At the last Williston Park Village board meeting Village Mayor Ludwig Odierna announced that due to the recent visit from the members of the DOT, the village would be receiving a light at Broad Street. Further, he said, " The DOT also agreed to install a "No left turn" sign at Stratford Road and westbound on Hillside Avenue they will install a "No U-Turn" sign at Broad Street and Cross Street and they will install pedestrian countdown timers at Willis Avenue, Cross Street, Broad Street and Nassau Boulevard.

"The No-U Turn will be installed by the DOT's maintenance group as soon as their work schedule permits. The traffic signal, no left turn signs and pedestrian countdown timers will be installed in the 2008 traffic signal requirements contract. The DOT added thank you for your understanding and for your continued cooperation."

Mayor Odierna added, "This could only have been accomplished through the efforts of New York State Senator Craig Johnson and his staff and we can't thank him enough. He has been there for us since he took office and I am very happy to work with him and you can see the fruits of our labor. I know a lot of people on the east part of town will be very happy."

Mayor Odierna said that the rest of the Hillside Avenue project has not been forgotten. He said that village clerk Walter Moloughney has written to the regional traffic engineer and received a letter stating that they have scheduled an investigation of Route 25-B (Hillside Avenue) at Park Avenue. The mayor said, "We have asked that it be blocked off and some sort of traffic calming be installed at Hillside and Park. They said they are looking into it and they said they have had numerous requests for this project."

Next, announced the mayor, "Most of us live in Assembly District 17, but, there is a small section in Assembly District 16 that used to be Assemblyman Thomas DiNapoli's area. Assemblywoman Michelle Schimel, who took over for DiNapoli, is having a community forum on Oct. 10 at 7 p.m. at the Herricks Community Center, 999 Herricks Road, New Hyde Park and another on Oct. 18 at the Albertson Firehouse, I.U. Willets Road, Albertson."

Deputy Mayor Saporita announced that village clerk Moloughney also sent a letter to Long Island Bus on behalf of a Harvard Street resident who brought to the attention of the board that the bus hangs over the stop in an unsafe fashion at Harvard Street. Saportia said, "They responded quickly and recommended that the village be allowed to increase the size of the bus stop to 65 feet, which means removing one or more parking spots."

Mayor Saporita addressed the issue of Congressman Gary Ackerman's grant for roadway improvement for $1 million. He said, " It was hung up in Albany. Senator Johnson was contacted to see if he could help in processing that request. In the meantime, the village has received eight firms that answered the request for proposal. We will be calling them in October to come in and talk to the village and hopefully we will be able to move forward with that project."

Saporita said that over the years the village has received many complaints regarding various businesses. However, the only one now appears to be River Bay and he said that village attorney Richard Reers will be scheduling a meeting with them.

Saporita said, "Lud forgot to mention that he has been successful in calling in Nassau County public officials to discuss the sump and a public meeting has been scheduled for Oct. 2 at 8 p.m. at Williston Park Village Hall. The sump issue, however, is one of the issues to be addressed in the Long-Term Planning. A draft for Long-Term Planning will be presented on Oct. 25 and all residents are invited to attend. No venue has been chosen as yet for the presentation, but it probably will be at the village hall.

Saporita continued, "Many of you probably don't know that the sump was at one time a lake that cows used to water in and it has gone through several generations and currently it is a storm basin. However, there are things we can do to beautify the area and make that more of a public space.

"We will also work with the county to promote the 'greening' of Willis Avenue, north of Hillside especially when you enter the village. Currently on the southern portion of Willis Avenue we have a two lane to a four-lane road and except for Albertson that is the only portion of Willis to have four lanes from Jericho to Hillside. One of the questions is what can we do for traffic calming; and one thing is to install a median.

"The final thing is the sandpit by Cammerer Park located near a water well and that is the well that has been shut down. There is a question as how to protect the well and is there a chance that the sandpit could be damaging the aquifer and further to consider a public use of that space. All this will be addressed in the Long-Term Planning document."

Trustee Smith announced that the Annual Halloween Rag-A-Muffin parade would be held on October 31. The children will assemble for the line of march at the American Legion parking lot at 6 p.m. and step-off will be at 6:30 p.m. This year the line of march will be from Syracuse to Broad Street. Trustee Smith explained that they are trying this route out to see how it works this year.

She then announced that the work has begun on Kelliher Field. Cement work is started and handicapped swings will be installed as well. A handicapped parking spot will also be designated at the field.

Flu shots are scheduled for October 26 at the American Legion Hall on Willis Avenue, Williston Park from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. To obtain an appointment just call 571-6377.

