A rendering of proposed bus lanes on Nicolls Road. Rendering by Greenman-Pedersen, Inc.
While a Jan. 27 Suffolk County Council on Environmental Quality meeting was canceled, the letters the council requested of residents regarding a proposed rapid transit system along Nicolls Road were received.
Originally the council members were to meet to begin the decision-making process to determine the implications of the State Environmental Quality Review Act for the bus system. The proposal to create Suffolk’s first north-south multimodal transportation corridor was introduced by Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone (D) in 2015. The proposed corridor would feature dedicated lanes for rapid transit buses traveling along Nicolls Road between Stony Brook and Patchogue, as well as high occupancy vehicle lanes in some sections, with the goal of relieving traffic congestion.
Rebecca Sinclair, county deputy commissioner of economic development and planning, commented on the canceled meeting in an email.
“The Department of Economic Development and Planning had become aware of community concerns not previously raised during outreach and project briefing sessions, and needs time to properly consider, while also being consistent with the requirements and regulatory framework of both the county and the federal funding agency.”
State Assemblyman Steve Englebright (D-Setauket) was one of the letter writers. In his letter of Jan. 20 that he shared with TBR News Media, Englebright expressed his concerns about the project and asked the council to require a full environmental review accompanied by the preparation of a Draft Environmental Impact Statement.
“For my constituents Nicolls Road is much more than just a transportation corridor; it is the gateway to our community,” he wrote.
According to Englebright, the project could add 75 acres of impermeable pavement to the corridor, and he was informed that it would span “34 subwatershed areas and crosses the regional groundwater divide that defines the center of the deep-flow recharge of our sole-source aquifer system.”
Englebright said the road was originally designed to be a north-south greenway, noting this is most relevant to the section of Nicolls from Route 25A to 347. He added the area “was central to the vision of Ward Melville who was our community’s original planning genius and patron.” Melville donated the land that Stony Brook University is situated on.
“Stony Brook University straddles Nicolls Road in this stretch of roadway,” Englebright wrote. “Expanses of green grass fill the wide median and stands of native woodland trees create the natural feel of a linear parkway and provide a green screen for the university campus as per Mr. Melville’s expectation. This legacy should not be compromised.”
The Three Village Civic Association also shared its CEQ letter with The Village Times Herald. Like Englebright, the TVCA is urging the CEQ to recommend a SEQRA Positive Declaration and a full environmental impact statement for the transit project.
“Nicolls Road is the gateway to the Three Village community which includes Stony Brook and the Setaukets,” the letter read. “It’s more than just a transportation corridor; it defines the rural and historic character of the Three Villages.”
Both Englebright and the civic association feel that there should be more public input when it comes to the project.
“To date the outreach by Suffolk County has been deficient and poorly carried out,” the TVCA letter stated. “In fact the only hearing in which the public was invited to attend to learn about the bus transit project was held on December 13, 2016, several days before Christmas and at Suffolk Community College, a location miles away from the Three Village community.”
CEQ will meet Wednesday, Feb. 10, via Zoom at 9:30 a.m. Residents can email their statements for the public portion of the meeting to [email protected].
To commemorate American Heart Month, February is dedicated to heart disease research and heart health care.Dawn Blatt, a resident of Miller Place, had a heart attack on Feb. 20, 2012, while on vacation with her family and chooses to share her story.
While in California, she began feeling chest pressure that lasted about 20 minutes and eventually went away. She thought it was nothing, and didn’t want to say anything or ruin the trip.
“About two hours later, when we were sitting in the hotel, that chest pressure came back and actually got worse,” she said. “I started getting pain down my left arm, the chest pressure turned to some pain. I was feeling anxious.”
Blatt knew something was going on and she had to act on it. She was getting ready to head into the elevator to catch a ride to the hospital in a city she didn’t know when her husband called 911.
The paramedics did vitals and were talking about EKG changes in her hotel room. Blatt, a physical therapist, heard terms that are usually said to her patients — not typically to her.
The then 46-year-old was taken by ambulance to the hospital and after talking with a doctor, he said that she did indeed have a heart attack.
“That sense of denial that I was having the whole time even though I knew what the symptoms would correlate to was still a shock for me to hear those words,” she said. “And everybody that came in to the room kept saying, ‘Oh, you’re so young!’ and that really got me angry after a while because obviously I wasn’t too young — I had a heart attack.”
The mother of two did not have previous signs or symptoms. She didn’t have the risk factors that would lead people to think she would have a heart attack. Blatt said she was always on the treadmill and was an active person.
“The recovery was physically and emotionally challenging for me,” she said.
In California, to address her cardiac catheterization, one stent was put in her left anterior descending artery in her heart during 1st cardiac catheterization, and four more were added when she came home to New York.
Nearly nine years after the heart attack, Blatt now has no restrictions or limitations.
“I feel like I was lucky,” she said. “But since then, I have started to learn about the fact that so many women are not aware of risk factors, or that the signs of a heart attack can be different for women, especially.”
So, she’s using her voice to talk to others and build a supportive community for people who’ve have been through similar situations. An active member of the national organization WomenHeart, she’s there for other women who have dealt with heart problems big and small.
