Encore Performance for Freeport H.S. Graduates
On Saturday, March 4th, the Freeport
Community Concert Association will present a
tribute to the high school's alumni whose vocal
talents were first showcased as members of the
Select Chorale, lead by choral director Steve
Paganp. The young artists who will perform at
the special "Star Studded Gala" all went on to
refine their gifts at prestigious music conserva-tories
across the nation. Some of them have
already worked professionally and made names
for themselves in their respective fields of
music.
FCCA president, Marc Josloff and Mr.
Pagano have been working on putting togeth-er
this event for several years, hoping they
could organize a concert which would feature
the local talent that was nurtured in the
Freeport school district. The special perfor-mance
will showcase the graduates singing
both classical music and songs made popular on
Broadway. Tickets will be available at the door
for $15. Group purchases can be arranged by
calling Mr. Josloff at 516-223-7659, or sending
an email to mjosloff@optonline.net.
Freeport's Fire Department Needs
Volunteer EMT's
The Department is looking for Emergency interested in joining the volunteers should
Medical Technicians to join Emergency attend the special "Open House" on Sunday,
Rescue Company-#9r-The~department will— March-26,-from-1-p:mrto- 4-p:mr-at-Fire-provide
the necessary training for the certifi- Headquarters in Freeport. For further infor-cation
requirements for Fire Medics. Anyone mation, call 516-377-2190.
January's Photo Contest Winner Announced
It was a tough decision, but the first winner
of the Freeport Website Monthly Photo Contest
was selected from a crowd of entrants. So far, old
man winter has brought little snow to Long
Island, so a typical wintry scene for January was-n't
very likely. Instead we received a number of
warm weather photos and decided to select the
one picture that shows the true spirit of Freeport.
This photo of a charming youngster was
taken by Joan Kennedy at the annual Memorial Day
Parade along Merrick Road in Freeport. We hope
to find mailbags, or email folders, filled with new
entries for the month of February. You can send
your print, or several prints, to P. Murphy, 46
North Ocean Ave., Freeport, NY 11520 or email
the digital copy to pmurphy@freeportny.gov.
And remember to log on to http://www.freeport-ny.
gov/ for the latest updates on events, weather
reports and other important information in the
village. *
Victoria Rose Kennedy
I-ON
OZSU AN
aivd OZS11 AN
Freeport Report
New York
JANUARY, 2006 www.freeportny.gov THE HOME OF CHAMPIONS
Freeport Honors Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Village officials participated in several
events in January celebrating the life of the
Deputy Mayor Renaire Friersoa who served as the Chairperson of Nassau County MIX Birthday Celebration
Execufc/e Committee, posed with Nassau County Executwe Tom Suozzi and the individuate honored at the
luncheon, Mary Kennedy Carter, Yvonne Maria Mowatt, and Timothy Jaccard,
Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The
Freeport Memorial Library was the setting for
the annual program sponsored by the
Village's Commission on Human Relations.
School Board Trustee Ron Ellerbe introduced
the speakers, including Julius Pearse, co-founder
of the Coalition for a Better Freeport,
the organization that presented the first
Martin Luther King Celebration at the
Freeport High School in 1982. Mr. Pearse is
also the co-founder, with his wife, Joysetta, of
the African Atlantic Genealogical Society,
which endeavors to help African-Americans
trace their family roots.
Also on the program were Mayor Bill
Glacken and Deputy Mayor Renaire Frierson.
Mayor Glacken spoke about his years of work-ing
for Illinois Senator Paul Douglas when the
Mayor was a student at Georgetown
University in Washington, D.C. "Senator
Douglas either sponsored or supported every
major civil rights and social welfare program
passed by Congress during the 18 years he
held that office from 1949 until 1967. In fact,
Senator Douglas first proposed the legislation
_ that would later be
used as the basis for
the landmark 1964
Civil Rights Law in
1949, during his first
year in the Senate,"
stated the Mayor. The
Mayor said he was hon-ored
to have worked
for Senator Douglas
first in the Senate and
later at the National
Commission on Urban
Problems, the forerun-ner
to the Department
of Housing and Urban
Development.
Several young
people performed at
the event, including the Children's Chorus
from Freeport's New Visions School, the
Cherub Choir from the First Presbyterian
Church and Tanisha Mitchell, who was accom-panied
on the piano by Ling-Yu Hsiao. The
program ended with a selection of traditional
spirituals from the Greater Second Baptist
Church Choir, which then led the audience in
a moving rendition of Lift Every Voice and
Sing.
