Friday, September 18, 2020
Vol. 98, No.5
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Dedicated, Honest and Results Orien ted
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Library to stop collecting patrons’ names
9/11 memorial
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Choir Camp PAGE 49
See page 55
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Residents ask Board to remain in fair housing group
READY FOR SCHOOL
BY RIKKI MASSAND At its meeting on Monday night, September 14, the Garden City Public Library Board of Trustees decided to remove the sign-in/logbook for all visitors to the library, as normal library hours have now resumed and most venues where people observe social distancing and wear of masks are not asking visitors to sign in upon arrival. The Library reopened on Thursday, July 9 and for the two months that followed visitors had to sign in upon entering. The information was collected for use in the event COVID-19 case contact tracing needed to be done by health officials. GCPL Director Marianne Malagon explains that the decision to take away the logbook at the library’s front desk pertained to general visitors; people arriving at the library’s back entrance such as vendors or contractors must still sign in. For the library’s lobby, patrons coming to GCPL for extended research or “if they need a consultation with a librarian, or are selecting books for a classroom” are still required to sign-in. “The Board bases this decision on the fact that it is not required by New York State or the Nassau County Department of Health to have a logbook. It was up to the GCPL Board of Trustees to make the decision for library operations and most libraries do not keep the names and information of the average person just coming to the library due to privacy issues -- it’s a public library and we did not take names of people coming in (prior to the pandemic),” Malagon said in an
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BY RIKKI MASSAND An online Facebook group started earlier this spring called the Social Justice/Anti-Racism Group of Garden City, which has about 330 members, has approached the Village Board of Trustees to ask that the Board reconsider its decision to withdraw from the Nassau County Urban Consortium. At a special meeting on May 28, the Board decided to withdraw from the consortium this autumn. The Village had been required by the federal courts to participate due to losing a fair housing lawsuit in 2013. However, the court order will be expiring at the end of September. Following the Board’s August 13 meeting, group members have had discussions with Deputy Mayor Robert Bolebruch about ensuring that the village not find itself the subject of the kind of situations that caused the Federal Court ruling against Garden City in the MHANY/ACORN housing discrimination lawsuit. In a September 14 email to The Garden City News, Dr. Frederick Smith, a resident for the last 27 years, explained that many of the village residents in the group are millenniSee page 54
Election results
Garden City students were greeted when they arrived at school for their first day. It was a day unlike any other first day, but teachers and staff worked hard all summer to implement health and safety protocols in time for the opening of schools.
Garden City residents went to the polls on Tuesday, September 15 to vote for members of the Village Board of Trustees. The candidates were all unopposed. The result were as follows: Trustee Robert Bolebruch (West) - 194 Trustee John Delany (East) - 202 Trustee Colleen Foley (Estates) - 201 Trustee Louis Minuto (Central) - 195 While the election normally takes place in March, this year it was delayed due to the pandemic. Each of the trustees will serve a term of two years.
Conference Day gives schools a head start PAGE 56 Firehouse plans to be discussed by WPOA PAGE 3