A Word From Mayor John Watras

Fire Prevention Week: All residents and friends are invited to attend the annual inspection and open house on Sunday, Oct. 6, at 12:30 p.m. The program will be conducted at Fire Headquarters and in the employee parking field, located on the west side of Village Hall on Stewart Avenue. There will be fire safety demonstrations, an appearance by Sparky the Fire Dog, a poster contest, refreshments and more.

Your fire department does an outstanding job to protect our lives and homes. I hope to you see you at the firehouse and hope that you are able to stop by to show your support for them. I'm sure that your entire family will enjoy the program.

Women of Distinction: Last Saturday, I had the honor of attending the Women of Distinction ceremony hosted by Assemblyman Edward Ra. I would like to offer congratulations to Donnalyn Darling, Regina McGowan, Purnima Popli, M.D. and Willa Ward, distinguished women from the Village of Garden City who were recognized because they have contributed so much to our local communities whether it be in business, education, healthcare or civic involvement.

Continue to Shop and Dine in Garden City: The residents of Garden City are very fortunate to have viable retail businesses on Seventh Street, Franklin Avenue and New Hyde Park Road where there is a good variety of quality merchandise and family dining experiences available to be enjoyed. Please support these businesses and enjoy the products, variety and outstanding customer service. Keep in mind that these merchants save you from traveling outside the village for your needs. Consider the harsh reality if we did not have these businesses here to service our needs. I look forward to seeing everyone in town.

Merchants Clean Up: The village has received quite a few complaints over the past few weeks regarding the amount of wrappers, waste, bottles and cans that are on Seventh Street. I would like to remind the merchants to be more careful in how they place their garbage for pickup. I would also like to remind the shoppers to please dispose of their waste in the containers that are located along Seventh Street. If you feel that there are not enough receptacles available for the trash, please call my office at 465-4051 to let me know where you feel that additional containers should be placed.

Village Offices Closed Columbus Day: Village offices will be closed on Monday, Oct. 14, in observance of Columbus Day and will reopen on Tuesday, Oct. 15. For your convenience, correspondence for the village may be placed in the “Letter” drop slot at the front door.

Sanitation Collection: There will be normal garbage and recycling pickup on Monday, Oct. 14. Residences west of Rockaway Avenue will have their garbage collected on Monday and Thursday and those east of Rockaway Avenue will be collected on Tuesday and Friday. Rubbish will be collected on Wednesday.

Board of Trustees' Meeting Schedule: The next regularly scheduled Board of Trustees’ meeting for the month of October is on Thursday, Oct. 17, 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.