Mayor Kevin Fitzgerald
This coming week the Floral Park Mayor’s Report will be aired on the studio channel on Monday and Thursday and repeated again on Sunday at 8:30 pm. The Floral Park Mayor’s Report which includes myself along with Supt. of Buildings Renee Marcus and Chris Fitzsimmons from Johnson Controls goes over the recently signed Energy Performance Contract that we entered into. It gives a really good overview of what the project is, how it came about, and all the types of projects it includes.
Just a quick update- the Floral Park Mayor’s Report show was filmed about 6-8 weeks ago, and we already have started moving along with Johnson Controls. Some of the completed energy performance projects include interior and exterior LED lighting, sports field LED lighting upgrades, partial roof replacement at the library, HVAC equipment and controls replacement in Firefighters’ Hall and solar panel installation on the public works building roof. There are still other projects to be done which we review on the show and provide further updates as they are completed.
Also, immediately after the Mayor’s Report, you may want to watch the next two shows. Jim Green, Operations Manager of 4VS, highlights 25 years at 4VS and then immediately after that, is the Mayor’s Message from 2001. It includes then Mayor Ann Corbett, Trustee Tom Tweedy and Trustee Gerry Bambrick (now Village Administrator). Another featured show is a flashback of a walking tour and opening ceremony of the Pool Building which was recorded in 2003. You may go to https://www.4vs.org/ for a list of upcoming shows. I encourage all residents to tune in!
Lastly, on behalf of my mother, brothers and sister, I would like to thank my colleagues in Floral Park, all the residents for their comforting words and thoughts; and most importantly, prayers over the last couple of weeks. It is most appreciated by all of us, and my sister who still lives in Brooklyn, which is also a great place, actually commented to me that I am very lucky to live where I live, and that is because of all the people here. Thank you very much.
Deputy Mayor Lynn Pombonyo
Police Department
Our Floral Park Police Department was commended and thanked by the New York State Attorney General for our Department’s coordination and support in bringing six repeat offenders to justice including arrests, arraignments and guilty pleas. The six criminals stole 54 vehicles and engaged in more than 200 burglaries at auto dealerships and cell phone stores in multiple counties including Nassau. The guilty pleas followed grand larceny and burglary charges. In Nassau County, three agencies were cited for their roles in all six prosecutions: the Floral Park, Hempstead and Nassau County Police.
This story was reported in the August 5th edition of Newsday and the August 11th edition of the New Hyde Park Herald Courier, as reported by Brandon Duffy. We too applaud our FPPD for supplying valuable intelligence and sharing expertise during this critical “Operation Redline” joint state, federal and local criminal justice initiative.
Our FPPD Motor Carrier Unit, Safety Detail has again been conducting truck inspections on Plainfield Avenue. The July Detail included an Officer from the NYS Environmental Conservation Police. Environmental quality enforcement and crime investigations involving air, land and water quality violations are three major areas of focus for this state agency. The Officer on the Detail issued violations relating to pesticides: failure to possess the required applicator certifications and company licensing, and improper packaging and labeling. On the other hand, two frozen food trucks were inspected and all was found to be in compliance with the related laws.
On this inspection day, eleven vehicles were inspected, 48 violations were issued, three vehicles and one driver were taken out of service, and one vehicle was towed. Six summonses were also issued by the Environmental Conservation Police Officer. In total, on the last four dates of vehicle inspections conducted by our Motor Carrier Unit since April, 197 moving/equipment violations were issued to non-compliant trucks.
Sergeant Naughton, who coordinates this successful Unit, utilized this last vehicle inspection day as an opportunity to train new FPPD Officers who began their work on the Force in July. This is another important example of FPPD’s very effective hands-on, on-the-street training.
FPPD also continues to sound strong alarms about reporting situations and incidents that seem out of place or improper, and raise concerns. A recent local example is the fraudulent use of a credit card to purchase items for delivery to a Floral Park home. When the credit card owner was informed of an unusually large purchase made with her credit card and an upcoming delivery of the items purchased, she notified FPPD immediately. Police arrived in the area just prior to the delivery time and intercepted both the truck driver and a young man posing as a relative outside the home where the delivery was taking place. After FPPD investigated, one of the men was arrested on several serious charges.
