Why Join the FSCA?

The FSCA has been hard at work for our members and our community. Here are some of the things the FSCA has done over the years. All of this takes time, volunteers and money that comes from membership dues, and fundraisers.

Hometown Hero Program

This is our 7th year of honoring those who served in the military (at the VFW) and our first responders such as fire, police, nurses, and EMT’s (at Rath Park). Our most recent banners at Rath Park were for our local NYPD Detective Jonathan Diller, Firefighter Christoper Dand, Astronaut Michael Massimino, and our 2021 Never Forget 9-11 banner in front of the 9-11 Memorial at Rath Park along Naple Avenue. The program for 2025 is in the planning stages.

For more information about the program, visit fsqcivic.org and use the “Community” dropdown tab, “Hometown Heroes”.  Click here to view a video of the 2020 VFW display.

Honoring Our Healthcare Workers & First Responders

The FSCA worked with a local business and a non-profit organization to raise funds to purchase over 1,000 medals and pins of honor for the staff at Northwell Health’s Long Island Jewish Valley Stream Hospital, the Franklin Square and Munson Volunteer Fire Department and the Nassau County Police Department’s 5th Precinct.  On Saturday May 22, 2021, President Katherine Tarascio presented medals and pins to these three organizations for all of their work in aiding and protecting the people of Franklin Square throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. The leadership of the hospital, the fire department and the police precinct distributed them to all members of their respective teams, so each received a medal or pin to wear with pride on their uniforms as they continue to serve the people of Franklin Square.  The members of the Civic Association and the entire Franklin Square community hoped that these frontline workers appreciated this small token of respect and gratitude for all the efforts made during the pandemic.

Student Awards 

We have given these awards since 2017 to six graduating students. They received framed certificates and a check for their accomplishments in the area of civic duty. One student from each of our high schools; H. Frank Carey, and Valley Stream North, and one from each of the four elementary schools; John Street, Polk Street, Washington Street and Willow Road. The schools select the students using the civic duty criteria that we set. We completed this for our 2024 graduates. This was the sthird year they were presented at their school’s award assembly and they were invited and acknowledged at our June General Meeting.

National Civics Day Awards 

At our General Meeting in November 2022 we presented two 5th grade elementary school students our first National Civics Day awards. The contest was for an essay and a poster that suggest how we make Franklin Square a better place to live. The essay winner was from Polk Street School and the poster winner was from John Street School. They were presented with a framed certificate and a gift card. The poster and essay were on display at the Franklin Square Public Library.

Beautification (Spruce Up The Square)

This committee works on improving the visual appeal of our community. Over the winter they had wreaths and snowflakes hung on some of the lampposts along Hempstead Turnpike. This spring they decorated the lampposts along Hempstead Turnpike with hanging flowers. In the fall of 2021 the FSCA purchased 26 cornstalks and there was an anonymous donation, which allowed us to purchase 39 more cornstalks.  All were purchased from our local nursery, Garden World. This year fall arrangements, then winter arrangements were placed on the lampposts by the Franklin Square Post Office and at the intersection of Hempstead Turnpike, Franklin Avenue, and New Hyde Park Road

The Sunday after Thanksgiving, the FSCA changed their Fall banners to Winter banners and continued the tradition of decorating some lampposts in our business districts with evergreen swags, and a wreath. For the third year, during the first week in December, a fresh Christmas tree with lights was put up at the intersection of New Hyde Park Road & Courthouse Road. The Franklin Square Chamber of Commerce and the Franklin Square Civic Association worked together to help beautify our community during this holiday season. The Morton Civic Association (MCA) also contributed to the funding of this display. The tree, the lights, and the star were all purchased locally at Garden World, who also did the installation. A special thanks to the manager at OK Petroleum for allowing us the use of his property. With appropriate funding each year, their plan is to do more.

Making our business districts more appealing to shop here and keep them open increases the value of the properties in our town. We have finished decorating the lampposts with spring decorations. With appropriate funding their plan is to do more.

