A Word From Mayor John Watras

Collection of Christmas Trees and Wreaths For Recycling: A reminder to residents who have a natural Christmas tree or wreath to dispose of, please leave them at the curb on your regularly scheduled recycling collection day. They will be collected by the Department of Public Works and offered to other agencies for beach erosion control or rendered at the Village Yard for use around trees and shrubs as mulch.

Please assist the village by removing tree stands, strands of electric lights and plastic bags from the discarded trees and cooperate with your neighbors by disposing of them only on the scheduled recycling collection days.

If you have an artificial Christmas tree for disposal, please call the Sanitation Department for a “Special Pickup” at 465-4031 or 465-4032.

Congratulations to Adelphi University for its Recognition for Excellence: In the past few months Adelphi has been recognized for excellence in a number of areas:

• The University garnered nine MarCom Awards, including two for President Robert A. Scott, for Outstanding Public Affairs Initiatives.
• Forbes recently named Adelphi to its America’s Top Colleges List.
• The Princeton Review included Adelphi as a 2014 Best College in the Northeastern Region.
• The University made the Fiske Guide to Colleges Best Buy List for the eighth straight year.
• Washington Monthly ranked Adelphi as the Top School Nationally in the Service Staff, Courses and Financial Aid Support Category.
• Adelphi was listed in the Top 50 Schools in the U.S. for Game Design and Development by Animation Career Review.
• Adelphi Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Gayle D. Insler, Ph.D., recently won the Outstanding Leadership Award from the Science Museum of Long Island.
• In November, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) named Adelphi to its Top 30 Colleges & University List of the Largest Green Power Users in EPA’s Green Power Partnership.  Adelphi is also ranked second in the Northeast-10 Conference in the EPA’s College and University Green Power Challenge, which tracks the collegiate athletic conferences with the highest combined green power usage in the nation.  Additionally, Adelphi qualifies for EPA’s Green Power Leadership Club, a distinction given to organizations that have significantly exceeded EPA’s minimum purchase requirements.

Shop and Dine in Garden City: There are many things which make Garden City such an appealing place to live and work. One of these is our viable and welcoming business districts with their fine restaurants, unique shops and regional stores.

Many residents consider shopping and dining in our business districts as “experience shopping” because they meet friends and neighbors along the way and have an opportunity to interact with them. This is in stark contrast to frantically dashing through the crowds in the mall or the big box retailers.

I encourage residents to make a conscious effort to choose Garden City as the place to shop and dine. It would be extremely helpful to our business community if you could make one purchase daily in the village stores. Customer service, selection and quality are outstanding. While shopping or dining let the merchant know that you appreciate them and all that they offer. I look forward to seeing everyone in town.

Board of Trustees' Meeting Schedule: The next regularly scheduled board of trustees’ meeting will be on Thursday, Jan. 9, 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. I look forward to seeing you at some of the board meetings this year.