Trustee Lynn Pombonyo
Congratulations to my colleagues, Mayor Kevin Fitzgerald, Trustee Frank Chiara and Village Justice Douglas Hayden, on your re-elections to Floral Park’s Village government. It is an honor to continue working with you on our Village team. And special thanks to the many residents who came out to vote on Election Day!
Fire Department
Our Fire Department remained very busy during the month of February with a total of ninety-nine calls, eleven mutual aid calls to other communities, and seventy ambulance calls including both the NYU Langone ambulance and Floral Park Rescue (who is second due, but responds to the motor vehicle accidents, fire-related incidents, and mutual aid calls). A number of ambulance calls involve carbon monoxide detectors that have been activated, in some cases indicating very high levels of CO in the homes resulting in the need for medical care for the residents. As we turned our clocks ahead for Daylight Savings time on March 12th, that was also the time to change the batteries in your smoke and CO detectors. Keep your home safe for you and your family!
This coming Sunday, March 26th, our Fire Department will be honoring departed members including Honorary Chief Donald Gorman who passed away in 2022 after serving our Village for over fifty years. Two wreaths will be placed at the Fireman’s Memorial at headquarters at 8:45am. At 9:30am, the Department will march into St. Hedwig’s Church for a Mass to honor all our Department’s extraordinary volunteers, then the vehicles will be blessed. This will truly be a special day.
And, as April approaches, our Fire Department and Companies will be voting on their Chiefs and Officers, and rotating their positions for the coming year.
Department of Public Works
Our DPW continues to work with National Grid on gas line replacements. So far, numerous streets in Hillcrest and South Side have been completed. As each area is completed, National Grid is required to repave the damaged sections of each street, which would leave a patchwork of asphalt. Our DPW Superintendent, Kevin Ginnane, had an ingenious idea to have National Grid forego the patchwork repaving and pay the Village of Floral Park those costs. The Village then uses these funds to do the milling and repaving of every entire, affected street so that all will be totally repaved. This has been completed in Hillcrest and will be done in the Floral Parkway, Birch and Cypress areas next, to be followed by Harvard, Lexington and Nassau Streets. So far, the Village has received $362,000 for the first two projects. Tonight, the Board approved a $33,900 National Grid payment to the Village to go towards the repavement of Harvard, Lexington and Nassau.
Gas line replacement has begun on Verbena Avenue between Carnation and Rose, and Carnation Avenue between Violet and Verbena. Gas service to the homes will begin next week, with completion in one to two months. It is expected that National Grid payments to support this road restoration work will continue. Thank you Superintendent Ginnane for your cost-saving initiatives to advance our roadway improvements.
Chambers of Commerce and Our Businesses
After an exciting Grand Reopening of the K.Hunter Boutique on Covert Avenue, a large crowd of business owners, residents, fans and elected officials (including our entire Village Board and Town, County and National friends) gathered for the Grand Opening of the new Cara Mia Restaurant on Tulip Avenue. Both the Floral Park and Covert Avenue Chambers of Commerce joined in the festive celebration to welcome this popular Queens Village restaurant to our Village. Enjoy DINING LOCAL!
Conservation Society (FPCS)
Very soon, we will all be enjoying a new artistic creation at Centennial Gardens. Following the death of a tree just inside the Floral Parkway entrance, our Tree Department removed all but about twelve feet of the trunk. This trunk will now be transformed into a wood sculpture depicting all the special features of the Gardens. Master Woodcarver Gregg Klewicki of East Meadow will surprise Gardens fans with his fascinating artistic work starting this week. Appreciation goes to FPCS for sponsoring this newest Gardens gem and funding it with proceeds from their fundraising activities. Come and take a peek at the Floral Parkway entrance.
And, finally, Winter has passed and the Gardens will reopen on Saturday, April 1st. Also arriving on that day will be the Easter Bunny for photos. Families may come between 10am and noon, and bring your own cell phones or cameras. Special Easter bag surprises are in store. Ten days and counting until Spring in the Gardens returns!
Trustee Frank Chiara
Congratulations to the Mayor (Kevin Fitzgerald), Trustee Lynn Pombonyo, Justice Doug Hayden on their re-election yesterday. I look forward to continue serving with you. Thank you to everyone who came out to vote for us.
Police Department
Periodically, the Floral Park Police Department conducts truck safety inspections on trucks coming through our community. Our Police Officers, who are specially trained to perform these inspections, look for any safety violations that may prevent these vehicles from being safely driven on our streets. Last week, our Police Officers performed 14 inspections on trucks driving through. A total of 47 summonses were issued, 6 trucks were placed out of service, 2 were towed, 1 was impounded and one driver was not allowed to continue to drive.
