Last month two new trustees, Peter Negri and Jon Segerdahl, were inducted for their first term as village trustees. After sitting through two village board meetings as trustee, Negri took some time last week to speak to the Garden City Life about his new role.

When asked about how he feels about being a trustee, Negri responded, "I think there's a full plate, certainly, there's a lot of things, important issues that are coming up and I'm excited, frankly, about being a small part of the team that's going to address those issues."

Negri, who is one of the two trustees from the Central section of the village, is no stranger to Garden City; he has resided in the village since 1975. He became involved in the Central Property Owners Association in 1986 when he first moved to that section of the village. He has become more active in recent years, joining the board of the CPOA three years ago and serving as president for a year before taking the reins as village trustee.

According to Negri, his first goals as a trustee are to listen and learn. "I need to learn about what's happened in the past and what's going on in the present so I can do a better job in the future," said Negri. He said his second goal is to absorb as much information as he can so as to act in the best interest of the village in the many issues facing the community. Among those issues he sees at the forefront right now are St. Paul's, parking, additional business development and taxes. He added that he believes water quality is another important issue.

When asked if there are any changes that he would like to see, Negri responded, "I think it's a little premature, having gone to two meetings. I think it would be presumptuous for me to say I'd like to see this or that changed, so I'd say in another few months I'd be in a position to answer that one but at this stage I don't feel comfortable."

Negri considers it almost a privilege to be able to serve the community in which he and his wife of nearly 30 years, Kay, reside and have raised their three children. "We live in a great village and it's really an opportunity and almost a privilege to be able, having gotten a lot out of the village, to be able to, hopefully, pay back a bit and make a contribution. Frankly, riding on the coattails of lots of other people that have volunteered a lot of their time, and certainly there's an endless list of those folks, it's nice to be able to give a bit, having taken for a long, long time."

Giving back from a place he has gotten a lot out of is not new to Negri, either. He is still involved with his alma mater, Boston College from which he graduated in 1968. Negri still does some admissions work and fund raising for the school. His two oldest children graduated from BC and his third child is currently attending the college. Following his graduation from Boston College, Negri received his masters of business administration from the Tucks School at Dartmouth in 1970. After receiving his master's degree Negri went into the Army, where he served as a lieutenant. He met his wife at basic training in Kentucky, her home state, and they moved back to New York in 1971.

Negri is currently the president and owner of Jamaica Bearings Company, a worldwide distributor of bearings, servicing local and transportation industries throughout the world. The business has been in his family for 65 years and he is the second generation to run it. His son has also been working at the company for the last year or so, extending the company to the third generation. He has been involved with a variety of professional activities related to his business. He is the past president of the trade association he is involved in and has held various board positions with that association. Negri said, that outside of the trade association and his work with Boston College, his community activities have primarily focused on the POA.

Now as a trustee, Negri offers a message and a request to his fellow residents. "Like all organizations, everybody takes things for granted and one thing that I think, is that the trustees have an obligation to the citizens of the village, no doubt, but I think that the citizens also have to recognize the fact that these are people that are doing their best, working on behalf of the village and have the village's best interests at heart." He concluded by asking the residents to, "maintain the same level of respect and principle that they would expect shown to them, to show in the opposite direction as well. I know that some of the issues that we've tackled in the past, particularly in the last year, parking mainly, produce some very, very strong and emotional showings and a lot of that is understandable and it's fine as long as it doesn't cross the line where we start losing respect for ourselves because we're all neighbors, and sometimes friends, but certainly all neighbors, and we need to maintain that respect."

Trustee Jon Segerdahl will be featured in an upcoming issue of the Garden City Life.