Deputy Mayor Frierson, who serves as
Chairperson of the Nassau County Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr. Birthday Celebration Awards
luncheon, spoke at that event, reminding the
audience that Dr. King worked for justice
" through peaceful means. She explained that
Dr. King, Jr. relied on his faith to sustain him in
difficult times. The annual luncheon honored
three individuals with the Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr. Award and recognized the scholastic
and artistic talents of six young people.
Ms. Frierson, who also holds the position of
Executive Director of the Nassau County
Commission on Human Rights, is the first
African-American woman to be appointed a
Village Deputy Mayor on Long Island. Ms.
Frierson was elected Village Trustee in 1997,
and re-elected in 2001 and 2005. She was
raised in Freeport and attended Freeport
schools before graduating Hofstra University
and the Boston University School of Law.
Maya Bi Glacken: Deputy Maya Renaire Frierson; Hempstead Cotrelwarnn toothy Goreby aid BeleSv^^
Human Rights; along with the Rev. Eric Maletie; School Board Trustee, Ron EHerbe; Joysetta and Ron Etobe and JuSus Pearse,
are sunounded by some of the children and adulis who performed in the program.
A MESSAGE FROM THE MAYOR Mayor Speaks at Chamber of Gommeree Luncheon
Change is a constant. Either we are
moving forward or backward, but we are
rarely standing still. If we are not actively
rebuilding, repairing and maintaining the
assets of our community, then they fall
victim to the slow, inevitable deterioration
process and eventually must be completely
replaced.
When the Glacken Administration took
office in 1997, we realized that the village
needed to change courses and that a great
deal of work was needed. We began a long-range
program of rebuilding the village's
infrastructure from the ground up by repair-ing,
repaving and rebuilding the deteriorat-ing
streets, roads and physical plant. We
worked long and hard over the past nine
years and delivered on our promise to
rebuild "The Five Worst Streets" each year.
We have eliminated constant flooding in
nearly- all of the-major-flood-prone-areas of
the village, including the Meister Beach sec-tion
and the Casino Street flood-bowl area.
In terms of the Village's physical plant,
within the past three years, we have built
new water and electric facilities that will
meet current demands while providing for
the needs of the next two generations, our
children and our grandchildren. The new,
state-of-the-art, clean, safe electric genera-tors
at Power Plant 2 will be providing elec-tricity
for the next 40, years while the three
new wells housed in a safe, secure, high-tech,
monitored location, together with the
established eight wells, ensures that we will
have an ample supply of safe, clean water
now and 40 years from now.
It's easy to forget what the Nautical
Mile was like before the roadway was raised
two-and-half feet above the flood line.
Upgrading, repairing and repaving
Woodcleft Ave., along with the added aes-
HrTetic~improvements~af~l5encKeir"fioweT "
planters, brick pavers, and antique-style
lighting, breathed new life into our water-front.
Shops and restaurants that once had
to close due to the winter weather, when
the street tended to flood, sometimes as
much as two to three feet during a conver-gence
of high winds, high tide and a full or
new moon, now have the option to remain
open all year round.
Playground equipment in all five of the
village parks has been replaced over the
past nine years. Each park now has new,
clean, modern equipment, safe enough for
youngsters to spend the day climbing and
jumping. The ballfields at Glacken and
Randall Parks have lights enabling teams to
play during the early evenings hours and
nights. At Northeast Park, lights were added
to the baseball field and the basketball
courts so young people could put them to
full use during Spring and Summer evenings
and-the-playing-seasons~could-be-extended--
into the early Fall.
The Village's Recreation Center is a
model for other .communities. The recent
upgrade of the Center's air conditioning sys-tem,
the repairs to its three regulation-size
pools, the addition of a new roof, the
upgrades to the indoor basketball and
volleyball courts along with the improve-ments
to the exercise room, and the
extensive programs designed for every age,
make it a daily meeting place for village res-idents
from tiny tots to sprite seniors.
Our village police department
continues to report a reduction in the
incidents of crime in the village. Part of that
improvement can be attributed to the
department's excellent community outreach
programs. The department is pro-active in
its response to issues affecting the lives of all
the residents. Our volunteer fire depart-ment,
the largest in New York State, is a
"safety net of neighbors helping heighbors'iri
emergencies, responding to fires, and pro-viding
assistance in medical situations. They
are true role models for our children.