“The women that I have met through WomenHeart are my heart sisters, and they’re the people that get it,” she said. “It’s so helpful to be able to ask questions of people who’ve been through similar experiences, and that can help give you support or ask questions. That’s why I have decided to help spread the word, raise awareness and support other women living with heart disease.”
Blatt added that sharing her story with others not only gives them someone they can relate to, but is a healing experience for her, as well.
According to Blatt, she has learned a lot of facts about heart health from the nonprofit. WomenHeart has a directory of scientific data, links, an advisory panel of doctors and researchers throughout the country, and is trustworthy and credible.
She said, for women specifically, it’s important to know that heart disease is the leading cause of death for women and there are plenty of signs to know when something wrong is happening.
“A lot of people think, ‘Younger women don’t have heart attacks, they don’t have heart disease,’ but I’ve met so many women in their 20s, 30s and 40s with various forms of heart disease,” she said. “It’s not just an old man’s disease anymore — it’s affecting women.”
Blatt said there’s more to a heart attack then pressure pain in the left arm, and it’s not “just an anxiety attack.”
“Pay attention, seek medical attention, seek medical care, get answers to your signs and symptoms, and if you’re not happy with what they’re telling you, get a second opinion,” she said. “When women go to the ER, if they think they’re having a heart attack, use the words ‘I think I’m having a heart attack.’ That will get you in, otherwise you’re going to be waiting. When you’re having a heart attack, the quicker you get in and get treated, the less damage you can have.”
Friday, Feb. 5, is National Wear Red Day. Everyone is encouraged to wear red and raise support for American heart health.
According to the National Weather Service, heavy snowfall is expected to begin around midnight tonight, through Tuesday morning. Total snow accumulations are expected to be between 6 and 16 inches with wind gusts as high as 50 mph. Travel is expected to be hazardous. Heavy wind gusts could bring down trees and limbs. Blizzard like conditions are possible for Monday through the evening.
All domestic animals should remain indoors during the freezing temperatures, with the exception of allowing dogs to venture out briefly to go to the bathroom. Outdoor animals should be sheltered indoors for the duration of this storm.
Please check on your neighbors with disabilities, special needs or senior citizens. Make sure they have an emergency phone, plenty of water, food and blankets. Ask if they have someone to call in the event of an emergency.
Residents should attempt to remove any brush or leaf bags from the street prior to the storm. Residents should park vehicles in driveways so crews can plow roads more efficiently during and after snow accumulation.
Post Storm Safety: When plowing driveways please be cognizant not to block fire hydrants with snow mounds. Public Safety Fire Marshals urge residents using generators to take a moment to confirm that the exhaust is facing outwards and at least 20’ away from a building. This can protect loved ones from CO poisoning and can prevent fires caused by generators incorrectly positioned.
Power Outages – PSEG Information: View PSEG Long Island’s outage map Click Here
To report and receive status updates on an outage Text OUT to PSEGLI (773454) or to report an outage online visit www.psegliny.com
To register, have your account number available and text REG to PSEGLI (773454)
Downed wires should always be considered “live.” Do not approach or drive over a downed line and do not touch anything contacting the wire. To report a downed wire, call PSEG Long Island’s 24-hour Electric Service number: 1-800-490-0075
Suffolk 311: Suffolk County 311 is a central call center available to residents who do not know which number to call for any non-emergency. Residents can reach the 311 line Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. or leave messages after hours.
Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone introduced a plan Jan. 25 for the return of high-risk sports. Photo from Bellone’s office
High-risk sports such as basketball, wrestling and cheerleading can resume, days after Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) gave local health commissioners the green light to allow these sports to restart.
Suffolk County has developed a sports plan in connection with Suffolk County School Superintendents Association and Section XI Athletics.
“We know how important sports are in our kids’ lives,” County Executive Steve Bellone (D) said during a Jan. 25 press conference announcing the resumption of high-risk sports. “If we can get kids back on the field in as safe a way as possible, we know it’ll bring great benefits.”
As a part of the sports program, all student-athletes will have to take weekly tests for the COVID-19 virus. The county will provide free, rapid tests to school districts, which school nurses will administer.
“Testing is critical,” Bellone said.
New York State is expected to provide an initial allocation of 20,00 rapid tests and will look to provide more tests for schools to use each week.
Positive tests will result in a 10-day quarantine. Each coach is required to supply information to the Suffolk County Department of Health Services for an extensive contact tracing investigation.
The county issued several guidelines, including taking temperatures of players and coaches before practices and games, encouraging mask wearing whenever possible, enforcing social distances when student-athletes are not playing, minimizing equipment sharing, and requiring hand washing before and after practices and games as well as after sharing equipment.
The county also advised programs to play outdoors if possible and to use well-ventilated spaces.
Through Bellone’s office, the county has created the Champion of the Community Pledge, which encourages athletes to take numerous safety measures.
After they read the pledge, students will be asked to sign it and give it to the school.
As a part of this agreement, students accept that if they don’t honor their pledge, they “would be failing to comply with a legitimate school directive and pursuant to school and Section XI policies, students, faculty and staff will be subject to the appropriate accountability measures and disciplinary actions,” according to the pledge.
