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Friday, May 3, 2024

Vol. 101, No. 18

Let My 30 Ye ars of Experienc e Work For You

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GC for a Cure PAGE 59 n Choral Evensong PAGE 26

Board debates POAs role on Village website

ARBOR DAY CELEBRATION

Links to POAs restored after removal in 2021 BY RIKKI MASSAND

In commemoration of Arbor Day on April 26th, the Village of Garden City planted a Norway Spruce on the Village Green near the Gazebo. Above, Trustees Bruce Torino, Judy Courtney and Jessica Tai, co-chairperson of the Environmental Advisory Board, and her children, joined by Recreation Commissioner Paul Blake, Arborist Joseph Umana, Village Administrator Ralph Suozzi, Maintenance Supervisor Tom Gordon, and Rec and Parks crew members.

Fields’ condition addressed by BOT BY RIKKI MASSAND At the Board of Trustees’ meeting held Thursday, April 18, Garden City Mayor Mary Carter Flanagan addressed concerns about the conditions on the St. Paul’s athletic fields, highlighting the significant attention these issues have garnered on social media.

The mayor noted a recent discussion between the Recreation Department and a representative of the Environmental Advisory Board (EAB) about the Village’s decision to use a pre-emergent crabgrass treatment at some currently closed fields at St. Paul’s. The fields underwent treatment

a few weeks ago and the sections treated will continue to be closed over a six-week period. Following the one-time chemical treatment, the Rec. Department plans to resume its natural, non-pesticide treatments for the fields, including overseeding and organic ferSee page 49

At its April 18th meeting, the Garden City Village Board of Trustees hit an impasse regarding Trustee Bruce Torino’s proposal to reinstate the links to the websites of the four Garden City property owners’ associations (POAs) – West, East, Estates, and Central – on the Village of Garden City website, specifically under the tab “Welcome to Garden City.” During the meeting, five trustees favored adding the POA websites to the village website, while Mayor Mary Carter Flanagan and Deputy Mayor Bruce Chester dissented, and Trustee Ed Finneran abstained. The current village website already lists community organizations, but the potential reintroduction of the POA websites appears to clash with recent political narratives stemming from local village elections spanning 2021 to 2024. Many perceive the POAs as affiliated with the Community Agreement Party (CAP), which secured victories in the March 2024 Village Election. Conversely, the For a Better Garden City party/platform dominated elections from 2021 to 2023. During the April 18 meeting, trustees expressed their views, inadvertently intertwining political allegiances with the promotion of political ideologies and party-aligned values. Trustee Torino emphasized viewing the POA websites as valuable community-centric resources rather than political platforms. Trustee Torino pushed for the revival of the POA websites to go back on the village website. “I make a motion that Village Clerk Galanek be directed to put the websites for each of the four POAs on the village website, under the ‘Welcome to Garden City’ tab,” Torino said. Mayor Carter Flanagan disagreed with Torino’s assertion, but ultimately the vote did not go in her favor. The conversation later turned to adding both the individual POAs and the FABGC website links to the village’s website.

Investigating POA websites’ removal

Mayor Carter Flanagan said, “The portion of the website, ‘Welcome to Garden City’ had a lot of outdated and inaccurate information that I removed. It was better to not have any information than any misinformation.” Trustee Vinny Muldoon asked when the action was taken to See page 44

Photos from the Garden City archives PAGE 34 POAs forum for school board candidates PAGE 8