Recreation Department – Trustee Lynn Pombonyo
As all of our daytime and evening recreation programs are fully underway with hundreds of enthusiastic participants, our sports programs are experiencing a very successful early summer season. Floral Park Little Leaguers participated in their District 29 championship tournaments with both our 10U softball and 10U baseball teams (that’s 10 years old and under) winning their respective championships. Cheers and congratulations to all!
Special thanks go to our very dedicated park staff! You may recall last Thursday’s tremendous thunderstorms followed by the deluge of nighttime and Friday morning rain from tropical storm Elsa. All of our area ballfields were badly flooded and under water before our Friday night and weekend games. Our park staff sprang into action pushing the water and drying our fields. By the end of the day, the Village of Floral Park rec center was ready and able to host a number of games at home. Thanks go to park staff members John Eliscu, Matthew Kuehnlenz, McAllister Boyle, Kyle Meyfohrt, Joe Leonardi, Bob Bressmer and Superintendent Kurt Meyfohrt for saving the day (and evening) for Little League softball and baseball.
Conservation Society – Trustee Lynn Pombonyo
In addition to providing an expansive, beautiful green space that all of us can visit daily 12-5pm, lots of important and exciting events are taking place at Centennial Gardens in the month of July. First, the children’s gardening program, sponsored by our recreation department and taught by instructor Mrs. Laura Trentacoste, has been awarded Wildlife Habitat certification for their conscientious planning, landscaping and sustainable gardening, where wildlife will find a quality habitat including food, water, cover and places to raise their young. The National Wildlife Federation celebrates this effort to create a garden that supports birds, butterflies, bees, frogs and other local wildlife. This “garden for wildlife” is located by the hillside slopes, an area weeded and cleared by our Boy Scout volunteers, a highly productive partnership. Well-deserved congratulations to all our Wildlife Habitat gardeners!
Coming soon, on Sunday, July 25th at 5 pm, will be the unveiling of a beautiful Gardens mural painted by noted artist Dilanny Espinoza. You may remember an area in the lower gardens, just below the main entrance, with a lovely but faded mural that was painted many years ago. Now you will see the bright and vibrant colors that truly reflect our Gardens. All are invited for this very special unveiling on Sunday, the 25th at 5pm.
And you may join FPCS and community volunteers at their next monthly weed-out, Saturday, August 7th, 9 am at the Floral Parkway entrance to the Gardens. Come one and all to help keep our Gardens beautiful!
Department of Public Works – Trustee Lynn Pombonyo
Following the recent thunderstorms and the winds they produced, especially last Tuesday, July 6th, we thank DPW Superintendent Kevin Ginnane and his staff for their late night work clearing downed trees and major limbs from structures and roadways, and, later in the week, remaining on call as tropical storm Elsa blew through our area with downpours.
Other important projects that DPW has undertaken include the repainting of our ADA handicapped parking spaces throughout the Village. All are reminded of the importance of keeping these spaces open and available for those who need them, and refraining from standing or parking there.
Chambers of Commerce and Our Businesses – Trustee Lynn Pombonyo
As the clean-up of the massive amounts of fire-damaged debris continues at our Covert Avenue businesses, all are reminded to visit our wonderful Covert Avenue, Tulip Avenue and Jericho Turnpike stores, restaurants and businesses throughout the summer season. There are always exciting specials, sales and surprises in store when you SHOP AND DINE LOCAL in Floral Park and Stewart Manor!
Fire Department – Trustee Archie Cheng
The Floral Park Fire Department will be conducting a department drill on Thursday, July 22, 2021 from 7 pm to 9 pm on Floral Boulevard between Carnation and Vernon Avenues. Floral Boulevard will be closed for two hours.
The Fire Department will begin its door-to-door solicitations soon. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic last year they were unable to do so. If you are financially able, please consider donating to the Village’s all-volunteer Fire Department. Whether it be rescue calls or structural fires we have all seen how devoted and dedicated our all-volunteer Fire Department is. Thank you.
Calls for the month of June: Rescue – 90; Rest of Department – 29.
Third Track – Trustee Archie Cheng
The Village has been advised that work on the Hempstead branch line will begin for 24-hours for four consecutive weekends starting on Friday nights, July 24, 2021.
