Freeport Receives $1.5 Million in Additional State Funding
"Thanks to the efforts of N.Y. State
Senator Charles J. Fuschillo, Jr., and State
Assemblywoman Kate Murray," explained
Assemblywoman Kate Murray, Mayor Bill Slacken, Senator Charles Fuschillo, Jr., Nempstead Town Receiver of Taxes Angle
Cullin, and Chief Michael Woodward.
Mayor Bill Glacken, "Freeport is the recipient
of an additional $1.5 million in grant money
which will be used to cover various
infrastructure pro-jects
and specific
law enforcement
programs in the
Village."
A portion of the
funds will be used
to help pay for the
expansion of the
Village Green
between Church
Street and South
Main Street, just
north>of Sunrise
Highway. A left
turping lane will
be added at
Sunrise Highway
and Church Street
to improve traffic flow. The funding will also
help pay for residential road improvements
projects, including the repaving of Garf ield St.
and South Brookside Ave.
The Freeport Police Department will
receive funding to cover its special
Community Response Team. The project
involves police officers meeting with mem-bers
of the community and responding to
particular issues involving law enforcement
and public safety. The officers will have a des-ignated
vehicle marked Community Response
Team to use for outreach to concerned citi-zens.
"Once again Senator Fuschillo and
Assemblywoman Murray have come through
for Freeport, "^declared Mayor Glacken. "This
state funding will go a long way in helping us
continue our revitalization projects through-out
the village, including road repairs, law
enforcement efforts, and improvements to
our the downtown business district."
Arty Party Honors the Pearses
r Long time Freeport-residents,
Joysetta and Julius Pearse, received
the Community Award at the
recent Arty Party Dinner sponsored
by the Long Island Arts Council at
Freeport. The Pearses are the
founders and directors of the
African-Atlantic Genealogical
Society, an organization involved
in assisting African-Americans in
. tracing their family history. They
were joined by other honorees:
composer William Bolcom, and his
wife, soprano Joan Morris; chil-dren's
book author Bernard
Waber; Executive Director of the
Nassau County Museum of Art in
Roslyn, Constance Schwartz; and
Fleet Bank which received the
Corporate Award.
Freeport Mayor Bill Glacken, Joysetta and Julius Pearse, and Long Island Arts Council Director Mamie Katzmon.
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OCTOBER, 2000 www.FreeportNY.com THE HOME OF CHAMPIONS
Mayor Glacken to be Keynote Speaker
at FEMA Conference Luncfieon
The Federal Emergency Management
Agency has invited Mayor Bill Glacken to be
the keynote speaker at the luncheon on
November 14, for the 63 newly designated
Project impact communities during FEMA's
Summit 2000 conference in Washington,
DC.
Freeport was selected by FEMA to be a
Project Impact community in 1998. The
Village was the first community to win that
designation on Long Island. The selection was
based, in part, on Freeport's establishment of
an Emergency Management Team designed
to coordinate the efforts of all village agen-cies
in the event of a disaster. In 1999,
Freeport was honored by FEMA with the
nationally prestigious, highly competitive
Economic Development Award in recognition
of the village's successful inclusion of flood
mitigation and disaster prevention construc-tion
in the Woodcleft Ave. waterfront revital-ization'project.
FEMA Director James Lee Witt said in his
invitation to Mayor Glacken, "I believe that
you would provide an excellent perspective
on the linkages between flood mitigation
and -economic stability, the importance .of
having the active participation'of local elect-ed
officials, and the overall challenges of cre-ating
a disaster resistant community."
Under the Glacken Administration, the
Village secured federal funding for 75 per-cent
of the cost of the
project, and set up a
program through a con-sortium
of local banks
to assist property own-ers
in financing their 25
percent share. In all, 21
homes in low-lying sec-tions
of the village were
elevated within 19
months; 1.7 miles of
roads located in the
floodplain were upgrad-ed
within 3 years, which
affected 240 residential
properties, and we
recently received fund-ing
to elevate another
1,500 feet, which will
protect an additional 40
residential properties.
