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Friday, February 23, 2024
Vol. 99, No. 8
HEALTH, WELLNESS & BEAUTY GUIDE
NEW TRAIL BLAZING DPW COMMISH
GREAT NECK JUDGE FINES TRUMP $355M
PAGES 21-28
PAGE 2
PAGE 6
Suozzi-Mazi tally shows voter shifts
D O N G I O VA N N I
Portion of G.N. goes ruby red as Dem captures independents, cracks GOP areas BY C A M E RY N O A K ES The once-Democratic bastion of Great Neck has solidified itself as a Republican bastion according to preliminary election data from New York’s 3rd Congressional District special election that shows a deepening GOP majority despite Democrat Tom Suozzi winning the overall vote. Suozzi managed to handily defeat Republican County Legislator Mazi Pilip based on strong support from independents that helped him pick up election districts in traditional GOP strongholds in New Hyde Park and Manhasset. Suozzi stepped into Election Day with an edge in early voting, garnering 4,320 more votes than Pilip in Nassau County and 3,060 more in Queens in the fight to complete former Rep. George Santos’ term after being booted from his seat in December. With 100% of the precincts reporting, Suozzi won 91,338 of the votes to Pilip’s 78,229 – nearly 54% to 46% – in a race with unexpectedly high turnout despite snow early Tuesday. Nearly 85% of the vote came from the Nassau County portion of a district that stretches from Massapequa to the south, up across the North Shore and into eastern Queens.
While Suozzi won by a 23% margin in Queens, the race was closer between the two candidates in Nassau County. According to the New York City Board of Elections’ unofficial Election Night results, Suozzi won with 61.38%, or 15,205 total votes in Queens. Pilip received 38.33%, or 9,495 total votes. In Nassau County, Suozzi secured 52.46% of the votes, or 76,133 in total. Pilip garnered 47.37% of the votes, or 68,734 total votes, according to the Nassau County Board of Elections. Overall, Suozzi secured his congressional win Tuesday night with 53.7% of the total votes vs. Pilip’s 45.99%, according to the New York State Board of Elections. The breakdown of the congressional special election results by area was sourced by Newsday and is based on preliminary vote totals by precincts. Vote totals will be finalized once military and absentee ballots have been certified. While Great Neck has been known as a Democratic stronghold for decades, the special election showed that the northern part of Great Neck has turned ruby red on the heels of Jennifer DeSena’s strong showing there in the Town of North Hempstead supervisor race in November. Continued on Page 38
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE GREAT NECK PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Great Neck North High School students performed Mozart’s opera “Don Giovanni” in Italian with supertitles for audience members to read.
Parkville library opens doors after renovations BY C A M E RY N O A K ES We’re back. That could be heard from the library staff as the ribbon was cut to unveil Great Neck Library’s newly renovated Parkville Branch Thursday afternoon. Library employees, patrons and local officials gathered outside the library amid the lingering piles of snow to get the first peak into what the new Parkville Branch would look like after months of
waiting to return to their local library. The library’s reopening was highlighted as the return of its role of fostering culture in the community. “Library’s are not just a place for books,” Assemblywoman Gina Sillitti (D-Port Washington) said. “They’re so much more. They’re arts, they’re culture, they’re meeting spaces, they’re hang-out spaces for teens and places that moms go and read to their kids – and this
new space I know will definitely be utilized.” The Parkville Branch, the Great Neck Library’s only branch serving New Hyde Park residents, closed its doors for renovations on July 1. While expanding the footprint of the library was not possible, Elisabeth Martin—library architect and principal of MDA Design Group International—said renovations were focused on making it better with the space they had. Continued on Page 39