively.”

Although their jurisdiction is in town parks, the park rangers can intervene if they see activity on the roads or other areas outside the parks.

The officers are meant to function as peace officers do. According to New York State criminal procedure law, peace officers can make warrantless arrests; use physical force to make an arrest or prevent an escape; carry out warrantless searches with probable cause; and issue appearance tickets. They can also carry firearms and take away weapons from people who do not have the proper licenses to carry.

Carter said all rangers are certified with a firearm, know how to use a defibrillator, administer Narcan and everything else required of a peace officer.

The town spokesperson also said the exact shift times and locations have not yet been decided, as they want the rangers themselves to be able to give input once they have more experience on when and where the best use of their roles would be. Each ranger works part time, and is paid $23.53 an hour. There are expected to be two rangers on patrol per shift — one overseeing the west side of town, and the other the east. Their shifts run from Thursday to Sunday.

The park rangers operate under the supervision of the town’s public safety department.

Joe Rose, director of public safety, also said the community received the rangers very well in the opening weekend.

“Multiple people stopped them throughout their shifts to bring [up] their concerns,” Rose said in a phone interview. “It was rewarding to see the response from the public.”

Rose said an added benefit of park rangers is that it cuts down on time with handling a crime in action. Park rangers are able to act without having to call the Suffolk County Police Department first, and can issue tickets and make arrests on their own.

Huntington has experienced violent crimes in some parks.

On Aug. 20, an 18-year-old’s body was found with lacerations in Greenlawn Park. A man was walking through the town early that morning and discovered the body. In 2013, the body of a young woman was found in the Froehlich Farm Nature Preserve, which borders Huntington Station.

Many other towns on Long Island use systems like this, including Smithtown, which has a park ranger division comprised of “law enforcement personnel” who “enforce town codes, parks rules and regulations, as well as state and federal laws,” according to the Town of Smithtown website.

Carter said the final details of this program will be locked down in the coming weeks.

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File photo

A shooting in Huntington Station Aug. 27 left one man dead and another injured.

Antoine Butts-Miller, 18, was standing outside a residence on 5th Ave. with a large group of people when police said he and another man were shot at approximately 3:30 a.m.

Butts-Miller, 18, of Huntington Station, was taken by Huntington Community First Aid Squad to Huntington Hospital where he was pronounced dead. The other victim, a 31-year-old man, was also taken to an area hospital where he was treated and released.

The investigation is ongoing. Detectives are asking anyone with information on the shooting to contact the Homicide Squad at 631-852-6394 or call anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-220-TIPS.

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A man was shot while sitting inside his car in Huntington Station just before midnight on Aug. 4

Suffolk County Police Second Squad detectives are investigating the incident, in which a 22-year-old man was shot in the shoulder while on East 20th Street at approximately 11:45 p.m. Police said the ictim drove himself to Brookhaven Memorial Hospital Medical Center in East Patchogue where he was treated for non-life-threatening injuries.

The investigating is continuing. Anyone with information on the shooting is asked to call Second Squad detectives at 631-854-8252 or call anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-220-TIPS.

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Suffolk County 2nd Precinct officers arrested a Huntington Station resident for possession of a handgun on Saturday, July 23, in the early morning.

Mugshot of Cristian Rodriguez. Photo from SCPD
Mugshot of Cristian Rodriguez. Photo from SCPD

Police officers responded to a shot spotter activation, a system that picks up shots fired, just before 5 a.m. on Lenox Road in Huntington Station.

Officers arrived and arrested Cristian Rodriguez for possessing an unloaded 9mm handgun.

Rodriguez, 24, was charged with fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon. He was held overnight and is scheduled to return to the First District Court in Central Islip on July 26. His attorney did not return calls for comment.

The investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information on this incident is asked to call the Second Squad at 631-854-8252 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-220-TIPS. All calls will remain anonymous.

 

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A 40-year-old woman from Huntington Station was shot on Wednesday, July 6 just before 11:30 p.m.

