Issuu

Friday, April 3, 2026

Vol. 103, No. 14

Garden City O ffi Agent of the M ce onth

February 202 6

FOUNDED 1923 n LOCALLY OWNED AND EDITED

Most Contract s

Michelle McA

rdle Licensed Real Estate Salespe rson O 516.307.940 6 | M 516.306.4 134 michelle.mcardl e@elliman.com Garden City Offi ce 130 7th Street

HANK PAGE 12 n Trojans undefeated PAGE 47

elliman

AI hits the village ballot box

ANNUAL EASTER PARADE

Deepfake video, fabricated website emerge days before election BY MEG MORGAN NORRIS

The Annual Easter Sunday Car Parade will take place on Sunday, April 5. The parade will step off at 12:00 p.m. from 11th Street and Franklin Avenue and proceed south to 7th Street and continue west toward Hilton Avenue. See page 18.

GCPL: Rising costs, expanding programs BY RIKKI MASSAND As budgeting priorities evolve, the Garden City Public Library (GCPL) is seeing notable changes that reflect both rising costs and expanded opportunities. At the Village Board meeting on Tuesday night, March 31, Treasurer Irene Woo presented the proposed library budget for fiscal year 2026–2027. The village’s contribution to GCPL would total $4,418,628, representing a 15% increase

year over year—$560,077 more than the 2025–2026 adopted library budget. The library’s total revenue budget for 2026–2027 is projected at $4,521,898, an increase of $537,577 (13%) over the current year. Expenditures for GCPL are rising by 7% year over year, while the forecast budget is increasing by 5%. Woo said the increases are driven by higher salaries, rising utility costs, and expanded third-party program-

ming services. These increases are partially offset by reductions in the “Materials and Supplies” budget, which drops from $110,000 in 2025–2026 to $82,000 in the tentative budget—a 25% decrease. The current fiscal year’s forecast for this category is $97,000. The GCPL budget includes 18 full-time and 28 part-time positions, with salary-related expenses accounting for 72% of the total library budget. See page 28

This year’s Garden City Board of Trustees election on March 18th was hotly contested, with candidates receiving close to a record number of votes. Social media pages and the letters section of the Garden City News were filled with comments about the candidates for weeks prior to the election and the candidates themselves made many appearances both in person and in online videos. But one thing was different this year: artificial intelligence was used to push information, and in some cases misinformation to the voters. In particular, just a few days before the election a fake website was created purporting to show that members of the For A Better Garden City (FABGC) party were seeking to bring “affordable” and “diverse” housing to the village at the St. Paul’s School site. The St. Paul’s School property was a focus of both the FABGC candidates and their opponents, the Community Agreement Party (CAP) The CAP candidates largely represented the village’s four property owners’ associations. However the web site was not created by members of FABGC. Instead, it was created on an internet platform Manus, which uses AI to create rich websites populated with slick graphics and images, for prices starting as low as $20 a month.

The Fake Videos and Website

Garden City real estate attorney Roy Parlanti, who had sparred with members of FABGC on Facebook just prior to the election, placed two AI generated videos to promote the fake website on his Instagram page on March 13th, five days before the election. By March 30th, those videos had received almost 5,400 views. The Instagram page also included a link to the fake website under Parlanti’s name. On March 31st the Instagram page was made private. Parlanti was listed as secretary of the Central Property Owners Association during 2021-22 and director from 2023 through 2025. The website can be found online at https://stpaulsproject. manus.space/ See page 6

Legion auxiliary members honored PAGE 7 Girls Lacrosse rolls to 4-1 record PAGE 44