Neighbors Petition BZA To Say NO To 24 Hour Dunkin Donuts In Nesconset

By Dana Klosner

Site of proposed Dunkin Donuts in Nesconset (photo google maps)There is a 24 hour Dunkin Donuts with a 9 car queue drive-thru proposed to the zoning commission to be located in the former Prestano’s Bakery location at 223 Smithtown Boulevard in Nesconset. The idea of a 24 hour business has neighbors on the adjoining Lancaster Avenue up in arms.

“We’re not against Dunkin Donuts running their business,” said Dawn Gary who has been circulating petitions in the neighborhood as well as on Change.org. “We are against the traffic this business will produce.”

The stores currently in this location are “Mom and Pop” stores and are not open past 8pm with Ralph’s Italian Ices and Maria’s Restaurant staying open a little later on the weekends, Gary said. 

“With a 24 hour operation there will be increased lighting, increased traffic, increased noise and increased patronage,” Gary said. “Currently my block is quiet after hours. [With this new business] there will be people and cars at all hours of the night. Smithtown Boulevard is already congested at all hours of the day, especially rush hour. Rush hour is prime time for Dunkin Donuts business.”

Gary also expressed concern that there is a Smithtown Central School District bus stop at the corner of Lancaster Avenue and Leydon Street about 200 feet from the proposed business. She said cars would enter and exit from Smithtown Boulevard, come down Lancaster Avenue to make a right onto Smithtown Boulevard and be right at the bus stop when the kids are there.

Gary also is concerned about headlights beaming into the homes of her neighbors.

“There is not a proper buffer proposed between Dunkin Donuts and the house directly north of the property. The home shares a back fence line with the site. It is proposed that there would be just grass between the home and the business. No shrubbery or fencing. A customer can come into the property with their lights on, shining directly into the living room and bedroom of this home. There is no code to prevent the lights cascading off the property.” 

“Not only are we concerned about headlights and brake lights beaming in our windows, we’re concerned about the car exhaust and the speaker we’re going to hear because it will be directly across from our house, “ said Emily O’Bray, owner of the home directly north of the site. 

O’Bray said she has a 9-year-old son and she is concerned for his safety.

“This will bring more traffic on a street that is already congested. I won’t be confident sending him out in the front yard by himself because of all the new traffic,” she said. 

Dunkin Donuts will also have large signs that will be illuminated 24 hours a day,  O’Bray said. She is concerned about the brightness. 

She also expressed concern about increased garbage.

“There are dumpsters across from our property [for the businesses that are currently there]. We already get wrappers from Ralphs and the bakery blown onto our lawn. I’m concerned about rodents from the increased garbage,” she said.

“This is a nice community about to be taken over by a 24 hour business,” O’Bray said. “People say, ‘You knew there were businesses across the street when you bought your house.’ But those businesses close at 5. Ralph’s [Italian Ices] is seasonal and has foot traffic. This will be a constant flow of people, noise, lights and cars. It affects our property values. Who would buy across from a Dunkin Donuts? There’s going to be a lot of sleepless nights.” 

Lynda Carty, also a resident on Lancaster Avenue, grew up in Nesconset and has lived in the town 43 years.

“I’m not against improvement,” she said. “And it’s not a matter of ‘Not in my Backyard.’ It shouldn’t be in anyone’s backyard. It should be like the one on 347 surrounded by commercial property.” 

Carty along with O’Bray said there is already a cesspool problem in the building.

“The cesspool overflows down into the street into the water drain,” Carty said. “Over Labor Day weekend it ran for 36 hours. It happens all the time. They come pump it out, and one week later it happens again. The cesspool can’t handle the businesses that are there, Dunkin Donuts will make it even worse.”

The neighbors want to stress the safety concern that the traffic brings up.

“People already speed down our street,” Carty said. “There is a stop sign and people run through it. Add a Dunkin Donuts with people rushing to work. I worry about my neighbors’ kids. My cat already got hit by a car. It’s a concern for everybody here.”
 

“We have eight to ten children from the ages of twelve on down,” said Ed Gary, Dawn Gary’s husband. “Our primary focus is the amount of traffic coming down Lancaster Avenue and the safety of those children.”

