“I like to see a man proud of the place in which he lives,” reads the quotation on garbage cans around Stony Brook village.

The placement of the quote, attributed to Abraham Lincoln, couldn’t be clearer: If you are proud of where you live, help keep it clean. 

Green Machine Landscaping in Stony Brook and Carl Bongiorno & Sons, an East Setauket landscape business, are volunteering to do just that, in conjunction with the Three Village Chamber of Commerce, for the main entrances to the community. 

Jurisdiction over Long Island roadsides gets complicated, as some roads are the responsibility of the state, some of the county and others of the towns, so it’s easy for overgrowth to fall through the bureaucratic cracks.

“It gets to be a forgotten sister, and it needs somebody to take care of it,” said Bob Brown, a chamber board member. 

According to Brown, the chamber’s arrangement with Carl Bongiorno & Sons started shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, when Bongiorno Sr. approached TVCC wanting to do something to contribute to his community that was still reeling from the terrorist attacks in New York City. Starting with the land around chamber signs on Route 347, at both Nicolls and Old Town roads, his firm added retaining walls, planters and even birdhouses handcrafted by Bongiorno Sr. himself.

“We really take pride in making them nice,” said Carl Bongiorno Jr., who has maintained the firm’s relationship with the chamber. “Having birds chirping and living there, just enhances those signs and those entrances to the community even more.”

Bongiorno Jr. said his landscaping business also created a retaining wall with planting beds where Belle Mead Road meets Upper Sheep Pasture Road at the request of the chamber.

“A lot of people were traveling both ways along that stretch,” Bongiorno Jr. said. “At the time it was really run down, and we wanted to do something to clean up and brighten up that corner a little bit.”

Now, Brown said, the area near the chamber’s third sign, at Nicolls Road and Route 25A, is the “forgotten sister” about to receive some attention. For that, Green Machine Landscaping has stepped up to help. 

According to owner Jason Witover, Green Machine is planning to clean and beautify the area, amid the busy early summer landscaping season.

Witover, a native Three Villager, said he is happy to help. “We take pride in the community, and they’ve done a lot for us,” he said. “Anything I can give back to the community that’s helped me personally, and where I have my business as well, it’s my honor to do so.”

For his part, Brown sees the arrangement as directly related to the chamber’s core mission. “The goal of the chamber was to bring people together and use the force of all those people to make a better community,” he said. “I think we’ve been reasonably successful in doing that.”

Local citizen chips in

This kind of benevolence is not limited to professional landscapers in the community. The Three Village Civic Association recently recognized photographer Michael Rosengard of East Setauket for taking it upon himself to beautify an area nobody was taking care of.

Civic association president Charles Tramontana told attendees at a recent meeting that one weekend he was driving past Patriots Hollow State Forest on 25A when he noticed Rosengard “working like a dog” with tools to clear the sidewalk of overgrown vegetation, leaves and litter. Tramontana couldn’t resist pulling over to say “thank you.” Rosengard told him, “You know what? It’s good exercise.”

Tramontana pointed out that since it’s not always clear which agency has jurisdiction to maintain areas like that sidewalk, he believes such behavior deserves recognition.

“That’s the epitome of a good citizen,” he said.