Athletes must stay safe, healthy and informed of COVID-19 updates, unite with team members and the community to have a memorable season, follow face mask, hygiene and social distancing guidelines, follow additional health and safety requirements, which may include testing and self-quarantining, operating in a healthy environment and completing daily declarations, lead by example and serve as a role model for team members and the community.
Boys and girls basketball, wrestling and competitive cheer will resume Feb. 1 and will conclude Feb. 27.
On average, more than 60,000 student-athletes participate in various high school sports during a normal school year.
Bellone also directed the Suffolk County Parks Department to work with Section XI to set up a fair process for districts to schedule cross-country meets in county parks.
Park sites that the county will make available for competition include West Hills County Park in Melville and Blydenburgh County Park in Smithtown.
A sharing table at Heritage Park. Photo by Julianne Mosher
By Julianne Mosher and Rita J. Egan
Give a little, take a little — sharing is caring.
A new phenomenon that has made its way across Long Island — and now the country — is a discreet way to help those in need.
The Sharing Tables concept, of New York and California, was started up in November by a Seaford mom and her young daughter.
“I woke up on Sunday, Nov. 22, and me and my 6-year-old daughter didn’t have anything to do that day,” Mary Kate Tischler, founder of the group, said. “We went through our cabinets, got some stuff from the grocery store and started publicizing the table on Facebook.”
The Sharing Table is a simple concept, according to her: “Take what you need and leave what you can, if you can.”
Tischler, who grew up in Stony Brook, said the idea is that whoever sets up a table in front of their home or business will put items out that people might need, with the community coming together to replenish it.
“The very first day people were taking things and dropping things off,” she said. “It was working just as it was supposed to.”
When the table is set up, organizers put out anything and everything a person might need. Some put out nonperishable foods, some put toiletries. Others put toys and books, with some tables having unworn clothing and shoes. No one mans the table. It’s just out front, where someone can discreetly visit and grab what they need.
“Since there’s no one that stands behind the table, people can come up anonymously and take the item without identifying themselves or asking any questions,” Tischler said. ”Some of our neighbors are in a tough time where they can’t pay their bills. I think the Sharing Tables are really helping fill those needs.”
And they’re popping up everywhere. In just three months, the group has nearly 30 Sharing Tables in New York, with one just launched in Santa Monica, California.
Mount Sinai
From clothing to toys, to food and books, Sharing Tables, like the one pictured here in Mount Sinai, are a way to help in a discreet and anonymous way. Photo by Julianne Mosher
On Sunday, Jan. 18, a Sharing Table was put outside the Heritage Trust building at Heritage Park in Mount Sinai.
Victoria Hazan, president of the trust, said she saw the Sharing Tables on social media and knew that the local community needed one, too.
“It was nothing but good, positive vibes,” she said.
When she set up the table with dozens of different items that were donated, people already started pulling up to either grab something they needed or donate to the cause.
“Some people are shy,” Hazan said. “What’s great is that you set up the table and walk away. There’s no judgement and no questions asked.”
What’s available at the tables will vary by community and what donations come in.
“The response from the community blew my mind totally,” Hazan said. “This was the right time to do this.”
St. James
Joanne Evangelist, of St. James, was the first person in Suffolk County to set up a Sharing Table, and soon after, other residents in the county followed.
The wife and mother of two said it was the end of the Christmas season when she was cleaning out drawers and her pantry. On the Facebook page Smithtown Freecycle, she posted that she had stuff to give away if anyone wanted it, but she would find sometimes people wouldn’t show up after she put something aside for them.
“So, I put it on a table outside — not even knowing about the group or thinking anything of it,” she said, adding she would post what was outside on the freecycle page.
Joanne Evangelist stands by her table in St. James filled with food, cleaning supplies and more. Photo by Rita J. Egan
Tischler saw the Smithtown Freecycle post and reached out to Evangelist to see if she would be interested in setting up a Sharing Table. The St. James woman thought it was a good idea when she heard it. While Evangelist regularly has food, toiletries, cleaning products and baby products on the table, from time to time there will be clothing, toys and other random items. Recently, she held a coat drive and the outwear was donated to Lighthouse Mission in Bellport, which helps those with food insecurities and the homeless.
She said she keeps the table outside on her front lawn all day long, even at night, unless it’s going to rain, or the temperatures dip too low. People can pick up items at any time, and she said no one is questioned.
Evangelist said she also keeps a box out for donations so she can organize them on the table later on in the day, and the response from local residents wanting to drop off items has been touching.
She said helping out others is something she always liked to do.
“I was a candy striper in the hospital when I was younger,” she said. “I just always loved volunteering, and I’m a stay-at-home mom, so, honestly anything I could do … especially with the pandemic.”
Evangelist said she understands what people go through during tough financial times.
“I’ve used a pantry before, so I know the feeling,” she said. “I know the embarrassment of it.”
Northport
Lisa Conway, of Northport, and two of her five children, Aidan, 16, and Kate, 14, set up a Sharing Table after their garage was burglarized on New Year’s Eve.
