To help further the village's beautification efforts, 16 local business owners and managers that use Parking Lot 7S earlier this month forwarded a petition to the board of trustees suggesting that the dumpsters and grease barrels be permanently removed and replaced with a community compactor and grease receptacle.

Representatives from Leo's, Feldis Florist, Garden City Pizza, Bagelman, TCBY, Hoffmann's, Garden City Bistro, Culinary Heights, Inc., among others, praised the village for its successful beautification of Franklin Avenue and said they only want to enhance those efforts, not detract from them.

"We know that efforts have been made to rectify this problem in the past by adding more dumpsters; however, this has only ... made a bad situation worse," the joint letter stated. "We believe our proposal will solve this problem and enable us to beautify the rear of our establishments and be a part of the continued efforts of the village, thus making it a pleasurable shopping and dining experience for the residents of Garden City."

Former mayor Harold Hecken of Huntington Road said the parking lot needs attention. "I've noticed that not only the dumpsters are overflowing, there's a lot of miscellaneous cartons, cans and just loose material that's placed behind those stores. The other day, when the wind was blowing pretty well, the stuff was blowing through the parking lot. I don't know whether it's the merchants' responsibility or their contractors or the village's responsibility, but it's an awful mess behind those stores."

Prior to the March 17 board meeting, Althea Robinson, executive director of the Garden City Chamber of Commerce, noted she wasn't aware that the more than a dozen businesses forwarded the petition. "This is the first that I've heard of the petition ... This is, of course, an ongoing problem and I would be happy to work with Mr. Schoelle and the Department of Public Works on trying to clear up the situation. It has been an ongoing situation for many, many years, and we'd be happy to work with the village to solve the problem." Mayor Barbara Miller noted she's happy to hear the Chamber is willing to lend a helping hand.