Supervisor Laura Jens-Smith is inviting residents to help with the spring train station cleanup tomorrow morning.
The cleanup of the area around the train station got underway in earnest last year when Jens-Smith met with MTA officials to discuss the needs of the blighted station. Among the concerns and requested upgrades were the installation of multiple security cameras; replacing frosted glass panels that block view of train tracks; relocating trees that block oncoming street traffic and bricking areas to make it safer and more handicapped accessible.
Last July, more than three dozen volunteers — members of Sheet Metal Workers Local 28 and Laborers Union 66, Home Depot employees, volunteers from Town Hall and Riverhead Townscape — descended on the train station to spread mulch and plant perennials in garden beds along the platform on Railroad Avenue.
Home Depot donated the plants and several pallets of mulch and marble chips for the landscape plan, which was designed by master gardener volunteers from Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County.
The site had been prepared by workers from the LIRR, Riverhead Buildings and Grounds Division, Riverhead Highway Department and Home Depot volunteers, who had ripped out overgrown shrubbery and trees, picked up trash, tilled the soil and spread topsoil.
“This continued effort is thanks to the generous contributions of the MTA, Home Depot, Gabrielsen’s Country Farm, Riverhead Townscape, civic associations, and neighbors who have joined forces to improve their town,” the supervisor said in a press release.
“As we are set to start our third cleanup it’s been amazing to see residents come together to improve their community,” Jens-Smith said.
“Improving the train station is a key part to revitalizing our downtown. As new neighbors start to call this area their home, making sure that transit is accessible, safe, and easy will become a big part of improving the quality of life for residents,” she said.
Anyone interested in helping out tomorrow should arrive at the train station on Railroad Avenue at 8:30 a.m.
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