MIDLAND BEACH, OCEAN BREEZE & SOUTH BEACH

Community voices from Staten Island's neighborhoods

Recently State Senator Savino recommended that a methadone clinic be moved from the Tappan Park area of St George to our East Shore neighborhood. More specifically at the Staten Island University Hospital North. And when I read an OP ED letter in the SI Advance I also learned that the Senator and Assemblyman Titone have been meeting about this with Hospital officials and cannot understand what the objection is.

What is wrong with this picture? Well plenty!!

Wanted: Checker Flag person
Event: Father Capodanno 500
Where: Fr Cap Blvd
When: 24/7/365

Looking for an experienced checker flag person to flag racers on Father Capodanno Blvd. This boulevard is the home of the daily Fr Cap 500. Racers have been seen blowing red signal traffic lights, clocking at over 70 miles per hour and alarming the residents of our beachside communities who try to cross the boulevard.

Has anyone noticed those very starry nights of late? Well...if you look closely, the stars seem to be moving. Come to think of it, the stars are all in a row. These are not stars, but airplanes. Newark airport has redirected flight routes over our Island. Sometimes the row of planes are over water and other times are over land. The noise is disturbing and vibrations in my home alarming.

Well summer is finally here and 4th of July is tomorrow. We all expect the Beach to be crowded full of families, young and old, enjoying the cleaniest beach on Staten Island. The soccer fields, skate board park, children's park and turtle fountain all make up a beautiful picture. Too bad that we don't even have a place to get a bottle of water, soda, hamburger, hot dog or ice cream. For so long we've been waiting for someone to open up something here like we had many years ago. (remember the orange drinks for a dime? - remember running in the hot sand to get a hamburger/hot dog?) Why can't the Victory Diner (which is stored in Midland Beach) become our much needed food stop?

Also, why does the Parks Dept. have to park their garbage trucks right by the basketball courts. Isn't there a better place to put them? I know plenty of people who have told me that on a hot, humid, sticky day the smell is horrible while they play basketball (and this is in the morning!). It also takes away the beauty of the park too.

Another thing, how come our beach is the only beach on Fr. Capodanno without a gazebo? We were promised by the Borough President back in July of 2005 that once he is reelected, we would get our gazebo. Considering the hot, hazy, humid, sticky days that we wil definitly encounter this summer, wouldn't it be nice to sit in the shade!

It's been a little over 6 months since the Advance reported use of vegetable oil on the eggs of the Turkeys who live in Ocean Breeze.

I'm not quite sure if the population has decreased or not. I honestly have not seen them parading through my neighborhood of late. So what is the fate of our gobbling T-Rex ancestors?

By MaryEllen EliasIs this turkey eyeing some new digs?

What's the hurry? Why are so many cars moving so fast on our streets? The only vehicles that should be speeding are Police Cars, Fire Trucks or Ambulances in emergency mode. The rest need to slow down and obey the traffic laws.

It is frightening how many cars are speeding down our streets. It is not only on the main boulevards or avenues, but the drivers that use our side streets to beat the lights show a complete indifference to the safety of the folks who live on those streets.
SLOW DOWN!

Are you kidding me? At least three more homes went on fire this a.m. at approximately 4:00. One home was vacant and going through renovations, another one was built about 3/4 years ago and very beautiful and a back house to one of the bungalows sustained damage. I understand from some neighbors that one of the owners cannot find her three little kittens, which is really sad. But most importantly, from what i was told, no one was injured. We all have to be a little crazy or naive to think that this is not suspicious. Another home burnt down on Monday. Something is out there and its not funny.

Well it happened again last night. At approximatey 2:30 a.m., my house smelled of smoke. Got up and from my house I could see the bungalow on Freeborn up like a torch. This is about the 4th one in about two years. The Advance said it was suspicious. Considering how close all these bungalows are to each other, this is a very serious situation. Too bad people don't appreciate them for what they really are. They were the flavor of the community. It was a summer beach community where people would get together, barbeque and talk about the hot summer nights. Too bad we are losing our flavor with all the buildings going up. Too bad people just didn't put their time and effort in remodeling and making our worn down bungalows into beautiful, much sort after cottages. But that is just a dream.