Deputy Mayor Lynn Pombonyo
Police Department
Remaining vigilant throughout the summer, our Floral Park Police Department was engaged in 782 incidents during the month of July. Of this number, 305 were traffic stops, 88 were aided cases also involving our ambulance service and Rescue Company, 51 were suspicious person reports, 24 were parking problems, 20 were for citizens needing assistance, and numerous other calls for Police help including, but not limited to, traffic accidents, fire and other alarms, domestic incidents, noise complaints, and the important welfare checks when our Police check on the safety of residents following concerns expressed by family members or neighbors.
Throughout July, our Police issued 202 traffic summonses. Some of the most frequent violations included: failure to stop at stop signs, uninspected motor vehicles, unlicensed operators, improper u-turns, inadequate headlights and taillights, and other moving/equipment violations.
Our Detectives also investigated July crimes involving larceny, burglary, identity theft, and fraud along with making several arrests. Stolen and washed checks continue to play a part in some of these crimes.
Our FPPD Motor Carrier Detail recorded 11 July truck stops with 56 summonses issued, 1 truck towed for unsafe tires, 4 trucks placed out of service for safety violations, and 1 driver taken out of service due to the federal ban on his operating a commercial motor vehicle.
Now, as our schools reopen this week, the new Speed Alert Radar Message Signs continue to provide motorists with data relating to their own speeds, as well as transmit that data to our FPPD leadership. This equipment has been located, along with another mobile unit, near schools where the speed of vehicles has been a concern. It will provide our FPPD with data to be used for directed patrols and speed enforcement.
To all, please drive safely to ensure that our children and teens are safe. They depend on us to protect them, especially in our 20mph school zones.
And, as always, a thank you to two of our Floral Park departments who collaborate and partner to resolve complex problems. That’s Commissioner McAllister, our Lieutenants, Detectives and Police Department, and Superintendent Ginnane, Supervisor Pearsall and our Department of Public Works who teamed up early Tuesday morning and all day to clean up after an act of vandalism on DPW property, restore a vital system to working order, and apprehend and arrest the perpetrator. This cooperation between FPPD and FP DPW demonstrates the success of shared expertise and effort. They are indeed impressive!
Conservation Society (FPCS)
It’s been a beautiful summer in our Centennial Gardens and Bird Sanctuary and everywhere. The magnificent flowers, plants and trees are one reason why.
Great appreciation goes to all who plant and care for all of our gardens including President Dennis McEnery and the Conservation Society volunteers; Superintendent Kevin Ginnane, our Department of Public Works and gardening expert Larry DeCiantis; Superintendent Kurt Meyfohrt, our Parks Department and gardening expert Don Haug; Trustee Frank Chiara and our dedicated, volunteer Beautification Committee; and our Floral Park residents and businesses whose green thumbs make our Village a truly beautiful floral park. We are awed, inspired and grateful.
Chambers of Commerce and Our Businesses
Our two Chambers of Commerce are back in business for a busy fall season. Starting with the Floral Park Chamber, businesses are invited to network at BC Bistro, Jericho Turnpike on Thursday, September 12th at 6 PM. Register at: floralparkchamber.org
Our Covert Avenue Chamber is busy planning an exciting Street Fair for Saturday, October 5th, 11 AM to 5 PM on Covert Avenue.
Lots more Street Fair details to follow at the Covert Chamber’s welcome back meeting at Shintaro Asian Bistro, Covert Avenue in Stewart Manor, on Tuesday, September 24th at 7 PM. Businesses are invited to register at:
Now, let’s welcome the new season and CELEBRATE FALL BY SHOPPING AND DINING LOCAL!
Trustee Frank Chiara
Fire Department
Our Volunteer Fire Department will be participating in their Annual Fire Department Operations Training every Thursday in the month of September at the Nassau County Fire Service Academy in Bethpage. As part of the training, instructors will put our department thru different realistic scenarios, enabling our members to hone their firefighting skills. This is an example of the commitment on how our volunteers prepare for emergencies that might arise within our Village and the surrounding communities. I would like to thank all our volunteers for their dedication and time put in to assist their neighbors in need.