As many of you may have read recent-ly,
New York State has approved a new
Empire Zone which includes the North Main
Street corridor and the Industrial Park. This
was a long-range goal of the Glacken
Administration which we worked very hard
to achieve with the Town of Hempstead and
Nassau County and with the assistance of
our state legislators. We have been concen-trating
on revitalizing every section in the
village, and we will continue to work on
improving every area with a special focus in
the next three years on rebuilding the
downtown business district and the North
Main Street area.
We have been able to achieve so much
progress as a community over the past nine
years because we have all worked together.
Hn-order-for-'us-to^continue^to—make
progress, we must all stick together.
Winter Train Show Draws
Crowds to the Recreation Center
Just in time to chase away the January doldrums, the 16th Annual
Winter Model Train Show and Exhibition, sponsored by the Great South
Bay Model Railroad Club, rolled into the gym in Freeport's Recreation
Center on January 8th. There were model railroad layouts in several
gauges, including a circus setting. There were also miniature cars, vans,
and trucks for sale, and two special raffles prizes, a Lionel train set and an
HO starter set for the lucky winners.
Periodically, Mayor Bill Glacken is
invited to speak at a monthly Chamber
of Commerce luncheon to provide the
members with an update on the progress of
the many projects underway in the Village.
Mayor Glacken spoke at the recent hol-iday
luncheon held at Bedell's at West Wind
and discussed a number of issues of impor-tance
to the members, including the com-mencement
of the Guy Lombardo Ave.
rebuilding project. "We were able to put
together a unique inter-governmental part-nership
with Nassau County in order to move
this project forward, after it had been stalled
jfoLmany.years," explained the Mayor.,
"This $5.2 million reconstruction plan
for Guy Lombardo Ave., from Sunrise
Highway to Atlantic Ave., is being funded by
Nassau County and managed by the village's
Department of Public Works," he added.
"When it's completed, the county will turn
over ownership of the road, and the respon-sibility
for all future maintenance, to the vil-lage.
This is a win-win for everyone involved,
Maya Bill Glacken posed with the officers and directors of the Chamber of Commerce including Executive Secretary Edward Friedmaa former President
Christopher Creamer, Director Francisco Jorge, Mayor Glackea President Jane Dugaa Treasurer Edward Martia and past president Ray Maguire. Seated in
front are past president Dora Philips, and Marian Knoeller, last year's Citizen of the Year.
especially the residents and businesses
located on that street," he said.
The Mayor went on to describe other
improvements, including the new power
plant and water wells, and he answered
several questions concerning plans to
build golden age housing at locations in the
village.
Hurricane Katrina Relief Fundraiser Nets $12,000
Taking part in the fundraising auction were Freeport Building Department Superintendent Joseph Madigan; from the Bay St, Louis Fire Department,
U. Mark Vindericoff and Assistant Chief Louis Pendergast; alongside Freeport Mayor BJ Glackea Firefighter Steve Goldfarb,
Freeport's Director of the Emergency Management Office, Richard E. Holdener, and Freeport PBA President, Police Officer Philip "Mike" Flood.
Mayor Bi Glacken (center) joined by the members of the Great South Bay Model Railroad Club, indudhg
Steve Bosco, Mario DeAngelis, Bob Demes and President Kevin McKay (right) in admiring one of the displays.
The recent event, a special auction held
at Odin's on South Bayview Ave. in Freeport,
brought in more than $12,000 for the relief
effort. The auction was organized by several
members of the Freeport Fire Department,
along with representatives of the Chamber
of Commerce, and a number of local church-es,
and civic and service organizations.
The group hopes to raise approximately
$90,000 to cover the cost of constructing a
multi-purpose pre-fabricated building for
the residents of Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. The
waterfront community, which is similar to
Freeport, was nearly leveled by Hurricane
Katrina. The city is still recovering and the
donated building would provide temporary
shelter for a variety of critical programs,
including social service outreach, community
projects, an educational facility, or municipal
offices.
•While-Freeport-is -planning to -provide •
the pre-fab building, the village of East
Rockaway made a contribution by
donating a fire truck, which the village had'
replaced with a newer model recently. East
Rockaway officials arranged for two fire-fighters
from Bay St. Louis to travel
to Long Island to accept the piece of fire
fighting equipment. The two Bay St. Louis
firefighters, Assistant Chief Louis Pendergast
and Lt. Mark Vindericoff, also attended the
fundraiser.
The group now has $24,000 in
donations. If you are interested in making a
contribution, or would like to volunteer
to work on the Hurricane Relief
project, please contact Danielle Rogers
at the Church of the Transfiguration at
516-379-6226.
