Arts & Entertainment

TOBAY Notebook: Feds to Fund Greener Garbage Trucks, New Historic Signs

More than 40 sanitation trucks to be converted to natural gas.

"Greener" garbage trucks are coming to the

A $5 million federal grant will allow the town to convert 44 sanitation trucks to natural gas.

The grant will pay for construction of a compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling facility at the town's Department of Public Works complex in Syosset.

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“The Town has been very proactive in incorporating alternative fuel vehicles into its fleet,” said Supervisor John Venditto. “By constructing a fueling station on town property, it will allow the town to move forward with repowering 44 diesel-fueled sanitation collection vehicles, which are also used for snow removal operations, to CNG.”

Town officials estimate that the CNG fuel will reduce the town’s petroleum usage by an estimated 264,000 gallons per year, or 22,000 gallons a month.

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The DPW complex in Syosset already has both gasoline and diesel fueling facilities and is the headquarters for its sanitation fleet of 60 diesel-fueled trucks. In addition to the 44 trucks that will be repowered under the grant, the town has received another grant to convert five additional sanitation trucks to CNG, which will bring to total of CNG-fueled sanitation trucks to 49, officials said.

The $5,023,529 grant was awarded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The town’s grant application was part of a consortium of Nassau-Suffolk County applications submitted to the U. S. Department of Energy by the Greater Long Island Clean Cities Coalition.

New Historical Signs for Hamlet of Oyster Bay

The town and the Oyster Bay Main Street Association have been awarded a $70,000 grant from the National Park Service. The money will be used to replace current street signs with more decorative versions in the historic hamlet that serves as the Town Seat.

The program also has Oyster Bay High School students visiting historical attractions within the hamlet and to write a brief synopsis about the sites. Four of the small essays will be placed at the historical site, explaining their significance, said Main Street Association Executive Director Isaac D. Kremer.

The hamlet of Oyster Bay predates the American Revolution and is home to a variety of fascinating Colonial-era attractions. They include the patriot Townsend family home known as Raynham Hall. The place has ties to British officer Major John Andre, who was allegedly overheard by one of the Townsend daughters discussing Benedict Arnold's plot to surrender West Point to the Red Coats.

And just a few miles down the road from President Theodore Roosevelt's Sagamore Hill estate, a servant named Mary Mallon worked as a cook in an East Main Street home. She is better known by her infamous monicker: "Typhoid Mary," the dreaded silent carrier of the deadly, turn-of-the-century disease.

Both types of signage will be completed within 18 months.

Marina Fees to Remain at Last Year's Levels

 The boating season is already open and town fees for the 2011 season at Harry Tappen and Theodore Roosevelt marinas will hold the line on rates at the 2010 level for resident boaters.

Rates at Roosevelt Marina, which is open to Oyster Bay Town residents only, are $90. per boat foot for boats 20 feet and longer without electric and $95 per boat foot with electric.

Rates at the Tappen Marina, which is open to the public has a wide range of fees depending on the size of the boat and other factors. See the town's website for further details.


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