Town Councilman Pleased With Jackson Ave. Deal

Town of Oyster Bay Councilman Chris J. Coschignano admits there's several other things that could be done with the money allotted to fix up Jackson Avenue.

But the deal between Town Supervisor John Venditto and County Executive Ed Mangano to split the cost with Nassau County includes Jackson Avenue becoming a Town-controlled road, and Coschignano says it's well worth the expense.

"That's the beauty of it," says Coschignano of the heavily traveled Syosset road. "It will be maintained the way we maintain Town roads. The Town has vast equipment for fixing and upkeeping the road. We feel we have better equipment than the county has. The same thing goes for the parks department. We feel we do parks and roads better than any other local government."

Attempts to renovate the road at the county level were stunted by political red tape over the years. Generally, the Town maintains residential roads while the county focuses on main through fares.

"You're relying on the county saying, 'It's going to happen, it's going to happen, year after year, and they were finally out of time,'" Coschignano says.

The cost to the Town will be in the millions, although Coschignano says he hasn't seen an exact figure yet. The county funds will come from the recently passed Capital Improvement Project Plan.

Coschignano has a unique perspective, as his mother was born in Syosset in the 1920s, giving him 90 years of oral and personal history on the evolution of the area. He still practices law one day a week at a Jackson Avenue property he owns, so he sees the daily congestion.

"The plan is a good plan," Coschignano says of the renovation, which includes creating a center turn lane, curbs and sidewalks and realigning the road. "The exception to the good plan is that downtown Syosset is still easily congested. And one of the issues is the railroad tracks. There's no main consensus on how to address that. The roads will be beautiful at one point, which will be nice. But at some point we have to come up with a plan [to address the tracks.]"

Coschignano doesn't know when that will be. But he says it's "a great first step" to finally have more control over the area.

"The main thing is that the Town supervisor stepped up the the plate and the county executive stepped up to the plate [to make this happen]," Coschignano says."