With the immediate phone call to FPPD, our Officers were able to intercept the perpetrator before he could get away with the crime, a far superior way to stop crime than what can be accomplished after the crime takes place.
Thanks to our wise resident who reported a potential problem, and to our FPPD for the proactive approach. See the FPPD Facebook page for more details, and other important information and reminders. And call 911 to report emergencies and potential crimes.
Chambers of Commerce and Our Businesses
For the past few months, we’ve been celebrating Floral Park’s BEST OF NASSAU COUNTY winners. These include BEST PUBLIC GARDEN OF NASSAU COUNTY, Centennial Gardens and Bird Sanctuary; BEST PUBLIC LIBRARY OF NASSAU COUNTY, the Floral Park Library; BEST FITNESS FACILITY OF NASSAU COUNTY, Legacy Strength; BEST DOG GROOMER OF NASSAU COUNTY RUNNER UP, Jo-Mar Boarding and Grooming; BEST HOME ORGANIZER OF NASSAU COUNTY RUNNER UP, Stow & Behold Professional Organizers in Stewart Manor; and BEST ROOFER OF NASSAU COUNTY HONORABLE MENTION, F & F Roofing Company.
Recently, Blank Slate Media/the New Hyde Park Herald Courier newspaper, the BEST OF NASSAU COUNTY contest sponsor, notified us of additional Floral Park winners. How exciting! We are proud to congratulate:
BEST COFFEE/TEA SHOP OF NASSAU COUNTY, Rivers Cafe USA on Jericho Turnpike.
BEST PUBLIC RELATIONS FIRM OF NASSAU COUNTY RUNNER UP, Corbett Public Relations on South Tyson Avenue, with President Bill Corbett, Jr.; Senior Account Manager Ann Corbett; and honoring the beloved Founder and Chairman, the late William J. Corbett, Sr.
BEST BRIDAL DRESS STORE OF NASSAU COUNTY RUNNER UP, The Wedding Plaza on Jericho Turnpike.
BEST PEDIATRIC DENTIST OF NASSAU COUNTY HONORABLE MENTION, Kiddsmiles Pediatric Dentistry on Jericho Turnpike, and member of our Floral Park Chamber of Commerce.
And, a source of great Village pride, BEST POOL/WATERPARK OF NASSAU COUNTY HONORABLE MENTION, the Floral Park Pool, with our very own Parks Department Superintendent Kurt Meyfohrt and Pool Director Tom Dillon.
Be sure to give a shout-out to Floral Park’s eleven BEST OF NASSAU COUNTY winners, visit them, and SHOP & DINE LOCAL always. And save the date for the Covert Avenue Chamber of Commerce Street Fair, Saturday, October 14th. It will be better than ever, more details to follow!
Conservation Society (FPCS)
A beautiful summer in Centennial Gardens and Bird Sanctuary will soon be transitioning to a bright and colorful autumn.
For the third year, this fall’s highlight will be the Conservation Society’s Fairie Forest Festival. On Saturday, October 28th, the Gardens will again be transformed into a magical place filled with tiny fairie villages surrounding the trees in this enchanted forest. Fairies, young and older, will be everywhere.
Get ready for the festival and join all the other Fairie fans for the Family Fairie House Challenge. Create your house with nature’s materials and give it a friendly name. The Family Fairie Houses should be completed for judging the week of October 22nd. The judging categories will be Most Magical, Enchanted Excellence, and Fairie Fun. For details, see the forest green flyer at the Floral Park Library or on the magical Floral Park Centennial Gardens Facebook page.
And, come one and all to help get the Gardens ready for fall with FPCS and your friends and neighbors. The next monthly, community Weed-Out will be Saturday, September 2nd, 9 a.m. at the main entrance on Floral Parkway. Make it a tradition to join these monthly Weed-Outs and show your love and support for our award-winning Gardens.
