By Bob Harris
Before Queens College and St. John's University were built, there were miles upon miles of one and two-family homes with a few apartment complexes. Today there are two large schools of higher education which of course are important, but due to their expansion disrupt the quality o life of the homeowners and tenants who live around them.
The land on which Queens College sits was once a school for troubled youngsters. Today it is part of the large CUNY system. But the large number of students attending Queens College does have an effect. Parking is almost impossible, what with Queens College, John Bowne HS, the CUNY Law School, PS 219 and Townsend Harris HS Now they are building an experimental teaching elementary school for math, science, and technology on the northern border of the Queens College campus.
Members of the civic associations surrounding Queens College have fought hard against the proposed PS 499. First they sought to have PS 219 be the college school, but District 25 is already terribly overcrowded.
Then the civic leaders attacked John Bowne HS, saying that it was “terrible” and should be closed and made into PS 499. They wanted to build a new high school in Kissena Park for the displaced students. John Bowne officials fought back, telling the community that yes, it is overcrowded with about 3,300 students but it is a very fine school — it was named a US. Department of Education Blue Ribbon School in 1992-1993, had an outstanding agricultural program on a 4.5 acre farm on the school grounds, has college level programs, has an outstanding Center for Writing program, an outstanding Mock Trial team and Junior and Senior Math teams. As the crowning touch, senior Chandan Mathur was named a semifinalist in the Intel Science Talent Search, one of the few students from a non-specialized high school to reach that level in the prestigious contest.
But the civic associations are scared of the continued growth of Queens College. Did you know that the parking lots just north of Colden Hall were once homes which the college bought? Did you know that the less-than-aesthetic houses along the service road of the L.I. Expressway near the college, are owned by the college and used as offices and what not? Did you know that a few years ago the then-president of the college wanted to build dorms there. The civics stopped that, but it was hard. Did you ever try to park around Queens College while classes are in session? Perhaps you can now understand why people are so worried about the expansion of Queens College and its programs. Perhaps the college should raise its standards a little and take in fewer students.
St. John's University is on a former golf course. One of my neighbors told me how she, in her younger days, would get on the bus with her golf clubs to play there. For miles around were one-family homes. Today St. John's is expanding. It is building dorms so 2,800 students can live on the campus. There must be dorms for a school to be a Division I school so they are building dorms. First they planned for 8-story dorms, but after the homeowners in their two-story homes complained, the size of the dorms were reduced.
Then St. John's wanted to build a garage opposite the homes on 168th Street, so the school did move the garage. Now I hear they want to build another garage. Well, like Queens College, if they had fewer students they would not need garages. Oh, Queens College has a garage, but it was built wrong and had to be torn down and rebuilt years ago. Remember that around St. John's are residential communities zoned for one-family homes. They don't want to see Dumpsters overflowing with garbage. One must remember that these facilities fall under the community facility rule of the Zoning Resolution and so they can almost build what they want…..unless the civic associations fight them to preserve their quality of life.
There is a Community Dialogue Group set up for St. John's U. and the communities, but civic leaders complain to me that all that's done at the meetings is a recitation of the various meetings the school officials attend. Then a few days later the school announces they are building something else on the campus. Hillcrest Estates Civic Association leaders tell me that St. Joseph's Hospital on Union Turnpike is setting up a Dialogue Group but letting the group write the by-laws.
Merchants want the extra business the students bring. There had been problems from the bars along Union Turnpike, but pressure by the Liquor License Committee of Community Board 8, the local civic associations and strict enforcement by officers of the 107th Precinct seems to have solved that bar problem. The college has a no alcohol rule. Officials of the college give their private phone numbers to homeowners so they can call if there is a problem, but a college student working as a bouncer at a bar south of the school was shot by a bar patron who followed him back to his dorm on campus. The students who want to enter law enforcement have joined the Auxiliary Police of the 107th Precinct in large numbers.
GOOD NEWS OF THE WEEK:
Our Queens colleges do good work.
BAD NEWS OF THE WEEK:
Our expanding Queens colleges affect the surrounding communities.