Conway said her children, who attend St. Anthony’s High School in South Huntington, were looking for a community outreach project. She had seen a post about the Sharing Tables on Facebook and was considering starting one, but she was debating how involved it would be.
Then the Conway’s garage was burglarized where thousands of dollars of tools were stolen, an electric skateboard, dirt bike and more including a generator that was taken from the basement. The wife and mother said the family felt fortunate that the robbers didn’t enter the main part of the house.
Conway said after the experience she realized that some people need to steal to get what they need and decided the Sharing Table would be a good idea.
“They can come take what they need without having to steal from anyone,” she said.
Her children have been helping to organize the items they receive, and every day Aidan will set everything up before school and clean up at night. He said it’s no big deal as it takes just a few minutes each day.
Aidan said there have been more givers than takers.
“People are a lot more generous than what I expected them to be,” he said.
The mother and son said they have been touched by the generosity of their fellow residents. Conway said she’s been using the Nextdoor app mostly to generate contributions. She said she started posting on the app to let people know what they needed for the table. One day after a posting indicating they needed cleaning supplies for the table, they woke up to find the items outside.
The family has also received a $200 Amazon gift card to buy items, and another person bought them a canopy to protect the table.
Conway said every once in a while, she will be outside when people are picking up items. One woman told her how she drove from Nassau County. Her husband was suffering from three different types of cancer, and he couldn’t work due to his compromised immune system. She told her how they had to pay the bills first, and then if there was money left over they could buy food.
Another day Conway went outside to see that someone had left gum and mints on the table.
“I just was so touched by that,” the mother said. “They wanted to leave something they didn’t just want to take, and that’s all they had.”
Conway said it’s a learning experience for her children to know that there are people on public assistance who can’t use the funds for items such as paper goods or cleaning items, and there are others who are struggling but not eligible for any kind of assistance.
“My youngest one is 9, and even he can’t believe when he sees people pulling up,” she said. “He’s not really in the helping phase but I love that he’s seeing what we’re doing.”
Aidan agreed that it is an important learning experience. He said before he wasn’t familiar with those who had financial issues.
“It’s not good to know that there are people out there with financial issues, but it’s good to know that you can help them,” he said.
Conway said the Sharing Tables came around at the right time as she was suffering from “COVID fatigue,” and it changed her outlook on life.
“I feel like my faith in humanity has been restored,” she said.
How you can help
Tischler said that if people would like to donate but cannot get to a Sharing Table, there is an Amazon wish list on the group’s Facebook page. Items ordered through the site will be delivered to Tischler’s home, where she will personally deliver to the Sharing Tables across Long Island. Addresses for locations are listed on the Facebook page.
“It’s been such a whirlwind,” she added. “I have to stop and pinch myself and take stock of what’s happening.”
Kara Hahn takes the oath of office as deputy presiding officer administered by County Clerk Judy Pascale on Jan. 4. Photos from Suffolk County Legislators
The Suffolk County Legislature has officially started its new session, with new lawmakers sworn in this week for the body’s 52nd organizational meeting Jan. 4.
Legislator Nicholas Caracappa (R-Selden) took his ceremonial oath of office as a new lawmaker, while Rob Calarco (D-Patchogue) and Kara Hahn (D-Setauket) were reelected to their leadership posts.
Calarco, legislator for the 7th District, was reelected to lead the body for a second year as presiding officer in a bipartisan vote, and Hahn, who represents the 5th District, was reelected deputy presiding officer, also in a bipartisan vote.
Rob Calarco takes the oath of office as presiding officer of the Suffolk County Legislature. Photo from Suffolk County Legislature
“Important projects await us in the coming year, and we will confront the challenges of 2021 the same way we did in 2020 —in a bipartisan fashion with a shared commitment to cooperation and finding common ground,” Calarco said in a statement.
In his remarks, he reflected on the challenges of 2020 and pointed to legislative progress on diversity and inclusion, open space and farmland preservation, and updates to the county’s wastewater code.
In 2021, Calarco looks forward to building out sewers in Patchogue, the Mastic Peninsula, Deer Park, Smithtown and Kings Park, which will help protect Suffolk County’s water and provide an economic boost to downtowns. Additionally, he said the Legislature will soon be presented with a plan to reinvent policing in Suffolk, as required by an executive order from Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D).
“The men and women of our law enforcement agencies work hard every day to do their jobs professionally and with a commitment to protecting all the residents of Suffolk County, yet we also know whole portions of our population fear the presence of police in their community, making officers’ jobs far more difficult,” he said. “We must put politics aside to ensure the plan addresses the root of those fears, and builds on the initiatives already underway to establish trust and confidence between our police and the communities they protect.”
Hahn intends to continue focusing on the global pandemic that has hit close to home.
“Looking ahead, 2021 will once again be a tough year, but with a vaccine there is now a light at the end of the tunnel,” she said in a statement. “We will focus our efforts on halting the spread of COVID-19, helping those in need, conquering our financial challenges and getting through this pandemic with as little heartache and pain as possible. There is hope on the horizon, and I know we will come back stronger than ever.”
After winning a special election in November, Caracappa will now represent the 4th District, filling the seat left by Republican Tom Muratore (R-Ronkonkoma) who passed suddenly in September.
