It began with an urgent phone call. On the other line was Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy's chief of staff breathlessly inquiring about a position paper from Trustee Mary-Grace Tomecki. The request: Can she write a position paper that specifically addressed Floral Park's ongoing headache with air traffic and get a copy here ASAP? Time was of the essence since the congresswoman was scheduled to present testimony that very Wednesday before the House Subcommittee on Aviation regarding the impact of noise on communities.

Mary-Grace, smart, disciplined and energetic, had no doubt she was up to the challenge. If Dr. Samuel Johnson, the 18th century lexicographer and author, could write Rasselas in less than nine days without a word processor she could write a position paper on air traffic over Floral Park by Monday morning. A promise made was a promise delivered and a cogent argument to restore the slot system as a means to reduce the volume of air traffic was promptly e-mailed to the congresswoman's office.

Indeed, Floral Park was the only community to respond to the congresswoman's summons and duly impressed by its persuasiveness, Trustee Tomecki was invited to go to Washington, D.C. not only to meet with the congresswoman and her staff but to attend the hearings. A flight was hurriedly booked for early next morning.

Accompanied by Trustee Tom Tweedy, who has also been closely involved in the fight to move helicopter paths over the water, they took a bumpy flight from JFK to Reagan International that left at 6:30 a.m. Wednesday to attend the 9 a.m. hearing in Washington. Arriving without incident, but with no time to lose, they hopped the Washington Metro and proceeded to the Cannon Building in our nation's capital, where they had an opportunity to discuss the concerns of Floral Park with Congresswoman McCarthy.

The immense impact of Trustee Tomecki's report was not fully understood until the plight and concerns of our residents emerged as a powerful, united voice in Congresswoman McCarthy's testimony before the Congressional Subcommittee, which will serve to influence future decisions regarding the volume and flow of air traffic into and out of JFK International Airport. Before a dozen congressmen, officials from the FAA and Port Authority, the community of Floral Park was mentioned three times as Trustee Tomecki's report was read verbatim into the Congressional record.

Less promising was the testimony of Ralph Tragale, the manager of Government and Community Relations of the NYNJ Port Authority. Mr. Tragale testified that the number of people affected by noise caused by arrivals and departures into and out of JFK had been reduced from two million to less than 100,000 people. Such a rosy but erroneous assessment could not be left unchallenged.

Leading the charge, Trustee Tweedy approached Mr. Tragale and vigorously took issue with the figures he presented. Off the record, Mr. Tragale admitted that these figures reflected measurements that were taken from a few blocks in Cedarhurst and Inwood and in no way accounted for communities such as Floral Park. Mr. Tragale, however, finessed his fragmentary testimony by maintaining that FAA regulations prohibited the Port Authority from measuring outside of this area. Again, he was challenged, this time by Mary-Grace Tomecki, who, from information garnered at a recent TVASNAC hearing, a public advocacy group to mitigate jet noise and air traffic, knew that this was patently untrue. Double-teamed and out-gunned, the manager of Government and Community Relations beat a hasty retreat.

Through the courtesy of our friend Matt Cohen, Senator Chuck Schumer's conscientious and hard working Long Island representative, Tom and Mary-Grace were able to meet with Senator Schumer's counsel and staff while in Washington, to provide feedback on the morning's hearings and to reiterate our support for the senator's efforts to move helicopter paths over the water and not over our homes.

One final visit to Congresswoman McCarthy's office to share their perspective on the hearings and their whirlwind trip had come to an end. By 9 p.m. that same day, they were back in New York. I want to commend our trustees for their dedication and public service on behalf of our village. Whether it's in Melville or Mattituck or Albany or Washington, D.C., our village board is widely recognized for being on the scene and letting our voices be heard.

It was a crisp autumn morning somewhere near the dawn of the millennium when then-Mayor Steve Corbett took me for a tour of the Nassau County Recharge Basin enclosed by the residential areas of Floral Parkway, Raff and Carnation Avenues.

The basin had been deteriorating for years and Steve confided how he planned to transform this squalor into a garden spot of the village and re-name it "Centennial Gardens" in time for the village's 100th anniversary.

A mere glance about and the magnitude of the task was immediately and dauntingly communicated. As I beheld its vast dimensions, I told Steve I thought it was a great idea but it would be safer to call it Bi-Centennial Gardens in honor of our 200th anniversary.

It is no man thing to transform a world, even a small one like Centennial Gardens. Human vanity can be quickly and overwhelmingly subdued by natural forces in the manner, I suppose, of the gardeners who tend the lawns at Windsor Castle. One of these was asked by an American soldier during WWII how they managed to cultivate so magnificent a lawn. The gardener pulled the GI closer as if he was about to impart an ancient secret: First, he said, you plow the land using a very shallow plow. Then you water it for 700 years!

Centennial Gardens has been around seven, not 700 years, although the monsoonial rains of this past season made it seem as if Mother Nature was making up for lost time. That morning, for the waterfall dedication, the downpour appeared no less intense as we came to celebrate the small and large miracles that have been wrought here.

At these gardens we have witnessed a huge and unsightly storm basin transformed into a nature preserve with trees of different species populating its undulating trails. A myriad of plants, bushes and shrubs provides nature with an exquisite and delightful balance while carpets of flowers in springtime crown its surrounds with an array of bursting color and beauty.

The expanse of a footbridge traversing east to west symbolizes the village's journey from its proud heritage on one side to the rich promise of its future on the other. Perched high on its southern border is an overlook peering outward over its vast acreage, giving the sightseer a sense of the littleness of us and the majesty of the earth. Now, underneath a canopy of clouded skies, a waterfall nestled amid crowding rocks and shadowed to its east by a crescent sweep of thinly veiled woods issues forth its own manmade waters that mingle with the cascading waters from the cloudburst above. The baptism is greeted with warm applause, as these gardens will now also be a place for serenity and solace for those who wish to think, to reflect or just remember.

These are the things we see but there is also the unseen at work. Centennial Gardens has brought us closer together as a community by uniting hands, hearts and minds. It has humanized a common cause, it has strengthened our commitments, enriched our lives, deepened our sense of purpose, made us proud of where we live and prouder still of who we are.

On behalf of a grateful village, I salute all those who have labored so lovingly and tirelessly in these gardens, blessing our community with beauty and bequeathing a living legacy for generations to come.