Issuu

Friday, January 17, 2025

Vol. 102, No. 3

Ready, Sell, Go With Bella

FOUNDED 1923 n LOCALLY OWNED AND EDITED

Blerina (Bella

) Duman

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Perfect score PAGE 38 n Tree lighting PAGE 40

SWIMMING TO VICTORY

Library Board considers future capital projects BY RIKKI MASSAND

The Garden City Varsity Boys Swimming & Diving team secured another victory in the 2024/2025 season by outperforming North Shore High School at Hofstra University. See page 44

GCHS students make presentations at EAB’s Sustainability Night BY RIKKI MASSAND On Wednesday, January 15th, four students from Garden City High School presented at Village Hall during the annual Sustainability Roundtable. The event was attended by teens, adults, three Village trustees, members of the all-volunteer Environmental Advisory Board (EAB), longtime residents, and several middle

school students. Roisin Pfaff, a senior at GCHS and this year’s EAB student liaison, delivered a presentation summarizing the Village’s sustainability initiatives. She highlighted the pesticide-free fields treatment program, which began in 2016 under the guidance of EAB member Dr. Kelly Smith. “During COVID Garden City (the municipality) ramped

up its use of organic fertilizers on fields – primarily St. Paul’s. The village maintenance instituted the Cornell field management method free of pesticides including the use of high-quality organic materials, in consultation with Cornell Cooperative Extension,” Pfaff said. She also noted that Adelphi University, pesticide-free for over 20 years, has advised the Village’s See page 24

The Garden City Public Library (GCPL) Board of Trustees held a public work session on budget development and upcoming projects for the 2025-2026 fiscal year during its meeting on Monday, January 13. The Board, now chaired by Colleen Foley, former Village of Garden City Trustee and former Garden City School Board president, reviewed expenses and capital project plans. Library Director Marianne Malagon led the budget review and the meeting also featured discussions with Village Secretary to the Board of Trustees, Courtney Rutt Rosenblatt. The Board discussed the project to renovate the library’s lower level – what Director Malagon calls a “merge” between the two meeting rooms’ (one small and one large) project and the conference/computer room project budget lines. The library’s drop ceiling and interior painting project came about after a discussion the director had with Garden City Superintendent of Building Giuseppe Giovanniello and Superintendent of Public Works John Borroni. Different locations inside the Garden City Public Library had different and at times contrasting styles of ceilings and varying tiles. Malagon shared a rough estimate of the drop ceiling and painting project for all three levels of the library, which is expected to cost about $1,040,000. “During a different project walkthrough with several department heads Mr. Giovanniello and Mr. Borroni recommended that we look into having the ceilings replaced and painted. A lot of our ceilings are not in that great of condition, and with the different styles it makes for a mismatched appearance. Some of the paint, especially the harder to reach areas like the skylight and mezzanine, are really in rough shape,” she said. The Library’s first floor and upper floor ceiling and painting, not including the freshly renovated Children’s section, would be entirely separate from the Lower Level as budgeted capital projects. The GCPL Board resolved to hold off for the 2025-2026 capital budget of the Lower Level and Malagon said it could be for 2027-2028 or one year later. She was pleased to have the numbers (estimates) available for the Library Board to discuss the funding See page 22

Will Sing For Food concert heads west PAGE 20 GCHS Wrestling squad excels upstate PAGE 48