BY JOHN NUGENT
Floral Park Mayor Dominick Longobardi and the Board of Trustees awarded Certificates of Service to Shirley Gartner and police Lt. Tom McCarthy on Tuesday for their many years of service to the community.
Gartner has worked as a neighborhood aide and school crossing guard in Floral Park for 30 years.
Neighborhood aides monitor expired parking meters and expired permits on parked cars in the village.
Hired in 1989, Gartner was assigned as a crossing guard at Elizabeth Street and Plainfield Avenue. Last year she moved to the school crossing at Our Lady of Victory School on Bellmore Street.
A 40-year resident of Floral Park, Shirley has two children, Amy, a New York City police officer, and Robert, a Floral Park Department of Public Works employee and Floral Park volunteer firefighter.
McCarthy has been a member of the Floral Park Police Department since 1989. He was promoted to sergeant in 2007 and to lieutenant in 2018.
A Floral Park native, he resides in the village with his wife, Marie. Together they raised four children, Caroline, Jackie, Maura and Thomas.
McCarthy is a member of the South Side Civic Association and the Knights of Columbus. He also served for many years as a youth basketball coach and gave his time to the local PTA and Girl Scouts.
Friends and family members of the two honorees were on hand for the presentations and joined the board members for group photos.
The board also approved a permit application by Sempre Fame Gourmet Grill at 374 Tulip Ave. to serve beer and wine.
Sempre Fame, which means always hungry in Italian, has been in business for six years. Owned by brothers John and Chris Cavello, it specializes in BBQ food, sandwiches and burgers, and offers take-out and catering services.
Trustee Lynn Pombonyo cited Sempre Fame as an example of a local business that the board encourages residents to patronize on “Small Business Saturday,” sponsored by the Covert Avenue Chamber of Commerce on Nov. 30.