Lanise Felder was walking on Craven Avenue towards 10th Avenue in Huntington Station when police said she thought she heard a firecracker explode and then felt tingling in her lower leg and realized she had been shot about four inches above her ankle.

Felder, 40, was transported by a family member to Huntington Hospital, where she contacted police and received treatment for her injury.

The investigation is ongoing. Detectives are asking anyone with information about the incident, or about a black SUV, possibly a Nissan Pathfinder, that was seen leaving the scene of the shooting, to contact the Second Squad at 631-854-8252 or call anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-220-TIPS.

 

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A bus company employee driving a minibus hit an East Northport woman Tuesday morning.

Suffolk County Police Second Squad detectives are investigating the crash, which happened on Railroad Avenue in East Northport, at the driveway of Baumann and Sons Buses, where Joanne Fuller-Astarita, the victim and an employee of that business, was hit by a minibus turning into the location at about 10:15 a.m.

Fuller-Astarita, 57, of East Northport, was airlifted to Stony Brook University Hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries. The driver of the minibus, Robert Heartland, 61, of Huntington Station, was not injured.

The minibus was inspected at the scene by officers from the Motor Carrier Safety Section. The investigation is continuing.

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One of the three cars that was involved in the crash. Photo by Steve Silverman.

A Huntington Station woman was killed, and two others were injured, in a three-car crash Sunday night as the result of an alleged drunk driver.

A mugshot of Ryan Gurecki. Photo from SCPD.
A mugshot of Ryan Gurecki. Photo from SCPD.

Ryan Gurecki, 34, of Lindenhurst, was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated just before 9:30 p.m. on June 26, after Gurecki was driving a 2010 Ford Explorer on Jericho Turnpike, and struck a 2016 Ford Escape that was stopped at a red light, police said.

The Huntington Manor Fire Department responded to the crash with two heavy rescue trucks and a rescue engine, under the command of Chief Frank McQuade. Firefighters used heavy rescue tools to extricate the three family members in the Ford Escape.

The Huntington Community First Aid Squad then transported the family to Huntington Hospital, where Karen Holden, 56, of Huntington Station, died from her injuries. Her husband, and driver of the Escape, William Holden, 57, suffered a head injury, and her son, Robert Holden, 23, suffered a back injury. Both men were listed in stable condition.

Hyun Chung, 59, of Melville, was driving a 2014 Honda Odyssey west on Jericho Turnpike and was sideswiped by Gurecki’s car, but was not injured.

Gurecki is being held at the Second Precinct and is scheduled to be arraigned this morning at First District Court in Central Islip. Attorney information for the suspect was not immediately available on the New York State court system’s online database.

All three vehicles have been impounded for safety checks and the investigation is ongoing. Detectives are asking anyone with information about this crash to call the Major Case Unit at 631-852-6555.

 

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Sarah Strobel was found dead in Suffolk County park in 2013

Fernando Romualdo mugshot from SCPD

A young woman’s alleged murderer has been arrested in Suffolk County, more than two years after police found her dead body in a nature preserve, shocking her community.

The Suffolk County Police Department announced on Thursday that they had charged 28-year-old Fernando Romualdo with second-degree murder in the case of Sarah Strobel, whose lifeless body was found in the Froehlich Farm Nature Preserve in October 2013.

Attorney information for the suspect, a Huntington Station resident, was not immediately available on the New York State court system’s online database.

Romualdo was incarcerated at the Mohawk Correctional Facility in upstate Rome on an unrelated charge but is now being held without bail at the county jail in Riverhead. According to the New York State Department of Corrections’ inmate database, he was sentenced to three years for second-degree rape last year, with his earliest possible release date in March 2018.

The 23-year-old murder victim, herself a Huntington Station resident who lived just a few blocks away from the defendant, was discovered at the Huntington nature preserve, near West Rogues Path, shortly before 9 a.m. on Oct. 3, 2013. Police said that day that a person walking on a path in the park noticed the body of an adult female off to the side of the path and called police. Authorities later identified her as Strobel and deemed her death criminal in nature.