Trustee Smith also announced that code enforcement officers issued 206 tickets for the month of August.

In the police section of her report she announced there was a burglary, 8 parking violations, 66 moving violations, 12 auto accidents and 3 injuries.

She also said she is still looking for Block Captains for the Neighborhood Watch.

Trustee Dunn announced that Village Justice Alan Reardon heard 196 cases and collected fines of $15,635 with a surcharge of $1,210. Judge Emanuel heard 16 case and collected fines of $1,405 with a surcharge of $220. Trustee Mills introduced the new library director Donna McKenna. Walter Moloughney announced that the village would hold a public hearing regarding rental legislature.

Village attorney Richard Reers announced that the village received a decision issued by the court regarding the lawsuit filed by O'Brien's bar, on Hillside Avenue. Reers explained that last year O'Brien's petitioned the village to extend the hours of both the bar and the hours of music at the bar. However, the board rejected their petition and they took the matter to court. The court, however, upheld the decision of the village officials. The court gave great credibility to all the people who came to testify against the bar owners and they upheld the residents' requests.

He said that there would be a great deal of legislation presented to the board during October and November. One big one will be rental registration and that will be the criteria the village sets for houses with rental units, which will include inspection of the premises. Substantial fines will be given for those who do not apply.

Reers also said a lot of complaints from residents have been regarding solicitations in the village. He also said that he has received a lot of complaints regarding Verizon people. Moloughney has spoken to the Verizon people and they are aware of what is going on. He said he is going to be reviewing the various statutes that govern solicitation and update them

Brunell said he and his men addressed about 11 sidewalk complaints, 12 tree complaints, about 18 street light complaints. He said they had to set up and then clean up from the street fair. He said they have started working on Kelliher Field. Further, he said they are working on winterizing the pool.

Supervisior Brunell said that the village has ordered 400 new orange recycle pails and they will be available the first week of October at $10 a pail.

He said the hot box has been delivered and he's waiting to purchase a road saw and those two items will make it easier for his men to fix the potholes in the roads.

He said, "I'm having a terrible time with the lease lines at Well No. 4 in conjunction with Verizon. Further, it is connected with the alarm section and every time the line goes down the alarm goes off and we have to go over and make sure it's just the line going down. Plus, we have installed another 22 water meters."

Collins said since August 20 we have issued several residential building applications, electrical applications, sewer connections and carter applications. All in all the fees collected amounted to $8,300 for the village. Plus, $1,500 were collected for fines. The Architectural Review Board denied three applications.

The meeting was then opened to the public.

A resident from Marcellus Avenue said he has made several requests to clean up his street. He said that as of yet he has not been contacted. He went on for quite a while, raising his voice at times and yelling, especially at the mayor.

He accused the gas station of parking cars in front of his house. He said the code enforcers don't do a thing. He said he was told that there would be no parking on the street and that has not been done.

He continued on and on with the complaints he said he has lived on the block for 61 years. He said nothing has been addressed with the flood issue.

Mayor Odierna, after he went on and on said, "Because we haven't contacted you doesn't mean nothing is being done."

Brunell said that he is trying to arrange to have the pipes in that area videotaped to see if there is a clog in them and that they are working on the getting a demo model for the village, which they will be doing for free.

The resident wanted to know when the basins have been cleaned and Brunell said they cleaned them last year.

The resident said that much of the water is coming from Libby. He said this is not fair.

At the end of his dialogue Mayor Odierna said that the problem has been addressed and he said that he doesn't appreciate "being yelled at."

The mayor took a break so that Ben Truncale could make a presentation regarding certioraris, which was very concise and clear, explaining what happens regarding a certiorari in the village.

After his explanation the meeting was again opened to the public and residents complained about stop signs, illegal tenants who were parking illegally. Bascially, the main complaint throughout the village, on every street, is the lack of parking, plus not stopping at stop signs.

The meeting finally ended well after 11 p.m. but not before a woman who is trying to sell her house complained about the neighbor next door who has litter all over her property and because of that she cannot sell her house.

Collins said he would look into it and the meeting finally ended.

However, at the outset of the meeting Mayor Ludwig Odierna and Trustee Ann Marie Smith presented longtime resident William Casey with the Key to the Village for all his many years of dedication in running the very popular Moonlight Cruise for the village.

In addition, he was also presented with a perfect "cruise" shirt to wear on the next cruise. In the audience were all the members of his family and prior to the end of the meeting they all exited for "ice cream."

Casey said, "I love Williston Park; it's like living in Mayberry and I am humbled by the honor."

The next meeting will be held on October 15 at 8 p.m. at the Williston Park Village Hall, Willis Avenue, Williston Park.