The showcase of
Freeport's revitalization plan, the elevation
and improvements to Woodcleft Avenue, has
had a profound effect on the economic devel-opment
of the Village. The project eliminated
the persistent flooding problems for 60 indi-.
vidual businesses, which includes restaurants,
fish markets, boat dealers and other types of
shops. In overseeing the project, Mayor
Glacken personally ensured that aesthetics
would be included in the revitalization plan.
FEMA Director James Lee Witt and Mayor Bill Glacken on Woodcleft Ave.
before the revitalization project work began.
He participated in the selection of the
antique-type lighting, benches, flower
planters and the underground installation of
all overhead lighting along the "Nautical
Mile." •
Mayor Glacken will discuss at the FEMA
luncheon the four critical goals of Freeport's
revitalization program: flood mitigation, eco-nomic
development, tourism and aesthetics.
Governor Pataki Honors Freeport's
Waterfront Revitalization Project
Mayor Bill Glacken and Governor George Pataki
at a previous meeting on Long Island.
Governor George Pataki recently
announced Freeport as a winner in the first
annual Governor's Waterfront Rediscovery
Awards. The award recognizes individuals,
municipalities or organizations, which have
made a significant contribution to waterfront
revitalization efforts throughout the State.
"For more than 200 years, New York
State's 5,000-mile shoreline has played a
prominent role in shaping our national her-itage
and spurring international commerce,"
Governor Pataki said. "The waterfront
Rediscovery Awards celebrate the commit-ment
of those who have worked so passion-ately
to ensure the continuing vitality of one
of New York's greatest natural resources."
Mayor Glacken added, "It is important
to note that the revitalization of our work-ing
waterfront is just the beginning of the
transformation of Freeport. We are current-ly
in the first phase of the Downtown
Commercial District project with the near
completion of the faqade improvements
along Church St. and Merrick Road. We will
be following up with additional storefront
facelifts in Freeport's business district,
including businesses located on North Main
Street."
Freeport has become a nationally rec-ognized
model-community for waterfront
revitalization projects. The Federal
Emergency Management Administration
in Washington, DC, has invited me as the
Mayor of Freeport, to address the 63
newly designated Project Impact com-munities.
In addition, on September 26,
New York State Governor George Pataki
honored Freeport as a winner in the first
annual Waterfront Rediscovery Awards in
recognition of the revitalization of
Woodcleft Ave.
Our village was the first community
on Long Island to receive the Project
Impact designation and has become a,
model for other waterfront communities
around the country in dealing with flood
prevention and mitigation. Freeport won
the recognition of FEMA in1998 because
the village had established its Emergency
Management Team to handle all types of
disasters, including severe storm damage.
Because of the combined efforts of
the heads of critical village departments,
including Police, Fire, Public Works,
Building, Electric and Water Utilities,
Telecommunications, along with Media
Relations, Freeport has set a standard for
emergency preparedness. The coopera-tion
and mutual support was evident in
Freeport's response to Hurricane Floyd last
year and in our efforts to predict and min-imize
any possible Y2K computer prob-lems
over the 1999-2000 New Year's Eve
event.
Members of Freeport's Emergency
Management Team were in touch with
Hempstead Town and Nassau County offi-cials
in both instances. In the case of
Hurricane Floyd, the team was able to
monitor via satellite link the movement of
the hurricane in conjunction with our
local tides, and correctly predict that we
would not suffer severe flooding on
Woodcleft Ave. or any of the other low-lying
streets. The timeliness of this infor-mation
enabled the village to avoid
unnecessary warnings to residents in the
southern sections either to move their
vehicles or to evacuate their homes.
On New Year's Eve, the coordinators
of our Emergency Management Team
were in Village Hall monitoring the tran-sition
from 1999 to 2000 for the computer
system, the Police and Fire Departments,
as well as the electric and water utilities
and our telephone center. Fortunately,
everything went well and there were no
problems. Our Emergency Management
Team had spent months of careful plan-ning,
meeting with representatives of
other governmental agencies and coordi-nating
possible responses in the event of
problems.
In selecting Freeport over dozens of
other communities to be one of the first
winners of the Waterfront Rediscovery
Award, Governor Pataki recognized the
direct economic benefits that were
achieved in the revitalization of
Woodcleft Ave. through job creation and
revenue base.
