Meet your Hewlett Bay Park village neighbor on Sunday

The Hewlett Bay Park village board aims to bring the community together on Oct. 15.

Mayor Alex Salomon invited village residents to a fall meet and greet from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Stella K. Abraham High School for Girls,  291 Meadowview Ave. in Hewlett Bay Park. The event will be held on the school lawn if weather permitting or in the gymnasium if the weather is bad.

Children will be entertained with a jumping castle, clowns, face paint, balloon art and magic acts. There will also be light refreshments with kosher options, an ice cream truck and with coffee, water and tea.

“I personally didn’t realize how many new people moved into the neighborhood through the last two, three years,” Salomon said. “I thought it’d be a fantastic way to reconnect residents who have lived in the village for a while with the new people.”

He has noticed an influx of young professionals and families coming from New York City, and especially Brooklyn and Queens.

“Other than making it a collection of 150 families living near each other, our goal is to have one community with 150 families living together,” Salomon said.

The village board planned the event in hopes of providing a relaxed setting for neighbors to discuss experiences living in Hewlett Bay Park, voice concerns and ask questions of the board members. Salomon also said this is a good opportunity to put Hewlett Bay Park culture on display for new residents. 

“We’re trying to convey to them the values and traditions that make Hewlett Bay Park the place that it is,” Salomon said. “We stress the park like living, trees have value to us, we don’t like replacing the 100-year-old trees with new ones.”

Village Clerk Michelle Blandino, agreed with the mayor, noting the size of their village.

“It’s a small community,” Blandino said.

Trustee Renee Zylberberg is looking forward to meeting her neighbors and ensuring connection between the village board and residents.

“One thing we wanted to accomplish was there to be more transparency, people to know who their board members are, who their neighbors are,” Zylberberg said. “Since Alex became mayor, in a very short time he’s done a lot of things for the village that people don’t realize.”

She said the village aims to make this an annual event.

“I’ve lived in the village for about 20 years and in the 20 years that I’ve been here there’s never been this type of big block party event,” Zylberberg said. “If we have nice attendance and people come and they’re into it, we’d live to build upon this.”

For more information on the meet and greet, Hewlett Bay Park residents can call Village Hall at (516) 295-1400 or email villageclerk@hewlettbayparkny.gov.