Community Awareness-One Call Makes A Difference

Have you ever been driving to work and all of a sudden you don’t remember getting where you are. It is a sign that we are pre-occupied with what we have to get done and in what amount of time it has to be accomplished. 

We tend not to look around us and see where we can make a difference.  Take a walk around the Village and you will see things you may miss as you speed along, rushing to a meeting, a job or sports event. 

I have come to realize that we teach people how to treat us. If we are vigilante as residents, word will get out that we don't accept anything but the best for our Village. A high standard of workmanship is what we expect. 

I recently had the opportunity to see that ONE CALL MAKES A DIFFERENCE and to some this may be small, but to me it made me feel good and it was very entertaining to all my friends.  It was like I became a magnet, I had become the utility company commando. Over the last few months I have called SCWA, National Grid as well as Verizon. 

It all started on the way to work one day, at the corner of Lakewood and Jayne Avenue there was a 4 to 6” diameter pipe without a cover on it. All I could think of was one of the kids in the neighbor getting hurt. I made the call, it was FIXED the same day. A month or so later, as I walked passing out NuVillage Flyers I found another open pipe but this one was full of dirt. This could potentially cause an access problem if an emergency happened. I made the call, it was FIXED the same day.

I didn’t know that National Grid would be next. I went to vote on Election day with a friend, and then went to National Grid in Patchogue as we pulled into the parking lot we noticed a lot of garbage. It was a mess, although not in the Village it is part of our larger community. I walked in introduced myself and I asked to speak with a supervisor in their Facilities Management Department. She explained that they don’t speak with the Facility Management Department and explained their procedure. The garbage was cleaned up, but we need to stay on top of that area.    

After that I couldn’t leave Verizon out of the picture. There have been a few hanging wires in our neighborhood for awhile. They are attached to the span of wires between poles, but where hanging within the reach of a person and in some instances a child. As I was working on a landscaping project for a neighbor I saw an employee from Optimum I asked him to look at the wire that was hanging in the street, left over from one of the storms we had. He verified that it was a telephone cable. So I made the Verizon call, I also reported the same situation on Maple and Cedar Grove and another one on Oak and Route 112. I called, I got reference numbers and I received a call back from the Construction Supervisor for the area, it’s getting FIXED. 

Some people think that community service is just about what organization you belong to or what event you attend.  There are many ways a person can become involved in your community, the small things like these have just as powerful of a positive effect on your community and can make you feel good too. Graffiti is next!!