________ Franklin square/elmont _______
CoMMUNiTY UPDATE infections as of Feb. 14
6,899
infections as of Feb. 8 6,697
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‘Ghost gun’ bill passes Senate
Teachers practice mindfulness
Students learn leadership skills
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FEBRUARY 25 - MARCH 3, 2021
Vol. 23 No. 9
State officials OK changes to Belmont plan include a drop-off location and staging area for rideshare vehicles. New York State development There will also be a service officials approved a series of yard for trucks and emergency modifications to the nearly $1.3 vehicles on the north, east and billion Belmont Park redevelop- west sides of the retail village, ment project on connecting to a new Feb. 18. restricted-access The changes — entrance for emerThe Urban which of ficials gency vehicles at the Development from Empire State intersection of 109th Corporation ruled Development, the Avenue and Wellingthat the changes state agency that ton Road (see map, proposed at a promotes developpage 3). At the south public hearing in ment in New York, end of the retail vilDecember are presented to the lage, a short, twopublic in a virtual “appropriate in way, east-west road hearing on Dec. 21 would connect Belorder to improve — include relocatmont Park with the and advance” ing 25,000 square north and souththe Belmont Park feet of the projbound ramps of the redevelopment ect’s “retail vilCross Island Parkproject. lage” from a site way at Exit 26A. north of HempThese changes, stead Turnpike to ESD officials wrote one south of the in their decision to affirm the turnpike, and replacing a pro- proposed modifications last posed parking structure beneath week, would limit vehicular the retail village with a free- activity near Elmont neighborstanding, six-story, above-ground hoods. structure. To better serve shoppers at The retail village will include the retail village, as well as 10,000 square feet of retail space, Islanders fans and concert-goers dining and entertainment facili- attending games and shows at ties on the park’s north lot, and the UBS Arena, the state has also 340,000 square feet on the south agreed to build an above-ground lot. It will be accessible at Bel- parking structure with 1,500 mont’s Gates 5 and 14, and will Continued on page 3
By MEliSSA KoENiG mkoenig@liherald.com
Courtesy Nancy Rabinowitz
NANCY RABiNowiTz’S HoME in the Dallas suburbs suffered damage from burst water pipes.
Weathering the Texas storms
F.S., Elmont natives share their survival stories By MEliSSA KoENiG mkoenig@liherald.com
When Erica and Andrew Fox decided to move to Texas for its lower cost of living in the summer of 2015, they didn’t expect to do any more snow shoveling, but brought the shovel they had in Franklin Square just in case of an emergency. That decision proved to be fortuitous over Presidents Day weekend, when a winter storm struck the Lone Star
State and, coupled with record low temperatures, made many roads impassable and caused widespread power outages and burst pipes. “The storm wouldn’t have crippled the city or state of New York like it did here,” Erica said of her new hometown, Round Rock, Texas, just north of Austin, adding that the area only saw about six inches of snow. “It may have caused some power outages, but I highly doubt that the outages would have lasted as
long as they did here.” The difference, Fox said, is that neither Texas’s environment nor its infrastructure is equipped to handle snow. The trees don’t lose their leaves in the fall and winter, and those leaves are now coated in ice, she said, noting that some birds that tried to huddle near her house for warmth last week did not survive. Residents also struggled to stay warm in the freezing temperatures, and a number Continued on page 9