Flagpole gets a fresh coat of paint

By Mark Reynolds
Posted 1/13/21

The well known America idiom ‘run it up the flagpole’ essentially means to float an idea and see what the reaction is or to try something out and see how it works. In the hamlet of …

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Flagpole gets a fresh coat of paint

Posted

The well known America idiom ‘run it up the flagpole’ essentially means to float an idea and see what the reaction is or to try something out and see how it works. In the hamlet of Marlboro both meanings have weight but when it came time to paint the 100 foot metal flagpole in the center of town, it was done from the top down to the bottom.

Supervisor Al Lanzetta said, “the paint was chipping off and it looked terrible,” so several weeks ago A & A Industrial from Queens Village was hired to do the job. The painter began climbing up the pole as is typically done but, “about halfway up or a little more he decided it was too dangerous because near the end at a certain diameter, it was a little too flimsy and he didn’t feel very comfortable doing that.”

Lanzetta said he returned with a lift, “and last Sunday they painted the flagpole, put up new hardware, a double pulley and a new gold ball on the top. It’s oil paint so we have to wait at least two weeks until it dries before we put the flag back up.”

Lanzetta said the painter had to carefully maneuver the lift several times in order to avoid hitting the electrical lines that are strung in the hamlet.

“One hundred feet doesn’t seem like much but when you’re looking up, man, you get a stiff neck after awhile,” he said. “It’s quite a distance up.”

Lanzetta said the painting job took about five hours to complete and cost $6,500. He said A&A Industrial was the only company that responded to the town’s request to paint the flagpole.

“It’s all finished and it looks great,” he said.