Serving Roslyn, East Hills, Roslyn Estates, Roslyn Harbor, Roslyn Heights, Harbor Hills, Greenvale, Old Westbury and North Hills
$1
Friday, December 28, 2019
Vol. 6, No. 52
JOHN OATES GOES HABER TALKS REVENUE MANGANO CLAIMS BACK TO ROOTS IN EAST HILLS PROSECUTOR MISCONDUCT PAGE 19
PAGE 2
PAGE 8
East Hills eyes indoor sports facility for park
SIGNING ON
Could feature courts for sports, fitness center and party rooms, mayor says BY T E R I W EST The Park at East Hills will be getting a new indoor sports complex in the place of a run-down Air National Guard building that will be demolished in 2019, said Mayor Michael Koblenz. The vacant building was formerly part of the Roslyn Air National Guard Base but is now hazardous and in total disrepair, Koblenz said. He plans to have it demolished before Memorial Day. The sports facility could potentially host a variety of activities including basketball, volleyball and maybe even tennis and pickle ball, depending on available funding, the mayor said. He said he also hopes to include party rooms and maybe relocate the village’s fitness center there. “This would be an enhancement of the park so people could have it all year round,” Koblenz said. The village completed the Park at East Hills in 2006, a $17 million project that developed a pool, ten-
nis courts, sports fields, playgrounds and dog park among other amenities for village residents. It is on a 50-acre site that previously was an array of buildings making up the Air National Guard base. The cost and timeline for a sports complex is undetermined, Koblenz said. He will have bids for the demolition in January and has interviewed some architects to potentially enlist to design the sports center. “When I went to start building the park it was the same thing: ‘Well, how are you going to do it?’” Koblenz said. “And it’s done.” The village also has plans to renovate the pool before it opens next summer. It will be repainted before Memorial Day, Koblenz said. He hopes to upgrade the water park by that time as well. “It’s old, it’s tired and there’s new gadgets for kids for the water that would be more exciting for them,” Koblenz said. “It’s time for a little change.”
PHOTO BY TERI WEST
Jacob N. Schwartz signs his oath of office to become the new associate village justice for North Hills. See story on page 2.
Springsteen and Santa came to town in 1975 BY T E R I W EST
lege students at LIU Post seeing the up-and-coming artist right When you hear the bells before they head home for the start in Bruce Springsteen’s holidays. The song is a live record“Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town” this year, imagine an ing from a performance at the arena of 3,000 confused col- university in 1975, the year the
name Springsteen was starting to make the rounds and then, just a couple months before the show, blew up. In his Greenvale performance, “Springsteen did the Continued on Page 36
For the latest news visit us at www.theislandnow.com D on’t forget to follow us on Twitter @Theislandnow and Facebook at facebo ok.com/theislandnow