“We feel [the proposed Dunkin Donuts] would diminish the quality of life for our residents,” Dawn Gary said.

There will be a zoning board hearing on Case #17192 on Tuesday, September 9 at 7pm at the Senior Citizen’s Center, 420 Middle Country Road, Smithtown. 

Dawn Gary’s petition DENY Case# 17192 for Dunkin Donuts at 223 Smithtown Blvd, Nesconset

People In The News - Kings Park Resident Ronie Pollacco

Ronie Pollacco - Sept. 2014

By Chris Biancaniello

Ronie Pollacco speaks four languages (English, Italian, French, Spanish), he’s lived in Italy, New York City, Ibiza, Bali, Milan, and France. Ronie Pollacco is by every definition a citizen of the world. Even at the age of eighty and battling Parkinson’s Disease, he is still lively as ever. I was granted the privilege to sit down and talk with him about how his life had taken shape. He showed me photographs of his travels, kids, past loves, and family members. Despite all of the things Ronie is today, and all of his travels, one of the most interesting things about Mr. Pollacco is the story of his childhood.

If you’ve done the math you’ve realized that Ronie was born in 1934. What’s more, Ronie was born in Italy to a Jewish family in 1934. Though Italy is rarely the focus of our World War II history lessons, Italians faced the same horrors as the rest of Europe: fascism, war, and not the least of which, anti-Semitism. In fact, an estimated 7,500 Italian Jews were killed during the holocaust and that is out of a pre-war population of just 44,000.

Ronie PollaccoLuckily for Ronie, his parents were extremely alert to all that was occurring. His father had been arrested twice by Fascists for violating anti-Semitic laws, though Ronie can’t remember which specifically, the laws varied anywhere from not being able to hire help, to not being allowed to own a business. “My father said ‘I’m an Italian, I’ve always been a good Italian, I don’t have to worry about anti-Semitism.’” says Ronie who was just a young boy at the time of his father’s arrest. Although he was only four, the memory of his father’s arrest remains with him today  “I was sitting under the table, my mother was sitting by the kitchen door, my sister was practicing her dance she had a curtain pulled so when he came back she could do a dance, and he walked in and we knew.” After paying a fee Mr. Pollacco was eventually released.

1936 Fiat Topolino (google)Each time Mussolini would make a speech his family (along with many other families) would drive in their Topolino, from their home in Milan, to the border of Switzerland listening to Mussolini’s speech on the radio and wondering if they would ever see home again. “If the speech was horrendous we would consider not going back, if the speech was not so bad we returned.” He can vividly remember packing his families luggage on top of the notoriously small Topolino and making the trips, until one day they could not go back.

In the 1940’s war obviously wasn’t reported the way it is today. Newscasts were made over the radio and were often inaccurate. Rumors ran rampant across Europe about what was safe and what wasn’t, and Ronie’s family experienced their fair share of what some call the fog of war. “You didn’t know what was true and what was not, people ran around like chickens with their heads cut off.”

The family left everything behind including their home, their friends, and even some family, and headed for Nice, France, which unbeknownst to them was soon to face its own set of World War II horrors. His family lived in France for about three years and during this time his sister Gabriella was born. Their time in France was tumultuous at best, “the French were not very helpful towards Jews,” he says. He doesn’t look back on this time all too fondly. In fact he seems almost proud to have forgotten some of the language.

Ronnie Pollacco As the conflict grew around Europe, his family felt the effects. He can recall awaking at 1am every morning to go down to the cellar and play cards with his family while bombs were being dropped around them. Then the family would go back upstairs, but upon his mother hearing a rumor that someone had thrown a hand grenade in Paris, the family decided to leave France for Spain. Spain of course was also dealing with its share of World War II turmoil, though their official stance was neutral, they supported the Axis powers materially. They were recovering from a brutal Civil War which proved to be incredibly costly. At the age of just six, Ronie, and his family were turned away.

