Wednesday, July 27, 2011

LIRR ticket office hours

The Seaford ticket office has been closed for about a year.
In addition, effective July 20, 2011, Massapequa and Wantagh ticket offices are open only on Mondays and Wednesdays. What follows is from Train Talk of the LIRR.

Some Ticket Window Hour Changes in Effect July 20
Labor Agreement Helps Retain Ticket Offices

As of July 20 ticket office hours at seven LIRR stations will be revised as follows:

Station Open (Effective July 20) Hours
Amityville Mondays & Thursdays only 6:10 AM-1:45 PM
Bayside Monday-Friday only 6:10 AM-1:45 PM
Flushing-Main Street Mondays & Fridays only 6:15 AM-1:55 PM
Long Beach Monday-Friday
Saturday & Sunday
6:10 AM-1:45 PM
10 AM-6 PM
Lynbrook Mondays & Thursdays only 5:45 AM-1:45 PM
Massapequa Mondays & Wednesdays only 6:10 AM-1:45 PM
Wantagh Mondays & Wednesdays only 6:10 AM-1:45 PM

Ticket office hours will change or be reduced at seven LIRR stations as part of an effort to prevent some ticket windows from closing and to retain the current level of cleaning services. LIRR management and leaders of the LIRR’s Transportation Communications Union agreed to temporary changes in contract rules, providing savings sufficient to avert the planned layoff of 17 ticket clerks, closure of ticket offices and a reduction of ticket window hours at over 18 stations. The LIRR hopes to discuss extension of this temporary nine-month agreement to avoid shutting ticket windows and laying off employees in 2012. The revised ticket office hours at seven LIRR stations take effect July 20, as shown in the above chart.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Water Tower Proposal

About 230 residents attended a meeting on the evening of July 12, 2011, concerning Aqua New York's proposal to construct a water tower on their property on the north side of DeMott Avenue, Wantagh, just west of the Seaford-Oyster Bay Expressway. The meeting was informative despite the frequent interruptions. A person, for example, would ask a question of one of the two representatives of Aqua, and then cut off the reply with argumentation. The audience, obviously, was almost totally against the construction, citing loss of home value, and the lack of water-pressure problems at present.
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After about an hour, county legislators Dennis Dunne and David Denenberg spoke.
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Aqua New York is asking approval of the sale of its Long Island operations to American Water Works, which supplies water to Lynbrook. It appears that the rates in Lynbrook are similarly high.

Friday, July 8, 2011

Seaford School Board meeting 7.7.2011

About twenty interested spectators attended the reorganization meeting of the Seaford School Board in the high school band room Thursday evening, July 7, 2011. After the Pledge, there were two surprises: The president was chosen by a 3-2 vote, whereupon one of the negative voters, John DelGuidice, resigned from the Board. This is well related in the Wantagh-Seaford Patch, linked here.
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The new air-conditioned band room provided a comfortable setting, but it was a bit difficult to hear those who spoke without a microphone. I stayed about an hour, including a discussion about the State requirement that school districts on contingency budgets charge fees to groups using facilities, fees that must cover the costs.
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There was also a discussion whether Patch could be an official newspaper similar to Newsday and the Citizen, which receive legal notices.