Malverne/West Hempstead
HERALD Historical display at W.H. library
NYaW rate hike delayed to 2021
learning how to ‘live our best lives’
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Vol. 27 No. 38
SEPTEMBER 17 - 23, 2020
$1.00
‘Tough acts to follow’ Recognizing suffrage movement, Malverne honors six women By NakEEM GRaNT ngrant@liherald.com
Christina Daly/Herald
Malverne High temporarily shut down Schools Superintendent Dr. Lorna Lewis announced on Monday in a letter to parents that the district had to close Malverne High School for the day. Lewis said the district saw a high number of “red flag responses” to a Covid-19 questionnaire given to staff and students, meaning that a number of them had been in contact with one or more people who tested positive for the coronavirus. At press time Monday, it was unclear how long the closure would last.
Pandemic brought challenges for Black-owned businesses By ClaiRE BlaHa Amid the coronavirus pandemic and the nationwide Black Lives Matter protests, Blackowned businesses have faced new challenges, and many business owners agreed that the heightened community awareness and support have helped keep them going. Sydney Perry, owner of Sydney’s Sweets, a custom cake and dessert shop in West Hempstead, has struggled to operate her
business while caring for her 7-year old son. “In the midst of working without our usual staff capacity, we also had to manage home-schooling and keeping our child occupied while with us,” Perry said. “It has been a challenge.” The shop, which relies heavily on large, celebratory gatherings that are now virtually nonexistent, has been selling cake jars, miniature cakes in glass containers, to bring in revenue. Perry said she also had to lay off
employees and end her walk-in retail service. Similarly, Latricesa Branch, who owns two restaurants called Rich in Health 516, in Hempstead and Uniondale, has had to make changes, including reducing staff. When the pandemic hit, Branch could only keep the Hempstead restaurant open. “The one in Uniondale, we closed it down because we didn’t have enough people to work,” she said. “Staffing issues was Continued on page 11
Party. Hunt would go on to become the first woman elected to the village board when she served as mayor from 1987 to 1991. She was also a village trustee under Mayor Joseph Canzoneri from 1995 to 1999. “If you look back at the history of our village, there was a time where a lot of residents rose up to really take control of their own community,” Corbett said. “She was really a leader of that effort.”
From former mayors to village trustees, the Village of Malverne honored six women who have served the village board at its Sept. 2 meeting, in recognition of the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment. “ We w a n t t o honor those suffragettes by recognizing women in [our] community for their sacrifices and contributions,” said Malverne Mayor Keith Patti ann McDonald Corbett. Patti Ann McDonThe village board ald’s career with the had planned to hold ToDD BRaCHER village board began a celebration with Malverne in 1996, when she M a l ve r n e ’s G i rl succeeded her Scouts, but the panfather, John F. Nordemic forced the event’s cancel- ris, who died that year. During lation. Instead, the Girl Scouts her tenure as mayor from 2007 to viewed the ceremony on Mal- 2019, McDonald, 58, helped the verne TV as each honoree was village attract over $1 million in awarded with a citation. federal and state grants, and oversaw the construction of a Catherine Hunt headquarters for the Malverne In 1987, in a decade when Volunteer Ambulance Corps, many residents were concerned renovations of the downtown about high taxes and few servic- area and the Long Island Rail es, Catherine Hunt, 72, helped found the Hometown Pride Continued on page 3
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think we can all continue to learn how we can contribute to our community.