In their hour of need they decided to head for America. They boarded a Polish ship from France bound for New York. When they finally arrived they, “weren’t even sure we could get off the boat,” says Ronie who was just six-years-old at the time. It was November of 1940 and America was on the brink of entering the fray in Europe. Fortunately for Ronie and his family, this meant there was work to be had (he speaks glowingly of F.D.R.). His father would eventually own his own store on Fifth Avenue called Ivel’s, which would eventually become the first store to offer fashion shows with African American models wearing wedding gowns and dresses.

reissued in 2002Once the war had finally ended and the family had established a permanent home in New York, they decided to return to Italy in search of his grandmother on his father’s side. They requested help from the U.S. government (the Pollacco’s wrote to President Eisenhower) they found their answer in an Italian book “IL Libro Della Memoria” his family members were listed in the long list of those killed in Auschwitz. The Pollacco family deeply saddened returned to Italy.  They erected a monument in Florence; a simple marble pole, broken at the top to commemorate the loss of a grandmother who died too soon.

Ronie would grow-up to travel the world, stopping from place to place to live in some of the most beautiful locations on Earth. He married and had three children. One of his children is deceased the remaing two children live in NY. He fondly flips through photographs of himself on his motorcycle, of family members, some of whom have passed. Each one bringing a new memory, a new story to tell. His experiences as a child, despite horrifying to those of us who have spent most of our lives living comfortably in the U.S., shaped the man he would grow to be. A world traveler. A motorcycle enthusiast. A father. A survivor.

Ronie Pollacco currently lives in Kings Park. He celebrated his 80th birthday on September 4, 2014.  

Editor’s note - Putting memories in their proper sequence is often difficult for the person reliving memories that are decades in the past. While Mr. Pollacco had some difficulties, Smithtown Matters believes this article fairly represents the events that Mr. Pollacco experienced. We wish Mr. Pollacco a very happy birthday with many more to follow.

Book Review - "The Invention of Wings"

Book Review - “The Invention of Wings” – by: Sue Monk Kidd - 373 pages – Viking - Reviewed by: Jeb Ladouceur

Before sitting down with this year’s equivalent of The Help, I did something I wish I’d done before reading that politically correct, if potty-mouthed, Kathryn Stockett phenomenon a few years back—I asked a dozen acquaintances (liberals, conservatives, men and women young and old) a question that I considered fairly straightforward: “Do you approve of slavery?”

It seemed unnecessary to sound out my Black associates on the issue.

I explained that I’d just read my fourth bestselling novel on the subject in as many years: The Invention of Wings, by the immensely talented Sue Monk Kidd, and was preparing a review.

“Approve of slavery? Of course not,” came the universal reply. “What kind of question is that?” And one associate added, “Why would you even suggest approving such a thing?”

The simple fact is, of course, that I had made no suggestion at all. I merely wanted to establish what seemed obvious to me—that an inordinate number of books are still being written as apologies for an intrinsically evil, mostly economically driven institution that no longer exists … and whose proponents would be roundly castigated if it did.

With all due respect, in Kidd’s sweeping narrative about a White girl and her Black slave counterpart, it seems the Georgia author considers it unworthy of inclusion in her 1800’s literary prognostication that general condemnation of slavery might actually come to pass. (Incidentally, the term ‘counterpart,’ suggesting a degree of equality, would have gotten both youngsters severely punished if uttered in ante-bellum South Carolina).

That said, one can nonetheless picture legions of fans succumbing huffily to Kidd’s overkill as they are psychologically forced to weep for ‘Handful’ the slave, while being inwardly corralled into berating her owner whenever possible. Oh, the opportunities to fashion the 11-year-old Mistress Sarah into a truly courageous champion are there, alright, but one gets the impression from the outset that such would amount to the stealing of ‘Handful’s’ thunder—a prospect anathema to Kidd, and not to be permitted in her overstuffed bag of tricks.

This literary lopsidedness is a device that Ms. Kidd stresses unrelentingly in The Invention of Wings. It begins with a slave-whipping that Sarah Grimke (a true-life historical figure, by the way) has witnessed as a child. To her credit, the author uses the traumatic incident as the cause of the incipient abolitionist’s stuttering, though Kidd fails to develop what could have been a much to be pitied, full-blown disorder. It was an opportunity sadly squandered, since speech pathologists assure us that the impact of stammering (a more apt term for Sarah’s problem) on one’s emotional state can be severe.