Nicholas Caracappa is sworn in as new legislator for Suffolk County’s 4th District. Photo from Suffolk County Legislature
A lifelong resident of Selden, Caracappa was a 34-year employee of the Suffolk County Water Authority. He was president of the Utility Workers Union of America, AFL-CIO, Local-393 for 14 years and previously served as a member of the union’s national executive board.
He also served as a Middle Country school district board of education trustee for seven years and volunteered at Ground Zero. He said his goal is to keep his district’s quality of life at the forefront.
“I am committed to the quality of life issues that make this community a great place for families to live, work and enjoy recreation,” he said in a statement. “My focus will be to eliminate wasteful spending, support our law enforcement, first responders and frontline health care workers, and protect our senior citizens, veterans and youth services.”
He added that he wants to continue enhancing Long Island’s environmental protection initiatives including critical water-quality measures and expanding the existing sewer studies in his district’s downtown regions.
The Legislature’s Hauppauge auditorium is named after his late mother, Rose Caracappa.
Legislator Sarah Anker (D-Mount Sinai) was sworn in last year. Representing the 6th District, she said she looks forward to continuing and expanding on the important work she’s been doing for the community. Specifically, for 2021, her top priority is working with the health department, along with federal, state and local governments to address the COVID-19 pandemic.
Anker said she wants to prioritize public safety and plans to continue to work with the county’s Department of Public Works and the state’s Department of Transportation to monitor and create safer roads.
As the chair of the county’s Health Committee and chair of the Heroin and Opiate Epidemic Advisory Panel, she also plans to continue to collaborate with panel members to monitor the impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the opioid epidemic on Long Island.
“Together we have worked to protect the integrity of this great community by addressing issues and improving our quality of life,” Anker said. “This year, I will continue to be proactive in dealing with this current pandemic and prioritize issues including stabilizing county finances, fighting crime and the drug epidemic, addressing traffic safety and working to preserve what’s left of our precious open space.”
Suffolk County Legislator Sarah Anker speaks during a press conference in 2017 about the creation of a permanent panel to address the ever-growing opioid crisis. File photo by Kyle Barr
Suffolk County’s 2020 annual report on the lingering opioid crisis showed an increase in the number of overdoses from the previous year, with experts expressing concern for the impact the pandemic has had on addiction rates.
The Suffolk County Heroin and Opiate Epidemic Advisory Panel released its findings Dec. 29 showing there were 345 fatal overdoses in 2020, which includes pending analysis of some drug overdose cases, according to the county medical examiner’s office. While, on its face, that number did not increase over the past year, nonfatal overdoses climbed by 90 to 1,208, com-pared to 2019, according to Suffolk County police. This increase defies a general trending de-crease in nonfatal overdoses since 2017. Police also reported 910 opioid overdose-antidote na-loxone saves for individuals compared to 863 in 2019.
In some ways more worrying than overall overdose numbers has been the treatment situation on the ground, with professionals in the field reporting an increase in relapses during the pan-demic, according to the report.
Numbers released by police after a May inquiry from TBR News Media showed overdoses were up dramatically when comparing months before the start of the shutdown orders in March to the weeks directly afterward. Medical experts and elected officials all agreed that pandemic-related anxiety, plus the economic downturn and mandated isolation led to increased drug use overall. People in the treatment industry have also said the pandemic has pushed them toward utilizing telehealth.
Legislator Sarah Anker (D-Mount Sinai), the panel chair, said COVID-19 has led to challenges among all county governmental and community agencies, with “overwhelmed hospitals fighting on the frontline, addiction rates skyrocketing with limited resources and economic un-certainty due to business disruption.”
There have been 184 deaths related to opioids in 2020, according to the report, with 161 poten-tial drug overdoses still pending review. Among the North Shore towns, not accounting for those still in review, there were 18 deaths reported in Huntington, 13 in Smithtown and 69 in Brookhaven, the latter of which had the most opioid-related deaths of any Suffolk township. Police data also shows the 6th Precinct bore the brunt of the most overdoses and the most Narcan saves.
National data also bears a grim toll. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Pre-vention’s National Center for Health Statistics there has been a 10% increase in drug overdose deaths from March 2019 to March 2020. Approximately 19,416 died from overdoses in the U.S. in the first three months of 2020, compared to 16,682 in 2019.
In addition to Suffolk’s report, the advisory panel has sent letters to state and federal reps ask-ing them not to cut any state funding for treatment and prevention and for the state tosup-port provider reimbursement rates for telehealth and virtual care that are on par with face-to-face rates. They also requested that New York State waives the in-person meeting requirement for people to receive buprenorphine treatment, which can help aid in addiction to painkillers.
County legislators are also touting a new youth addiction panel, which is set to begin meeting in the new year. The county is also continuing its lawsuits against several pharmaceutical com-panies for their hand in starting the opioid epidemic.
That’s not to say there haven’t been other setbacks in Suffolk’s efforts against opioids. Last Oc-tober, county Legislator William “Doc” Spencer (D-Centerport) was arrested for an alleged at-tempt to trade oxycodone for sex. Spencer was the one to initiate the creation of the youth panel. He has pleaded not guilty, though he has stepped down from his position on the panel, among other responsibilities.
