The motorists on the Great Neck peninsula experience unjustifiable delays when they drive through the Great Neck Plaza stretch of Middle Neck Road.
The traffic there is a horror. The traffic light sequences are deficient. The double-parked vehicles are well tolerated – despite Great Neck Plaza having its own ticket-writer(s) and its own police. Instead of taking care of the real traffic issues, the ticket writer lingers around the meters with little time left and tickets the shoppers’ vehicles seconds after the meter time is expired.
It was only five months ago when I happened to jointly work with Jason Hertz, P.E., on a highly challenging engineering project which required a good knowledge of civil-structural and geotechnical engineering. A new retaining wall needed to be designed and constructed to replace a twice-failed retaining wall (all occurred prior to Hertz’s involvement). The time was of the essence as the adjacent buildings were on the verge of collapsing and falling to the side in the absence of a retaining wall.
Nonetheless, after getting involved, Jason came up with a highly creative and economical solution. His solution significantly reduced the cost and duration of the project while the durability was enhanced.
More recently, after my interactions with Mr. Hertz in the retaining wall project, I found that he is running for a trustee position in the Village of Great Neck Plaza.
Jason Hertz has a master’s degree in civil engineering and also an MBA degree and he is a creative thinker. The traffic engineering is an area of civil engineering which includes the sciences relevant to traffic reduction. Jason is also a licensed professional engineer (P.E.) which requires years of practice, an extensive two-day exam and continuing education classes on a regular basis.
It is obvious that the solution to the traffic situation in Great Neck Plaza needs to get much more attention than the attention which currently is being given to it. As a trained civil engineer, Mr. Hertz has the required background to evaluate the issues of the horrific traffic of the GN Plaza and utilize/hire the correct team of people to mitigate the delays.
Recently there was news that the LIRR’s Barstow bridge located in GN Plaza has safety issues. Although the safety of that bridge is the responsibility of LIRR, its “unsafeness” also has bearings on GN Plaza’s residents. Nonetheless, GN Plaza’s Board of Trustees need to ascertain that under no circumstances is the safety of its residents compromised (e.g., Mianus River Bridge collapse and hundreds of other bridges that have collapsed while being maintained!). Again, while the “unsafeness” of the Barstow bridge is a subject of any controversy, the presence of a civil engineer on the Board of Trustees is a major asset.
I am confident that if Jason Hertz gets elected, he would be a major asset for the GN Plaza and the entire Great Neck Peninsula as the motorists from the other areas can benefit from the reduced traffic delays while passing through the Plaza Area.
Dr. Fred Bassali, Ph.D. Eng., P.E.
Professor of Engineering
Great Neck