GOBBI

I am thrilled to report that other recent Requests & Suggestions regarding local matters made by yours truly have also been met with success!

The Incorporated Village of Port Jefferson finally went Green by implementing a Recycling program in the heavily trafficked business district, which is frequented year round by locals and tourists alike. This will help keep our environment and village clean from the ever-growing carelessly discarded plastic bottle epidemic. I already see results with the new strategically placed solar recycling receptacles. Also lobbing for the New York State Bottle Bill helped out; now all water bottles sold in New York State are $.05 redeemable. Hopefully that will make a big dent with the cans and bottle that are strewn everywhere along Long Island’s roadsides and beaches.

I can’t forget the addition on all Port Jefferson Village downtown storm drains “Do Not Pollute – Runoff leads to the Long Island Sound” medallions, courtesy of New York (NY) County Legislator Vivian Viloria-Fisher [Suffolk County]; thanks Vivan!

Another request I made, which is finally underway, was to update the infrastructure and repave Route 112, a neglected New York State main roadway. Along with updating and repaving the road, the addition of bike lanes and signage for the two-wheeled crowd, so that we can all share the roads safely, are finally coming soon to Port Jefferson Station, Terryville and Coram. Another request met was the installation of shiny new larger more legible eyelevel road signs that are super cool; thanks NY State (Highway Department) lets continue these upgrades to all other New York State and Long Island roadways.

Port Jefferson’s Post Offices – Updating, request granted! Two local Port Jefferson and Port Jefferson Station Post Offices recently had a nice coat of white paint that really brightened up the neglected and dingy highly trafficked post offices. Also I requested recycling receptacles, and well the U.S. Postal Service Consumer Affairs Dept. delivered, so thanks, it make for a more present postal experience.

And two more request granted: Port Jefferson train track crossings repairs have been made on Main Street; thanks LIRR. And I don’t want to forget a 5-year long battle to get a local Port Jefferson Village road, Pine Hill Road, which was in desperate need of new drainage instructor and repaving, is finally under construction.

So basically, you can make a difference if you put the effort in and talk to the right agencies to improve your town and community. Hopefully the improvements listed here will create a domino effect on Port Jefferson’s Main Street, with the infrastructure improvements hopefully it will bring back businesses and improve quality of life for all.

With all the unrest in the oil producing Middle East and North Africa lately, the earthquake devastation in New Zealand and now this morning on the island of Japan causing a tsunami, along with major flooding throughout the northeastern United States this past week from heavy rainfall, it is time to start reconsidering our antiquated buildings and infrastructures, and design and engineer them to withstand the severe weather we’ve been having. Our local Long Island roads have been neglected and are crumbling especial due to past year’s harsh winters. Why when it is time to resurface the roads are agencies not using recycled ground-up shredded tires in the asphalt mix so the roadways can expand and contract more so the road surface can last for up to 60 to 70 years at a time. More effective creative solutions, along with unique architecture, design and engineering is needed, and we as a people need to be open to it so we can adapt to climate shifts.

The Kansas town of Greensburg is a perfect example to follow, where after a devastating tornado demolished their town, decided to go with “green” building construction to rebuild their town. Here on Long Island, we have such severe winds at times with the occasional tornado, so why not place power lines underground instead of on unappealing cluttered telephone poles. If you want to build in tornado ally and resurrect and rebuild a town, why not build underground structures or semi-submerged ones or use aerodynamic creative building techniques that will withstand the strong winds, so it is not a total loss every time a tornado hits. It make no sense why year after year we rebuild in areas that are prone to severe flooding, only to have the new construction destroyed again and again.

New Orleans will probably flood again in our lifetime, because they are below sea level. Man cannot out smart Mother Nature, she is king. We as humans need to work with Mother Nature and not against her, we need to design our structures and buildings codes accordingly and get more aggressive and creative with the future regarding renewable energy.

We cannot rely on the unstable Middle East to fuel our future, nor should we. Nuclear it not as stable as the nuclear industry spins it to be, with its potential for meltdown and far-reaching fallout, and we can’t forget the spent toxic waste generated that will never ever decay. Clean renewable energy: Wind, Solar, Tidal, Hydro, and Bio-Fuels are the answer, so what are we waiting for?

