We hold these truths to be self-evident that every community is created equal, that we have been endowed with certain unalienable rights, that among these is the right to protect the lives of motorists, pedestrians and cyclists, and to pursue happiness through the creation of an inviting, aesthetically pleasing main street.

That whenever any form of Government becomes destructive of these ends it is the right of the people to alter its determinations, and institute new resolutions, laying there Foundations on such Principles, and organizing there Powers in such Form as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.

Prudence, indeed, will dictate that institutions long established should not be changed for light and transient Causes: and accordingly all Experience hath shewn, that Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while Evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the Forms to which they are accustomed.  But a long Train of Abuses and Usurpation's, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such institutions, and to provide new Guards for their future Security.  Such has been the patient Sufferance of the Middle Island, and Coram Communities, and such is now the Necessity which constrains them to act.

The History of the present Department of Transportation is one of repeated Injuries and Usurpation's, all having in direct Object the Establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these communities.  To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid World.

The Department of Transportation has failed to respond to the communities which it has been established to serve.  It has ignored, and failed to respond to lengthy correspondence requesting simple striping amendments.

The Department of Transportation has refused to amend its plans even though such amendment will result in a safer roadway for all users.

The Department of Transportation has lied in its correspondence to elected officials stating that the amendments requested by the Middle Country Road Renaissance Project would require the reduction of shoulder width.

The Department of Transportation has refused to amend its striping although No further enhancements to this portion of the roadway are planned until after 2008.

Making the type of striping which were planned, and have indeed occurred on the roadway, extremely important to the Middle Island and Coram Communities.

The Department of Transportation has rejected all but two of seventeen requested amendments.

The Department of Transportation has an identical letters one signed by Joseph Scariza, Regional Design Engineer, and the other signed by Thomas Oelerich, Acting Regional Director, has continues its pattern of lack of responsiveness to community concerns.

The DOT has consistently provided only lip service to community requests for a safer, people friendly roadway.

The DOT has failed to consider the community's vision as developed through an intensive planning process which involved all segments of the community.

The Department of Transportation has refused for over a decade to seriously consider the wishes of community organizations.

The Department of Transportation has insisted in designing Rt. 25 as a high speed roadway, thus increasing the number and severity of accidents on Middle Country Road.

This Department of Transportation has consistently refused to use the tools available to it, to create a safe, effective roadway.  The community is tired of asking and getting the same warmed over negative responses.

We therefore, the Representatives of the Middle Country Road Renaissance Project, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the World for the Rectitude of our Intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these communities, solemnly Publish and Declare, That these United communities will endeavor to make our main street a safe and comfortable place to be for pedestrians, cyclists and motorist.

This version of the Declaration of Independence was written by the President of the Longwood Alliance, Connie Kepert.

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N.Y.S. Dept. Of Transportation Protest
November 11, 2002

Members of the Renaissance Project took to the streets and painted a temporary crosswalk on the roadway (see picture - left). The NYS DOT ignored requests (read one such request HERE) for such striping following its recent repaving of Middle Country Road. At the same time, Rennaisance Project chair, Connie Kepert read the above Declaration to those in attendance.

The protest took place in front of Bartlett Park in Middle Island. Bartlett Park, is located on the south side of Middle Country Road, therefore, children living on the north side of the roadway must cross a fast and dangerous highway to get to the park. The DOT refused to add crosswalks, to the roadway, and insisted on striping wide shoulders making the roadway even faster.

Our press conference was enormously successful!  The community and the media responded in an extremely positive fashion.  Our press event was covered by: channels: 7, 11, 12, 25, and 55; the NY Times and Newsday.  An enormous amount of press! 

It's pretty simple. Improved roadway design save lives and prevents needless injuries. Somtimes it is as simple as painting striping on a roadway, but the DOT is unresponsive to such requests whether they come from civic groups or from local government. The Renaissance Project has an ongoing effort to make the NYS DOT become more repsonsive to community needs. We call this campaign "Change DOT NOW." We need your help towards that end.  We are asking as many concerned friends and neighbors as possible to call and e-mail our elected state officials and express your concern and outrage at the DOT's lack of response to even simple striping requests.  Tell them you read about it here and find it unbelievable that the DOT would refuse a request that would only serve to make our main street safer. 

We requested the addition of crosswalks, and a crosshatched shoulder on Middle Country Road, a feature especially important where there are no sidewalks for pedestrians.

E-mail or phone calls will only take a few minutes but will help tremendously.

Please join our "Change DOT NOW" campaign by contacting your local officials.