There are currently 29 members on the opioid advisory panel, including representatives from the county Legislature, law enforcement, first responders, treatment centers and shelters.
While Anker thanked current members of the panel for their continued efforts, she said more work is needed.
“The opioid epidemic is an ongoing issue that needs to be addressed continuously from all fronts,” she said.
The Town of Brookhaven and Suffolk County Sheriff Department honored frontline workers, including the town’s Health and Human Services Department and its contracted food workers from Florian Foods. Photo from TOB
It would be impossible to commemorate every government worker in a single article, but the massive number of people busting their back in the midst of the pandemic helped an immeasurable number of residents when the worst was underway, whether they were custodial staff cleaning buildings for people to work in, or post office workers delivering mail, there are innumerable people the community owes their thanks to.
In this case, it was a collective of government workers from the federal government on down whose job it was to keep those of us in pandemic hot zones up to date. For that, local municipalities depended on small communication offices to relay the most up-to-date and accurate information to both government and citizens, while residents were aided by public safety and food programs for homebound seniors.
Communications
In any battle or crisis, those on the ground will tell you what helps most is having the latest information possible.
Lisa Santeramo, assistant secretary for intergovernmental affairs under Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), was at the lead in getting the information from New York State on down to the local governments on Long Island. Her office included Theresa Santoro, a Miller Place native who was in charge of reaching out to Suffolk, and Andrew Mulvey, who was in charge of Nassau.
Lisa Santeramo, assistant secretary for the state intergovernmental affairs office, worked alongside Theresa Santoro and Andrew Mulvey to get up-to-date info about the pandemic out to local municipalities. Photo from Santeramo
Santeramo was just coming back from maternity leave at the end of March but suddenly, as infections grew and places started to shut down, the small intergovernmental office was a focal point for every county, town, village, as well as the dozens of civic and chamber of commerce organizations for learning about new regulations, protocols, closings and reopenings. For months, Santeramo said her office was performing multiple daily calls with different groups from town supervisors to village leadership. They were also sending out constant email updates to inform what changes were happening, even during the middle of the day.
“On Long Island, we have these nuances we have to work through, such as all the different layers of government,” she said. “I joked with electeds that we were spamming their inboxes, but more information is better.”
It was a constant rush of sending information up and down the chain of government. Down the line was Nicole Amendola, the director of intergovernmental affairs for Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone (D). Amendola rose through the ranks to become director in April, and where she and others in the executive’s office worked long hours to supply local government with the latest information.
Amendola, who reiterated it was a team effort, said that along with her communication work, she was also on the side of making sure different bodies such as fire departments or hospitals were getting the PPE or resources they needed.
“Things were changing so rapidly, not even from the state but even from the federal level, so we had to make sure that we were able to communicate properly and efficiently to all levels of government,” she said. “The work, definitely, was very, very top heavy in terms of hours in the beginning of everything because there was just so much we didn’t know and understand, and things were literally constantly changing.”
Once new regulations and lockdowns were underway, any new information coming in from the governor’s office was immediately poured through. Both state and county offices watched every one of the governor’s daily press conferences to make sure they could get that info to local government.
Even with such things as trick-or-treating for Halloween, Amendola said they made it their jobs to let people know what was permitted and what was not. When people complained about what was or wasn’t allowed to open and which businesses were included in which reopening phases, their office also sent those complaints back up the chain as well.
Others in local governing offices made consistent remarks to TBR News Media on the good job both Santeramo and Amendola’s offices did during this hectic time. Their near-daily updates on COVID-19, what regulations and what restrictions may have changed, was a huge boon for people struggling to make heads or tails of what they needed to do.
Now that numbers are spiking, both offices are on constant calls about what may or may not be coming down the pike. And with vaccines also in play, a new kind of communications blitz is incoming.
“I never thought I’d have to deal with people’s safety,” Santeramo said. “But this year and the work we did, it will be the most important work I think I’ll ever do in my life.”
Public Safety
The year 2020 is going to go down in the record books locally not just because of the pandemic but because of other major events throughout the year. The May killing of Minneapolis man George Floyd sparked waves of protests throughout the country, including several largely peaceful demonstrations on Long Island. Interactions between law enforcement and protesters in Suffolk were mostly harmonious, but in a few places the reaction to those protests grew into a hotbed of misinformation and rumor, especially in the Town of Smithtown. While officials tried to quash those rumors, it was the Smithtown Department of Public Safety that was in the middle of the storm, both figuratively — and it turned out later in 2020 — quite literally.
The Town of Smithtown Public Safety Department made several water rescues during the summer 2020; just one of a few complications to a complicated year. Photo from Thomas Lohmann Jr.
Thomas Lohmann Jr., director of the town public safety office, said when the pandemic first hit, their office was in charge of restricting who could and could not enter town buildings, as well as handling the distribution of PPE throughout Smithtown. While other offices were being cut or shut down, Lohmann’s, with his 55 or so sworn officers and 50 additional civilian staff, was seeing a rapid need for more assistance.
