Dec. 20: Rising Costs

Good morning, Little Neck! Here are the stories, events and announcements to get you started on this dark and cold beginning of the work week:

1. It's an economy that has hit business owners and shoppers equally hard. And there's been no other city revenue-generating plan to exemplify that fact than a proposal to hike the amount drivers pay to park along Northern Boulevard's retail strip. Little Neck Patch has the story later this week.

2. Ghita Schwartz, author of the new novel 'Displaced Persons,' will speak at Great Neck Library . Schwartz will answer questions from readers about her work chronicling the lives of four Polish Jews from their first meeting at a concentration camp to their late-in-life project of memorializing their own histories in the U.S.

3. Check back with Little Neck Patch for an update on the fate of  providing healthcare to first responders sickened in the wake of Sept. 11. 

4. In case you missed it: here's a from a Little Neck homeowner concerned about talk of a new high school at the former Leviton site.

5. And last, but not least, look for our of this week's gas prices in Little Neck.