Board of Trustees Meeting News
By Stephanie Mariel Petrellese

The following issues were also addressed at the June 21st Garden City Board of Trustees meeting:

Village officials and Verizon representatives continue to meet to discuss the possibility of allowing the company to begin offering service in the Village. According to Deputy Mayor John Mauk, they have made some progress, but there are a handful of issues that need to be ironed out, such as information confidentiality, the length of time it takes for Verizon to make repairs, and the financial contribution they would have to make to the Village.

Resident Kevin Curtin criticized the length of time it has taken the two sides to work out an agreement and said residents deserve a quicker resolution. Mauk responded that the Village is working hard to establish a "level playing field" with the company and has the best interest of the Village in mind.

In St. Paul's news, Mauk, who serves as chairman of the Mayor's Committee, said the committee and consultant will report to the Board in early fall, most likely in September. The field of viable candidates has been narrowed from seven down to three for the restoration and redevelopment of the Main Building at St. Paul's. The remaining contenders are the Albanese Organization, Avalon Bay Communities and the Committee to Save St. Paul's/Canus Corporation.

Trustee Nicholas Episcopia said contractors experienced delays and will begin the renovation of the Garden City Public Library at the end of August or beginning of September. He added that there are several exciting programs being considered, including a classic movie club and a homework aid program, where students can seek assistance from a teacher via the computer.

Former Garden City mayor Harold Hecken reported that he attended a recent public hearing on the possibility of building an intermodal freight transportation center on the Pilgrim State Psychiatric Center property in Brentwood. DOT spokesperson Eileen Peters estimated that initially there would be three to four trains a day with about 600 trucks loading and unloading at the site.

She said eventually officials hope that more trucks will use the facility. A 2001 study forecast that daily rail traffic volume in five years would be 34 rail cars, 17 coming and 17 and going. The trains would run exclusively at night.

Peters stressed that the project would cut motor vehicle traffic, but she didn't say where. People who live near the proposed site argued that it would draw overwhelming truck traffic to the area. Although the site is a central location midway between Nassau and Suffolk, trucks will still have to transverse the island from all directions and get back on to the Long Island Expressway.

Hecken added that he learned that an earlier proposal to create an intermodal facility at the end of the Central Extension between Roosevelt Field and Mitchel Field is no longer being considered.