A Word From Mayor John Watras

Special Thanks to American Legion for Veterans Day Services: Special thanks to the William Bradford Turner Post of the American Legion of Garden City for conducting the annual Veterans Day ceremony on Nov. 11. We appreciate all that they do to honor and remember those men and women who have served in our armed forces in support of our country. I would like to also thank the Boy Scouts for displaying the American flags along Seventh Street. It was so nice to see everyone on Monday to honor the veterans for their service to our country.

Please visit the Village’s website to view the Veterans Day activities.

36th Annual Turkey Trot: The Turkey Trot Race Committee of Garden City, Inc., will conduct its 36th annual Merrill Lynch Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning, Nov. 28. You can register online at www.gcturkeytrot.com. You can also register the day of the race from 8 to 9:15 a.m.

The race will form at St. Paul’s School with the Challenger Division race beginning at 9 a.m., the 1.4-mile run beginning at 9:30 a.m. and the 5-mile run beginning at 10 a.m.

The route of the 5-mile race will be as follows: Starting on Stewart Avenue in front of St. Paul’s east to Cherry Valley Avenue continuing south on Rockaway Avenue, west onto First Street onto Cambridge Avenue, north on Whitehall Boulevard, continuing east onto South Avenue to Cherry Valley Avenue back to Stewart Avenue, then west onto Stewart Avenue past St. Paul’s and north on Hampton Road - the final lap will be continuing south on Rockaway to the finishing line at St. Paul’s. I do hope to see you all there on that day.

Aggressive Driving Enforcement Program: The Police Department is continuing their aggressive driving crackdown. During the past few weeks, several traffic stops for aggressive driving infractions were conducted, which  resulted in several citations.

Motorists are encouraged to be courteous to other drivers and to not react to the mistakes or poor driving habits of another driver. This can lead to road rage incidents, which many times escalate to more serious and dangerous offenses such as assault. Motorists observing such driving behaviors are encouraged to call 911 and should not take matters into their own hands. Motorists are also advised of recently enacted state legislation regarding texting and other mobile device use (including mobile phones) while driving. A person convicted of these offenses will be assessed five points against their license. The Police Department will continue to make traffic enforcement a priority in an effort to make our streets safer.

Annual Leaf Removal Season: The Department of Public Works and Recreation and Parks began collecting leaves two weeks ago. Collections began in the western section and will continue toward the eastern section and then to the Central and Estates sections on a sporadic basis, depending upon the amount of leaves in the street and weather conditions. During the leaf collection season, the village’s website will be updated weekly to allow residents to track the collection process. The notice will be listed on the Home Page under “Notifications and Alerts.”

We ask that residents observe the following guidelines:

• Place only leaves in the street. Other items such as sticks and old plant material may damage machinery and slow down operation.

• Do not place leaves on medians and malls as this will kill or damage the grass.  For reasons of safety, our streets are cleaned of leaves on a more frequent schedule than are the medians.

• Avoid parking cars over leaves as this slows our operation considerably, and is also a fire hazard. Each year a number of cars are seriously damaged or destroyed by fire as a result of their being parked on dry leaves. Please do not obscure fire hydrants by piling leaves around them.

• If you have a gardener, instruct him to place your leaves in the street, and not on the malls. Many gardeners find it convenient to bring leaves in from other communities in which they work for disposal by the village. This practice is prohibited and the Police Department will be issuing summonses.

• For safety reasons, please do not allow children to play in the leaves once they are placed in the street for collection.

Last fall the Street Department along with the Parks Department removed 20,000 cubic yards of leaves. These leaves were then turned into mulch and were made available cost free for use by residents and landscapers. This recycling of leaves saves the village thousands of dollars annually in disposal costs. Our combined efforts will keep our village beautiful and reduce waste. If you have any questions concerning our leaf collection schedule, call the Department of Public Works at 465-4003 or 465-4004.

Please Continue to Shop 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.

Board of Trustees' Meeting Schedule: The next regularly scheduled Board of Trustees’ meeting for the month of November is on Nov. 21. I encourage all residents to attend Board of Trustees meetings so as to be thoroughly informed of village issues from a first-hand perspective.