Rockville Centre
HERALD SSHS graduation plans confirmed
Covert celebrates fifth-graders
Covid recoverer welcomed home
Page 3
Page 8
Page 3
VOL. 31 NO. 24
JUNE 11 - 17, 2020
Protesters in RVC demand racial justice By BRIANA BONFIGLIO bbonfiglio@liherald.com
Briana Bonfiglio/Herald
“I’M 67 YEARS old, and this has just been going on for far too long,” said Bob Brenner, of Mattituck, a former Rockville Centre resident. “My friend says I’m too verbose, so this succinctly says it. We have to end racism in this country.”
Hundreds of protesters marched through Rockville Centre last Sunday, demanding racial justice in the wake of George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis. A group of South Side High School students and graduates organized the demonstration, including 18-year-old Kerryn Cleary, who said she had taken part in protests in Manhattan last week. She and her fellow organizers felt that because racial segregation is still evi-
dent on Long Island, and in the village, there needed to be a local protest. “It’s 2020,” Cleary said. “It’s time to stop murdering black people for the color of their skin and to stop segregating.” The marchers gathered in municipal parking lot No. 12, on the corner of Long Beach Road and Sunrise Highway, around 4 p.m., and got honks of approval from passing cars. One participant, 67-year-old Bob Brenner, of Mattituck, held two signs that read “Stop Racism.” Brenner, who is CONTINUED ON PAGE 5
Village welcomes Phase Two reopening of businesses By JILL NOSSA jnossa@liherald.com
The local economy is slowly coming back to life as more businesses reopen in Rockville Centre this week. As the number of cases of Covid-19 continues to decline, the list of businesses allowed to reopen in Phase Two of the state timetable now includes barbershops and hair salons, real estate services and offices, and in-store sales are now allowed. L a s t we e k i t w a s a l s o announced that restaurants could offer outdoor dining beginning Wednesday. While this is good news, business owners are
still facing uncertainties about the impact that reopening in the middle of a pandemic will have on them. “As businesses reopen, they will not be returning to business as usual,” Mayor Francis X. Murray cautioned. “Each business and industry must have a plan to protect employees and customers, making physical work spaces safer, and implement processes that lower the risk of infection in the businesses.” Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued an executive order allowing outdoor dining last week, after the Chamber of Commerce took up the subject at its May 28 meeting.
The Village is waiving its outdoor dining permit fee for restaurants, though they are required to submit applications and diagrams of their seating plans to the Building Department in order to be approved. The chamber debated the idea of closing streets to create more seating, and the village plans to hold a public hearing on the subject on June 18. For now, restaurants are taking advantage of the opportunity to have seating on sidewalks and making use of patio and parking lot space. Art Sorenson, the owner of Bonefish Grill, on Sunrise Highway, said he had downloaded the outdoor-dining application from
the village website, and hoped to expand his outdoor dining area once it was approved. “We’re working with the village to get it done,” Sorenson said, “and I’m looking forward to taking advantage of the outdoor dining opportunity this week.” Maureen Robb, marketing director of the George Martin Group, said that both of its Rock-
ville Centre restaurants will have outdoor seating. There will be three bistro tables set up on the sidewalk in front of George Martin the Original, on North Park Avenue, and six to eight tables in the private parking lot behind the restaurant, which Robb said has been dubbed a “parking lot patio.” At GM BurgCONTINUED ON PAGE 14