BBst-SBiiing Author;
' ing Books May!
Harlem Book Fair
Comes to Freeport
Julius Pearse, African Atlantic Genealogical Society; Max Rodriguez, Harlem Book Fair; Natalie Connor and
Joysetta Pearse, African Atlantic Genealogical Society; and Mayor Bill Glacken.
A large crowd came to the
Freeport Recreation Center on a
beautiful Saturday afternoon in
September to attend the first Long
Island visit of the Harlem Book
Fair. Mayor Bill Glacken congratu-lated
the group on the excellent
attendance and invited them to
return to Freeport every year.
Among the visiting writers
was Deborah Gregory, author of
the Cheetah Girls books, which is
now a television series. She auto-graphed
her books and encour-aged
young people to follow their
dreams. The African Atlantic
Genealogical Society and the Long
Island Partnership for Community
Education were instrumental in
bringing the program to Freeport.
Join the Freeport Recreation Center's
.._. "Day in the Country"
On Wednesday, October 22, you are
invited to travel through Long Island's North
Fork, past farms and vineyards, to enjoy a
lunch overlooking the water at the Sound
View Irin at Greenport. The tour will include
visits to a winery, and a stop at the famous
Briermere Farm to purchase delicious pies
and produce. The cost of the trip is $45, and
Freeport Fire Department to hold Annual Expo
at the Recreation Center
Sunday, Oct. 5th, from 12
noon to 3 p.m., Freeport's volun-teer
firefighters will host a Fire
Safety Program featuring rescue
demonstrations from water,
autos, and high angle situations.
Everyone is invited to tour the Fire
Safety House trailer, provided by
the Office of Emergency
Management. For the youngsters.
there will be toy fire helmets, bal-loons
and coloring sheets. Adults
will have a chance to learn about
smoke detectors, fire extinguish-ers,
and have their blood pressure
checked.
On Sunday, Oct. 26th, there
will be a membership drive for
Emergency Rescue Co. No. 9.
Emergency Company will have an
information table at the Fall
Festival. The department is seek-ing
Paramedics (EMT-P), Critical
Care Emergency Medical
Technicians (EMT-CC), and
Emergency Medical Technicians
(EMT-D), and individuals interest-ed
in being trained in these posi-tions
to serve as volunteer fire
medics. For further information,
please call 516-377-2190.
f ON
OZS L L AN '
QlVd
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is sponsored by the Recreation Center's
Senior Citizens Club. For more information,
call 516-377-2314 ext. 10, or visit the website
at FreeportNY.com
SEPTEMBER, 2003 www.FreeportNY.com THE HOME OF CHAMPIONS
Bounty Joins FreeportYFall Festival
Freeport is launching a new event this October, a Fall
Festival, which will feature a visit by the tall ship, the H.
M. S. Bounty. The 180-foot long square-rigger was built
in 1962 for the MGM movie "Mutiny on the Bounty." It
will be docked on the Nautical Mile from October 17th
through October 31st, decked out as a Ghost Ship, and
offering scary tours to brave teens and adults prepared to
see how the crew aboard a haunted vessel celebrates
Halloween.
The Freeport Fall Festival, co-sponsored by the
Village and the Chamber of Commerce, will be held on
Sunday, October 26, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., at the Long
Island Marine Education Center, at 202 Woodcleft Ave.,
directly across from the Esplanade. There will be booths
for nautical-style gifts, as well as maritime programs,
including boat-building and fish-smoking demonstra-tions,
and a variety of seafood vendors from local restau-rants
along with a clam chowder contest.
Freeport expects to see the H.M.S. Bounty, along
with many other tall ships, make regular visits to our revi-talized
Nautical Mile, providing educational tours which
are also fun and entertaining. The H.M.S. Bounty replica built in 1962
Main Street Mews Project Gets Underway
With the official groundbreak-ing
ceremony of the Main Street
Mews on Sept. 15th, the first major
construction project in the down-town
section of Freeport in 50 years
has begun. The 3-story-brick building
will offer a total of 16 lofts on the
second.and third floors featuring 13
x 13-foot floor-to-ceiling windows
situated above a ground floor space
suitable for a restaurant, a book-store,
or an art gallery.
The Mews is specifically
designed to appeal to artists, profes-sionals
or entrepreneurs attracted to
the concept of living and working in
the same space, located near mass
transportation and New York City, while in a
suburban setting with easy access to the
waterfront and Jones Beach.
