A sign that spring is here is that The Men's Association of the Garden City High School is presenting its Annual Sports Fair on the Warren King Field at the Garden City High School starting at 8 a.m. on Saturday, May 9. Families are encouraged to attend the day-long event and enjoy some of the community spirit which makes our Village the great place that it is.

It is with great pleasure that I announce that Garden City has once again been awarded the designation of Tree City USA.

This award, granted by the National Arbor Day Foundation, in cooperation with the US Forest Service, the National Association of State Foresters, recognizes communities which meet detailed, objective standards applied to trees on public property. These standards involved ongoing tree planting, maintenance and preservation of trees and the number of variety of trees planted per year in the community. Evaluations are made on the basis of four standards: a legally constituted municipal tree body, the adoption of tree ordinances, a comprehensive Community Forestry Program and the observance of Arbor Day.

With the arrival of spring, we all have the task of cleaning up our community to make it look like a "Garden City." Our Village employees are busy sweeping up the sand, dirt and other debris which accumulates on the streets over the winter. Other crews are readying the parks, playgrounds and green belt areas for the summer season.

Spring in Garden City brings great beauty to our community. It also marks a time of year when several unwelcome conditions annually appear. Through the awareness and cooperation of our residents, these deleterious situations can be prevented.

The practice of seeing landscape gardeners blowing grass clippings into the street after they have mowed a resident's lawn has become all too commonplace in this Village. The effects of this carelessness is not merely a matter of aesthetics. More significant is the fact that our Department of Public Works is required to sweep the streets and clean storm drains more frequently than should be necessary. Consequently, a significant and unnecessary amount of taxpayer's dollars is being expended.

Please cooperate with your Village by instructing your landscape gardener accordingly.