Friday, October 12, 2018
Vol. 95, No.4
FOUNDED 1923
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LOCALLY OWNED AND EDITED
Family Feud PAGE 45 n Turkey Trot PAGE 40
LIRR neighbors object to idling trains, night noise
THREE CHEERS FOR GC
BY RIKKI N. MASSAND
Garden City High School's 2018 Homecoming parade and football game, to be held on Saturday, October 20th. Garden City's annual street fair will take place on Seventh Street that day, so mark your calendars! The GCHS Varsity Cheerleaders, above, have a special performance planned for the football game halftime show.
Fate of western fire station debated BY RIKKI N. MASSAND
Garden City has more architectural issues than just the debate over the historic St. Paul’s main building. At the Village Board of Trustees’ meeting on Thursday, October 4, Trustee John Delany said because budget formulation and deliberations for village fiscal year 20192020 are rapidly approaching this fall, it was time to consider demolishing and replacing the western fire station at Stewart Avenue and Edgemere Road.
Trustee Delany is the Board of Trustees’ appointed fire commissioner and has been involved in discussions and operational considerations for the department over the last few years. “A couple weeks ago I was unfortunate enough to have to take a tour of Station 2 with (Village Administrator) Ralph Suozzi and (Superintendent of Public Works) Joseph DiFrancisco and we saw that the firehouse is in extremely bad condition with roof damage and water leaks, windows, the electrical wiring and bricks, etc. I suggest to
my fellow trustees if you would like to be shocked, go over and take a walkthrough of Fire Station No. 2,” Delany said. He referenced an engineering report on Station No. 2 performed by consultants Cameron Engineering of Woodbury, delivered to the Board and village administration this spring, that estimated the repairs emergent for the firehouse at slightly over $2 million, not inclusive of the remodeling and construction required to accommodate larger (fire truck) apparatus that does not See page 48
At the Eastern Property Owners’ Association monthly meeting held Tuesday, October 9, frustrated residents heard assurances and promises to do better from Long Island Rail Road officials who recently received complaints about idling trains and noisy construction during overnight hours. Residents questioned them about the cause of loud activities taking place on the decommissioned St. James Street South LIRR tracks in a residential stretch between Washington Avenue and Clinton Road. East residents got an immediate response to complaints with a site visit in Garden City held Thursday, October 4, as LIRR President Phillip Eng and other LIRR leadership were called in. But those who live near the LIRR tracks insisted that the next site visit from the LIRR brass occur at 2 a.m. or another ‘redeye’ hour so officials can learn the root cause of disturbances and whether these problem in the East starts with LIRR operational inefficiencies and/or the subcontractors job performance along the decommissioned rail line.
Nighttime noise problems
Residents say since Garden City’s residents and the Mott Section of the East in particular is kept awake by the intolerable noise all night, the inspections should take place when there’s likely to be a noisy problem to observe. Residents told LIRR officials no disturbing, house-shaking LIRR work or construction-related activities have taken place during daytime hours, just while they are trying to get a good night’s sleep in their homes. Village Trustee Mark Hyer, who represents the East, vowed that no matter if the LIRR officials visited Garden City at 2 a.m. to inspect and address the persisting issues, he would show up to accompany them on their visit. Long Island Rail Road representatives promised to be a good neighbor, as “the LIRR is here and is not going anywhere.” In front of the EPOA audience October 9, Vanessa Lockel, government and community affairs See page 47
Board changes rules for public comments at meetings PAGE 8 Residents object to use of parks for construction PAGE 3