But when it comes to creating sympathetic characters, we know where Sue Monk Kidd’s inclinations are focused. Her crusade, like Sarah’s, is clearly defined, rigid, and it brooks no diminution. She flat-out refuses to budge from the mold of Mark Twain, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Henry David Thoreau … even in 21^st Century America.

This is all well and good, and to suggest that Kidd, Stockett, Northrup (12 Years a Slave) et al do otherwise would be not only politically incorrect, but artistically unfair. Thus, as writers and readers, we find ourselves in a quandary, where old wounds can hardly be expected to heal if well-intentioned authors—especially those whose book sales number in the millions of copies annually—insist on scraping the nation’s sores during a drumbeat cacophony that constantly rings loudest along the port side corridors of history.

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Award-winning Smithtown writer Jeb Ladouceur is the author of eight novels, and his book and theater reviews appear in several major L.I. publications. In Ladouceur’s next thriller, “Harvest” due in late summer, an American doctor is forced to perform illegal surgeries for a gang of vital organ traffickers in The Balkans.

History In The Making - Smithtown's Founding Father Richard Smythe Statue

Creating a statue of the bull rider, Richard Smythe…by Bradley Harris, Smithtown Historian

(click on photos to enlarge)

Group photo: Town Historian Bradley Harris, Debra Schwartz, Cris Damianos, Libby Smith, BJ Ervick, Jiwoong Cheh, Ivan Schwartz, Rich SmithLast Thursday, Cris Damianos invited me to join him on a trip into Brooklyn to visit the art studio where the statue of Richard Smythe is being created.  Richard Smith and his sister Libby joined us on the early morning trip to Studio EIS which took us deep into the Red Hook section of Brooklyn.  We parked along the bank of the East River within sight of the Statue of Liberty. We walked up 32^ndStreet through a canyon created by six story industrial buildings until we found an entrance door marked No.68.  We entered the building and rode the freight elevator up six floors and then walked into the studio where we were greeted by members of the Schwartz family – Ivan, his brother Elliot, and his sister Debra – the owners of Studio EIS.  Entering the studio, our attention was drawn to a large clay statue that stood at the far end of the loft.  As we approached, we became aware that we were looking at a statue of Richard Smythe.  (See the photograph accompanying this article.)

A lot of people have had a hand in designing and creating this statue of the founder of Smithtown that will soon become a fixture in the center of town.  It hasn’t been easy to design when you consider the fact that we know very little about the man Richard Smythe. We have no paintings of him, no descriptions of him, and very few personal objects have survived.  I have always felt that he was a large man primarily because of his chair which is part of the Smithtown Historical Society’s collection.  The chair is actually the base of a tilt top table (that is missing its top) and has no back and a very wide seat.  Only a very large man would find it comfortable.  But the chair is rather flimsy evidence to support the view that Richard Smythe was a large man.  

A much better way of determining Richard Smythe’s size and build is to take a look at his descendants.  There are many Smiths living today who claim direct descent and many of them, that I have met, are large men, well over six feet tall, with stocky builds.  The Smith family historian, Ned Smith, has attempted to determine Richard Smythe’s physical characteristics from DNA, and has had geneticists tell him that his great, great grandfather had DNA most like that of the bull rider. He stood well over six feet tall, as did Ned’s own father and many of his uncles.  So it was decided early on that the statue would be of a man over six feet tall with a stocky build.

The creative crew: Jiwoong Cheh(Sculptor), BJ Ervick(Production manager), Debra Schwartz(Project manager), Ivan Schwartz(Director) There were many other questions that had to be answered before artists could begin to bring the statue to life.  What did Richard Smythe look like?  What were his facial features?  How did he wear his hair?  What kind of clothing would he wear?  How should he be pictured?  What would he be doing?  Fortunately, to answer these questions and many others, the Schwartz family, who own and operate Studio EIS in Brooklyn, are very experienced in creating historic statues.  Having created images of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Benjamin Franklin for national museums, they knew what questions needed to be answered and they knew how a life-size bronze statue would be created and cast.

