The Town Board declared last week that two streets are to be renamed after hometown heroes who recently lost their battles to 9/11-related cancer.
In other business, the board replaced outdated Automatic External Defibrillator (AED) machines and established a permit procedure for the use of drones on town property. Additionally, a public hearing regarding leaf blower induced-noise was held.
Valleywood Drive in Huntington Station was officially renamed NYPD Officer Scott Blackshaw Way / Valleywood Drive to honor Blackshaw, who spent weeks searching for his fallen comrades at Ground Zero following the Sept.11 attacks. Blackshaw passed away on May 20.
“Officer Blackshaw dedicated his time and his love to his family, neighbors and community and brought everyone together, this is his legacy,” said Supervisor Chad A. Lupinacci during the presentation. “Today we are joined by NYPD Officer Scott Blackshaw’s friends, who came together as a family, to help take care of Scott’s medical treatment, daily living and to help this local hero face his adversity with dignity.” An official dedication ceremony will take place in August.
Iceland Drive in South Huntington will also now be known as NYPD Officer Mark J. Natale Way to commemorate the policeman. Natale assisted people fleeing the devastation over bridges to Brooklyn and onto ferries to New Jersey. Natale also stood guard at the gates around Ground Zero in the days following the attacks.
At the presentation, the town board was joined by Natale’s wife, Mayra Natale, daughters Catherine and Lauren, and retired colleagues from the NYPD. Officer Natale is also survived by his son Dominick. “NYPD Officer Mark J. Natale tragically lost his long battle with 9/11-related brain cancer at his South Huntington home on May 4, 2018,” said Lupinacci “Mrs. Natale, the Town and the country is grateful to you and your husband for his selfless heroic sacrifice.”
AEDs
The new AEDs, outfitted with the latest technology, replaced 37 outdated machines within the Town. The machines are placed in locations where quick response is improved. The design of these machines greatly improves the chances of surviving a heart attack due to a pad which informs the user verbally whether they are compressing deep enough, too deep, fast enough or to slow down.
Drones
The Town’s new drone permit procedure has been put into place to ensure their operation is “orderly and respectful of community standards and the privacy concerns of residents.” The established fees for drone permit applications and drone permits are as follows:
Recreational Drone Permits:
$0 recreational permit application fee
$0 recreational permits
Commercial Permits
$50 commercial permit application fee
$50 single full-day permit (up to 24 hours). Applicant may request a refund in writing due to inclement weather within one week of the permitted day.
$500 annual permit fee (January 1-December 31). The annual fee cannot be pro-rated.
During the public hearing on noise, Gail Payne who runs a graphic design business in her Centerport home, said “We moved here eight years ago and every year since, the use of gasoline blowers has increased and the impact on my business has multiplied. I meet with clients twice a week. I cannot count on having a meeting without the auditory assault of these distracting and stressful machines. We want our quality of life back.”
The Town honored Winter Olympian and Huntington Station native Sgt. Matthew Mortensen, who competed in Luge events at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea, for his career and distinguishing himself as one of the sport’s premier athletes.
The Town also recognized:
- South Huntington Union Free School District officials for U.S. News and World Report naming Walt Whitman High School the 147th Best Public High School in New York State and sixteen-hundred-and-eleventh (1,611th) in the national rankings, earning a Silver Medal.
- The Harborfields High School lacrosse team for winning the Suffolk County Championship.
- Jack Poplawski, a student at Walt Whitman High School, for winning the pentathlon at the NYS Track and Field championships.
- The Cold Spring Harbor Girls Lacrosse Team for winning the state Class C championship game.
In other action, the Town Board:
- Appointed W. Gerard Asher to the Town of Huntington Veterans Advisory Board.
- Appointed Emerson Boozer as Vice Chair of the Environmental Open Space and Park Fund Review Advisory Committee.
- Amended Town Code to clarify ambiguities on the publication of the notice of the public hearing.
- Declared July 21, 2018 to be Coltrane Day in the Town of Huntington, executing a license agreement for the Coltrane Home in Dix Hills for the use of Heckscher Park for Coltrane Day activities during the Huntington Summer Arts Festival “Huntington Jazz Week” performances.
- Approved the filing of a grant to apply for $11,000 from the NYSDEC’s Urban and Community Forestry Grant Program for the planting of 84 trees throughout Manor Field Park.
- Agreed to co-sponsor the Huntington Fire Department’s 175th Anniversary celebration on July 28.
- Scheduled a public hearing for the July 17 Town Board Meeting at 2 p.m. to consider “no parking” restrictions during school days from 8 a.m. to 1:00 PM along Windgate Court and Windgate Drive in East Northport.