Trustee Frank Chiara
Fire Department
For the month of July stats for our volunteer fire department is as follows:
112 calls for service;
35 calls for fire service, with 9 mutual aid responses assisting our neighboring communities;
80 ambulance calls responded by NYU Langone
10 responded by our Rescue Company.
The replacement Hook and Ladder Truck 123 arrived in late July. Our fire staff are currently training with this truck and anticipate to be in full service in the month of September.
The Village now has a training center where our firemen can frequently train to enhance their skills. The fire department, with the assistance of the Village, purchased a number of used shipping containers which are being retrofitted for training. The department had its first basic drill there on July 25th. Members who attended this drill expressed their appreciation for having this available to them. Reality-based training will also take place at this training center which will prepare our volunteers for many of the emergency situations that may arise.
The Department is continually looking for new members. So, if you have any interest or questions regarding the Fire Department, please stop by one of our firehouses or check out the fire dept’s website at www.FPFD.org.
Library
The library book drop-off box, donated by the Friends of the Library, has been installed in front of the library’s entrance and is now ready for use. Thank You to the ‘Friends’ for this generous donation!
The Friends of the Library are having their popular Library Lawn Sale on Sunday September 24th from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Anyone interested in selling their attic treasures should sign up at the library to secure a spot. Spots are filling up fast, so sign up as soon as you can.
On Thursday, August 17th, “Bobby sings Bobby” will be performing on the library lawn. This is the rain date from Aug 10th, so let’s hope for some good weather. All are welcome to bring a lawn chair to sit out on the lawn as Bobby entertains the audience.
The library has had and continues to have, a full schedule of events for this summer season. All of these events have been well attended.
Check the library’s website for the many upcoming events – floralparklibrary.org
Trustee Jennifer Stewart
Department of Public Works
DPW has been hard at work this past month keeping our wonderful Village beautiful, clean, and safe. Superintendent Kevin Ginnane contacted Nassau County Public Works to have the two re-charge basins at Centennial Gardens cleaned out after a larger storm in late July. Additionally, Superintendent Ginnane maintains close contact with contractors during large projects such as the road reconstruction projects at Clayton and Hinsdale Avenues. Superintendent Ginnane can be seen overseeing these contractors along with Deputy Superintendent of Public Works, Joe O’Grady. Both of these men serve as liaisons between the village, the residents, and the contractors. Their diligence earned compliments from some residents with major concerns about the impact of these projects. Additionally, our own DPW crew warranted a call of thanks filled with compliments for the work they did cleaning up an abandoned property in the village. Residents are grateful for the courteousness and professionalism our crews demonstrate day to day.
In the past month, DPW has done the following:
- All roads have been swept
- Performed road repairs on Elizabeth Street between S Tyson and Flower near JLCS
- All parks have been maintained, flowers and flower baskets watered
- All household waste, bulk and recycling picked up
- All village buildings cleaned and maintained, including a new Library book drop installed, new village hall sign installed, and the 9/11 Memorial has been cleaned
Road Project Updates
Clayton Avenue reconstruction is complete; Hinsdale Avenue reconstruction is nearing completion, with repaving expected on Friday 8/18 weather permitting. The Violet Avenue Parking Lot was completely renovated. The center median was removed and the lot was milled and paved all in one day. The striping was done and we gained 5 additional parking spaces. An additional thanks to supervisors Kevin Roe and Kevin Pearsall for their oversight of the Violet Avenue lot work.
MTA/LIRR
As you may have noticed, the village vehicles on Tunnel Street have been removed to allow the MTA access to their property. We removed these vehicles as an act of good faith as we entered into an agreement regarding the safety plan for the vehicular gate.
