By Hector Flores
In January 2005, just days after fire ripped through Fabio's, severely damaging the restaurant, a stoic Sal Giambaco stood amid the charred debris and ashes inside the establishment he had owned for five years. Five months later, Giambaco stood in the same spot, wearing a grin from ear to ear, taking in the surroundings of his newly reopened and refurbished restaurant.
Students buy phones for troops
In February, Bowling Green Elementary School helped soldiers stationed in Iraq reach out and touch someone. Students purchased calling cards in a fund-raising campaign called Operation Phone Home, initiated because many troops overseas didn't have the means to call their families regularly.
Pool still swims in red ink
In April, Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi made a splash about improvements made at the Nassau County Aquatic Center, though he admitted that the world-class facility still loses more than $1.5 million a year and may never break even. Speaking inside the center's new gym overlooking the Olympic-size pool, Suozzi highlighted what he called a dramatic turnaround at the pool since the county changed management in 2003.
Built on the grounds of Eisenhower Park in 1998 to host that year's Goodwill Games, the 81,000-square-foot pool cost $30 million to erect and has lost approximately $2 million a year since it opened. In an effort to make the pool profitable, the county Legislature began holding hearings on the issue in 2002. After Suozzi's attempt to privatize the facility was voted down, former facility manager David Ferris was fired in favor of Deidra Clark-Towers in October 2003.
Stopping gangs in their tracks
In April, Sergio Argueta, a former gang member, recounted how two of his fellow members were students at East Meadow High School. While East Meadow has never been considered a haven for gang activity, Argueta's revelation at a forum organized by the Council of East Meadow Community Organizations and the Community Association of Stewart Avenue in April underscored the pervasiveness of gangs in Nassau County.
'Prisoners in their own homes'
Salisbury resident and civic leader Richard Cardozo left his house 20 minutes early on Sunday, May 1, in order to get to church on time. He got there 20 minutes late. Though his weekly drive to Parkway Community Church, on Stewart Avenue in nearby Hicksville, usually takes five minutes, road closures for the Long Island Marathon forced Cardozo to take an out-of-the-way route packed with redirected cars.
Gas leak forces residents out of apartments
In July, nearly 500 seniors were evacuated from their apartments in The Meadows on Merrick Avenue following a transformer fire and gas leak. Though the situation was a recipe for disaster, there was no explosion, and no one was injured.
Health systems join forces
In July, the Nassau Health Care Corporation took an important step toward fiscal solvency when it announced its new affiliation with the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System, one of the nation's premier health-care systems.
The affiliation agreement, approved by NHCC's board of directors, is aimed at improving health-care services at Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow, which NHCC runs, in addition to the A. Holly Patterson nursing home in Uniondale and seven community health clinics.
Girl of the gridiron
Jeanette Tamney always loved football and always planned to play the game. Four feet 11, weighing 89 pounds, the East Meadow youngster couldn't believe she didn't make the W.T. Clarke Middle School football team this year. But there's always next year.
NUMC puts off E.R. re-certification
In December, administrators at the Nassau University Medical Center announced that they would hold off on plans to revamp the hospital's full-time emergency room physician certification requirements. This was good news for the 18 E.R. doctors who would have lost their jobs had the new standards been put in place.
Turned off by the light
In May, safety, taxes and traffic were among the concerns residents raised with New York Islanders owner Charles Wang regarding his plan to rebuild the Nassau Coliseum and transform the 72 acres around it into a state-of-the-art community with a 60-story hotel-and-condominium tower.
Wang met with 75 residents, some from as far away as Seaford, at East Meadow High School to discuss the potential impact the mammoth project would have on the surrounding neighborhoods, including East Meadow, Bellmore and Merrick.
Wang said several times throughout the meeting, organized by the Council of East Meadow Community Organizations, that he saw the creation of the 60-story Lighthouse as a beacon of hope and pride that would be seen for miles and offer breathtaking views of Manhattan and Montauk.
Failing the victims
In April, after serving two years in prison for sexually abusing four teens, Matthew Maiello was back on the street, and one of his victims feared that he would strike again. Appearing in a press conference alongside her father and Laura Ahearn, founder and executive director of Parents For Megan's Law, the now 21-year-old woman said that Maiello's two-year sentence demonstrates how the criminal justice system is failing sex-crime victims. Maiello's release has added fuel to the ongoing debate of how sex offenders should be punished and tracked once out of prison.