“Everybody here really had to step up and work,” he said. “The communications section, which not only do they dispatch — we also serve three fire departments in the township — and they were extremely busy handling alarms for COVID-19 calls.”
Once things started to reopen, they were there in the local community enforcing restrictions on beaches and in parks. This year, with more boaters out on the water, they completed several water rescues. In enforcing compliance, Lohmann said it was not so much about shutting down businesses as much as talking with owners face-to-face to get them to meet restrictions.
“We recognize the businesses were faced with challenges, and from early onset what we focused on was voluntary compliance,” he said.
During Tropical Storm Isaias in August, the town safety office also became engaged in the work of checking up on people who lacked power. The year 2020 has been fraught with challenges, but for many law enforcement out there, as COVID numbers have risen dramatically in the past two months, the work does not stop.
“We can’t hang a shingle and say we’re shutting down,” Lohmann said, “We’re doing everything we can.”
Government Meal Programs
When the pandemic was at its zenith in late March and early April, the thousands of people who relied on government meal programs found themselves at an even greater loss, unable to get out of the house to even go to the local deli. As senior centers and government offices closed, the many people responsible for getting people food did not back down.
The Suffolk County Office for the Aging works with towns throughout Suffolk in their weekly meal programs. Holly Rhodes-Teague, who heads up the office, is not only in charge of a network of meal programs throughout the 10 towns, she had to keep up with case management, home care, transportation and home repair to allow older adults to remain at home while the pandemic raged outside.
The Town of Brookhaven and Suffolk County Sheriff Department honored frontline workers, including the town’s Health and Human Services Department and its contracted food workers from Florian Foods. Photo from TOB
Before COVID hit, the office was helping to arrange meals for around 2,700 seniors in congregate programs and home deliveries. Once the shutdowns occurred, that jumped to 4,200 people. To this day, those numbers have only slightly dropped to a little over 4,000 folks who depend on these daily meals.
“We were able to transition overnight to adding onto home delivery — we took the current program and made it into a grab-and-go type program for meals,” Rhodes-Teague said. “It was amazing how fast they did that. They didn’t skip more than a day.”
And it wasn’t just food. Through the towns, Holly-Teague said they managed to give out items like hand sanitizer and toilet paper, especially when such items were vacant on store shelves. In between everything, her office was calling elders, some of whom are over 100 years old, to just check up and see how they were doing. In one instance, a caseworker could not get a hold of one of their clients after August’s tropical storm. After visiting the elder at home, the caseworker found the electricity was gone, and the person’s life support had gone out.
“All our people stepped up to the plate,” she said.
In the individual towns, the separate Meals on Wheels programs were suddenly inundated. Laura Greif, Smithtown’s senior citizens program director, said the number of seniors they service doubled during the beginning stages of the pandemic, to over 320 meals a day. What made the situation harder was they had half the staff on, and half off. Other staff within the town came through to help instead. With the Smithtown Senior Center closed to visitors, she said they were making over 2,000 calls to elder folk within the town to check up on them regularly.
Once things calmed down, she said her crew even started taking some seniors food shopping. She thanked everyone who worked with her.
“In the beginning it was difficult as we were half-staffed,” Greif said. “Without such an amazing staff and town, it would have been difficult to get it all done. We’re very happy to do this much-needed service.”
Alison Karppi, commissioner of Housing & Human Services at the Town of Brookhaven, said before the pandemic they were supplying meals to 130 homebound seniors, plus those in their congregate program. Once the senior centers closed, that number jumped to over 500 seniors a day. Additionally, the town’s senior citizen division delivered 208 boxes of food to residents in need through Suffolk County’s food insecurity program.
It would take a whole host of Brookhaven employees to reach every single one of those who needed food every day, and not just those from HHS. Workers from other town offices such as the parks department would become drivers to get meals out to seniors spread throughout over 500 square miles. Karppi said unlike other municipalities that were forced to make meals cold, thanks to the town’s cafeteria in Town Hall and its food contractor, Florian Food Service, Brookhaven was regularly sending out warm meals to its seniors.
Making sure the food stayed warm took a whole lot of effort on the part of multiple employees, and Karppi wanted to thank all those drivers whose constant work provided such a necessary service, as well as Dawn Marcasia, who created the route list for drivers every day of the week. Delivering meals also served as a way to check up on seniors, and when there was no response at the door, that information was passed onto the senior citizen division.
Through all of that, the town workers helped deliver over 75,000 meals to seniors at their homes from March through December.
Brookhaven Town Supervisor Ed Romaine (R) expressed how this service has been critical, even as we’re still not out of the woods yet.
“This pandemic is far from over, we’re at least another year anywhere back to where we were before,” he said. “This has been a lifeline to so many of these people.”
Suffolk County Police Commissioner Geraldine Hart, right, and Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone. File photo
Members of a task force meant to offer reforms to Suffolk police met with community members in the 6th Precinct Dec. 8 through Zoom to listen to concerns.
As part of the Suffolk County Police Reform & Reinvention Task Force, members have been hosting Zoom meetings for each of the town’s seven precincts plus East End towns for community comment. Members of the task force include everyone from Police Commissioner Geraldine Hart and Suffolk police union president Noel DiGerolamo to NAACP chapter president Tracey Edwards and Daniel Russo, administrator of Assigned Counsel Defender Plan of Suffolk County.
