Serving New Hyde Park, Floral Park, Garden City Park, North Hills, Manhasset Hills and North New Hyde Park
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Friday, April 26, 2019
Vol. 68, No. 17
N E W H Y D E PA R K
HEALTH & WELLNESS
GILLEN TOUTS ETHICS REFORM
PANELISTS TOUT BENEFITS OF IMMIGRATION FOR NASSAU
PAGES 35-46
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PAGE 6
Radiation levels in I-Park being investigated
LIFE CYCLE OF A PLANT
Town wants test to confirm safety BY S H E L BY TA L C O T T The North Hempstead Town Board approved spending $4,500 to investigate radiation levels at the I-Park soccer fields on Union Turnpike in New Hyde Park last week. The board has hired P.W. Grosser Consulting, an environmental engineering firm, to conduct the investigation. The soccer fields have already been cleared for public use, according to Carole Trottere, a town spokeswoman, but she said the town would like a final test to confirm that it is safe to use. The soccer fields are used by permit only. Many children play on the fields as it is home to intramural teams such as the New Hyde Park Wildcats soccer team as well as coaching events. Officials with the state Department of Environmental Conservation closed the fields in November after slightly elevated radiation levels were found. A portion of the land that
the soccer fields are on used to be home to a Unisys Defense Corp. facility. The company was acquired by Loral Corp. in 1995, and Loral was purchased a year later by Lockheed Martin. According to Newsday, Unisys workers dumped chemicals into dry wells which eventually began to seep into groundwater. After purchasing Loral, Lockheed Martin was ordered by the Department of Environmental Conservation to conduct a $32 million cleanup in 2015. This included processes to remove and treat water on the land. Lockheed Martin, based in Bethesda, Maryland, has performed cleanups before on Long Island. In 2017, the company moved 275 truckloads of contaminated soil from a Lake Success office. It also worked on water supply reclamation projects in Manhasset and the Village of Lake Success, as well as putting money towards a state study of Long Island’s groundwater. Continued on Page 77
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE FLORAL PARK-BELLEROSE SCHOOL DISTRICT
Floral Park-Bellerose School first-graders used magnifying glasses to examine the parts of a plant. See story on page 55.
Contested races for NHP-GCP trustee spots BY S H E L BY TA L C O T T Contested races will be held for two trustee positions on the New Hyde Park-Garden City Park Board of Education. In one race, Sangeeta Nischal and Kathryn Canese are
running for the position held by Ernest Gentile. Nischal began an online petition last year to urge the Board of Education to recognize and add Diwali, a Hindu religious celebration, as a holiday on the district calendar. “The Indian population
in the New Hyde Park-Garden City Park community now accounts for a good percentage of the overall student body,” the petition states. “We believe that there should be an effort to accommodate the religious requirements of Indian students Continued on Page 62
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