Putting a Stop to Sign Controversy

When Bayport-Blue Point Patch suggested I write an opinion piece, it asked that I focus on a local issue. Clearly, neither my views on the Afghan conflict nor on the economic crisis were to be my subject.

Thinking of my nearly 40 years in Bayport, I remember few local issues that evoked as much pro and con commentary as the installation of four-way stop signs at six intersections along Middle Road between Sayville and Blue Point by the Suffolk County Department of Public Works. In addition, and no less controversial, the Department installed "Stop Ahead" signs, a few hundred feet in advance of every stop sign.

The opposition to the signs was fast and often furious. A "tear down the signs" Facebook page, with hosts of friends, surfaced; a petition calling for the signs' removal acquired thousands of signatures, and the letters pages of the Suffolk County News were crowded with resident opinions on the signs, which they referred to as "fantastically ugly," "excessive" and "expensive." One writer lamented, "the character of Bayport has been lost forever and replaced with a section of Interstate 95," (a strange comparison since, of course, 95 has no stop signs). In truth, an equal number, if not more, letters extolled the installations for their bringing "sanity and safety" to Middle Road because, for the first time, home owners could place trash cans at their curbs without the risk of physical mayhem and, more importantly, parents experienced greater security when their kids had to cross the road.

The back and forth was intense. Speeding in excess of the thirty miles posted limit had long been a way of life along Middle Road. There had been periodic calls for strict police enforcement of  the limit, but the stop signs took the intensity up several notches.

I considered the positions of the anti-sign forces: yes, the look of Middle Road was more appealing before the signs and pre-signs, increased pollution from exhaust and brake emissions may result because of the signs and stop signs are not traffic engineers' favored method of traffic calming.

But then I remembered Meghan Bush. Meghan was a talented, gifted and enthusiastic student in one of my honors English classes at Bayport Blue Point High School in the 1980s. She had a love of music, art and literature. She spoke of her aspiration to become an opera singer. I thought then that her talent, coupled with her loving, supportive family would almost guarantee that Meghan would reach her goals. In 1988 a speeding driver on Middle Road snatched her future from her and very nearly killed her. Other young people have lost their lives on Middle Road because of speeding. But I only knew Meghan.

The carping about the signs' lack of aesthetic appeal and inconvenience is, in the final analysis, trivial. The work of the Bayport Safety Committee, led by Noel Feustel, and the response of Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy to erect the signs resulted in a miraculous transformation of a speedway to a more civil and safe roadway. And if the signs result in the saving of  another Meghan Bush, that would be enough of a miracle for me.   

Jim Morgo has lived in Bayport for nearly 40 years. He is the Economic Development Coordinator for Brookhaven Town and the President and Chief Executive Officer of Morgo Private Public Strategies.