COMMUNITY WATCHDOG: Business sign had wrong address

I own a property on North Broadway in Amityville. The owner of an adjoining parcel sells cars there and put up a business sign using my address. I asked him to take it down but he has ignored me. This has been going on for years. I have called the Town of Babylon, my local post office, the state Department of Motor Vehicles, Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy, the state attorney general, and all I get is a runaround. How do I stop the theft of my property address?

-Joan Cording, Amity Harbor

We don't know any good reason why someone would use the wrong address on a business sign, but the number has been corrected - at least temporarily. When we revisited the site recently, the young man who works out of the trailer on the property came out with peel-and-stick numbers and corrected the sign. Since he refused to talk with us, we could only guess that he was acting on advice from the acting postmaster of the Amityville Post Office, who spoke to the man after we told Tom Gaynor, spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service, about Cording's problem.

Remarkably, there's apparently no law against using the wrong address on a sign.

Meanwhile, Cording opened a bigger can of worms. Frustrated that the sign hadn't been changed, she complained to the town that there was no permit for it. An inspector paid a visit and gave the car sales business a summons for having an expired permit. The car salesman then told the inspector that the businesses on Cording's property were illegal. After checking, the inspector gave Cording two summonses for code violations. Town spokesman Tim Ruggeri said both parties pleaded not guilty in Second District Court last week and were given return dates.

We did fix the problem Cording contacted us about, but we're surprised there are no regulations for an incorrect address on a sign.

In this case, the address issue itself is confusing: The postal service and the town have assigned different street addresses for this same property. Ruggeri said the town, which usually refers to parcels by their tax map numbers to avoid confusion, says the address is 574. However, Gaynor said the postal service has it designated as 578. But as far as the postal service is concerned, Gaynor said "there's no legal consequence" for having the wrong address on the sign. Ruggeri said the town has no ordinance prohibiting the use of a different address on the sign. And Suffolk District Attorney spokesman Bob Clifford said, "There's really nothing on-point for this situation."

Resolving problem with streetlight

We have a problem with a streetlight in Levittown. The light was fixed about seven or eight months ago and then went out again shortly after. Two weeks ago there was a town worker tending to the light in a cherry picker, but the light is still out. When I go out after dark, it's very hard to see parked cars and there are also pedestrians.

- Lynn O'Leary, Levittown

Within hours of our call, the Town of Hempstead sent workers to repair the non-working streetlight on Chimney Lane. A whole new fixture was installed to ensure that the problem doesn't recur.

According to town spokesman Michael Deery, the town's Street Lighting Department had replaced the light's lamp and photocell after O'Leary's neighbor called to complain in early January. However, the light apparently malfunctioned after workers left.

"They did test it at the time and it worked fine," Deery said.

Town of Hempstead residents with concerns about non-working streetlights should contact the town's Street Lighting Department at 516-378-2260.

-Michael R. Ebert

Drivers to mall just don't stop

I live on Alexander Avenue in Nesconset a few blocks south of the Smith Haven Mall. Since moving here in 2008, I've become increasingly frustrated with the amount of traffic that uses the road as a cut-through to the mall on weekends. About 90 percent of cars roll through the stop sign at the Dover Hill Road intersection. I've visited the Town of Brookhaven's Highway Department and also sent two e-mails to Suffolk County Police without a reply.

- Peter Hussey, Nesconset

Fourth Precinct Inspector James Rhoads said that there haven't been many complaints about Alexander Avenue, but he plans to increase patrols there.

Since 2007, police have issued 41 summonses to drivers on Alexander Avenue for speeding or failure to stop, according to the police department's Public Information Office.

Rhoads said that the figure isn't a high volume of tickets for a three-year span, but it's enough to show that the road deserves more attention.

"Sometimes it's as simple as a tree or bush blocking a stop sign," he said. "We'll get someone down there to take a look."

Rhoads said that the precinct asks residents to submit their problems in writing by letter or by e-mail. A community policing unit officer will contact the resident for further details. The location is then added to the officer's patrols.

Fourth Precinct residents with concerns about traffic concerns should call 631-854-8400.