______________ VALLEY STREAM _____________
HERALD VOL. 35 NO. 27
Fresh produce this fall
NUMC summit stresses safety
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JUNE 27 - JULY 3, 2024
$1.00
A rough year for village downtown storefront revamp front improvement for signs, awnings, and lights,” he said. The spadework of reaching More than a year ago, brew- out to communicate the details ing concern about revitalizing of the program fell to David Valley Stream’s languishing Sabatino and Tom McAleer, who downtown led village officials to head the village’s Economic gather with business leaders to Development Committee. Applications, Sabatino announce an opporassured, would be tunity. sent “door-to-door” A federally fundand posted online. ed prog ram that But the extent of covers up to 80 perthe outreach effort cent of the price of appears murky, and upgrading a busiits current results ness’s storefront leave much to be signage would be desired. available to Valley Elissa Kyle, the Stream’s downtown placemaking direcstores. tor of the sustain“This is part of able downtown our continuing, development orgamulti-faceted effort n i z at i o n , Vi s i o n to revitalize and Long Island, is keep our business working together district active and with village offie x c i t i n g , ” s a i d ELiSA KYLE cials to get the proMayor Edwin Fare. Vision Long Island gram off the Fare trumpeted official ground. the potential of the She says that storefront redesign and rehabilitation program to during the program roll-out, out amplify the business district’s of the dozens of storefronts that curb appeal and give patrons a run along the half-mile commerclear sense of Rockaway’s cial strip, only about six of them “seemed interested in moving vibrancy and renewal. “The sign façade program forward.” Of those businesses, several will enhance, standardize, and beautify our business district... have been bogged down by “perthe grant will fund their storeCoNtiNueD oN page 10
By JUAN LASSO
jlasso@liherald.com
W
Courtesy Valley Stream District 24
Former Mets pitcher Nelson Figueroa visited a fifth-grade class at Valley Stream District 24 to inspire students with his story of hard work and dedication.
Former Met Nelson Figueroa talks life beyond the mound at V.S. 24 By NORA TOSCANO Intern
Before for mer Mets pitcher Nelson Figueroa finished smacking wiffle balls around the playing field at Robert W. Carbonaro June 13, he visited a fifth-grade class at to talk to students about the importance of dedication, perseverance, teamwork, and hard work. Valley Stream 24 School District Superintendent Unal Karakas attended the visit and said that hearing from Figueroa was a great way to help the class develop not only as students, but as people who are leaders and who work hard. “For a former pitcher of the New York Mets to come back and outline to our stu-
dents about challenges he faced and how he landed the position that he did and persevering through that process, I think showcases to all of our students that with hard work with not giving up, with chasing your dreams, that you can reach the outcomes that you would like to,” said Karakas. “I think that’s really critical for our students to hear, especially as they get ready to get to sixth grade and to middle school and beyond. We’re really trying to develop that resilience and grit in our students.” Figueroa discussed the path that led him to the Major League. He grew up playing Little League and pickup baseball in Coney Island. He then played Division I baseball at Brandeis University for three years, after which he was CoNtiNueD oN page 19
e’ve done a lot of door-to-door running up and down Rockaway . . . this is a real program, and not some sort of scam.