______________ VALLEY STREAM _____________
HERALD Vol. 34 No. 43
V.S. 30 learns about fire safety
V.S. 13 has WizFit fun
Page 5
Page 11
oCToBER 19 - 25, 2023
$1.00
North High School raises money for Farmingdale By JUAN lASSo jlasso@liherald.com
Courtesy Valley Stream Central High School District
Valley Stream North High School music teachers Angelica Ansbacher and Rebecca Hayden spearheaded efforts to raise money for Farmingdale High School’s music department in the wake of the Farmingdale band’s fatal bus crash last month.
Roughly 40 Farmingdale High School band students were loaded onto a bus destined to take them to a band camp in Pennsylvania last month. One moment, the students were riding along Interstate 84, roughly 70 miles northwest of New York City. The next, their lives changed forever. The bus veered off the road, plowed into a wired guard rail, and tumbled 50 feet into a ravine, killing two teachers and sending dozens of traumatized students to the hospital. Some were left in critical condition. When Valley Stream North High School music teachers Angelica Ansbacher and Rebecca Hayden first learned of what Gov. Kathy Hochul called “a day of terror” for the state, the same thought struck them both. “This could have been our school, our students, our bus, and our trip,” Hayden said. “We take field trips all the time,” Ansbacher said. “What if it were my band? What if it were me?” Like many teachers on Long Island sorting through the CoNtiNued oN pAge 16
Repairs are in the works for rusting LIRR overpasses By JUAN lASSo jlasso@liherald.com
There are more than half a do z en railroad over passes belonging to the Long Island Rail Road spanning the village’s network of streets. Some carry trains over the village’s busiest corridors such as the village’s business district on Rockaway Avenue and trafficheavy East Merrick Road. Most, if not all of the bridges, are also covered in rust stains and suffer other signs of visible wear and tear. Many residents agree, after decades of use and sustained exposure to the elements, most seem to be
crying out for restoration and repair. Despite the unsightly conditions of the overpasses, they’ve been around for so long that they’ve blended, however gawkishly, into the village’s suburban scenery. But for Valley Stream officials like Mayor Ed Fare, the overpasses have long posed a more concerning problem than a begrudging eyesore. If what Fare called the “structural weakness”of the bridges isn’t addressed promptly, he argues, drivers and pedestrians could become casualties of their apparent ne glect. Something that seems to loosely confirm Fare’s careworn sus-
picions happened in 2019 when concrete rubble fell from an LIRR overpass on South Franklin Avenue. Residents were relieved to discover no reported injuries. “Thank God no one was killed,” commuter David Darmstadter said shortly after the incident. “It’s old infrastructure.”
lIRR promises to upgrade overpasses In the wake of the incident, lawmakers pledged to make Valley Stream’s old infrastructure new again by earmarking funds for overpass restoration into the Long Island Rail Road’s
five-year capital plan. Four years later, the abatement and repainting of a portion of the overpass bridges are underway. In particular, the Sunrise Highway Bridge, which passes over Roosevelt Avenue, as well as the Merrick Road Bridge, near the intersection of East Merrick Road and Cornwell Avenue, are slated to be redone by the end
of 2024. Any columns supporting the length of the village’s elevated railway tracks from Hicks Street to Satterie Avenue will also be “taken care of as needed” by the projected deadline, noted MTA media liaison Dave Steckel. To counter criticisms leveled CoNtiNued oN pAge 19