Copy editors wanted in Nassau and Hempstead

It's easy to make typos when writing on blogs or creating posters for a news conference. This blog will probably have one or two.

But giving the wrong directions for emergency evacuations on a full-color mailer sent to county residents?

Sure,  on Tuesday, Hempstead Supervisor Laura Gillen gave a news conference standing next to a poster that said: "Supervisor Laura Gillen's 2019 budget proposal.....1.5 percent tax cut" even though she was clearly talking about her 2020 budget.  Mistakes happen. Nobody was misled.

But a county mailer from Nassau's Emergency Management Office describing four emergency evacuation routes for residents south of Sunrise Highway gives the wrong directions for "Route D."

The mailer directs evacuees to Farmingdale via the Seaford Oyster Bay Expressway, to Hempstead Turnpike and then Clinton Street. "Turn left into the Suny Farmingdale College Campus ice road to exit at Charles Lindbergh Blvd."

Wait. What? Charles Lindbergh Blvd is in Mitchel Field, not Farmingdale.

"Continue on Charles Lindbergh Blvd. Turn right on Earl Ovington Blvd. Proceed into the Nassau Community College..."

Nassau Community College is in Uniondale, miles away from the Suny Farmingdale College Campus.

It's apparent that paragraphs from "Route C" were lifted and printed in "Route D." But does that help people fleeing an emergency?

County spokespersons did not immediately respond to questions about the error. Or how much it will cost to correct.

But this is when it becomes clear that copy editors -- the people who are paid to correct spelling, grammar and factual mistakes -- are in short supply these days. Even though they're needed as much as ever.


Comments

  1. squirrelmamaSeptember 27, 2019 at 3:02 PM

    The implications of this are frightening. Not because mistakes can happen - often they do, and mostly they're for minor things - but evacuations are not a trivial matter.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nassau CSEA contract deal -- talk of the county for two days -- finally announced (UPDATED)

Image
Talk around Nassau County for the past two days has been that Republican County Executive Bruce Blakeman had struck a new labor agreement, signed Monday, with the county's largest union, the Nassau Civil Service Employees Association. The CSEA, which include most non-law enforcement county employees, has been working without a contract since the end of 2017. As of June, there were 3,359 fulltime CSEA members. An announcement went out late today but it didn't say much: A spokesman for Republican County Executive Bruce Blakeman did not respond to an email today asking when the CSEA deal would be announced. Everyone is looking at the CSEA because exempt employees -- county workers who are hired and fired at will -- traditionally are given the same benefits as the union members. But the exempts are not happy with some of the rumors about the agreement: one is that the CSEA will take a lesser health insurance plan in return for an upfront payment, perhaps of $1,500, for each member....
Read more

Democrat lawyer prepares to challenge Donnelly for Nassau DA

Image
                                                                               From Aloise Linked in Post A female Democratic lawyer backed by former Democratic Congresswoman and former Nassau District Attorney Kathleen Rice is trying to gather support to make a run against Republican District Attorney Anne Donnelly next year. Nicole Aloise, the daughter of a prominent New York City judge,  has a fundraiser scheduled  tomorrow night at the Garden City home of developer Peter Florey, president of the New York State Builders Association. Tickets range from in price from $250 to $20,000. Aloise says in a post announcing her campaign on Linked In that she has been a prosecutor in both the Nassau and Queens District Attorney offices. A quick internet search shows no other runs for poli...
Read more

Local Nassau CSEA president and VP kicked out by state union

Image
                                                                               Nassau CSEA poster truck in Long Beach earlier this month                    Nassau CSEA Local 830 president Ron Gurrieri and vice president Bob Arciello were removed from their union positions today following an angry month-long public fight with Republican County Executive Bruce Blakeman over health insurance. State CSEA president Mary Sullivan notified members in a letter today that she had removed Gurrieri and Arciello, explaining the...
Read more