Cris Damianos found Studio EIS when he began seriously considering the creation of a bronze sculpture of Richard Smythe.  Having grown up in Stony Brook, where he attended and graduated from the Stony Brook School, Cris was steeped in the legends and lore of the Smith family.  Even so, he never truly understood why Smithtown had a statue of a bull to commemorate its founding and not even a plaque to remember the man who actually made it happen.  He decided that one day he would erect a statue in Richard Smythe’s honor and place it in the middle of town where everyone could see it and be reminded of the remarkable man who founded Smithtown in 1665. The opportunity to do just that came with the 350^th anniversary of the founding of Smithtown.

After talking with his brothers about the idea of creating a statue of Richard Smythe and convincing them that an appropriate location for the statue would be in front of their building on the southeast corner of Route 111 and Main Street, the Damianos Realty Group agreed to fund the project.  Cris was delegated to find a company that could create and cast a bronze sculpture of Richard Smythe.  After meeting with several local historical experts, including Joshua Ruff and Neal Watson of the L.I. Museum, Kiernan Lannon from the Smithtown Historical Society, Richard Smith the Mayor of Nissequogue, and the Smithtown Historian, Cris decided that the project would be possible to achieve and he engaged Studio EIS to create the sculpture.  

The Schwartz family invited Cris and a bus load of guests to visit their studio to see where and how the statue would be made.  Then the Schwartzes came out to Smithtown to meet with Cris and interested parties to talk about Richard Smythe and his role in founding Smithtown.  Through these meetings and the in-put they received from historians, the Schwartzes were able to determine many things about the image to be portrayed.  Decisions were made about the size of the statue, about appropriate clothing, and how it should be posed.  It was decided that the artist would use historic photos of Smith family descendants and create a composite image that captured Richard Smythe as he might have looked in March of 1665, clutching his newly won patent for the Nesaquake lands, and proudly pointing out to all the lands he had acquired.  It was determined that he should be wearing a hat and cloak, and since this was a man who was banished from Southampton for refusing to doff his hat to the town magistrates, it was thought that his hat should be set securely on his head.  With these instructions, the Schwartzes returned to their studio in Brooklyn and their artists went to work.

Jiwoong Cheh, the resident sculptor of Studio EIS, began the work of creating a life-size clay model of Richard Smythe.  It was this clay model that we were invited to see last week.  As you can see from the accompanying photographs, the artists and sculptor have done an incredible job of rendering Richard Smythe in clay.  Only the hat and cloak have yet to be converted into clay.  Once the clay model is completed, it will be shipped out to the foundry in Arizona where the clay statue will be magically transformed into a bronze statue and returned to Brooklyn.  The Schwartzes will put the finishing touches on the statue, and by this time next year, September of 2015, the finished statue will be on its way to Smithtown just in time to be a part of the celebration of Smithtown’s 350 years of history.  

So if all goes according to plan, the statue will be in place on its pedestal, ready to be unveiled and dedicated at 10 a.m. on the morning of September 19, 2015, just in time for all those participating in the Sesquarcentennial parade to see it in the middle of town reminding everybody that it was Richard Smythe, and not the bull, who founded the Town of Smithtown.

Learn more about the Lost Wax Process used to create this statue by watching this video.

Always On the Job - Smithtown Residents Recognized By County Legislators

Pictured at the Legislature are from left to right Marty Thompson, Colleen Thompson. Suffolk County Sheriff Vincent DeMarco, Suffolk County Legislator Robert Trotta, Michael Sialiano and Suffolk County Legislator John Kennedy, Jr. St. James residents Marty Thompson, Colleen Thompson and Michael Sialiano of Smithtown were recognized by Legislators Robert Trotta and John Kennedy, Jr. recently for their heroic efforts in saving an injured man from his burning vehicle.

The Thompsons were returning from a family vacation when they noticed a car on fire off of Southern State Parkway and stopped to help. They were aided by Michael Sialiano in removing the injured man out of the burning vehicle.

“The driver was very lucky that the people who came to his assistance were experienced and highly trained emergency responders. Mr. Thompson, a retired lieutenant from the Suffolk County Police Department, is the Chief of Police for the Village of Head of the Harbor and a longtime member of the St. James Fire Department. His daughter, Colleen, is a Deputy Suffolk County Sheriff and a former member of the St. James Fire Department. Mr. Sialiano is a retired city firefighter,” said Legislator Trotta.