"The Main Street Mews project has
Joining in the official ground breaking ceremony were Michael Gedecht, the on she project manager;
Raquel Pachas, U Arts Council; Eflen Kelly, Executive Director of the Freeport Community Development
Agency; Ulo Diringer, co-president with Mrs. Pachas af the Long Island Arts Council; Glenn Erikson and Scott
Klatsky of Tune Equities; Freeport Mayor Bill Glacken, along with Deputy Mayor Renaire Frierson,
and Trustee Don Mauersberger
enormous potential for future development
of the village's central business district,"
explained Mayor Bill Glacken. "Creating a
fresh, new structure that combines residen-tial
and commercial space in the
heart of the village business district,
builds on our 'smart growth' reno-vation
strategy which calls for a tradi-tional
'Main Street' atmosphere in
the downtown area," he added. The
new building is surrounded by shops,
stores, and banks, and is within easy
walking distance of the Long Island
Rail Road station and the Long Island
Bus depot.
The $3 million Main Street Mews
project is being developed by Time
Equities, Inc., a New York City devel-oper
which will own and operate the
building, handling all renting and
commercial leasing. The Long Island
Arts Council at Freeport, will be
assisting Time Equities in reaching out to the
artist community to market the residential
space.
A "A /I'lH'OO A tf~^ "H""* Y^Y^iJ ^T^T^ /3" THY UTT"* "K^ & A M7,ar^"EH&
MESSAGE FROM THE MAYOR
As the guest speaker at a recent lun-cheon
meeting of the Freeport Chamber of
Commerce, I had a chance to answer a num-ber
of questions and update the members on
current village projects. Since the luncheon,
there is additional progress to report.
The massive blackout in the Northeast in
August reinforced the importance of main-taining
Freeport's municipally-owned and-operated
electric utility and the need to con-tinue
steadfastly with plans to install two
new dual-fuel turbine generators at Power
Plant 2. The construction work involving
the installation of the gas and electric trans-mission
lines is underway and should be
completed by December. The transmission
lines will connect the two 47-megawatt tur-bines
to the LIPA electric substation in
Bellmore, and to the KeySpan gas intercon-nection
in Merrick.
Some of the pilings needed for the
foundation for the turbines are in the
ground now, others will be installed and the
concrete will be added in October.
Freeport's Electric Utility will own and oper-ate
one generator, using 37 megawatts for
village ratepayers, and selling the remaining
10 megawatts to LIPA for thirty years. The
second generator will be owned and operat-ed
by a developer, which will also sell elec-tricity
to LIPA. When these new generators
are in operation next year, Freeport's Electric
Utility will be supplying clean, safe, depend-able
electricity to its customers, while offset-ting
some of the cost with the sale of sup-plemental
power to the region.
Construction work on the three major
building projects, the Main Street Mews, the
Plaza West project and the Beechwood
Commons condominium complex, is moving
forward. The initial foundation work began
this month on the Main Street Mews, the $3
million project specifically designed to bring
artists' live/work space to Freeport's central
business district. On the $50 million Plaza
West project, we expect to schedule the for-mal
groundbreaking ceremony in 2004.
This complex, which includes the renovation
of the former Meadowbrook Bank building,
will provide office space on the upper four
floors with a restaurant in the lobby and
mezzanine space. The adjacent new struc-ture
will offer one and two bedroom apart-ments,
along with a health club and other
amenities, situated above street level retail
space with parking available in below
ground aria1 street level locations. The
Sunrise Highway and Church Street location
is especially convenient for commuters using
the LIRR and Long Island Bus.
The Plaza West project, along with the
Main Street Mews, is a key aspect in the plan
to create combined residential/commercial
space in the heart of the' Village's central
business district. The concept of building
structures that provide residential, commer-cial
and retail space has proven to be a suc-cessful
approach for revitalizing aging
downtown areaTin many other communities'
around the country. Freeport's revitalization
projects, including the ongoing commercial
facade improvement program, have been
recognized by state and national planning
associations for implementing "smart
growth" principles.
Both Plaza West and the Main Street Mews
are being developed by the New York City
real estate firm, Time Equities, Inc., which
will own and operate the sites. These innov-ative
projects will breathe new life into the
central business district, just as the renova-tion
of the Nautical Mile revitalized the vil-lage's
waterfront.
Roadwork is ongoing. For the past six
years we have been eliminating persistent
flooding by elevating the low-lying road-ways,
while continuing to repair streets that
had been long neglected by previous admin-istrations.
Our largest road repair project yet
is underway in the southwest section with
the elevation and reconstruction of those
streets situated in the so-called "flood
bowl". That is the area roughly bounded by
Atlantic Avenue on the north, Westside
Avenue on the west, Long Beach Ave. on the
east, and Casino Street on the south. It also
includes that portion of Roosevelt Ave. from
Casino Street to South Long Beach Ave.
