For decades, the Gateway Bulletin newspaper served Floral Park with information on the village. Mayor Dominick Longobardi believed such newspapers are vital to communities like his.
“I truly believe in local newspapers to keep the character of suburbia,” Longobardi said.
But the Gateway Bulletin was forced to shut down as the coronavirus pandemic hobbled the economy and took a toll on advertising revenue for local news outlets across the country. The weekly newspaper printed its last edition in early April, with hopes to resume operations later in the year.
Owner and publisher Scott Cushing said he can’t discuss the status of the Gateway Bulletin at this time, but when he had something to report, he would let the community know.
“I don’t think that publishers are the subjects of stories,” Cushing added.
The Gateway Bulletin’s advertising director, Nancy Millus, said at the time the newspaper closed down, it was owed about $50,000 in bills that advertisers had not yet paid. She believed Cushing had been able to collect some of that money since then but had not heard anything on if or when publication would resume.
She said the outstanding bills were not necessarily due to the COVID-19 pandemic but that some longtime advertisers were given leeway on the timing of payments.
Millus also saw the value in community news.
“That’s kind of why this community stood out a bit, because we had a community newspaper,” Millus said.
Millus said the newspaper applied for a loan with the Paycheck Protection Program, but that it was denied. As a former employee at Citi Bank, she believed this was because the business was too small.
Millus was “ready to do the hard crawl” with the Gateway Bulletin and said she and another employee even offered to work for two weeks without pay when the pandemic broke out.
The Gateway Bulletin had only one full-time employee, which was the secretary. Millus said she worked about 25 hours per week and said she and the other employees were “very loyal” to the newspaper.
As the country transitioned to working from home, Millus said she came to think that the newspaper could be produced remotely, without its office, which is closed. Its website, gatewaybulletin.com, is also out of service.
Longobardi has hope that the newspaper will come back. He remembers fondly the column that former Floral Park Mayor Tom Hayden wrote for it and the announcements about births, engagements and marriages that would run in its pages.
“It was all that hometown flare,” Longobardi said. “If a (scout) was working on his eagle project, (The Gateway Bulletin) would do everything they could to promote that project.”
He also said the newspaper was a good outlet for businesses to advertise in. Millus agreed, saying that since the shutdown, people have frequently come to her with items they thought would be good for the next edition, unaware that it ceased publication.
