________ Franklin square/elmont _______
HERALD Class of 2022 Graduation Inside $1.00
Vol. 24 No. 26
Community marks Juneteenth
Students visit Harvard lab
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JUNE 23 - 29, 2022
Elmont Road Park reopens Nearly year after $3M project began, major renovations end Elmont Road Park,” said State Assemblywoman Michaelle Solages. Elmont Road Park, once a hub During its decay, a broken for recreation and play for drainage system led to pooling Elmont families and children water, creating a shuffleboard before falling into decay over area that was a “glorified pond,” decades, was reopened last Fri- and the park’s basketball courts day following a long-awaited $3 were cracked and withering million renovation project. away, Solages said, adding that Improvements to these were only a the park, which few of the many b e g a n l a s t Ju ly, issues plaguing the include a brand new park. multi-use spor ts The community field, renovated bashas voiced strong ketball and handball support for the courts, a perimeter major rehabilitation walking path, a new of the park. “We adult fitness area, PrESidENt heard loud and clear new playg rounds Elmont Cardinals that the community and a new water wanted a new park,” Sports Club play area, renovated Solages said. seating areas, upThe Belmont graded lighting and security fea- Park Community Advisory Comtures and improved accessibility. mittee, comprising local elected The park, which was once a officials and community memsump where local children bers, struck a deal with the drowned during the 1940s and developers of the UBS Arena 1950s, was at the heart of the project that modifications would community during the 1990s and be made to Hendrickson Park, 2000s. The park deteriorated over on Hempstead Tur npike in time due to lack of interest and Elmont, and that a multimillioneffort on the part of the Town of dollar renovation project would Hempstead, according to local be completed at Elmont Road elected officials and residents. Park. “The Town of Hempstead has put very little energy into Continued on page 5
By roBErt traVErSo rtraverso@liherald.com
Robert Traverso/Herald
ElmoNt rESidENtS Said they were routinely paying double what they normally spend to fill up their vehicles amid the rise in gas prices.
Feeling high gas prices’ effects Elmont residents make day-to-day changes as cost at the pump reaches $5 per gallon By roBErt traVErSo rtraverso@liherald.com
The average price of a gallon of regular gas rose to over $5 earlier this month for the first time in history, and Elmont residents have adjusted their daily lives and summer plans as a result. The price of gas has risen roughly 60 cents a gallon since last month, and the average price is now above $4 in all 50 states. According to The New York Times, energy
experts have estimated that for every one-cent increase, Americans spend an extra $4 million per day. “I need my car to get from point A to point B,” said Claudine Hall, the president of the Jamaica Square Improvement League and an Elmont community advocate, adding that she had stopped coming home after work before heading out again for meetings later in the day, and instead arrives at meetings early and waits, in the interest of limit her
spending on gas. Experts point to three main causes of the rise in prices: a cyclical increase in demand for fuel that happens every year around Memorial Day; the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which took millions of barrels of oil off international markets; and a rise in energy use stemming from the recovery of the U.S. economy from the coronavirus pandemic. Charles Guder, who lives Continued on page 4
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t’s going to revitalize Elmont