Vanderbilt Cup Races

It was simply naive to think this wasn’t going to happen. The minute I heard about this I knew this entire section of the LIMP was done. Ok so they might put up a sign, big deal.  Thankfully the view looking west, from that point up to Clinton Rd abutment, will be preserved. That’s real history. Not a new parking lot with a sign of what “used to be here”. The locations that were abandoned and left undeveloped, those are the best remaining locations.

0.31 miles of Motor Parkway stretch remaining in GC, but now with a parking lot in the center interrupting flow. Likely Roosevelt Field mall development began the parkway desecration many years ago. Same happened recently in Levittown with housing, with its slightly longer 0.85 stretch. Seems these short stretches today don’t stand a chance against eminent domain, decisions that no doubt will be regretted later

It is not totally unexpected, but is still a wonder how important history can be so so important when presented for a photo opportunity for elected officials or those seeking office around election time. They then become “preservationists” and recognize the ‘importance” of local history that is unique to an area. Short memories prevail ...........keep that in mind the next time that there is a rally or a campaign fund raiser - ask a question “why did you destroy/erase history?” Write letters to newspapers to alert the general public to what has happened. Garden City annually has an Easter parade of old vehicles - question why?? , when most of the time they ignore or bury history. The only justice is to make known what has been done to point out what was/wasn’t important. If you don’t then you can not regret what has been lost.

It’s terrible the way they lie.They told you one thing I did another. That’s very wrong. ????

Wait to til they realize the real property value enhancement would have been a heritage park deducted to the history of the Motor Parkway and not… a rarely used parking lot.

Richard C.

we gotta preserve as much of history as we can..
shame on garden city - ????????

As it says on my LIMP pages, “BULLDOZERS ARE SUCH INDISCRIMINATE REVIONISTS!”  *IF* the RoW was “only” covered over, perhaps this can be undone some day (HA - some chance!).  Sam, III

Sam III, well stated my friend.
My question is - did the historian for the village of Garden City have an opinion about this? did he object?  By NY State law villages have to have an appointed historian , - no word ? “sounds of silence” ? Nassau County historian - any opinion?

Howard, Did some clearing this morning west of the parking field off of Raymond Ct. I coincidently met 2 Garden City officials there. They told me that the Village is going to clear the southside of Parkway ROW west of the parking field starting with the concrete portion working east to west, sooner than later.

To answer Walt Gosden: I’m the Village Historian. I had a meeting with the Village officials involved and presented a plan that would have kept the original surface where it existed. The plan was not implemented. Hopefully, per Al Velocci’s post, something can be done of historic value west of the parking area.

Mr. Bellmer, thank you so much for responding, I sincerely appreciate it as I believe many others will as well. It is absolutely wonderful to read that you did voice your opinion as to what could have been done for this unique piece of property . It gives many of us a better perspective of what is/isn’t going on. thank you again.

Hi Walt, I can confirm that Bill Bellmer has been diligent in trying to preserve this section of the Motor Parkway. Unfortunately, politicians are politicians.

This proves to all “politicians will be politicians” that come election day you need to make the effort to go and vote even if the people on the ballot face no opposition. There is a write in space - your disapproval of the candidates can be made known by writing in a name that sends a message you would rather vote for a clown then the people listed who you consider clowns! Take the time to go to a public civic meeting and bring up the subject you care about that was ignored or not carried out to your satisfaction by elected officials - that will go down as in the record books that not all people were happy. It also shows support for the decision on issues of preservation like Mr. Bellmer made - make sure the local newspapers know about how unhappy people are.

I think that’s an incredible idea to recreate the posts and wire! Extremely generous of you and Al!  It’s the least Garden City could do considering they didn’t keep their end of the bargain to preserve the parkway.

Certainly a logical proposal to restore the historic significance of this section of the Motor Parkway.  I also will donate a few posts and pieces of roadway if needed (albeit from the Levittown section).