The following letter was sent to the NYS DOT by County Executive Robert Gaffney: November 15, 2002 Mr. Joseph H. Boardman, Commissioner New York State Department of Transportation 1220 Washington Avenue Room 506 Albany, NY 12232 Dear Mr. Boardman:     I am writing to request your assistance with a matter of great concern to our mutual constituents in Middle Island, Suffolk County, New York.  The attached article, which appeared in the New Times on November 12, 2002, details the dilemma facing the community.  It concerns a busy intersection of Middle Country Road, which falls under the jurisdiction of the New York State Department of Transportation.     The residents of the community have taken it upon themselves to "paint" a crosswalk across this busy roadway leading to a neighborhood park.  They were moved to perform this action after ten years of appealing to the New York State Department of Transportation to create a means for safe passage across the street.  I have personally passed by this area many times in my travels throughout Suffolk County, and I can attest to the heavy traffic activity on Middle Country Road.  The community's children are particularly vulnerable because the Bartlett Pond Park attracts many families.  A child was killed at this intersection two years ago and I am very concerned that no steps have been taken to prevent this tragedy from happening to other families.  It is my understanding that the State Department of Transportation has failed to place any additional safety mechanisms in the area despite repeated requests from the local residents.     Your intervention in this matter is most urgently needed and I respectfully request your assistance in resolving this issue.  I look forward to your reply.

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Read The NY Times Coverage:

TRAFFIC PROTESTERS IN SUFFOLK PUT PAINTBRUSHES TO PAVEMENT
By Bruce Lambert

MIDDLE ISLAND, N.Y., Nov. 11 - Heavy traffic was zipping along Middle Country Road as usual here today, but this time a band of protesting residents took the law - or at least paintbrushes - into their own hands.

Dipping their brushes into cans of white paint, the protesters did something they say they have been asking the State Department of Transportation to do for more than 10 years.  They painted wide stripes on part of the roadway as the start of an unauthorized crosswalk.  They also painted angled stripes on the road's shoulders in a do-it-yourself project to discourage drivers from using them. 

The road, also known as Route 25, is among the most dangerous in Suffolk County, according to the civic groups that sponsored the protest. 

"A fourth grader was killed there two years ago," said Connie Kepert, president of the Longwood Alliance, as she pointed to the road's intersection with Birchwood Park Lane to the east.  Nodding the other way, toward Church Lane to the west, Ms. Kepert said an accident at that intersection had killed a driver. 

The spot chosen for the protest was at Bartlett Pond Park, across the road from a small shopping center. 

"Who comes to a park but children and mothers, and there's not even a crosswalk," said Christopher O'Connor, program director of the Long Island Neighborhood Network, a nonprofit environmental group.  "The state isn't making any changes, which means more accidents and more fatalities."

Speed limits on Middle Country Road here are 40 and 45 miles an hour, but neighbors say drivers often go 60 or faster.  A section to the west is nicknamed the Selden Speedway. 

Here the highway is two lanes, but the civic groups say the real problem is with the road's shoulders, which vary from 10 feet wide to virtually nothing. 

The protesters call those shoulders "the suicide lanes" because drivers often move into them where they widen and then are squeezed back into the traffic where they narrow.  Compounding the problem, they say, is the absence of sidewalks, which forces pedestrians and cyclists to use the shoulders. 

"For over a decade we have been working on this with the D.O.T," Ms. Kepert said.  "They meet with us, but they fall back on their tried and true formula of moving traffic as fast as possible, ignoring the residents.  They say they can't make any changes till 2008.  It's just paint - it's fiscally insignificant - and they still won't do it."

Because today was a holiday for state workers, transportation officials could not be reached for comment.  The demonstrators distributed letters from the state rejecting their request to make the shoulders a consistent width of six feet, too narrow for a travel lane.  Brookhaven town officials and local state legislators support the change, Ms. Kepert said. 

About two dozen protesters started their civil disobedience by proclaiming their "declaration of independence from bureaucracy at its worst." The groups they represented included the Middle Country Road Renaissance Project, the Affiliated Brookhaven Civic Organizations and the Tri-State Transportation Campaign. 

Eventually, however, their unofficial crosswalk and shoulder stripes proved to be a bit of washout.  The pavement was already wet to begin with, and the sporadic drizzle and rain diluted the paint until little was left a few hours after the protest. 

"We chose to make a symbolic statement as to what could be done, demonstrating how easy it is to do," Mr. O'Connor said.  "On the other hand, we recognize that it's the D.O.T.'s job to do this."