By Drew Scott

If you’re planning on using the LIRR this weekend, you better listen up!

Most south shore branch trains will be suspended while the Railroad installs new modernized electronic switches and signals. 

I covered the press conference in Valley Stream this morning, where LIRR President Helena Williams asked riders to be patient, to think ahead and use north shore or main line branches instead if traveling to and from the city.

It’s a $60-Million project, affects 400 daily trains and 26 switches and signals where five LIRR branches merge before heading into Jamaica. They tell me the old system of mechanical levers and switches dates back to the 1930’s! The new system is computerized.

Buses will be provided for customers but the trip could take an extra hour or more. To warn commuters, the LIRR has established new Facebook and Twitter pages. Heres the link  so you can get complete direction on what’s happening at each south shore station.

By Drew Scott

“This was a dramatic call to action by management.”

That’s how Long Island Railroad President Helena Williams summed up the report of the August near miss of two trains on the same track in Bridgehampton last summer.

Williams made a formal report to the MTA board today, and I asked board member Mitch Pally what his reaction was.  He said,  “I think the railroad is doing a very good job trying to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

The cause of the near collision in August was a failure of the two train’s crews to communicate with each other about a stop change. From now on, says Williams, audits of order changes will be made and supervisors will double check to make sure everybody is on the same page, but NOT on the same track!

Six LIRR employees were disciplined according to Williams.  Commuters we spoke with say they’re glad action was taken, but wonder why the railroad doesn’t have to report near miss incidents to the federal or state authorities.

“Maybe we’ll change that policy soon,” says Williams.

By Drew Scott

“Come on, have a heart,” was the comment from one angry LIRR commuter this morning at the Wantagh train station.

I watched Dennis Timpanaro as he dispensed 250 to 300 cups of coffee and good cheer  from his red GMC truck at this train station. He’s been at that since 1980. His customers love him and they say they love his rolls and coffee.

“He knows exactly how I take my coffee before I even get to the front of the line at 6 a.m.” according to another commuter.

Dennis got a letter from the MTA a few weeks ago, informing him his parking permit to sell coffee was being terminated.

“I had a migraine for two days,” said Timpanaro wondering why the letter did not spell out why he was being de-railed after nearly three decades at the station.

“I got my truck’s body repaired and repainted.”

An inspector from the MTA never came back to see the truck after complaining it looked “unsanitary” back in June.

His customers said they’ve never heard a complaint in 29 years against Timpanaro or his truck.

“I need a miracle, a big miracle,” said Dennis as he poured another commuter a cup of coffee.

By Drew Scott

Former Suffolk Legislator George Guldi campaigned this month in the primary election to challenge Jay Schneiderman for the Legislature’s First District seat. Guldi once held that seat several years ago. He lost that primary in a landslide last Tuesday.

Now Guldi is on a new campaign. He’s hoping to stay out of jail on a new four count indictment that he falsified an insurance claim involving a fire at his Westhampton Beach home a year ago.

According to the Suffolk District Attorney’s office, Guldi re-mortgaged his luxury 4-bedroom home, then somehow, it went up in smoke last November. His insurance company sent him a check for $850,000, to be co-endorsed by him and his mortgage company. Instead, the DA says Guldi walked away with the cash, never made the repairs, and now the fire ravaged home is – you guessed it – in foreclosure.

His defense attorney Anthony LaPinta told me at Riverhead Criminal court today that his client is innocent, and will vigorously clear his name. But the assistant district attorney Thalia Stavrides says these are felonies and very serious charges.

Yes, this is the same George Guldi indicted earlier this year in an $80-Million mortgage scam along with more than a dozen others, including a Manhattan “dominatrix”. The charges, similar, obtaining mortgages and then walking away from the homes that then - you guessed it – fell into foreclosure. Many at the courthouse shook their head saying: “he’s a lawyer, doesn’t he know better?”

By Drew Scott

Hundreds of tearful families gathered in the rain and cold this morning at Ground Zero.

I was there to interview two families who lost loved ones the day two jetliners piloted by Al-Qaida terrorists slammed into the World Trade Center.

Jane Pollicino of Plainview lost her husband Steve on the 104th floor at Cantor-Fitzgerald in the south tower. Steve didn’t make it down, but told a friend to call his wife and tell her he loved her.

I also talked to Rosemary Cain of Massapequa who lost her son George. He was a FDNY firefighter with Ladder 7 in Manhattan. She told me September 11th never gets easier.

My mind also goes back to our good friend and News 12 photographer Glenn Pettit. He lost his life serving with the NYPD that terrible day.

I also had a lifelong friend, Jimmy Amato,  a battalion chief with the FDNY. I saw him a month before 9-11 when he told me he had just been promoted from Captain and we both laughed together.

My heart also goes out to DeeDee Jones, who left the south tower after the first plane hit. She felt something was awfully wrong, but to this day, she cries to think that none of her workmates joined her in leaving – they all died.

These are memories that haunt me – I can’t ever forget.