These awards recognize and honor
the dedication and commitment of all our
employees and residents. They also
demonstrate what a strong united com-munity
can accomplish with teamwork.
Mayor Glacken Swears in PBA President Mike Flood
for Second Term
Mayor Bill Glacken had the
honor of administrating the oath of
office to Freeport's Police Benevolent
Association President Officer Philip
"Mike" Flood at the recent PBA din-ner.
Trustee Bill White, Jr., adminis-tered
the oath of office
to Vice President Shawn Randall,
Recording Secretary Rick Greenwood,
Treasurer Jack Lundergan,
Corresponding Secretary Robert
Regan and the PBA Trustees David
Brodsky, Timothy Nolan and Richard
Paulik.
Mayor Glacken congratulated Freeport Trustee Bill White, Jr., (second left) congratulates the PBA officials Officers Shawn Randall, (first left) Mike Flood,
(third left) and Businessmen of the Year honorees Al and Stephen Nicolino, (center) along with Mayor Bill Glacken.
President Mike Flood on the
excellent work the PBA does
in Freeport/ including the
Toys for Tots project during
the holidays, the special child
finger-printing program, and
its many other contributions
to the community. The PBA
presented its Businessmen of
the Year Award to Stephen
and Al Nicolino of Nicolino
Construction, and Man of
the Year Award to Senator
Charles J. Fuschillo, Jr.
Deputy Mayor Renaire Frierson Congratulates Freeport Minister
at Hempstead Hispanic Awards Ceremony
Among the individuals hon-ored
during October's Hispanic
Heritage Month by Hempstead
Town was the Reverend C. Luis
Vargas of Centre Biblico Church.
Rev. Vargas was among five hon-orees
of Hispanic heritage who
were cited for outstanding con-tributions
to the community.
In congratulating Rev. Vargas,
Deputy Mayor Renaire Frierson
said she has worked closely with
him on a number of projects for
the benefit of Freeport residents,
including the recent Census Full
Count Committee. "Rev. Vargas is
a true citizen of Freeport. He has
contributed his time and his sup-port
to the betterment of the
whole community, and we are
proud to have him in our village."
Hempstead Supervisor Richard Guardino, Rev. Luis Vargas and Freeport Deputy_Mayor Renaire Frierson.
New Police Officer Sworn In
Mayor Bill Glacken
recently administered the
oath of office to the newest
member of the Freeport
Police Department, Norval
Curtis, a former Nassau
County Corrections Officer.
Officer Curtis was congVatu-lated
by Trustee Don
Mauersberger, and Police
Chief Michael Woodward.
Officer Curtis is expected to
graduate from the Police
Academy next April. Upon
completion of his training,
Officer Curtis will be the sev-enth
new police officer
recently added to the depart-ment.
His training is fully
funded by the US
Department of Justice under
a Community Oriented
Policing Services (COPS)
grant.
Trustee Don Mauersberger, Officer Norval Curtis, Mayor Bill Glacken, and Police Chief Michael Woodward.
Free fort Fire Fighter Lt. Scott Braun Honored by the Lynbrook Elks Club
"Lt. Scott Braun has been
the mainstay of our Marine
Unit," explained Fire Chief
Paul Hashagen in nominating
the 13-year veteran of the
Freeport Fire Department. Lt.
Braun is currently an officer
of Hose 3, where his duties
include fire-fighting supervi-sion,
along with various
administrative responsibili-ties.
Braun is also a lieutenant
in the Freeport Fire
Department's Dive Squad,
where he is responsible for
life-saving efforts.
"It is because of the
efforts of Lt. Braun and his
fellow fire fighters that
Freeport has such an excel-lent
reputation both on and
off the water for saving lives
and protecting property,"
said Mayor Bill Glacken in
congratulating Lt. Braun on
receiving the Lynbrook Elks
Annual Fire Award. Fire Chief Paul Hashagen, Elks Lodge Exalted Leader Danald Conway, Jr.,
Lt. Scott Braun and Mayor Bill Glacken