Two thoughts. First, posts and wire is a great idea (assuming they’re not vandalized right off the bat).  Secondly, we had the stretch from Clinton in “polished”; if it’s overgrown now, we have no one else to blame.  Keep up the good fight, LIMPers!  Sam, III

This is an excellent plan! Can’t imagine the Village of Garden City having an issue with this. Posts that remain through out LIMP ROW are a constant reminder of the past,  especially when the roadway is not apparent.

Roosevelt Field is no longer sacred to me. They also took out my favorite store. The only one I ever went to in there.

Great plan to highlight the Motor Parkway RoW again. Garden City has a unique opportunity here for a practical greenway with historic significance. This unused section can extend to an almost 1/3 mile nature-walk under canopied trees, if the east side of the parking lot is included. It would resemble the RoW in Queens that is cherished by all who encounter it. I have an original LIMP concrete post to donate, and it’s in excellent condition.

As a long-time Mineola resident (but currently a left coaster) full marks for your efforts to preserve the Parkway. I sincerely hope your efforts to mark the route get rewarded. Is it okay if I say, “Keep me posted?”

I recommend that a proposal to restore the historical concrete sign posts on the northern side of the new parking lot in the Village of Garden City.  These sign posts should be reinstalled on the former Motor Parkway, now in the present parking lot area.  The Motor Parkway is a very important part of Queens, and Long Island history.

Hey Everyone this is Rikki M. and I’ve written many articles about this controversial topic for The Garden City News—GCNews.com—thank you’s to Howard, Bill Bellmer and Cyril Smith, THERE IS something you all can do to urge the Village of Garden City to use the concrete posts as Howard has noted. Please send us LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (free from anything inappropriate) and we will use them in the paper. Letters get directed to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) / We are in print every Friday since 1923, sent all around Garden City.

That’s a great idea that you and Al have put together. I’m sure we would all like to see some form of historic reminder of what once was. Is it too early to start writing letters to the Garden City Village Board?

This is a wonderful suggestion The fact that people interested in preserving motor parkway history are willing to come up with a workable and inexpensive way to do so should mean something. That the local government promised one thing but did the exact opposite makes me wonder what their true motivation is.

Sadly this is the normal, they say one thing and do another. Not a nice way to govern.  Sadly most of Long Islands REAL History will be forgotten.

Great to read of all the support for the preservation of what does remain of the historic Long Island Motor Parkway but indeed pitiful for this lack of caring by the powers that be in GC have made regarding the heritage . Great ideas about the concrete posts BUT given the past decisions of GC officials would those preserved posts be in danger of elimination and destruction in future years? Can some statement/law be officially made and put in writing that they will not be destroyed? I think that has to be taken into account as well.

Walt - would your suggestion entail or include having the posts designated as objects on the State Register of Historic Places?  The registers include objects as well as places and might enable GC to obtain historic preservation grants for the same. 

“Municipal and not-for-profit owners of listed historic properties may apply for matching state historic preservation grants.”

Art, absolutely! I am not aware of the exact current qualifications to have these objects designated/recognized in such a manor to be sure to guarantee their preservation. Although I have been the appointed Historian for the village of Floral Park for decades , and was active in the local twice yearly gatherings of long island historians , as well as attending state wide meetings my ability to travel to such in the past 3 years had been severely cut back due to some health issues I am still recovering form.

J.F.

Howard, it is pretty simple: “History cannot be preserved, if it is buried!”  So, The Village of Garden City needs to resurrect what the roadway would have looked like, and build a proper display where the public can legitimately stop and read about the history of the Vanderbilt Motor Parkway.

