With Ross Park now closed, construction is slated to begin immediately. However, a date of completion could not be supplied due to the considerable changes planned, including a state-of-the-art stage for concert series, said assemblyman Phil Ramos.

“We plan to do it in a holistic manner here working in a bipartisan way, reaching across the aisle because [Islip] Town supervisor [Angie Carpenter]
understands, as I do, that there is no Republican way to fix a park,” Ramos
said during a press conference at the park on Wednesday, Sept. 9. “There is no
Democratic way to feed the homeless. We just need to get it done, and that is what the public expects us to do."

Carpenter pointed out that the reason the elected officials were convening at the park and closing the park is because the location has become a hotspot for
illegal activity, including drug dealing and prostitution.

“It is a place where seniors are afraid to go. Our families are afraid to come
here. It has negatively impacted the quality of life and the business communities surrounding us here,” Carpenter said, adding that the town Planning and Development Department accepted funds from Ramos’s office in order to rehabilitate the park. “Just over a week ago, Suffolk County police were called to respond to a disturbance here, and it is not the first time there have been problems here.”

The town supervisor was referring to an incident in which four individuals
were arrested and two Suffolk County police officers were injured.

“We are announcing the closure of Ross Memorial Park in order to make it
safer. We are going to be starting a construction project, making improvements in the park, and adding amenities. But you cannot do this piecemeal, as we have tried to do over the past months,” Carpenter said, referring to the work already done with the walkways, curbs, and light posts in the park that were administered by Ramos. “We need to clear and secure the park and then come in here and do what we need to do. This will be a place
that people not only want to come to, but can feel safe coming to.”

Ramos pointed out that he would rather not have the bus stop be in front of
Ross Park.

“I would prefer the county reroutes it somehow and puts it in another area because it is creating quality-of-life problems, people walking out into the street,” Ramos said. “We need that to be dealt with. We ask our friends in the county to please help us. Be part of this project to take back our park and please reroute this bus stop so that people can have a convenient place that does not create a quality-of-life problem.”

Ramos announced that he is investing $650,000 in the park for the construction.

“Approaching this in a holistic method, we help all the local businesses who have been concerned about the quality-of-life issues, about people panhandling and harassing their customers,” he said. “These things can be dealt with
as long as we work in a holistic manner, as our town supervisor has agreed to do. In this bipartisan effort, we hope to see a bigger, better Ross Park for our community.”

Carpenter agreed with Ramos’s concern for the bus stop placement. She said she has brought this concern up with officials within the county. Carpenter shared that the county’s philosophy regarding the situation is not parallel with her and Ramos’s concerns.

“At the very least, I sent a letter a couple of weeks ago,” she said. “I don’t
feel the need for three bus shelters on one side of the street and two on the
other side of the street because these bus shelters are not bus shelters. More times than not, people are sitting in the shelter; the bus pulls in, the bus pulls out, the people are still in the shelter. They are obviously not using it waiting for the bus."