April 2020 News from the Village of Great Neck Plaza

Welcome to this month's Plaza Downtown Buzz, our e-newsletter providing you with up-to-date information about the stores and events in our downtown. To feature your store's ribbon cuttings, special sale items, new products or promotions, trunk shows, and any other event happening in Great Neck Plaza, please send your items of interest to us. There's never a fee for this service. We offer it as a way to get the word out about your business to subscribers and shoppers. We welcome your feedback on this newsletter at [email protected] .

Plaza Elections R escheduled to June 23rd

In an effort to keep New Yorkers safe during the COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo issued an executive order delaying village elections statewide (for the second time) until the June 23rd primary election stating "Our top priority has been keeping New Yorkers safe and stopping the spread of the novel coronavirus," Governor Cuomo said. "Public health officials have been clear that reducing density is one of the most effective ways to stop the spread, and delaying village elections will help ensure poll workers and voters are not potentially exposed to the virus and at the same time maintain integrity in our election system."

Plaza elections will take place at Village Hall, 2 Gussack Plaza, Great Neck, NY 11021, for the following elected offices; the office of the Mayor (1) and two (2) Trustee positions, with each elected position serving a two-year term.

On Election Day, designated voter parking will be reserved in the Gussack Plaza outdoor municipal lot across the street from Village Hall to make voting easier. For more information about the Plaza's local elections, please call the Village Clerk-Treasurer, Patricia O'Byrne, at Village Hall during normal business hours, Monday through Friday, between 9 a.m. and 12:30 p.m., at (516) 482-4500.

New VGNP Policies for Village Hall during COVID-19 Outbreak

The Village of Great Neck Plaza Village Hall is closed to the public, due to the coronavirus outbreak, however, Vill

age Hall vestibule is open for half a day for limited services, from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Some limited essential Village services are available through a vestibule box inside the front doors. The doors remain locked and persons are not allowed into Village Hall. You may see there's a limited number of staff that are on the premises (the workforce has been substantially reduced according the Governor's executive order).

The limited village activities, that can be processed through the vestibule box at Village Hall, are as follows:

permit applications for the Building Department,

parking permits, e.g. street permits and commercial permits for the two structured parking garages

summons payments (by check and money order only - parking tickets can be paid online and we encourage payments through this manner),

real estate tax payments, and

correspondence may be placed in the box. (Correspondence to [email protected], and [email protected]
and [email protected].) These emails will continue to be monitored and responded to as appropriate.
Do not leave cash for the above activities in the vestibule box. We will only accept checks or money orders for payment.
Do not lick envelopes! Please leave envelopes open or closed with a paper clip or binder clip.

Street cleaning restrictions have been suspended until further notice and al ternate side of the street parking restrictions have also been suspended until further notice.

We have resumed Board of Trustees meetings, Board of Zoning Appeals meetings, and Historic Preservation Committee meetings, through on-line phone conferences, subject to future changes. As per the Chief Administrative Judge of the State of New York, all Village court matters are postponed until further notice. By Governor Cuomo's executive order, public meetings can take place on-line during the health emergency, provided the public has an opportunity to view or listen to the meeting and that the meeting is transcribed (stenographer) and available to the public. The 4/1 Board of Trustees meeting is planned to take place via on-line conferencing. Interested parties should look for the details on our homepage with a call-in number to participate in the conference on-line.

The situation with this pandemic is volatile and constantly changing, so keep on the lookout for future email updates from us. In addition to this newsletter and email blasts, you can check the homepage of our village website by clicking here, email us here, or call our office between 9 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. at (516) 482-4500.

Poetry Reading Day Postponed Until Further Notice

Unfortunately, due to COVID-19, the Annual Awards Reading Day event, that was scheduled for Sunday, April 5th, at Village Hall has been postponed until further notice.

Due to the current statewide ban on large gatherings, the event is being moved to a later date to protect the health of our Village residents and those who want to participate in our 10th annual poetry contest. There is currently no future date planned for Awards reading Day as yet, but please refer to our Village website in the Upcoming Events section for future updates on when a new awards date will be declared.

The winners of our 10th Annual Poetry contest will still have their poems published on our Village website and Village bulletin boards in the following months. Those award-winning poets are as follows:

First Prize: Joan Vullo Oberg for "Meroke Mists

Second Prize: Cliff Bleidner for "On Being Loved"

Third Prize: Mara Levine for "The Monk Gives a Talk"

Honorable Mention: Stewart P. Radowitz for

"Living at Sea Level"

Honorable Mention: J R Turek for

"Dear Husband"

The Plaza would like to thank all those poets who entered the 10th Annual Poetry Contest, as well as Dan Brown, contest judge, and Carolyn Raphael, the Village's poetry coordinator, for their assistance in this beautiful program and making it all possible.