This appears to be the right time to propose what I have been thinking about to bring more awareness to the Motor Parkway in the Raymond Court area and save what is left. When I visited the Residence Inn I noticed several walkers and joggers exercising around the parking fields. Why not a circular jogging/walking path connecting the Motor Parkway and the Inn ?  A little west of the Motor Parkway ROW/ parking field there already exists a roadway from the Parkway north to the Residence Inn. The Parkway ROW exists east of Raymond Court to Ring Road/ Roosevelt Field. All that is lacking is the short section from the east end of the Parkway ROW north to the Inn. Between the Inn and Garden City Village that should be easy to accomplish.

Howard,
I very much support and appreciate your efforts to have this historic roadway restored.  I hope that Garden City Village will hear your request and act in an appropriate way to acknowledge the history of this site that has otherwise been subject to neglect, abuse and abandonment.  Please let us know the Village’s receptivity and response to your proposition.  Again, thanks for doing this and keeping the dream alive.

Howard, Regarding your comments to J. F….. West of the new parking field there is a large cleared area where it appears new underground utilities were installed in connection with the Residence Inn. This would be a perfect spot to locate an outdoor center commemorating all the history of the area. What I have in mind is something similar to the Sand miners pavilion near the Harbor Links Golf Course on West Shore Rd. in Port Washington.

AL ,THANK YOU my friend. You have come up with a perfectly viable solution that GC couldn’t think of or perhaps thought was to much trouble to do so. The minds of historians and preservationists do not ( and have not?) go down the same path or better yet the same roadway ( parkway) ......
Walt G.

Frank   Regarding your comments about Roosevelt Field/ Motor Parkway desecration… want to point out the east/west portion of Ring Rd. on the south side of Roosevelt Field is in the bed of the Parkway ROW. Would be nice the Simon Company would put up some signs acknowledging the Long Island Motor Parkway.

Al V., Simon ain’t likely to do any such thing but they MIGHT let US do so 9and, if we’re lucky, even pay for it).  Sam, III

WOW!  My e-mail has been deluged with notices of all these responses!  I hope everyone writes to LETTERS TO THE EDITOR at The Garden City News as Rikki M. suggests, directed to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).  I have.  Sam, III

As one on many “friends” of the western terminus LIMP bike/hiking path who value that path as a community resource and appreciate its historical significance, I very much urge the Village of Garden City to accept your and Al’s generous proposal.

So much of Long Island’s history has been buried, bulldozed of just forgotten. Its a shame the towns and villages don’t support this history. We support any effort to preserve and educate the next generation of Long Islanders.

It’s a tough call here. When Lord Elgin ‘stole’ sections of the Parthenon frieze, the so called Elgin marbles, it was looked at as a desecration and as ruining the integrity of the Parthenon. Yet, when Kroplick & Velocci saved these LIMP posts they helped to preserve and to now be reunited with their original location and purpose. This donation of the posts provides a much needed context to appreciate this crucial period of transportation history.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Howard Kroplick, for the record, Al Velocci legally purchased these 10 posts in 1995 from a builder who had already removed them for a residential development.

Yeah, riiight, Sheri!  Kroplick and Velocci Concretes?  At least, I saved my post from a scrap heap (out by the Commack Spur, with permission).  If the personage who now has it in his/her possession would give it up, it might be added to the display (with ribbon wire).  Keep pressing on, regardless!  Sam, III

I totally support this effort. Based upon the generous contribution you and Al are offering Howard, I think the Village of Garden City should accept your proposal. I also enthusiastically support Al’s suggestions for preserving the historical sections still available for use as a reminder of this historic part of Long Island history. I hope the village cooperates!

You don’t preserve something by burying it. You only bury the dead! No one would preserve their car by burying it. You bring it back to it’s former glory. I think their idea of preservation is a cop out to not spend money to do what is necessary. It seems to me in this time of election and re election the opportunity to get some local politician behind the proper preservation is timely.

Thank you Bill, very well stated indeed.
Those of us that own antique cars and always support the annual Garden City Easter parade run by the Chamber of Commerce should note what is or isn’t happening. Perhaps this is our opportunity to “protest” ( the new popular word for everything) as we see nothing being accomplished .

