Friday, March 10, 2017
Vol. 93, No.27
FOUNDED 1923
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LOCALLY OWNED AND EDITED
Is print dead? PAGE 22 n PARP pep PAGE 45
Anti cell tower residents stopped short at meeting
PARENTS ROCK THE HOUSE
BY RIKKI N. MASSAND
Residents of Garden City’s eastern section addressed the Board of Trustees meeting on Thursday, March 2nd, to report that an installer’s vehicle from cellular telephone company Crown Castle had been seen working in their neighborhood in February. Last year a group of residents lobbied the Village Board to take a stand against Crown Castle’s plans to install distributed antenna systems (DAS) on utility poles in Garden City back yards. The Village met with the company last year and also commissioned a study to determine if radio frequency emissions were higher than allowed by the FCC. At the meeting on March 2nd, Mayor Nicholas Episcopia declared the conversation over on Crown Castle, saying there’s no doubt in his mind the village “has done everything in its power and every test was made,” including a $17,000 cost to hire a firm to test the RF emissions from See page 54
Unnamed dads of Garden City High School’s Class of 2017 performed a skit about the girls Field Hockey team during the annual Parent Skit Night last week. See pages 48 and 49
Consultants apologize for tower fumble BY RIKKI N. MASSAND At the Thursday, March 16 Board of Trustees’ meeting, the final time for Nicholas Episcopia as mayor of the Village of Garden City, he and the other seven trustees expect to see progress over the quandary created by consultants H2M Engineering and the latest counterproductive discussion on prospects for the new multi-million dollar village water tank. Village Administrator Ralph Suozzi announced last week that the February 21 meeting’s presentation would be overturned when H2M returns on
March 16. “We had a presentation at the last Board meeting to bring the Board up to date on the option of a composite tank with a glass-fused to steel bowl at the top, which is the option most different from traditional tanks that require more maintenance and painting (once every 15 years or so). We asked H2M to opine on construction costs and the validity of the project. The presentation February 21 had some inaccuracies and flaws in it so we asked H2M to please readdress this board and our residents with updat-
ed information that includes any other vendors that are involved with glass-fused to steel tank technology. There are people who manufacture glass-fused tanks lower on the ground. On March 16 we expect H2M to be before use to present in-detail and explore this option, and also to apologize to the board for not discussing this option earlier because of disinterest due to aesthetics and unavailability of the product on Long Island before now,” Suozzi explained. Mayor Episcopia had learned of the type of tanks See page 54
New Department of Public Works head welcomed BY RIKKI N. MASSAND Two years of changes on the village’s executive staff appears to have come full circle, with actions by the Board of Trustees at their Thursday, March 2 meeting. Joseph DiFrancisco, hired last September as the Secretary to the Board of Trustees and in a supporting role as the acting deputy village administrator to assist Administrator Ralph Suozzi, was unanimously voted in as Garden City’s next superintendent of the Department of Public Works. The timing is perfect for DiFrancisco to lead the annual budget bus tour on Saturday, March 11 at 9 am, starting at the new senior center with refreshments and stopping at Public Works’ facilities including the water department and the Village Yard. The village now rounds its executive staff out with a replacement for former Public Works director Robert Mangan, who served on the village’s executive staff for 25 years and for whom a separation payment of $275,000 for accumulated “unused compensated sick and vacation days” was approved a month ago by the Board of Trustees, at their February 2 meeting. Mangan departed the village’s ranks unceremoniously and unannounced over the late December holidays, with no goodbyes or acknowledgment at any of his last Board of Trustees’ meetings in late 2016 and no press release from the Village of Garden City, while for other longtime staff those recognitions were proudly public. See page 55
GC Wings hockey team ends season on high note PAGE 58 Historic Homes of Garden City exhibit at library PAGE 18