Our Volunteer Fire Department will also be participating in two 9/11 Memorial Ceremonies. The first will be our Village 9/11 Ceremony, which will take place at 8:30 AM at the 9/11 Monument located in front of Village Hall. As part of the ceremony the names of those residents that made the ultimate sacrifice will be read, honored and flowers will be placed by their names at the memorial.
A second memorial service will be held later that evening, starting at 6:30 PM, at the Reliance Fire House on Holland Avenue. Volunteer Firefighter 1st Lt. Kieth Fabien, who lost his life while attempting to help others after the second tower collapse, will be honored. Keith was a recent paramedic graduate who while working for NY Presbyterian Hospital, was on one of the first ambulances that responded to the world trade center.
All are welcome to attend the 9/11 ceremonies. Please keep these heroes and their families in your thoughts and prayers. Keep all who lost their lives on that day and all who continued to suffer and pass from the effects of that horrible day in your prayers. May we never forget the events of that day and hope that it will never happen again.
Library
The summer adult reading program, which has spanned a 6-week period, announced the winners of the weekly raffle. Those who submitted a short review of a book they read, were entered in the weekly raffle and a chance at winning the grand prize of a $100 gift card to the Harrison Restaurant. The weekly winners were Janet Attanasio, Linda Romero, Angel Sue, Jean Weisman, Christine Farrell, and Allie McCarthy. The Grand Prize winner was Susan Fellin. The summer reading program was a big success. Thank you to all who participated and to the library staff for coordinating it.
The month of September has begun and there are lots of planned activities and events taking place at the Floral Park Library:
- On Thursday, September 5th, from 7:00 PM to 8:45 PM, on the library lawn, the Library will be showing the movie Arthur the King, a real-life story staring Mark Wahlberg. The movie is 1hr 47 minutes long and is rated PG-13. Bring a blanket or a chair to join us. Popcorn will be served. At this time there is no rain date.
- On Saturday, September 21st, from 10 AM to 4 PM, the Friends of the Floral Park Library is hosting their 5th Annual Lawn Sale. In case of inclement weather, the rain date is set for October 5th. Anyone wishing to reserve a space to sell their items can do so at the library circulation desk. The fee for the space is $25.00 payable by check.
Details on these and other scheduled events can be found on the Library’s website at www.floralparklibrary.org .
Thank You to DPW for their assistance in having the Library Parking Lot repaved. Our patrons love the newly paved parking.
Trustee Jennifer Stewart
Cultural Arts Committee
This past Friday, saw the end of Concerts in the Park for the Summer of 2024. Residents were delighted by the sounds of City Stars Orchestra. Frank Benvenuto and his orchestra entertained the crowd for more than two hours, it was a fine way to end our Summer Concert Series. A huge thanks to resident volunteer Alexa Ventimiglia for all her hard work bringing so many wonderfully talented music acts to our Village. We are already looking forward to concerts in the Summer of 2025
4VS
Our 4 Village Studio has paused taping during the month of September. Much of the Studio’s production and editing equipment has been disconnected and moved to a safe area while the existing air-conditioning system is being replaced, walls and the ceiling will be painted and there will be some repairs done to the soundproofing. We look forward to using the upgraded Studio beginning in October.
DPW
Over the past week, our DPW Department has completed paving of 13 roads as well as the Holland Avenue and Library Parking Lots. All school zone crosswalks and stop bars have been refreshed with a new coat of paint, all parks have been maintained and flowers watered. The DPW Maintenance Department installed a new door in the Fire Department Headquarters. All Village buildings have been cleaned and maintained. Our Sanitation Department has collected 50 tons of household waste, 14 tons of bulk rubbish, 8 tons of paper and cardboard, as well as 4 tons of plastics and glass.
MTA/LIRR
As of today, we have not received any update regarding the MTA Bus Project. Please reach out to MTA.info with any questions or concerns regarding the LIRR/MTA.
Finally, I would like to wish all of our students and teachers a very successful 2024-2025 school year. Please be reminded that our children are walking and riding their bikes to school on these beautiful late summer days, leave early, leave yourself some extra time, pay attention, and drive safely.
