A great leader




To the Editor:

My husband and I are writing this letter so that we can publicly thank Nicholas Episcopia for his remarkable tenure as Mayor of Garden City. Nick Episcopia was always there for the people of our Village and as a leader, he accomplished so much!

For example, with the help of his team and the support of residents, he was able to put into place a new set of building codes to protect the existing character of neighborhoods and ensure that Garden City remains the beautiful village that we all know and love.

As Mayor, and before that for nine years as a Village Trustee, he took the time to respond to residents and meet with them to discuss their concerns. He kept an open line of communication with the Property Owners’ Associations. He met and communicated with State, County and Town of Hempstead officials and attended NYS Conference of Mayors’ meetings in Albany. He served on the Board of The Nassau County Village Officials Association establishing strong lines of communication with our sister villages to exchange ideas, dealing effectively with issues of common concern, and working to protect the rights of villages at a time when the Governor is making every effort to find ways to do away with our local village governments.

Although Nick’s home is not near the LIRR Main Line, as our Mayor, he worked closely with the Mayors of Floral Park and New Hyde Park and saw to it that together, the three villages hired a team of environmental attorneys and engineers to review and report back on the massive Draft Environmental Impact Study on the Third Track Expansion Project produced by the LIRR and MTA. Not only did he forge alliances with our sister villages who shared the cost of this review, he went to the Town of Hempstead and as a result of his efforts, the Town contributed $25,000.00 towards the study; and additionally, the President of the Nassau County Village Officials Association sent a letter to the Governor and obtained a two week extension to the minimal time period allowed by the Governor and his team for the DEIS review and comment period. Nick has spoken at the public hearings and with the press to make sure that the voices of residents were heard.

We live in tumultuous times and it was wonderful to know that Nick Episcopia has been at the helm of our ship. Over the past two years, we all looked forward to his message to residents in his weekly newspaper column.

Your term will end on April 2 and we will miss you, Mayor. We admire you and wish you and your lovely wife some well-deserved time off.

Kent and Karen Reiter



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