Approximately a week after the vehicles being removed, the MTA rolled into the Village with large trucks before 7:00 am, to begin work on the tracks east of Tunnel Street. They did follow the current procedures in place – they moved the temporary barricades to enter the property and replaced the barricades while on site. The MTA is a public utility and as such, does not have to follow the rules and ordinances of the communities they have equipment in. With that said, we encourage the MTA and its subcontractors to be good neighbors and be mindful of the fact that they are working in a residential area. These requests often fall on deaf ears.
Senator Canzoneri Fitzpatrick’s Chief of Staff has once again reached out to the Village and the MTA to request a meeting to figure out our end-of-project items and possible resolutions. As always, I will keep you informed.
Trustee Michael Longobardi
Building Department
Centennial Hall’s owner has partnered with a contractor and the demo permit has been issued. Work may begin as early as next week. The Covert Avenue property is still waiting on county approval to move forward. Once approved we expect foundation work to start.
The property located at 266 Jericho Turnpike (which sustained a fire) is in a clean-out phase which is expected to take a few more weeks. Taco Bell is expected to open soon. We are making progress on the Multi-Purpose Rink’s surface issues mentioned at our last meeting and expect to make an announcement shortly on opening the rink. Progress continues for two new businesses opening along Tulip Avenue: Gyro Village and the Pizza Bar. We hope to see them open shortly.
Reminder, if you are planning any renovations or improvements, please call the Building Department for assistance or information regarding codes and permits so the work is done safely and correctly.
Pool and Recreation
It’s hard to believe but the summer programs are winding down. The summer sports including basketball, volleyball, tennis, and swimming as well as the kids summer sports and arts and crafts programs are all coming to an end this week as families start to focus on returning to school and some last vacation plans.
Congratulations to the following teams: Men’s Volleyball Champs: Arps; Women’s Volleyball Competitive league champs: ‘That’s What She Set’; Women’s Volleyball Intermediate league champs: Ball Busters II, and Women’s Volleyball Recreational league champs: ‘Serves You Right’. Tonight, as we meet here, the men’s basketball championship is taking place at the park. Last Monday, the final swim meet of the season took place at the pool and awards were presented the following day. The categories included the breast stroke, back stroke, butterfly, free-style and more. Awards were presented to 12 swimmers in each of the age brackets: 8 and under, 9-10 yr. old, 11-12 yr. old and 13 and up as well as 8 coaching awards and 8 spirit awards. Congratulations to all our winners and participants in all these activities and summer programs. Our park and pool are very active all summer long. The recreation center brings our residents and families together in a fun spirited way and is another great reason why Floral Park is a great place to live and raise a family. Thank you to Superintendent Kurt Meyfohrt, Pool Director Tom Dillon, their staff and the dozens of kids and volunteers that makes this happen.
Beginning on Saturday, 8/19, the pool will begin its modified summer hours. From Saturday, August 19th through Sunday, September 3rd, the pool hours will be from 12:00 noon to 8:00 pm. On Monday September 4th, Labor Day, the pool will be open from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm with the annual final swim at 5 o’clock. On Tuesday, September 5th from 10 am to 3 pm will be our Annual Senior Picnic. However, do not worry, our park facility is not closing for the winter. Committee meetings have started to meet for scheduling coordination between the various leagues and the village’s fall and winter programs. The football and hockey league programs will be starting real soon – come down to the park and watch the kids at play!
Town-Village Aircraft Safety and Noise Abatement Committee (TVASNAC)
At our last board meeting on July 18th, I talked about TVASNAC, the noise abatement committee in the Town of Hempstead working to reduce the air traffic noise and the disruption to our lives. This committee, on behalf of the residents, advocates its concerns to the FAA, as well as NY and NJ Port Authorities. Floral Park resident, Andrew Weiss, is a volunteer member of this committee and has been working hard on these issues. This committee is now holding meetings in various communities around the Town of Hempstead. These meetings will help educate residents about the purpose of this committee and discuss the issues and challenges they are fighting for on our behalf and will answer any questions you may have. Fortunately, we have been able to coordinate and host a meeting with TVASNAC on Monday, September 18th at 7 p.m. in Firefighters’ Hall in Village Hall.