With village elections just three weeks away, the future of the village’s board of trustees is in limbo. While the new Unity Party is putting forth two new trustee candidates, trustee Richard Pallisco is running for reelection to hold onto his seat.
Pallisco said he made the village his home 24 years ago after spending his childhood years growing up in a bordering community.
“I am blessed to be married to the wonderful LeeAnne, who is currently a nurse at Garden City Park Elementary School,” he said. “Our amazing son Anthony is a 2020 graduate from St. John’s University and currently holds a degree in Criminal Justice. I am retired from the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) after completing a long and successful career. Shortly after establishing my home in the Village of New Hyde Park, I began to volunteer much of my free time to the village. My first assignment was to help with the formation of the Village Beautification Committee and presently continue to work closely with this group. In addition to hosting our biannual Community Cleanup and planting days, this committee was instrumental in the creation of multiple pocket parks throughout the village. We maintain Memorial and Nuzzi Park with flowers, new trees and signage. I [also] supervised the construction and landscaping of Purple Heart Way in Memorial Park.”
Pallisco served as a member of the Village Master Plan Committee in the early 2000s, which was decommissioned after two years as the village waited to learn of the plans of the Long Island Rail Road’s (LIRR) third track project.
“However some of the work we accomplished was a vision of a pedestrian friendly horticulturally enhanced walkable downtown Jericho Turnpike along with the planted center medians, pocket parks, decorative street lighting, banners, park benches and planters,” Pallisco explained. “To this day, I still supervise the tri-annual planting and maintenance. As chairman of the Parks and Recreation Committee, we formed basketball clinics, flag football games and lacrosse clinics in the park. We currently hold pickle ball and bocce ball leagues. I also supervise the free Children’s Summer Recreation program at Memorial Park. I instituted an adult exercise class that met at village hall twice a week before the pandemic. Other activities include being a coach and manager of NHP Little League for six years.”
Pallisco said that his knowledge of village codes and requirements enables him to help the village’s building department as he surveyed the village daily and assisted with the identification and enforcement of the village’s Quality of Life Codes. He also served as a member of the village’s Architectural Review Board.
“When my son Anthony became a Scout in NHP Troop 298 I volunteered as an Assistant Scoutmaster and was able to guide Scouts in attaining their rank advancements with multiple service projects completed throughout the village including eight Eagle Scout projects that added to the beautification of the village,” Pallisco said. “I still volunteer with the Scout Troop today despite my son aging out five years ago. In 2019, I co-chaired the first Community Day at Memorial Park after assisting Janet Bevers with the annual street fair for many years.”
With his keen interest in keeping the village green, Pallisco worked with the newly formed village Tree Committee and helped the village obtain their accreditation of Tree City USA status. He followed that by studying and received his qualification as a certified arborist and is still chairperson of the village’s Tree Committee, which has overseen the planting of hundreds of trees throughout the village.
“Currently, I have been working closely with the LIRR and the contractor 3TC in planning with the designing of the landscaping of Covert Avenue and New Hyde Park Road along Second and Third avenues,” he said. “With an objective to be more environmentally friendly, I am working towards the replacement of the incandescent street lighting in the village with the cost efficient and environmentally friendly LED lights.”
Pallisco is also a member of the Sons and Daughters of Italy in America Cellini Lodge #2206 and the NHP Lions Club.
“In 2017, I was honored and grateful to the residents to be elected as a village trustee, a position I seek to be reelected in the upcoming election in March,” he concluded. “Hopefully you can see by my numerous activities and positions over the past 20 years that I love this village and have a passion to keep it beautiful, and I am committed to the cause.”
For more information about Pallisco’s campaign, visit www.voteforrichp.com or visit the Facebook page Rich Pallisco For Village Trustee.
This year’s village election is on Tuesday, March 16 from 12 to 9 p.m. at Marcus Christ Hall located at 1420 Jericho Tpke. Due to the ongoing pandemic, residents can vote via mail-in ballot. The ballot can be found at www.vnhp.org/village-elections.