When this roadwork is completed, right now
estimated to be around Thanksgiving^ we
will have eliminated approximately 90% of
street flooding in Freeport.
Future plans for the southern section of
the village include repaving Southside Ave.,
from South Long Beach Ave. to Guy
Lombardo Ave., South Ocean Ave. from
Archer St. to Atlantic Ave., and Miller Ave.
from Atlantic Ave. to Smith St. This work will
be done in conjunction with the Beechwood
Commons condominium project. The 16-
unit, Victorian-style complex, located on the
site of the former Freeport Hospital, is
expected to be ready for occupancy next
summer.
So much of what was only a vision six
years ago has happened. The Nautical Mile
has been revitalized, the road elevation pro-jects
are ending persistent street flooding,
and the commercial facade improvement
program is creating a new look for the
"downtown busihess"district.
Freeport has always been an ideal place
to live, work and raise a family, thanks to its
richly diverse population, its historical mar-itime
tradition and its strong sense of com-munity.
With its revitalized appearance, it is
becoming one of the most beautiful villages
on Long Island's South Shore.
Freeport's Freedom Riders rolled
into Washington, D.C. on Sunday, September
14th after bicycling from Ground Zero in a
"moving memorial" to those killed in the
attacks on America on 9/11/01. The event,
which was called Face of America, began Fri.,
Sept. 12th, following a ceremony held in
Battery Park, not far from where the World
Trade Center once stood. The 280-mile
route took the cyclists
along the New Jersey
shore, through Delaware
and Maryland, and ended
at the nation's capitol.
More than 700 of the par-ticipants
camped out in
tent cities along the way.
Teams from the
United States, and a host
of foreign countries
around the world, partici-pated
in the ride, includ-ing
a group of Israeli and
Palestinian athletes.
Among Freeport's 11-
member team were
Village Trustee Don Miller
and residents Drs. Manuel
and Walter Mendoza,
Freeport firefighter Dr. Fred Jones and the
director of the Freeport Fire Department's
Fitness Program, Ed Zacher. Others repre-sented
the East Meadow, Farmingdale,
Merrick and Brightwaters communities. "It
was an awe-inspiring and touching tribute
to those who lost their lives in the attacks on
America," said Trustee Miller. "To ride along-side
cyclists of all levels, including those with
disabilities was truly remarkable."
Face of America is an annual cycling
journey planned and organized by World
T.E.A.M. Sports, a non-profit organization
committed to bringing diverse groups of
people together through sports events and
happenings.
"It is an event to show that we care
about each other and that we believe that
diverse and unified
teams, working
together, can
accomplish awe-some
goals. I am
proud to have rep-resented
our com-munity
in such a
wonderful and
uplifting experi-ence
and look for-ward
to joining
with more of my
fellow Freeporters
on next year's
ride," concluded
Trustee Miller.
Freeport's Freedom Riders in Washington, with some members of the District of Columbia Fire Dept. Engine 16 (front row.) Left to right: Dr. Manuel Mendoza,
Freeport; Erito Petorale, Brightwaters; Dr. Walter Mendoza, Freeport; Jeff Byrne and Ed Zacher, Merrick, Dr. Fred Jones, Freeport Fire Dept.; Trustee Don
Miller; Jimmy Wilson, Farmingdale; Caleb Torrice, East Meadow; Patricia Allen, Brightwaters and Peter Gpriano, East Meadow.
Mayor Glacken Speaks to Chamber of Commerce
Pictured in the photo ore: Freeport Chamber of Commerce Second Vice President Carol Sparaco, Third Vice President Peter Vita, Chamber of Commerce member
and honoree Ramiro Santos, owner of Pier 95 Restaurant, Chamber President Christopher Creamer, Mayor Bill Glacken, and First Vice President Jane Dugan.
The Freeport Chamber of Commerce's
September luncheon meeting at Bedell's
Restaurant included a talk by Mayor Bill
Glacken and a presentation to Ramiro Santos,
proprietor of the Pier 95 Restaurant. Mr.
Santos, whose restaurant is located on Hudson
Ave., received the Chamber's Business Person
of the Month honor in recognition of his com-munity
involvement and his efforts on behalf
of Freeport.
Mayor Glacken informed the members of
progress on a variety of ongoing projects. He
discussed the official groundbreaking and
construction work underway on the Main
Street Mews property, the ongoing street
repair and road elevation in the Casino and
Cedar Streets "flood bowl" section of the vil-lage,
and news concerning the installation of
new generation at Power Plant 2. The new
generators are expected to be online by next
year.
