Friday, November 4, 2016
Vol. 93, No.9
FOUNDED 1923
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LOCALLY OWNED AND EDITED
Check your batteries PAGE 20 n Vote for Twain PAGE 6
Longtime coach offered demotion, turns down district
CONFERENCE CHAMPS
BY RIKKI N. MASSAND
The Garden City Girls Volleyball Team are conference champs! Congratulations on the 14-2 regular season record.
Library celebrates elevator’s revival, hints at future infrastructure needs BY RIKKI N. MASSAND
Before a ceremonial red ribbon was held up to a pair of scissors on Tuesday evening, November 1, a push-button start to an evening event led to a quick trip downstairs in the Garden City Public Library’s refurbished elevator – the subject of scrutiny as wear and tear caught up to it in the past few years. The new, clean machine worked just fine, providing a sense of relief after a prolonged village project and signaling a first step in modernizing the
library. Library Board Chair J. Randolph Colahan welcomed the attendees to a short but sweet presentation on the refurbishing of the library’s elevator after 44 years in service, which he says was completed on schedule this fall after one two-week delay in early August due to parts that were ordered. Colahan first credited the village administrator, Ralph Suozzi, who expressed confidence in Garden City’s contractors for the elevator work, ThyssenKrupp. The elevator
company came to collect its final check for their work earlier on the day Tuesday at the library, and they picked it up at Village Hall in the afternoon. “Without Ralph Suozzi’s direction and leadership this project would not have been completed yet,” Colahan said. In his remarks Colahan was eager to thank the former and current Village Board of Trustees’ liaisons to the library board, Robert Bolebruch who served in that capacity until April, when he See page 32
For some he’s a Garden City coaching legend. But apparently the Garden City school district felt that 44 years into a varsity baseball coaching career at GCHS, it was time for a step backward to the assistant level. This week Rich Smith, the longtime face of Garden City High School baseball, was asked to become the assistant varsity coach for the 2017 season, to the chagrin of his former players, some current players’ parents, supporters in the community, his attorney Bob Sullivan, and most of all Smith himself. On November 2 members of Smith’s inner circle were informed about a telephone call from the Garden City Athletics’ office to Smith, simply to ask if he would like to take the assistant position. Smith did not accept the offer, and his attorney Sullivan tells The Garden City News that his client was going to spend the rest of the week away from Long Island. He was unsure of where Smith was since Halloween Monday, but according to Sullivan, Smith and Charles Menges, the assistant varsity baseball coach under Smith, were both asked to interview for the leading position of GCHS baseball in-person on Friday, October 28. See page 39
Environmental Board supports quiet zone designation for track BY RIKKI N. MASSAND The Environmental Advisory Board of Garden City has voted to support Quiet Zone designation for the northern areas of the village, ranging from the New Hyde Park Road LIRR grade crossing to the Merillon Avenue station. This stems from a Federal Railroad Administration guideline, outlined in 2013 brochures available on FRA.DOT.GOV, and set forth for municipalities or counties to determine standards for their respective communities. A decision on this designation can come from a vote by the Village Board of Trustees and support from the, and official EAB support is a step in that direction. Resident Harry Chohan of Greenridge Avenue has gotten in the spirit of old-fashioned, proactive volunteerism to bring his neighborhood some help with home values and distinction. He’s led the charge for the Quiet Zone, starting with communication with the Board of Trustees and his POA representatives, Trustees Stephen Makrinos and Robert Bolebruch. Chohan also recently contacted Senator Kemp Hannon, and he tells the News the senator has pledged his support and “will See page 40
A fun fall at Garden Manor Nursery School PAGE 14 St. Anne’s School Annual Saints Parade PAGE 24