Politics & Government

Mineola Mayor's Message: Christmas 2012, Santa and Snow Preparedness

Mayor Scott Strauss asks residents to move vehicles ahead of snow storms.

The following are the opening remarks of Mineola Mayor Scott Strauss made during the public meeting of the Mineola Village Board on Dec. 19, 2012:

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. It’s the last meeting that we’re going to have for the year, Christmas is here, New Year’s 2013, can’t believe it’s coming up right here, it’s only two weeks, three weeks away.

Last week I attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony for Mama Soup located at 170 Old Country Road. I welcome them to the village and wish them a very successful business. Please stop by and enjoy their food.

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Last month the Mineola Fire Department family quickly organized a pancake breakfast to raise funds for the families devastated by superstorm Sandy. Through the incredible outpouring of support from our community they raised thousands of dollars. Hundreds and hundreds of toys were purchased and wrapped by the firefighters and the ladies auxiliary members I with many other firefighters and junior firefighters brought Santa and his helpers to several south shore communities and distributed these gifts to children. For some of them – according to their parents – it will be the only Christmas they have.

Town of Hempstead Supervisor Kate Murray also went with us. She expressed how grateful she was to Mineola for doing this for so many needy people. She said to me “You must be proud of your firefighters.” I replied saying “Not only am I proud of our firefighters, I am extremely proud of the entire Village of Mineola and the support the community continually gives to ideas such as this. Supervisor Murray was visibly moved by the generosity of our village and quite honestly, even though I have seen it time and time again, I was too. The Village of Mineola made a tremendous impact on so many lives that day, both young and old alike. All I can say is thank you.

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The fire department’s Operation: Santa is in full swing, they are out every night bringing smiles to the children of Mineola with a visit from Santa and his helpers. This is a great program run by volunteers who like all of us are tremendously busy getting ready for the holidays, yet they set aside the time to keep this going. Again, thank you.

Snow season is just around the corner. With that comes snow emergencies and clearing of roads. Please, whenever two or more inches of snow is forecasted, you need to move your cars off of the streets until the roads are cleared; this will help us with our snow removal operations. I have to warn you that we will be our issuing summonses to those who don’t move their vehicles. It’s not about getting additional revenue to the village, it’s about compliance and trying to get our streets cleared. Please help us in this and move your vehicles from the roadways. Please also hit the village’s website and sign up for the village’s e-mails so you can get notifications such as snow issues and other topics.

We have several street lights that are still out in the village from the hurricane and the nor’easter. We’re working diligently to get those street lights back up and on, we’re running into some parts issues, some poles were completely gone and the new poles are up, we have to find lights because they were damaged when they toppled over. So we need to get those lights either purchase new ones or repaired and we’re working through that, please bare with us, we’re moving as fast as we possibly can.

As we enjoy our family’s celebrations in the coming days, I ask that at some point you think of our volunteer firefighters and our ambulance corps. personnel. They quite often have to leave their family celebrations to help our friends and neighbors as unfortunately tragedy doesn’t always take time off. We’re obviously immersed in the holiday season and on behalf of my family, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas, a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year.


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