My thoughts are with the people of Japan today, as it will take years and years to clean up, rebuild and recover.

Last weekend on Saturday, June 12th, I attended the Second Annual Green Fest of Port Jefferson Village, held at the Village Center and Harbor Park Promenade. The festival’s primary purpose is to foster the Port Jefferson Go Green Campaign Initiatives through educating, informing, entertaining, and enlightening people on how to make choices for a “Greener” world. It also promotes sustainable ways of living such as beach restoration and stewardship, replacing native plants, pesticide reduction, reusing and recycling, gardening, composting and a no-idling policy for school buses. To help enforce the importance of recycling, the Village of Port Jefferson has applied for grants to purchase recycling bins that will be located throughout the downtown area as well as composters which will be made available to village residents.

The festival promoted Environmentally responsible green energy use of solar and wind power and featured numerous sponsors, speakers, vendors and booths of eco-friendly arts, crafts, services, and products along with live music and Children’s Activities and Events.

All in all, it was a great event and if you are in the Port Jefferson area, come and check it out. For more information go to the Green Fest website at www.pjgreenfest.com.

While our pristine beaches along the Gulf Coast are being ruined by toxic crude oil spills, our coastlines along the shores of Long Island are being eroded by storm surges and improper planning. Sadly, due to significant storm damage to the beaches in Port Jefferson this past years, it appears that the East Beach may only be open for limited public bathing or closed all together for the summer season, couldn’t be worse timing! It angers me that the state of our local beaches has gotten to this stage. One of the main reasons why I moved back to Long Island and Incorporated Village of Port Jefferson was for the beaches. For the past few years, the focus has been on the development of the Port Jefferson Harborfront Park, which was desperately needed, but during that time East and West Beach were unfortunately neglected and fell into the state that they are in today. Mother Nature will always do her thing, and as a coastal community, we need to accept that and work with nature instead of against it. Thankfully our local representatives are working on a beach remediation project to shore up our coastline and protect us from future beach erosion. This large-scale restoration project will involve parking lot reconstruction, removal and relocation of beach access points, removal of submerged hazardous debris and dredging.

Hopefully this project will be well planned out, designed and executed to last another 40 years and not just a quick fix. It should be done in a more natural eco-friendly way to work with nature and not just a matter of dumping blocks of cement in the water. I’d like to see the Village and its residents approach this project as a ‘Coastal Restoration’ instead of just a parking lot on the beach. It would be nice to see the landscape, facilities and amenities at the beach have a more natural aesthetic appeal that would enhance our historic Seaport Village by hiring the same architectural design firm, Quennell Rothschild & Partners and lead designer Beth Franz that helped developed the Port Jefferson Harborfront Park.

Since dredging is in the plans, restoring the dunes with natural beach grass is critical. While doing some research, I came across Geotextile Tubes which are weather resistant large, sand filled fabric bags of lengths up to several hundred feet used to create a number of shoreline protection structures such as dune cores, groins, jetties, breakwaters, and coastal barriers as well as providing a means of dewatering and containing dredge materials.

The beaches and wetlands are our crowning jewels and act as our protective barriers from storm surges. We need to respect them and take better care of our precious coastlines before they are gone forever.

Why does it seem like the petroleum industry and the U.S. Minerals Management Service (MMS) is in charge of protecting our environment and precious ecosystems? Why is their no U.S. environmental czar?

It’s time to step up to the plate citizens of planet earth. We need leadership and we need green energy alternatives and solutions, and most importantly they need to be implemented ASAP! Harnessing solar, wind and tidal power and producing bio-fuels is all-doable. If this spewing toxic crude oil in the Gulf of Mexico and the die off our protective wetlands, and the price at the pump doesn’t wake us up, what will? Green jobs anyone? Changing our thinking and approach is necessary, lets think out of the box a bit. Lets innovate and reduce our addiction to dirty fossil fuels; we as a collective can do this!