_______ Lynbrook/east rockaway ______
HERALD Also serving Bay Park
$1.00
Students celebrate Diwali in schools
LFD food drive supports vets
Elks promote drug-free lessons
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VOL. 28 NO. 46
NOVEMBER 11 - 17, 2021
Governor signs bill to create water authority lic takeover of the system, and these new public water authorities give the local governments The long-awaited legislation the legal vehicle they need to to create a pathway for the pub- pursue the public option.” lic takeover of New York AmeriThe bill passed unanimously can Water — a private water sup- in the State Legislature in June, plier serving rateby counts of 63-0 in payers in Lynbrook, the Senate and 149-0 East Rockaway and in the Assembly. o t h e r To w n o f Rate relief for thouHempstead commusands of customers nities — has been paying high fees for s i g n e d by G ov. water service is Kathy Hochul. now possible — but The bill allows a there is still much public acquisition work to be done. of NYAW, to be The value of replaced by a South NYAW’s assets will Shore Wa t e r have to be deterAuthority, whose mined, an amount of ficials will be that may be up for named by the Nasdebate. The compasau County Legisla- DAVE DENENBERG ny’s infrastructure ture and the Hemp- Co-director, Long has been improved stead Town Board. through the years, Island Clean Air, It also establishes a and many of those North Shore Water Water and Soil improvements were Au t h o r i t y f o r funded — and are NYAW customers in the Town of now owned by — ratepayers, Oyster Bay. which will affect the company’s “Water is a necessity that overall value. Funding will also every New Yorker should have need to be allotted, which may be easy, affordable access to,” worked into the state budget by Hochul said in a statement. “The Hochul. historically high rates charged East Rockaway Mayor Bruno by New York American Water could be reduced through a pubCONTINUED ON PAGE 9
By ANDREW GARCIA agarcia@liherald.com
E
Courtesy East Rockaway School District
A festive lesson As the autumn season deepens, Centre Avenue Elementary School first-graders learned about the life cycle of pumpkins. Above, Asia Beckling got into the lesson.
Lynbrook business marks 75 years of serving the village By MADELINE ARMSTRONG lyn-ereditor@liherald.com
Mur-Lee’s Men’s and Boys’ Shop in Lynbrook recently celebrated 75 years in business. Started in 1946 by brothers Murray and Lee Levitt, the store has remained a family business, becoming an “institution in the neighborhood,” said Bruce Levitt, who is Murray’s son and coowned the store with his brother, Harry. until the latter moved to
Florida at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. “We just kind of grew up working in the family business as kids,” Bruce Levitt said. “I remember Saturday mornings my father throwing a cold washcloth on me to wake me up to get up and go to work.” The business has been a part of the Lynbrook community since brothers Murray and Lee went into business together after World War II, opening the shop
on Atlantic Avenue. Murray’s sons, Harry and Bruce, helped him run the business after Lee retired in 1979. Murray, a former president of the Lynbrook Chamber of Commerce, retired in 2000 and left the business to his sons, who helped it reach the more than seven-decade mark. He died in 2006. When he graduated from high school, Bruce Levitt worked as an CONTINUED ON PAGE 11
veryone should hold them responsible to appoint people who will be open, honest and nonpolitical.