By Bob Harris
There is a lot of useful information from Community Board 8:
The nursery school in the upper parking lot in Cunningham Park now has an after-school program for children ages 5 to 11 from 3 p.m. to 6:45 p.m. Monday through Friday, announced Principal Barbaretta Williams. Snack time, homework and reading time, theme days, parties, movies, games, tournaments are all offered. Registration fee is $25 per child, then $10 per month. Call Williams at 740-1999.
CB 8 member Bernie Diamond has reported on the Queens Hospital Center land use: Currently the hospital has 270 patients per day but the new hospital will only have 200 beds after rebuilding. He suggests that the old hospital not be closed or torn down or leased for at least 1 1/2 years. He also gave a Liquor License Committee report and said that Captain Heaney of the 107th Precinct told him that there are currently no problems from the bars on Union Turnpike. This good news is due to the activities of CB 8, the local civic associations and the officers of the 107th Precinct. The area will be continually monitored.
Marc Hacken, chairman of the Youth Committee, reported that he has been in contact with the director of the Athletic Department of Queensborough Community College about their team playing on the St. John's baseball field and using it as their home field since the farm team is set to move to Brooklyn. QCC also says it will donate excess athletic equipment to youth programs in CB 8. It was reported that there are various negotiations going on to try to settle the lawsuit over the stadium built at St. John's, which some area residents contend brings too much congestion and noise to the neighborhood.
Community Board 8 Manager Diane Cohen said that at the October Queens Borough Cabinet meeting , when all the Queens district managers, city agency representatives and Queens borough hall officials met together, it was reported that CB 8 recycles 25 percent of the community's garbage – this is the third highest amount in Queens. Cohen complained to the deputy commissioner of sanitation that those who are scheduled for recycling on Mondays lose many recycling pickups because several holidays fall on a Monday.
Garbage pickup on a Monday, however, is picked up within a day or two. It is the Sanitation Department's policy to rotate within the district those areas where they can't pick up all the garbage after a holiday. I really can't understand why they can pick up garbage but not recycling material. Oh, remember to put out your normal recycling and garbage the evening prior to your day because they pick up in some areas during the night.
The city Department of Transportation informed CB 8 that there will be a pedestrian ramp and sidewalk contract in our board this fall. Defective sidewalks which have violations will be repaired and the property owners will be billed. They will concentrate their efforts in high-volume pedestrian areas.
The city Department of Sanitation has announced that leaves, yard trimmings and Halloween pumpkins should be put out in CLEAR plastic bags on the curb on the Saturday nights of Nov. 11, 25, and Dec. 9. Large twigs and branches should be tied in bundles up to 4 feet long and 6 inches wide. This material will be composted, to be given out free next year.