Franklin Square Banners

In 2020 banners were displayed along Hempstead Turnpike, four of these are “Live, Shop, Dine” banners to help promote our local businesses and two banners congratulate our 2020 graduates as they have had a trying end to that school year. We replaced those banners with two winter banners just before Thanksgiving every year. These banners will be rotated through the seasons accordingly. We added two banners “Play, Swim, Relax – Enjoy Rath Park” to promote the Town of Hempstead’s completion of the renovation of the playground and ball fields at Rath Park. One banner is on display on Fenworth Boulevard at the entrance to the Rath Park pool area, and the other on Benris Avenue, by the tennis courts and north baseball fields.

We added new Americana banners to the lampposts at the intersection of Hempstead Turnpike & Franklin Avenue / New Hyde Park Road. With appropriate funding and the Town of Hempstead permission, we hope to continue the banner effort and increase the number of lampposts that can be decorated.

Organization Banners

The year 2021 was our first year hanging banners along Hempstead Turnpike that were fully sponsored by local organizations. The banners which display their organization logo and name at the top and either “Welcome to Franklin Square”, “Live, Shop, Dine – Enjoy Franklin Square” or “Welcome to Franklin Square – Drive Safely.

Sponsoring organizations are:

American Flag Project
Our Spruce Up The Square Committee purchased 20 American Flags that were displayed on utility poles along Hempstead Turnpike. NYS Assemblyman Ed Ra  purchased ten flags and the FSCA purchased ten flags. The flags were hung on July 1, 2021, just in time for Independence Day.

The FSCA and Franklin Square Chamber of Commerce (FSCC) purchased 6 American Flags that were placed at the intersection of New Hyde Park Road and Courthouse Road (aka “The Triangle”). The FSCA purchase new hardware and rope for the tall American Flag displayed at that same location.

The FSCA, Franklin Square Chamber of Commerce (FSCC), and the Morton Civic Association (MCA) funded the planting at the property at the triangle, including the planting box that was donated by an Eagle Scout. We hired Pine Oaks Landscaping, who purchased the plants from Garden World.

Community Yard Sale

We have had four very successful Community Yard Sales at Rath Park with over 50 sellers at each. Both the sellers and shoppers have reached out requesting for us to run another one, which we are in the planning stages for 2023.

COVID-19 Initiatives

The FSCA purchased food for the overnight shift at Long Island Jewish Valley Stream Northwell Health Hospital on Franklin Avenue.  We personally delivered 133 mixed bagels with spreads generously discounted by our business member A&S Bagels and we also included 6 ½ pounds of local bakery cookies from business member LuLu’s Bakery as well. The board and their members wanted to express in some small way our gratitude for the hard work, dedication, and bravery demonstrated by the hospital workers of our community.

Franklin Square Movie Theater

The FSCA was a driving force to get the Franklin Theater a Town of Hempstead Landmark. Our President Katherine Tarascio appeared before the TOH Landmarks Commission and the TOH Town Council helped accomplish this. Landmark Status was granted in the Fall of 2019.

Infrastructure

We worked with the Franklin Square Chamber of Commerce (FSCC) and the Franklin Square and Munson Volunteer Fire Department (FSMFD) in writing letters to Nassau County in March of 2018 to have Franklin Avenue repaved and in February of 2019 to the Town of Hempstead (TOH) to have Scherer Boulevard repaved. Both were completed. We have recently sent a letter to our local Town of Hempstead officials, Nassau County officials and New York State officials to cleanup up one of our business districts, starting with Hempstead Turnpike.

This year, our request to have Washington Street and Averill Boulevard repaved was just completed. Our request to repave Goldenrod Avenue from Washington Street north into the H. Frank Carey High School Parking Lot and Washington Street from Courthouse Road west to New Hyde Park Road is not yet completed. Both roads require a lot of work and are scheduled for this spring/summer when school is not in session. Recent discussions with the Town of Hempstead Engineering Department indicate that this will be done in the spring or summer of 2023.

Surveillance Camera
The FSCA requested that the Town of Hempstead put up a surveillance camera at Rath Park on Naple Avenue, to cover the 9-11 Memorial, the Gazebo, the VFW Memorial, and a portion of the Franklin Square Historical Society Museum. A sign was put up, as a deterrent, that the area is under 24×7 surveillance.