There have been a number of recent meetings between Village and LIRR officials. The LIRR delivered some responses at 3PM today regarding the Tunnel Street work. The Board needs time to review and digest possible solutions address local residents’ concerns regarding the work going forward. I will address any questions in further detail during the public session and an information meeting will be planned.
Thank you.
CREW Committee – Trustee Frank Chiara
The Village of Floral Park sponsors the Coalition of Resources for Education and Wellness Committee (CREW) with the mission of supporting the youth and young adults of Floral Park through educational workshops and musical gatherings. On July 1st, two young musicians, Julia Mills and Isabella Castillo, who participated in the majority of the CREW jam sessions and workshops this year, were able to show off their creative musical talents and skills performing at Swing the Teapot. It was a packed house.
Not only did they play musical favorites, they also featured and performed songs that they wrote and created music for. Family and friends all enjoyed this very special evening. Julia and Isabella are two very special, talented young adults who really benefited from the guidance and mentorship receive at these jam sessions. Julia and Isabella you were fabulous!!!
I would like to THANK Marco Conelli and fellow band mates, Tommy and Russ, for volunteering their time and expertise mentoring these young artists by sharing their experiences of writing music and performing in public. Thank You to Swing the Teapot for hosting this performance.
Pool Department – Trustee Jennifer Stewart
Our pool season is fully underway with all programs operating at full capacity. Soon, the Swim Team will begin competitive swim meets against neighboring Mineola and Stewart Manor thanks to diligent work by our Pool Director, Tom Dillon, and the Swim Team Coaches. I am sure the children who have been up and swimming early at practices will enjoy these meets, especially since we had to forgo them in 2020.
Each week, we have new members joining, if you are interested in joining, stop by the pool office and sign up!
Floral Park Library – Trustee Jennifer Stewart
The Library continues to bring innovations to our community. This week, thanks to the efforts of Mrs. Laura Trentacoste, the Library is hosting Civics Week for Kids, a wonderful, engaging and educational program for children rising into grades 1, 2, and 3 with the goal of teaching them how their village works and what Civic responsibility means through hands on activities. Today, Deputy Mayor Pombonyo and I were fortunate enough to meet with these children and their parents or guardians and give them an inside look into how the village operates and to meet the wonderful Village Hall staff who keep things running so smoothly here in Floral Park. A big thanks to the Village Hall staff for giving our youngsters a warm welcome, answering their questions and providing them with information about all the different jobs here in the village, and to Mrs. Trentacoste for putting this wonderful program together. Next stop is a trip to the Department of Public Works where Superintendent Kevin Ginnane will delight the children with all of the heavy machinery that it takes to keep our village clean and cleared of debris and snow!
Another wonderful program Library Director Pat Eren has developed is the Library of Things. The Library of Things allows residents to check out items such as Giant Jenga, Cornhole, a high-powered telescope, and a microscope for seven days. This has been a service for the past several weeks and residents are enjoying checking out items they can use as a family. Thank you to Ms. Eren for bringing this program to the residents.
Mayor Kevin Fitzgerald
Welcome and it is great to see so many new faces here this evening. As Trustee Stewart just reported on the Civics program, you will be hearing that the Board is approving the schedules for the next year’s Civic Association meetings. Information on those meetings will appear next month and I encourage anyone to attend your local Thursday night Civic Association meeting. These meetings are a great resource to learn about the Village and to meet many of your neighbors.
Thank you to the DPW crews who were out in the storm cleaning up debris. Storms are somewhat of an unfortunate habit and the DPW Department does a great job responding to theses emergencies.
During the meeting you heard that the Board approved the purchase of a new street sweeper. The Village’s current street sweeper is on the fritz and inoperable at times. The street sweeping crews have been cleaning the streets by hand and are doing a great job. Thank you.
As Dr. Pombonyo mentioned earlier, there are a lot of great things happening at the park. Summer is here so please enjoy all that the Village has to offer. Also, we approved a number of block parties this evening and it has been a long time since we have done that so it is good to see the community opening back up.
Thank you Felix (Procaccia) for coming this evening and for all of your time and effort for recording the meetings. It is very much appreciated.
