A Word From Garden City Mayor Don Brudie

Village Offices Closed Monday, Jan. 21: Please be advised that village offices will be closed on Monday, Jan. 21, in observance of Martin Luther King Day. Offices will re-open at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 22. There will be no garbage or recycling pickup for Monday, Jan. 21 and there will be no rubbish pickup on Wednesday, Jan. 23. The holiday collection schedule will be as follows:

Western half of village (west of Rockaway Avenue):
Garbage: Tuesday and Thursday
Rubbish: Wednesday Jan. 30

Eastern half of village (east of Rockaway Avenue):
Garbage: Wednesday and Friday
Rubbish: Wednesday Jan. 30

Residents scheduled for recycling Jan. 21 are asked to put their recyclables out on Monday, Jan. 28. All other recycling days remain the same. Rubbish collection has been rescheduled to Wednesday, Jan. 30.

Shopping Carts: Your village has spent a good deal of time and money to beautify our central business district in order to make it as appealing to residents and businesses. Our local food markets on Seventh Street and Franklin Avenue have also made a significant investment in purchasing high quality shopping carts for our use and convenience while shopping in their stores. Regrettably, these carts are not being returned to the prescribed areas by the shoppers and are being left within the parking fields and in the areas of the apartment houses. In consideration of your neighbors, merchants and community, I urge residents to return these carts to their respective stores. Please don’t place the village in the position to have to expend manpower and time to impound the shopping carts. The residents’ effort will go a long way to keeping our village the beautiful place that we all want it to be.

Local Law - Solicitations: The village’s solicitation law prohibits all unwanted commercial solicitations and distributions on all private residential property in the village and prohibits non-commercial solicitations and distributions on private property to the extent desired by the resident. This law was designed to protect residents from unwanted invasions of their privacy. However, any resident who does not wish any solicitations should complete a “Notice of Objection” form at Village Hall. If you complete such form and are solicited, advise the solicitor that you have a non-solicitation request on file. If they persist, and I doubt they will, call the Garden City Police Department at 465-4100.

As of this writing, the only group that has permission is the Citizens Campaign for the Environment. The Citizens Campaign for the Environment has been given permission to solicit Monday through Friday now through Jan. 25, between the hours of 4 and 8 p.m. and invited call backs only are permitted between the hours of 8 and 9 p.m.

Although this organization, as does others, requested and was given permission to solicit by the board of trustees, the board of trustees takes no position and the decision to contribute or not is entirely up to the resident.

Budget Work Sessions: I would like to advise you that the board of trustees will be conducting work sessions to review the proposed 2013/14 Operating/Capital Budgets on:

Saturday, Jan. 26, 8:30 a.m. Tour of Facilities and Capital Plan Presentation Wednesday, Feb. 6, 7:30 - 10 p.m. Budget Study- Work Session 1
Thursday, Feb. 14, 7:30 - 10 p.m. Budget Study - Work Session 2
Thursday, Feb. 28, 7:30 - 10 p.m. Budget Study - Work Session 3
Thursday, March 14, 7:30 - 10 p.m. Budget Study - Work Session - Final

Board of Trustees Meeting Schedule: The next regularly scheduled board of trustees meetings will be on Thursday, Feb. 7, and on Tuesday, Feb. 19, at 8 p.m. I encourage all residents to attend board of trustees meetings so as to be thoroughly informed of village issues from a first-hand perspective