Support Local Businesses Providing Take-Out and Delivery Services

The Village of Great Neck Plaza Mayor and Board of Trustees, along with our Great Neck Plaza Business Improvement District (BID), have been out in support of our downtown merchants that are remaining to be open while 100% of the workforce must stay at home in New York State. As part of New York State on PAUSE, Governor Andrew Cuomo has declared grocery stores, pharmacies, gas stations, liquor stores and other essential businesses can remain open. The Governor has ordered the closure of non-essential businesses during this coronavirus pandemic.

Bars and restaurants are closed, but takeout and deliveries can be ordered during the period of closures. Stated Deputy Mayor, Ted Rosen, "We appreciate the yeoman job being done by these food establishments that have continued serving the community during this crisis. They're mainly independent mom & pop stores that are sacrificing time away from family members that are staying home, and while many of them also had to let go of their waiters, waitresses and other staff since no customers can sit inside their premises.

The message the Village wants to convey is "we're open for business in downtown Great Neck Plaza," and we want to remind residents to please continue supporting these downtown merchants. We all have to eat, and especially if we're not cooking our own meals, we can order in and have take-out to support these restaurants.

The Village of Great Neck Plaza is compiling a list of our food establishments and how they are handling take-out, pick-up and delivery orders, and their hours of operation. Now more than ever they need our support because the business environment is tough out there, and we don't know how long this pandemic crisis will last.

Stated Deputy Mayor, Ted Rosen, "We're anxious to help promote our local businesses and appreciate their contribution during these unprecedented times. In addition, we are grateful to our BID, which will continue to add more businesses to this list as further surveys are conducted daily and we continue to promote businesses in our downtown."

The following are a growing list of our restaurants and food establishments open for take-out, pick-up and delivery (through services such as Uber Eats, Dash, or in-house workers):

Bareburger 32 Middle Neck Road 516-441-5711
Best Bagels 40 Middle Neck Road 516-482-9860
Bee-Organic 4B Bond Street 516-570-0915
Colbeh Restaurant 75 No. Station Plaza 516-466-8181
Crawford's Coffee & Cafe Great Neck 1 So. Middle Neck Road 516-754-8884
Dunkin' Donuts 35 No. Station Plaza 516-487-2233
Francesca's Pizzeria and Restaurant 29 No. Station Plaza 516-466-5842
Great Neck Diner 14 Grace Avenue 516-466-0678
Kensington Kosher Deli 27A Middle Neck Road 516-487-2410
La Rotonda Ristorante 8 Bond Street 516-439-4870
Mi Casa Es Tu Casa 20 So. Station Plaza (New Location) 516-304-5633
New Fu Run Restaurant 50 Middle Neck Road 516-708-1888
Noir Bakery & Cafe 25 Cutter Mill Road 516-773-0973
Poultry Mart Inc 33 Middle Neck Road 516-487-7150
Teinei Ya Ramen Restaurant 5 So. Middle Neck Road 516-248-3354
Krung Tep Thai Bistro 23 So. Middle Neck Road 516-498-9889
Vivi Bubble Tea 6B South Station Plaza 516-466-2502
Yahao Asian Cuisine 6 Bond Street 516-829-3811
Wild Ginger 4B Great Neck Road 516-487-8288

The Village joins over 100 small businesses, chambers, civics and local officials of the LI Main Street Alliance to focus on bringing resources to their downtown business districts. Vision Long Island Director Eric Alexander is responsible for bring together participating organizations, including the Long Island Business Council, the Nassau Council of Chambers of Commerce, the Suffolk County Alliance of Chambers, and Vision Long Island. The Village of Great Neck Plaza joins Village of Westbury, Village of Farmingdale, Village of Roslyn, Village of Valley Stream, and Village of Lynbrook, to mention just a few of the Nassau County municipalities involved. Great Neck Plaza Mayor Jean Celender is working alongside participating villages, chambers of commerce, and civics to provide updates from individual downtown communities and the LI Business Council. The LI Main Street Alliance is convened by Vision Long Island for the 40 Long Island communities that have downtown revitalization plans and programs creating a unified public voice to bring attention and resources to local neighborhoods.

VGNP Unveils New Meter Posts and Bases

In an effort to constantly upgrade and improve our meters and parking facilities, here's some new meter posts and bases installed b y the Village of Gr eat Neck Plaza Public Works Meter Department. Shown here are new metal sleeves at the Great Neck LIRR station. We also powder-coated the meter heads in black so the appearance is more uniform and matches our decorative street lamps, clocks, and other street furniture, e.g. benches, fencing, etc.

Slowly we will be replacing meter sleeves in sections, doing similar installations throughout the Plaza's downtown business district. The new TEP project provided for these black metal sleeves over by Shop Delight and the USPS Main Post Office. They're attractive and upgrade our parking meters to state-of-the art electronics on decorative poles.

We had black sleeves installed with the traffic calming project done at the rail road station back in 2011, however, these were black polyurethane sleeves, which haven't held up as well as if they were aluminum. Extruded aluminum, fluted post sleeves install easily over existing parking meter posts and is much more durable and attractive.

POM vintage sleeve and bases are compatible with any brand parking meter, including our Duncan meters. We can improve aesthetics even more, where feasible, to reduce the number of poles on the street with POM two-space electronic parking meters on vintage sleeves and bases.

