Luis Lopez, 61, has been leading the Long Island Hispanic Chamber of Commerce for the past year, which has its main office in Lynbrook. Lopez, who owns Alante Security Group Inc. in Westbury, sat down with the Herald to tell us about what the Long Island Hispanic Chamber of Commerce — which has more than 1,000 members — can do for local business owners of Latin descent. more

The president of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Luis Lopez, of Lynbrook greeted Nassau County Comptroller George Maragos when they attended the Chamber’s meeting in Freeport. Many local business owners also attended. more

After we named longtime Lynbrook resident and Chamber member Joe LaRocco as the Herald’s Person of the Year in the Dec. 31, 2009-January 6. 2010 issue, his grand-nephew, P.J. Cirino, shared some old photos of his great-uncle with us. more

Joe LaRocco, 91, has lived in Lynbrook for nearly all of his nine decades. He remembers much of the area as farm land. “It’s always been a quiet village — that hasn’t changed much,” LaRocco reminisced recently. “It grew gradually because people began to realize how great the village was.” LaRocco has said that although the village has undergone many changes, its residents are what make it a community — and many residents and local officials agree that one of the people who played a large role in making the village what it is today is LaRocco. His dedication to work, community and family make him the ideal choice for the Herald’s 2009 Person of the Year. more

Kathleen Johannsen, executive director of Atria Tanglewood, is the Lynbrook Chamber of Commerce’s Businessperson of the Year. more

Due to the threat of inclement weather, the Bellmore Family Street Festival, sponsored by the Bellmore Chamber of Commerce, has been postponed, and has been rescheduled for the weekend of Oct. 24-25. more

Attracting businesses to Lynbrook has long been a challenge for the village, and some say the parking fund law that requires commercial building owners to pay $10,000 for each parking space they fall short of the minimum number of spaces the zoning code requires is being applied arbitrarily to businesses in the village. more