These safety inspections send a strong message though the truck driver community that the Floral Park Police Department will continue to perform these inspections. Any unsafe trucks will be addressed to ensure the safety of our residents. Thank you to Commissioner McAllister and his Officers for their continued efforts to keep our streets and community safe.
Building Department
Our Building Department continues to assist and monitor both major projects in the Village. The Covert Avenue Project has resubmitted the necessary paperwork to Nassau County and is waiting for approval to move forward. The Centennial Hall Project has submitted all their paperwork to the Building Department and is ready to submit the needed paperwork to Nassau County for approval. We are looking forward to both projects getting underway.
Trustee Jennifer Stewart
Recreation Center
It’s Spring and I am happy to announce that the Floral Park Little League Parade is scheduled for Saturday, April 22, 2023.
The Floral Park Pool registration is now open. This year , the Pool will open on Saturday, June 3, 2023 for a full 3 months this summer. We hope that residents of all ages enjoy all the pool has to offer. Thank you to the Pool Committee and staff that help make it the best pool on Long Island.
MTA/LIRR
Meetings were held last week with the MTA to discuss the Tunnel Street Gate – Legislator John Giuffre offered mitigation with a Nassau County easement NC Right of Way for access on the New Hyde Park side as an alternative. Floral Park is adamantly opposed to the Tunnel Street Gate as this was not part of the original plan design and the MTA promised to return the tunnel its pedestrian only status. The MTA says that they need it for switch and emergency purposes. Please continue to call the MTA directly at 516-203-4955 or contact them online at contact.mta.info/customer-feedback to voice your concerns.
The weekend work in Garden City for the Cherry Valley overpass has been disruptive to Floral Park residents and we have been addressing that as well. It is not fair and we are advocating on your behalf to have this completed ASAP.
Thank you.
Trustee Michael Longobardi
Floral Park Library
New LED lighting in the library is moving along nicely and is a great improvement over the old lighting. The library also has a new security camera system. The new front ramp is almost complete with the railings being installed this week. The walkway connecting Tulip Ave to Caroline Place in front of the ramp is in and the overall project is looking great. Once completed the landscaping will be planted and everything is expected to be ready for the April kickoff to the library’s 100th anniversary year.
AARP tax assistance is available every Tuesday 10am to 3pm. Please contact the library for details to schedule a time. The next meeting of the Friends of the FP Library Book Club is Monday, April 3 at 10:15am. Tuesday, April 4 at 7pm, Kris Thomas returns for part 2 of his iPhone series with a presentation on how to use your iPhone camera. The library has events and classes for all ages including everything from sewing and cooking to games and art activities. Please check the library website, WWW.FloralParkLibrary.org for a complete list of events and dates.
Four Village Studio – 4VS
The 4VS Flashback 25! is running all year. This is ongoing all year looking back at the first 25 years of the studio. Next week the flashback show covers events during Mayor Tweedy’s years in office. Sandy:10 years After airs again next week as well. To see a current list of the flashbacks plus all our shows, please visit www.4vs.org or watch your local provider station.
4VS has student opportunities and is currently recruiting four-village area high school student volunteers 15 years of age and older as well as college student volunteers who are interested in learning television production. For details or to schedule an informational meeting, call 516-326-1150 or email 4VS@4VS.org.
Mayor Kevin Fitzgerald
Thank you to all of the residents for voting in yesterday’s Village Election. Congratulations to Dr. Lynn Pombonyo and Frank Chiara for being re-elected as Trustees and to Doug Hayden for being re-elected as Village Justice. The swearing-in will take place at the Annual Reorganization Meeting scheduled on Monday, April 3, 2023.
As an update from our last meeting, Governor Hochul’s Housing Compact plan to increase the housing stock by 3% near MTA transit hubs in NYS which includes the Floral Park and Bellerose train station, is still in the Budget as of today. A week ago, Friday, I had a conference with RuthAnne Visnauskas, Commissioner of New York State Homes and Community Renewal from the Governor’s office. I took the opportunity to present based upon Building Superintendent Marcus’ and Administrator Gerry Bambrick’s research on this issue, that the Village of Floral Park is already zoned to meet the requirements of the Governor’s proposed housing plan without a need to expand multi-family zoning to our areas currently zoned for single family residential properties. I also advised her that the Village of Floral Park is already among the top 100 most densely populated cities and villages in the United States.
We will continue to be on top of this important issue.
Thank you to Felix Procacci, Just the Facts Media and Brandon Duffy, Blank Slate Media for attending tonight’s meeting on zoom.
Finally, thank you to Village Clerk and Chief Election Officer, Susan Walsh and Deputy Village Clerk, Rosaleen Shea for their efforts in running the Village Election.
Thank you.