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HERALD Vol. 71 No. 52
A chilly holiday run at the park
All about the holidays
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DECEMBER 21 - 27, 2023
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Showing their opposition to tolling plan could help push people from driving cars to simply taking the rails. State Sen. Steve Rhoads They called it a “hidden tax” and even “highway robbery.” doesn’t agree. “What congestion pricing That’s how Long Island-based l aw m a ke r s d e s c r i b e d t h e does is make it easier for the impending congestion pricing MTA to give them a license to steal from every system planned for resident, from Manhattan below every commuter,” 60th Street, and are he said. calling on the govWantagh Chamernor to do away ber of Commerce with it for good. p re s i d e n t C at hy The area’s reprePowe l l s ay s t h e sentatives in Albapricing plan affectny gathered at the ing vehicles coming Long Island Rail in below 60th Street Ro a d s t at i o n i n would especially Mineola last week impact businesses to make those in her community demands loud and that prefer to delivclear to Gov. Kathy CAtHy PoWEll er products directly Hochul. Re gular Wantagh Chamber to Manhattan clipassenger vehicles of Commerce ents, saving money could be hit with on shipping. And it charges as much as $7.50 to enter Lower Manhattan, would only hurt businesses that with commercial vehicles look- are still recovering from the ing at daily tolls ranging pandemic. “It’s important that we speak between $15 and $36. Funds collected would sup- up for Long Island,” she said, port efforts by the Metropolitan “and we speak up for small busiTransportation Authority to nesses, and people who live on continue maintaining and Long Island who travel to the expanding its mass transit ser- city for work.” Powell added that workers vice — including the LIRR — while the agency maintains it Continued on page 5
By CHARlES SHAW
cshaw@liherald.com
I
Jordan Vallone/Herald
emma Vulpi with John theissen, of the John theissen Children’s Foundation. She donated $6,000 worth of toys on dec. 15, all part of an effort that began when she was 7.
Emma Vulpi and her big heart She donates$6K in toys to Theissen charity By JoRDAN VAlloNE jvallone@liherald.com
Salisbury resident Emma Vulpi has once again shown that her heart is huge. For years, the 12-year-old girl has been using gift cards that she receives leading up to her Dec. 16 birthday to purchase toys and gifts for children in local hospitals. Her good deeds began when she was 7. During a car ride with her mother, Michele, in 2019, Emma decided what she wanted to do with the rest of the gift cards she received for her birthday. “She said, ‘Ma, I know what I want to do
with my gift cards,’ like out of nowhere,” Michele said. “It was just weird because it was already January, and she hadn’t used any of them. She asked if we could use the gift cards to buy toys for sick kids in the hospital.” “She started crying,” Emma said of her mother’s reaction. Emma’s choice to spread goodwill back in 2019 has only grown. The pre-teen hasn’t looked back, donating thousands of toys to children who need them most. She first brought her donations to NYU Winthrop Hospital in Mineola, where her Continued on page 8
t’s costly enough on Long Island. The governor seems to think that we’re the Hamptons.