Staying Green during COVID -19

As we face the present COVID-19 pandemic, we are reminded of the interconnection of all life and our need to be mindful of how our actions and choices affect both the natural world and the human communities in which we live.

With the arrival of spring, we are asking residents to take a few simple steps to help our environment:

Use low nitrogen fertilizer on your lawn. (5-10-10 is good) Or organic fertilizers, such as manure, compost, straw and leaves, also add nutrients to the soil.

Wait until mid-April (right when the grass starts to grow) to put down fertilizer

Do not use Round Up or pesticides/herbicides on your lawn. These weed killers are known carcinogens. There are organic options.

Water irrigation - Limit watering lawns...do less frequently but longer when sun is not present.

Share these tips with your landscaper.

App of the Month: Netflix Party for Google Chrome

For many of us who are self-quarantining or otherwise isolated due to the coronavirus pandemic , the health crisis is fundamentally changing our relationship to the world, each other, and even our own homes. Covid-19 is also affecting how people use the internet - transforming it overnight from a simple source of entertainment to a vital lifeline that allows those who are currently shut indoors to keep in touch with their family and friends.

While we are being encouraged to social distance and avoid human interaction unless absolutely necessary, we can still enjoy the company of friends through apps such as Netflix Party.

Netflix party is a new way to watch Netflix with your friends online. Netflix Party synchronized video playback and adds group chat to your favorite Netflix shows.

To install Netflix Party, start off by clicking here. Once you are redirected to the Chrome Web Store, click "Add to Chrome" to finish installing Netflix Party.

Once Netflix Party is installed to your chrome browser, Go to Netflix's website. Choose any show you would like to watch and start playing the video.

To create your party, click on the red "NP" icon located next to the address bar. Then click

"Start Party" to get the party started, and share the party URL to invite friends.

To join a party click on the party URL, which will redirect to Netflix's website. Then click on the "NP" button next to the address bar, and you should automatically join the party.

April Events & Important Dates To Remember

April 1 & 15, Board of Trustees Meetings, Village Hall, 8 p.m., Visit our website (click here) for agendas.
April 22, Earth Day, A day to celebrate the vitality and spirit of Mother Earth, the truth is that we must undertake positive measures each and every day to ensure our planet's longevity and well-being for future generations. It is only right that we do all that we can to leave Earth a better place for our children and their children
April 28th, Village and NY Primary Elections

If you're having an event that you'd like the public to attend, please let us know by phone at (516) 482-4500, or email [email protected] . We'd be more than happy to announce your event in a future monthly edition of the Plaza Downtown Buzz.

From the Mayor's Desk

As Mayor of the Village of Great Neck Plaza, I participate in the Great Neck Village Officials Association (GNVOA). The GNVOA, comprised of the nine mayors of the incorporated villages on the Great Neck peninsula, recently requested County Executive Curran and the County Police and Fire Marshal's offices to assist in the compliance of social gatherings and strict adherence of social distancing requirements. We continue to see families hosting individual prayer gatherings in their homes, and also such gatherings, as weddings, of 50+ participants. This is not a time for business as usual situation. We are under stay at home mandates issued by Governor Cuomo to lessen the curve and to reduce the spread of the virus. The number of persons that are affected can be lessened with people sheltering in place and reducing their exposure to possible cases of those with the coronavirus . People should be staying at home, washing their hands frequently and not going out except to get essential services, such as food and groceries, prescriptions, gasoline for their car, walking in their community (with social distancing) and they should not be attending gatherings of any sort except virtual meetings on the Internet.

The GNVOA mayors are deeply concerned about private gatherings. We have requested the County Executive to reach out to the local religious leaders/clergy to remind their congregations, that: a) they must refrain from holding private gatherings during the upcoming Passover and Easter holidays, and b) that the Nassau County and local police departments will be called in to enforce the ban on private gatherings.

Your local village governments are continuing to communicate the importance of social distancing and "NYS on Pause" directives to our constituents within our Villages. Together we can work to stop the spread of COVID-19.

The link below is from Northwell Foundation, which is raising funds to help healthcare workers in this pandemic. These workers are exhausted, both physically and emotionally, from their efforts to heal and assist those combating this virus on the front lines, 24/7. Anything you can do to help would be greatly appreciated. Also contributions to our three emergency response providers, our fire and ambulance organizations, is always appreciated to purchase basic PPSs and to attend to the needs of their members serving long hours in their shifts; Vigilant Engine & Hook & Ladder Company, Manhasset-Lakeville Fire & Water Authority, and Alert Fire Department. Our hearts go out to you and your families. The sacrifices you're making are extraordinary. Please remain healthy and safe!

https://give.northwell.edu/story/because-your-support-were-helping-new-yorkers-get-through-battle-covid-19?dm_i=1Y9P,6T9U4,PDNTXP,RA44A,1

We're in this together! Stay at Home! Stop the Spread! Save Lives!

Sincerely,

Mayor Jean Celender and the Board of Trustees

Village of Great Neck Plaza