Trustee Michael Longobardi
Building Department
Structural repairs of the fire property at 266 Jericho Turnpike have been completed. Interior reconstruction has started and is expected to take up to a year. We are 7 months into the construction of the new apartment building at 1 Carnation Avenue which is progressing rapidly. Lighting has been installed at the pedestrian walkway connecting Tulip Avenue to the Spur Parking Lot and the walkway is expected to be completed at the end of this month. We will make an announcement when it will open to the public. Construction on the 99 Covert Avenue restaurant at is expected to begin soon. The Covert Avenue fire building site is in its final stages of funding with the IDA. The property owner has stated that construction will start soon. A subdivision application has been received for 155 Beech Street and is expected to be on the September 25th ARB agenda for review.
As previously announced, plans for a civic meeting to discuss a proposed development at South Tyson Avenue and Jericho Turnpike has been temporarily postponed and no new date has been set.
As a reminder, all sidewalk and driveway repairs or replacement require a permit prior to doing work to ensure the construction meets Village and Building Code standards. Please call DPW or the Building Department for assistance.
Recreation and Pool
This past week, all summer programs and pool activities concluded for summer season of 2024. Our pool was full yesterday for the 5:00 PM final swim; it was wonderful to see so many families and friends there to close out the season. Today was the Annual Senior Picnic at the pool and what beautiful day it was for this event. Deputy Mayor Pombonyo, Trustee Chiara and myself had the pleasure of spending some time talking with our seniors and provided a wonderful lunch to them. We hope they enjoyed the day. It was a great season at the pool with so many events and activities taking place weekly; enrollment was up this year. Thank you to Superintendent Kurt Meyfohrt, Pool Director Tom Dillon, Assistant Pool Director Joe Derby, Administrative Assistant Gena King, and the entire team of lifeguards and park maintenance staff that kept it all running each day and made the recreation center such a fun place to be in town. Another example of our great recreation staff was demonstrated in a thank you we received from a resident recently whose daughter misplaced her retainer at the park. When she returned to the park it was after 8 PM and the park was already closed. Night Supervisor Ritchie Clifford not only went through the park with her and her family, but also went through the dumpster and all the garbage bags until they found it. This is just one example of the many great people we have on our recreation staff and why it is a great Village center. Thank you to Ritchie for this as well as all his hard work and dedication.
The fun continues as we head into Fall activities and leagues. Floral Park Little League will start its fall season after a successful summer program. The Indians Soccer program is set to start their fall season shortly. Titans and Titanettes are gearing up for the 2024 season. Fall registration for all youth, adult and senior programs will be held on Tuesday, September 10th from 6:30 PM to 9:30 PM in the pool building lobby. Registration for Senior Agility and Silver Sneaker programs is the same day from 10 AM – 2 PM. Session I Fall programs for kids include Zumba, gymnastics, gardening, and tennis. Adult and Senior programs include aerobics, kickboxing, yoga, Pilates, Zumba, tennis, pickleball and more. We look forward to seeing everyone there as the fun does not end on Labor Day.
Town-Village Aircraft Safety & Noise Abatement Committee (TVASNAC)
The next meeting will be held on Monday, September 23, 2024 at Town of Hempstead Town Hall, One Washington Street in Hempstead. If you want to make a noise complaint regarding air traffic, you can call 1-800-225-1071. You can also go to our Village website which has the links under the TVASNAC noise complaint contact information page on our home page.
Mayor Kevin Fitzgerald
Deputy Mayor Pombonyo and Trustee Longobardi both touched upon things happening in the Village that go unnoticed. Even during the Summer months when you think everything is quiet, situations arise. I would like to thank our Department Heads for dealing with a number of situations over the past couple of weeks that took place outside of business hours and took time away from their families in order to resolve. We have a great team here at the Village. Our Village is truly a wonderful place to live. It is wonderful to know that you can call up our offices and hopefully get most things rectified within a reasonable time.
Next Tuesday, September 10th the Floral Park Lions Club along with the Northend Civic Association is hosting the NY Citizens Preparedness Training program. The program will offer participants the tools and resources on how to prepare for any type of disaster, including hurricanes and winter storms, respond accordingly, and recover as quickly as possible to pre disaster conditions. The training will take place at the pool building at 6:30 PM. You can never get enough information on disaster preparedness and you can never be over prepared. Anyone interested will have to register for the training. You can visit our website at fpvillage.org for more information. A reminder will be sent out with your biweekly email.
