Serving New Hyde Park, North New Hyde Park, Herricks, Garden City Park, Manhasset Hills, North Hills, Floral Park
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Friday, July 7, 2017
Vol. 66, No. 27
N E W H Y D E PA R K
GUIDE TO
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SUMMER DINING GUIDE
2 ROAD PROJECTS FOR NHP
CORRUPTION CHARGES IN OYSTER BAY
PAGES 31-50
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Author, teacher reconnect
GOING OUT ON TOP
NHP’s Cascio finds inspiring educator BY N O A H M A N S K A R When Michael Cascio published his debut children’s book, “When I Was A Child I Was Always Afraid,” in January, there was one person he wanted to thank, but couldn’t — Joan Pilla, his fourthgrade teacher. It was Pilla who took a 9-yearold Cascio under her wing and essentially taught him to read, he said. But they lost touch after that year at St. Joseph’s Patron School in Bushwick, Brooklyn. “She was super instrumental and one of those blessings that comes by in life that without, your life could have been much much different,” said Cascio, who lives in New Hyde Park and works as an accountant. After searching for Pilla in recent months with no success, an old grammar school report card led Cascio to her this week. They spoke Monday afternoon for the first time in more than 40 years. Continued on Page 66
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE HERRICKS SCHOOL DISTRICT
Herricks High School 2017 graduate and varsity football player Mike Saleme played at the 22nd annual Empire Challenge Game, held on June 21 at Hofstra University’s Shuart Stadium. See story on page 79.
2 mayors on board with 3rd track NHP, Floral Park sign memos; MTA restarts clock on final funding decision BY N O A H MANSKAR The two village mayors who have been most critical of the Long Island Rail Road’s third track project now say they’re on board.
The villages of Floral Park and New Hyde Park have finalized memoranda of understanding with planners of the $2 billion project outlining how planners will assuage potential harm to their communities during construction, the mayors said last Friday. The agreements are the product of weeks of negotiations with project officials, the mayors said. Floral Park’s memoran-
dum “gives us a seat at the table and a tangible and measurable input before and during construction,” Floral Park Mayor Dominick Longobardi said in a statement given to project officials. “If we do this right, if we build it out right, [while] it may be very upsetting during the construction period, it could ultimately be an improvement to ... New Hyde Park,” Lawrence Montreuil, the New Hyde Park
mayor, said in an interview. Officials and residents in the two villages had remained vocal critics of the LIRR’s plan to build a third track along a key stretch of its Main Line between Floral Park and Hicksville. Longobardi told residents in a newsletter on Saturday that village officials “would like nothing more than this project to be eliminated,” they felt the memorandum will protect the community Continued on Page 66
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