Above, a scene from a candlelight vigil where friends of 23-year-old Sarah Strobel gathered. Photo from Taylor Friedman
Above, a scene from a candlelight vigil where friends of 23-year-old Sarah Strobel gathered. Photo from Taylor Friedman

Shortly after she was found dead, a friend of Strobel’s said the walking path was a favorite hiking spot of the victim’s. That friend, Taylor Friedman, helped organize a candlelight vigil to pay tribute to the young woman, a 2008 Walt Whitman High School graduate in the South Huntington school district.

“Sarah was a free spirit and a wise soul,” Friedman said at the time. “She lived her life to the fullest and made the best of any situation whether it was bad or good.”

Strobel was also honored in July 2015, when Huntington Station residents came together to honor several youths who had been killed over the last few years and dedicated both trees and a memorial stone to those victims at Depot Road Park.

In addition to Strobel, the community remembered the lives of 18-year-old Maggie Rosales, who was found stabbed to death, lying on Lynch Street in October 2014, and 25-year-old Danny Carbajal, who was shot in the head outside his home in July 2014. While a Huntington Station man has been prosecuted for Rosales’ murder, Carbajal’s death remains unsolved.

The deaths spurred community efforts to make Huntington Station a safer place.

Friends, family and town officials gather to remember Maggie Rosales, Danny Carbajal and Sarah Strobel in Huntington Station on Thursday. Three trees were planted in their honor. Photo by Mary Beth Steenson Kraese
Friends, family and town officials gather to remember Maggie Rosales, Danny Carbajal and Sarah Strobel in Huntington Station on Thursday. Three trees were planted in their honor. Photo by Mary Beth Steenson Kraese

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Park rangers would monitor Huntington Station parks to give a greater sense of police presence to the area. Stock photo

After a slew of violent incidents in Huntington Station, town Supervisor Frank Petrone (D) has proposed using park rangers to help monitor the area and improve security.

In the past two months, Suffolk County Police Department has publicly reported two dead bodies found in Huntington and three shootings in the area. Residents have asked officials at town board meetings for resolutions to the safety issue.

According to town spokesman A.J. Carter, the town plans to hire three to four park rangers, who would be recently retired or active but off-duty policemen and have the same powers as peace officers.

Although their jurisdiction specifically would be town parks, Carter said the park rangers would be allowed to intervene if they see activity on the roads or other areas outside the parks.

Huntington Station borders the Froehlich Farm Nature Preserve, where the body of a young woman was found in 2013, and includes the following parks within the neighborhood: Gateway Park on New York Avenue at Lowndes Avenue; Manor Field Park on East 5th Street; Depot Road Park; and Fair Meadows Park on East Pulaski Road and Park Avenue.

According to New York State criminal procedure law, peace officers can make warrantless arrests, use physical force to make an arrest or prevent an escape, carry out warrantless searches with probable cause and issue appearance tickets, among other powers. They can also carry firearms and take away weapons from people who do not have the proper licenses to carry.

All peace officers in New York need to go through a special training program.

Carter said Petrone has spent months researching the idea.

Many other towns on Long Island use systems like this, including Smithtown, which has a park ranger division comprised of “law enforcement personnel” acting as peace officers in town-owned facilities to “enforce town codes, parks rules and regulations, as well as state and federal laws,” according to Smithtown’s website.

Smithtown park rangers work in conjunction with Suffolk police, and Carter said Huntington plans to do the same. Duties for Smithtown rangers include preserving town property, deterring crime, arresting offenders and assisting in searches for missing persons.

“It’s another presence in the community with the ability to make arrests,” Carter said in a phone interview.

The town spokesman also said the money to hire peace officers would be taken from the part of the budget set aside for additional seasonal hires.

As for information on uniforms, salary, shift schedules and more, Carter said the program is still in the works and no other news is available at the moment.

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