Sam, You lucky dog ! You got your post free. I had to pay for the Parkway posts that I have acquired. See mystery photo, Nov. 25, 2019

https://www.vanderbiltcupraces.com/blog/article/mystery_friday_foto_47_a_house_built_on_the_long_island_motor_parkway_right

This post has been updated to note that the 10 concrete posts that are being donated were legally purchased from a builder in the 1980s who had already removed them.

Last opportunity to provide feedback before an email is sent to Village of Garden City officials.

Gentlemen, my post was found already unearthed and laying flat on the LIMP RoW in Bethpage, discarded during Rt 135 construction.

Update: I made contact with a Village of Garden City official this morning.

My posts (and pieces of roadway) were uncovered and taken in 2013 with the permission of the developer during the excavation of the ROW off of Crocus Lane and Orchard Road in Levittown.  Thanks to Steve Lucas and Ellyn Okvist for making that a successful archeological dig. 

https://www.vanderbiltcupraces.com/blog/article/in_search_of_the_grandstand_press_box_officials_stand_and_pits_in_levittown

SPECIAL NOTE: And 7 years later, further development is encroaching on another ROW segment just west of the Crocus Lane location.  This is the area just off of Heron Lane, also near Orchard Road.  9 homes are to be built.  The builder has once again given me permission to see what Motor Parkway relics remain during excavation.  I certainly will take him up on the offer even though his initial drilling for sand samples have not produced anything.

Look for future updates in upcoming Kleiner’s Korners.

What with the pandemic and politics and LIMP losses, this gets really discouraging!  Lotsa talk here (including great ideas) but what are the other readers doing?  I repeat, “I hope everyone writes to LETTERS TO THE EDITOR at The Garden City News as Rikki M. suggests, directed to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)”.  I already did.”  What else can I (now an off-Islander) and our other blog readers do?  Sam, III

Disturbing Josato LIMP desecration underway with the back hoe lurking about in the shadows. This 0.83 mile stretch would’ve better served as a greenway for the community to thrive and enjoy

While I share your sentiment, Frank - you can’t directly blame Josato.  As they had done with the property they had owned off of Crocus Lane, they sold the Heron Lane property n 2016 to the same developer they had sold the Crocus Lane site. The last time, 4 homes were built (2 with extremely oversized lots).  This time there will be 9 homes.  And both Josato and the new developer have been Motor Parkway friendly, at least in terms of permitting a few of us amateur historians to get on the property to look around.

I still don’t know why the school couldn’t have built an entrance and a parking lot off of Stewart avenue. There seems to plenty of property on the north side of the avenue. It’s amazing how both Nassau & Suffolk Counties don’t really care about the historical significance of the motor pkwy.I live in Queens county and that 3 mile portion of the LIMP is maintained and preserved for so many decades. Keep fighting Howard. Regards, Gene Perry

I find it quite disheartening when elected officials promise to preserve in public but once behind closed doors enact or sign off on documents and permits that totally negate there promises. I always hope that we can preserve history, learn from it both the good and the bad. I hope another learning opportunity is not lost. Keep on motoring down the road of life.

Exact location of the parking lot in question? Also, I grew up in New Hyde Park and found this page through the NewHydeParkMuseum.com page. Really enjoying it all!

Hi Jim, Welcome! The parking lot is behind the Stewart Filed off Stewart Avenue. Go to the end of Raymond Court in Garden Cityand look for the bluestone parking lot.

Most recent pics of the Motor Parkway area showing the 3 foot edge and existing posts to the west of the parking lot - taken November 15, 2020.

A total of three cars were in the new parking lot for a Sunday afternoon kids lacrosse game.  The path going from the west side of the Residence Inn would be an ideal walking path to get to the Motor Parkway area, especially if Howard and Al’s proposal is accepted.  The lobby of the inn has historical pictures of the area including Willie K., - might be a way to connect the past with the present.