The following organizations supported this effort by signing the letter:

Park & Community Safety
The FSCA requested that Nassau County put additional police patrols around our parks and community. Recent issues at Rath Park and Franklin Avenue prompted the letter, which was signed by the following organizations:

Drainage Issues
On behalf of our members and the community, the FSCA wrote letters to the Town of Hempstead and Nassau County to report our residents and businesses that were having issues with water drainage. Our community was having water flooding the streets, sidewalks, and property. The FSCA created a form on their website for our community to post ongoing water drainage issues. That information will be forwarded to the appropriate government departments. In order to reach out to the community, an email was sent to our members and the same information was posted on various Franklin Square Facebook groups and pages.

The following organizations supported this effort by signing the letters:

If you would like to report a drainage issue in Franklin Square, Garden City South, or West Hempstead, click here.

Surveys & Petitions

We often take surveys to get input from all of Franklin Square, Garden City South and West Hempstead residents regarding issues that we as an organization determine would be better served than relying on just our board and members. Past surveys included:

  • A survey on the proposal to build a three-story storage facility on Hempstead Turnpike next to the Franklin Theater. The request for the variances were denied.
  • Whether or not Franklin Square should have a dog park. The majority of the residents do not want a dog park in any of our parks.
  • A petition to repair Averill Park and the surrounding sidewalks and streets. This work was completed.
  • A survey on the proposal to build a three-story storage facility on Franklin Avenue, behind and south of Valley Caterers. The request for the variances were denied.

Family Fun Nights

We had two Family Fun Nights (2016, 2017), which we used the Rath Park parking lot to show movies and were free to our community residents.

Fall Festivals

We had three fall festivals (2016, 2017, 2018) in conjunction with the Franklin Square Historical Society. These events help promote community gathering and pride.

Winter Festivals

We had three Winter Festivals (2016, 2019, 2022), which we used the Rath Park Gazebo area, and one in 2019, which we held at the VFW. The one in 2017 was cancelled due to snow. The Winter Festivals had Santa, Mrs. Claus, and Frosty the Snowman. We provided hot chocolate, music, and gifts for the children. At the VFW we had winter crafts for the children. For all three Winter Festivals, the Franklin Square and Munson Fire Department delivered Santa and Mrs. Claus on one of their fire trucks. At our 2022 Winter Festival, we added elves who provided face painting for the children. Our 2023 Winter Festival will be held on Saturday December 2 at the Rath Park Gazebo area & Franklin Sqaure Historical Society Museum.

Atlantic City Bus Trips

We organized two bus trips to Atlantic City in the summer of 2018 and 2019.

Charitable Contributions / Miscellaneous

In April of 2022, we raised money by offering a surf fishing class for members and residents. We were able to donate $320 in proceeds to the Franklin Square VFW Post 2718.

In March of 2022, we donated $100 to Girl Scout Troop 1390 to kick off their Silver Award project that will help keep the areas around our park clean.

In April of 2020, we donated $100 to Rescuing Families, for PPE equipment during the pandemic.

In December of 2019, we donated $100 to a local family in need after their house burned down.

In June of 2019, we donated $109 to the Franklin Square Historic Society towards the purchase of a small refrigerator. This money was raised during our spring community yard sale 50/50 raffle.

In April of 2019, we donated a sheet cake to the Franklin Square & Munson Fire Department’s Open House.

In April of 2019, we also purchased and installed a “Little Free Library” at the Garden City South Park on Nassau Boulevard. This library is kept stocked by our organization for residents to take books to read, and to donate books for others to read.

In October of 2018, we donated $100 to Polk Street School for their food court fundraiser.

Operation Clean Sweep

The FSCA organized two cleanup operations along Hempstead Turnpike, to help beautify one of our business districts.

General Meetings

We have general meetings almost every month to keep our members and community informed of what the FSCA is planning and what has recently been accomplished. At these meetings we have guest speakers helping disburse pertinent information and answer questions from those in attendance.  These meetings are open to the public.

For a list of our past general meetings and our speakers, click here.

If you are interested in a particular topic or speaker, please let us know and we will try to get them to speak at one of our future General Meetings.

Email us https://fsqcivic.org/contact-us/