Village Board Monthly Meeting

During the Nov. 4 Village of Westbury Board of Trustees Meeting, Mayor Peter Cavallaro and his colleagues updated residents on a number of topics happening within the community.

The meeting opened with two public hearings: one considering a proposed local law enacting parking restrictions near the Islamic Center of Long Island and the other considering a special use permit to maintain a church along Post Avenue.

Pulitzer-Winning Author Discusses Book at Westbury Library

Isabel Wilkerson Speaks to Full House at Special Event

After 15 years and over 1,000 interviews, Isabel Wilkerson was finally content to allow her book, The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration, to leave home and see the world.

“For those 15 years that I worked on the book, in the back of my mind always, were the actual readers who would be picking up this book and reading it,” said Wilkerson, who is the first black woman to win a Pulitzer Prize in journalism.

Groundbreaking Ceremony for Westbury Movie Theater

New Chapter Begins for Village Landmark

On Friday, Oct. 22, an excited crowd braved cold and windy weather to gather near the long-vacant movie theater on Post Avenue. Village, town and county officials, as well as the site owner and local residents, were present to celebrate the greatly anticipated start of the renovation and renewal of the theater.

The event also attracted the attention of the media. News and television crews jostled for position to photograph and film the building that will become, as stated in a Westbury Village press release, “one of Nassau County’s premier performing arts venues.”

Ribbon-Cutting for Multi-Use Developments In New Cassel

Another Milestone in Local Revitalization Project

The ongoing New Cassel revitalization effort celebrated a triumph on Oct. 27. As part of an economic redevelopment plan for the area, two new projects consisting of rental apartments and a retail division have just been completed on Prospect Avenue.

The soaring structures on New Cassel’s main street will contain 50 affordable units in total with about 16,000 square feet of retail space, which will be occupied through a lottery that gives preference to New Cassel residents.

Dissent From School Districts at High Stakes County Hearing

Schools: Loss of Teachers, More School Taxes in Mangano Plan

County Executive Edward P. Mangano campaigned for and won his current position with a clear promise to lower spending and taxes for Nassau. The day draws near when he must deliver, arriving at a balanced budget for 2011 without raising taxes or increasing the deficit. This has led to painful proposals, drawing protests on extreme moves like cutting loose the entire Long Island Bus system and turning the high expense of tax refunds over to schools, towns, villages and other special districts including libraries and fire districts.  

Contract Extension Approved for Westbury’s Dr. Clark-Snead

Superintendent Discusses District’s Future, District’s Financial Burden in Mangano Proposal

The Oct. 21 Westbury School Board meeting was attended by Village of Westbury Mayor Peter Cavallaro and fellow trustees, who commended the members of the Westbury School Board and Superintendent Dr. Constance Clark-Snead, who was further extolled for her work with a contract extension through June 30, 2012.

C.W. Post to Hold Open Symposium on Drinking and Driving

In 2009, 321 people were killed in New York due to alcohol-related car accidents, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The new forensic social work concentration in the graduate social work program of Long Island University seeks to address this social problem and its many ramifications with a conference of educators, advocates, lawmakers and law-enforcement officials.

Best-Selling Author Ishmael Beah Visits SUNY Old Westbury

Child Soldier in Sierra Leone Speaks Regarding Memoirs

SUNY College at Old Westbury commenced its annual “Panther Pride Week” celebration on Wednesday, October 13. As part of the kick-off to this year’s event, the college’s First Year Experience (FYE) program invited #1 best-selling author Ishmael Beah to be its guest speaker.

Freshmen students had read Beah’s memoir A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier for FYE’s common reading program, and hundreds of students and other members of the SUNY Old Westbury community enthusiastically received Beah.

East Meadow Man Pleads Guilty to Falsely Accusing ‘Enemies’ of Child Abuse

Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice has announced recently that an East Meadow man has pleaded guilty to writing letters to government agencies that contained knowingly false information about people he felt had wronged him, including accusations of child abuse by East Meadow school employees. Rice said that investigators used DNA technology to link the defendant to the letters.

In exchange for the defendant’s plea, Nassau County Judge Jerald Carter agreed to sentence him to six months in jail and five years probation.

Carle Place Civic Association Meeting Covers Local Happenings

TNH Councilwoman Viviana Russell Attends, Converses With Attendees

The Carle Place Civic Association recently met to discuss topics around town, ranging from the vacant Avis property on Old Country Road to the annual Carle Place Fun Run, and residents were also able to pose questions to Town of North Hempstead Councilwoman Viviana Russell.

A spokesman from Equity One Inc., the company which currently owns the former Avis property on Old Country Road and Cherry Lane, explained the current state of the 22-acre property and what steps are necessary to move forward with demolition and rebuilding.