The New Hyde Park Village Board had a special guest speaker during Tuesday night’s meeting at the : New Inspector Sean McCarthy.
The inspector, who took over the post this year shortly before the precinct mergers were , spoke with the residents in attendance at the meeting, whose concerns were primarily crime, parking issues and noise in the area.
The commanding officer offered two primary pieces of advice for combating crime in New Hyde Park: call 911 and never leave valuables and keys in an unlocked car.
“Crime is low in the village, but most of the crimes have involved things being taken from unlocked vehicles,” McCarthy said. “My advice is to reduce your vulnerability, lock your car door and call 911, not the station house. A lot of people who see things do not call.”
New Hyde Park resident Bruce Hecht, who lives across from , was concerned about garbage, noise and youths loitering in the park until late at night.
“These kids need to be ticketed and 95 percent of them don’t even live in the neighborhood,” he said. “Something has to be done. We need more police who hand out summonses.”
McCarthy added that the Third Precinct has issued appearance tickets and he said that loitering by youths is something that is happening in other areas as well, not just in New Hyde Park.
Several residents wanted to know what the noise ordinance was for the village and yet others wanted to know about gang activity.
New Hyde Park Superintendent of Public Works Tom Gannon said there are noise ordinances set in place.
“By 9 p.m., decibels have to be lowered, unless there is a permit for a block party or another event and in that case it would be extended to 11 pm,” Gannon said. “If there is constant load noise, then call 911.”
Other residents said that between the helicopters, the horn blowing several times per day at the firehouse and loud music from various establishments, it is affecting their quality of life.
McCarthy addressed the gang activity concern assuring residents that there are no gang problems in the village. However, he did not deny that some gang members may live in the vicinity.
“Always make use of the 911 system,” he reiterated. “It saves time, I can look and see what is happening in the system and it’s a triage type of system.”
