Friday, February 2, 2018
Vol. 94, No.20
FOUNDED 1923
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LOCALLY OWNED AND EDITED
Rockin' for Robotics PAGE 34 n Queen of Hearts PAGE 16
Leaf blower issue ‘blows over’ but outreach continues
RUNOFF WINNER
BY RIKKI N. MASSAND
Deputy Mayor Theresa Trouvé and her supporters celebrate their victory over challenger Steven Super on Tuesday at the Walk Street Restaurant in Garden City. Dr. Trouvé took 184 to Super’s 169 votes in the Central Property Owners’ Association runoff election for village trustee. Pictured above, front row, l to r, Liz Kelly, Deputy Mayor Theresa Trouvé, Hope Kelly, Kathleen Sweeney, Esq., and Joe Caroselli. Back row, Gerry Kelly, Leo Stimmler, Andrew Kelly, Trustee Mark Hyer, Pamela Hyer, Arthur Anderson and Brian Pinnola.
Help with GC's anniversary celebrations BY BRIAN C. DAUGHNEY, VILLAGE OF GARDEN CITY MAYOR In 2019 the Village of Garden City has two momentous events to celebrate and wants your help in planning appropriate celebrations. The Hempstead Plains was a flat, treeless 12-mile tract stretching from New Hyde Park to Farmingdale when Alexander Turney Stewart acquired the land from the Town of Hempstead in 1869 for $55 an acre. A portion of that land was to become
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the Village of Garden City. At the time, Mr. Stewart was one of the wealthiest persons in the world, having amassed a fortune created from the first retail department store in the world. The year 2019 will mark the 150th anniversary of Mr. Stewart’s land purchase. The second event is the 100th anniversary of the Community Agreement, which resulted in what is now the Village of Garden City as we know it today. The Community Agreement originated in 1919, when the Village of Garden City was incorporated. At See page 26
On Wednesday, January 10 inside the Golf Club Lane Senior Center, the Environmental Commission hosted a special meeting on the subject of leaf blowers, targeting the use of this equipment in the Village of Garden City and the potential for restrictions on residential and commercial leaf blower operations. Ultimately, with discussion on the subject taking up considerable time at the EAB sessions for close to one year, the issue has turned into a moot point. The Environmental Board, led by its chair and Village Trustee John Delany, have decided to close the chapter on suggesting local legislation and turn the focus towards education and the potential for public presentations beyond the scope of monthly EAB meetings. The people of Garden City, Nassau County and other suburbs of America can be better informed of issues with gasoline-powered leaf blowers being used daily in their communities, but placing adequate and fair restrictions, either to protect the environment or human health, is likely to hold negative business implications for the landscape and garden/lawn maintenance industry as it exists and operates today. Last October 24 the EAB got the ball rolling on education initiatives, inviting residents to the Senior Center to hear from Dr. Lucy Weinstein, co-chair of the Long Island Environmental Health Committee and Dr. Bonnie Sager, physician consultant to the New York State Hospital System, as they spoke on the dangers of gas-powered leaf blowers. A month later at the EAB’s November 29 meeting, Garden City
High School Students Thomas Grlic and Aidan Pfaff, who were appointed on October 5 by the Board of Trustees to serve on the EAB, detailed their research on harmful effects including pollution and noise created by the use of gasoline-powered leaf blowers. Their research is supervised by Dr. Steven Gordon of GCHS’s science department, and the presentation set a stage for an EAB decision on proposing legislation. Grlic and Pfaff explained the noise pollution impacts on the human ear, plus the ways that leaf-blowers stir-up tiny particles of dust, dirt, animal waste, lawn fertilizer and other material. “Some of this material is so tiny that it is not filtered by the small hairs in our respiratory tracts and, thereby, pollutes the air breathed in by residents,” the students asserted. At the January 10 meeting Delany outlined a process that would have set up an eventual vote for the Board of Trustees on leaf blowers, which would be the result of one more goal that did not come to fruition: gaining information from the contracted landscaping and grounds maintenance company now set for maintenance of 114 acres of passive green space. Con Kel Landscaping of Floral Park was invited to attend the January meeting and share data and operational use with the EAB, including any potential for electric leaf blowers over the traditional gasoline-powered “backpacks.” Four members of Con Kel, including owner John M. Power attended the EAB’s November 29 meeting when Pfaff and Grlic presented, but they were unable to attend in January. Delany told the Environmental See page 24
GCHS Wrestling team celebrates graduating seniors PAGE 64 Boys Basketball undefeated in conference play PAGES 54-55