A Word From Mayor John Watras

Friday Night Promenade: Tonight, the band Plastic Soul and Gina Naomi Baez (country style pop music) will be performing on Seventh Street. This program began last month and I am looking forward to seeing many residents and visitors as we continue to close Seventh Street, between Franklin and Hilton Avenues, each Friday evening, so that everyone can continue to enjoy the outdoor dining and live entertainment offered by local restaurants as well as shopping in the stores and shops who will remain open during the evening. I hope that you will make it a point to bring your family out to see all that is offered each Friday evening in the village.

Garden City Seeking New Members for the Special Police: The Garden City Special Police are comprised of residents who choose to give of their free time and energy by volunteering to help maintain the quality of life in Garden City. Their commitment to excellence and dedication to the community helps to give our village a higher level of safety and security to its residents.

The presence of the Special Police in uniform, on patrol, in marked police units has proven to reduce vandalism and other crimes in the village. The Special Police are responsible for crowd control at parades, traffic control at fairs and assisting pedestrians at crossings.

Please consider becoming a member of the Garden City Special Police force. If you are a village resident, 21 years of age or older and interested in giving a little back to our community that provides for us and our children, call 742-9603.

Telephone Scams: The Police Department would like everyone to be aware of a recent trend in telephone scams. Typically these scams come in two different ways. During a recent incident, a woman received a call from a male subject who stated that her husband was being held hostage after being involved in an automobile accident with a gang member and that he would be killed or injured unless a ransom was paid. It was later determined that her husband was not involved in an accident and he was at work.  

In another variation of this scam, a family member will receive a phone call from a person posing as a grandchild or other family member at an out-of-state location stating that he/she is in need of money and asks if the money be sent or wired to them. In some cases, the person posing as the grandchild or other family member will state that they are in jail and need money to post bail or pay a fine. There have even been incidents where a person calling the victim will state that they are the lawyer for their family member and will instruct them to wire the money to them.

The Police Department advises that when a person receives these kinds of calls they should tell the caller that they will get back to them and try to get a return phone number. They should then try to contact the family member in question directly on their cell or home phone or call another family member who may have some information. Residents are urged to call the Garden City Police Department immediately if they believe that they are being targeted in these scams, or if they have already been victimized by these scams, by dialing 911 in emergencies and 465-4100 in non-emergencies.

Continue to Shop and Dine Outdoors in Garden City: The residents of Garden City are very fortunate to have viable retail businesses on Seventh Street, Franklin Avenue and New Hyde Park Road where there is a good variety of quality merchandise and family dining experiences available to be enjoyed.  Please support these businesses and enjoy the products, variety and outstanding customer service. Keep in mind that these merchants save you from traveling outside the village for your needs. Consider the harsh reality if we did not have these businesses here to service our needs. I look forward to seeing everyone in town.

Please Water Our Village Trees: If you have recently had a tree planted in front of your home, please take the time to water it. The proper way to water is to first loosen the soil around the tree if it has become baked hard and then allow a hose to run at the base of the tree at a rate slow enough so that the water will be absorbed into the area around the tree trunk. If you are using a hose at the base of the tree, please do not block any village sidewalks to avoid injury to pedestrians.

Watering hours are from 5 to 10 a.m. and 6 to 10 p.m. Odd-numbered addresses on odd-numbered days and even-numbered addresses on even-numbered days. Thank you for your cooperation.

Board of Trustees' Summer Meeting Schedule: During August the board of trustees meets one time. Their next meeting will be held on Thursday, Aug. 22 at 8 p.m. This meeting is held in the boardroom at Village Hall. I encourage all residents to attend board of trustees meetings so as to be thoroughly informed of village issues from a first-hand perspective.

S.T.O.P. Program: The Town of Hempstead Sanitation Department will conduct its monthly S.T.O.P. (Stop Throwing Out Pollutants) program on Sunday, Aug. 11. The program, which is held at various locations throughout the Town of Hempstead, will make hazardous waste facilities accessible to as many residents as possible.

This Sunday’s program will be held at Town of Hempstead, Parking Field L2, in Levittown on Division Avenue. The hours of operation will be 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Under the S.T.O.P. program, residents are able to take polluting materials to the facility and have them disposed of by a registered professional disposal company, free of charge. The facility will not accept the following materials: ammunition, explosives, fireworks, electronic recyclable waste, infectious or medical waste, propane tanks larger than 20 pounds, oxygen tanks, radioactive materials and unlabeled materials. Non-conforming or damaged propane tanks can be returned to the establishment that refills your barbecue grill tanks.

The S.T.O.P. Program also offers you a way to promote energy efficiency. Bring your old incandescent light bulb and exchange if for a new energy efficient bulb (limit of 5 bulbs per household, while supplies last). Also, help us keep mercury out of the waste stream. Bring your old mercury-based thermostat to a S.T.O.P. event and receive a $5 gift card to a local home center.