In a meeting that went on for just under three hours and had over 150 participants Dec. 8, many in the community expressed some fear and apprehension surrounding police, often with people of color citing a different experience with law enforcement members than their white neighbors. A few others shared their general support for police and expressed their thanks for officers’ involvement in the community.
Erica Rechner, director of Opportunities Long Island, which tries to connect youth in underserved communities with jobs in the unionized construction industry, said she mostly works with many young people of color in communities who live in areas with high unemployment, and some come to her with criminal records. The interactions she said she’s had with police have been much different than those of her young clients.
“Their experience with the police department is not one me or my family recognize,” Rechner said. “My experience has been one of safety and security — I’m a white woman. At some point in their shared experiences the police officers are verbally abusive and often escalate to the use of excessive force. There are numerous instances of physical injury while in custody.”
She said she asked these young people to share their experiences at the public sessions, but practically all declined, fearing retaliation.
“Their experience has taught them the police are not meant for them or their community,” she added.
Odalis Hernandez, a graduate program administrator at Stony Brook University, said she was once stopped by police officers at night “with multiple police officers shining a flashlight in every window and asking for my ID and documents,” adding she felt she was being treated as up to no good from the get-go.
“I know of others who have been through much worse,” she said. “We can’t deny that those problems exist, and we need to hear that from all our precincts and leadership. We can’t let the police have a political affiliation because that disenfranchises people in the community.”
Hernandez said such things as bias and de-escalation training should not be a one-and-done class but should be a continuous dialogue for police.
Others criticized the Suffolk School Resource Officer Program, with some speakers saying such officers statistically lead to more physical confrontations and create more of a school-to-prison pipeline. Others said such officers target students who are people of color and treat them differently than white students for the same offenses.
Michelle Caldera-Kopf, an immigration lawyer and managing attorney for the Safe Passage Project, said that SROs have caused “the wrongful detention and deportation of our students.” She said such officers have shared information about students with immigration authorities, sometimes over the heads of law enforcement.
Others indicated more positive interactions with police. Rob Taylor, a member of the Citizens Academy Alumni Association, said police already do a lot of things in the community people are not aware of.
“Suffolk County has gone through a lot of changes over the years, especially since around 2014 — they’re all EMTs, they’ve undergone crisis training,” he said.
Gail Lynch-Bailey, president of the Middle Island Civic Association, said that with whatever reforms take place, “I hope we don’t lose what’s already working in these relationships — community policing is still essential.”
She added that police should look for uniformity on how crime data is presented and distributed at civic meetings, with more emphasis on displays and data-driven dialogue, such info to be published for all to see online.
“Real police reform must be data driven, and that data has to include honest breakdowns of who is being charged and where those charges are taking place,” she said.
Brookhaven Town Councilman Kevin LaValle (R-Selden) said there should be efforts to expand the positive interactions between community and police, some of which includes just talking about what may be going on in people’s neighborhoods.
“These are all things why we need to have our police department out there, doing events, interacting, because that really supports the mission our police department is here to do,” he said.
Others shared their desire for those Black and brown voices in the community to be heard. Erin Zipman, from Stony Brook, said police need to listen to those, envisioning a future where we don’t have to endanger the lives of citizens or officers, and instead focus on treating “the roots of problems instead of punishing them.”
The task force is part of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s (D) New York State Police Reform and Reinvention Collaborative. This executive order, originally signed in June, cites that every police agency must make a comprehensive review of police departments and their procedures, and address the needs of the community to promote “trust, fairness and legitimacy, and to address any racial bias and disproportionate policing of communities of color.”
The county has an April 1, 2021, deadline to create its reform plan for its police department to be eligible for future state funding.
Stony Brook Children’s Hospital Celebrates 10 Years with Long Island Aquarium Show. Photo from SBHU
For 40 years, Stony Brook University Hospital has been caring for kids, but 2020 holds an even more notable moment for Suffolk County’s sole children’s hospital.
The outside of Stony Brook University Children’s Hospital. Photo from SBUH
Dr. Carolyn Milana, chair of the Department of Pediatrics and physician-in-chief at Stony Brook Children’s Hospital, said this year is a very special one.
The children’s hospital is celebrating its 10-year anniversary as a standalone hospital, after opening its new building last year.
“Our brand-new facility allows us to continue to provide the same expert care to the children and adolescents of Suffolk County in a state-of-the-art environment designed to promote healing,” she said. “All of the space within the children’s hospital, and the programs we offer, are designed to support both the child and their family throughout their hospital stay.”
At the new building, live feeds from the Long Island Aquarium are shown in the lobby and throughout the pediatric floors.
An inside look at the Stony Brook Children’s Hospital. Photo from SBUH
To celebrate its decade-long care, the children’s hospital teamed up with the Riverhead-based aquarium for a sea lion show virtually shown to supporters, patients and their families. On Dec. 9, viewers tuned in as the sea lion balanced balls, did tricks and posed in a delightful routine that kids and adults enjoyed.
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