Friday, March 23, 2018
Vol. 94, No.26
FOUNDED 1923
n
n
$1
LOCALLY OWNED AND EDITED
Church schedules PAGES 24-25 n Bells are ringing
PAGE 16
Parents declare war on pesticides for GC fields
A NEW SEASON BEGINS
BY RIKKI N. MASSAND
Garden City High School's Girls Lacrosse team sailed to victory over Oceanside in the season opener. The team is ranked #2 in the nation by Nike/US Lacrosse Magazine. See page 70.
With the arrival of spring heralding in a new season of sports and outdoor activities in Garden City and all across the Northeast, concern over the use of pesticides on playgrounds and village grass playing fields has been communicated in front of every POA. Last Wednesday evening two passionate Garden City parents, Kelly Smith and Erin Debrich, delivered presentations that sound the alarm for residents to be environmentally-conscious about the grass athletics fields children play on and enjoy The pair started their evening at the Western Property Owners’ Association (WPOA) meeting on March 14 and 30 minutes later, they spoke at the Estates’ POA meeting
about the dangers of pesticides and the need to change village lawn care practices. Debrich was profiled by Newsday in November 2017 because she often writes postcards to politicians to comment on various topics, from national news and acts of Senate to the Environmental Protection Agency. She has written many times to New York’s Senator Chuck Schumer, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, and Congresswoman Kathleen Rice, a fellow Garden City resident, on issues impacting suburban New Yorkers like herself and others in Garden City. Debrich has also reached out to House Speaker Paul Ryan, Senator John McCain and TV host/author Rachel Maddow. See page 49
Garden City Library considers additional security measures BY RIKKI N. MASSAND
Proactive security measures and special collaboration with the village police became the priority topic for the Board of Trustees as the coming year’s budget deliberations continued on March 15, held a month and a day after the February 14 shootings at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, rocked communities across the nation. As J. Randolph Colahan, chair of the Garden City Public Library Board of Trustees, presented the GCPL budget request for 2018-2019 the last official “trustee liaison” and also former GCPL Board Chair, now Village Trustee John Delany, approached the subject of assessing the library’s security. The talk is undoubtedly sparked by concern over
public spaces starting with local schools and the next natural place for students and families to occupy, such as your local library. But the outcome impacting Garden City village life becomes a continuing dialogue between the GCPL leadership and Police Commissioner Kenneth Jackson. Colahan explained a more watchful eye on activities and issues that can arise with patrons, including a very recent report of a man who “was looking at young girls” that had a picture to help resolve the problem. When he came back to GCPL, the man received a letter telling him not to return again. “Over the last year and especially in the last month, we have looked at what is going on in the country and brought that back to the library. Especially in light
of Parkland, we have re-trained library staff to react to things they observe. We are looking at how staff attends to issues. We already have a panic button installed, and we updated our policies so that staff knows how to react more. We are looking to set up a meeting soon with the GCPD and are asking them for advice. And we surveyed other Nassau County libraries to see what they are doing. We do have monitors...it came up a number of years ago, maybe we should be looking into full-time security at GCPL. We do not know the potential costs but somebody has even brought metal detectors. All these things are under consideration,” Colahan said last Thursday night. A security camera project for four years from now is scheduled, as part of
a village-wide project, but its function was debated. “Included in the long-term budget proposal for the GCPL, although still a few years away, is the purchase and installations of security cameras for the library. We discussed it and our village administrator would like to hear from GCPD first,” Colahan said. In the budget proposal was a sum of $172,000 for a capital project at GCPL, “security infrastructure,” however it is planned as a 2020-2021 budget year investment. At last week’s budget work session Trustee Mark Hyer, retired from his career with the NYPD, questioned Colahan on that allocation years out, and why it is so far away from now. Colahan replied that the request for cameras and their related infrastructure will be a priSee page 49
Rev. Michael Sniffen to receive community award PAGE 8 With higher costs ahead, recreation budget considered PAGE 6