By Kathianne Boniello
The deadline for the Queens Women’s Center’s eviction from its Fort Totten headquarters in Bayside came and went Tuesday without any action by the city to remove the group.
A day earlier the center earned what appeared to be a partial victory when Borough President Helen Marshall agreed to give the women’s group more space at Borough Hall.
Ann Jawin, a Douglaston resident and founder of the Queens Women’s Center, said Marshall was simply restoring space the center lost at Borough Hall several months ago.
The Fire Department, which had issued the eviction notice to the Queens Women’s Center, took no action Tuesday to enforce the Jan. 15 deadline, Jawin said.
Battalion Chief Brian Dixon of the Fire Department said in an interview Tuesday the Queens Women’s Center was being evicted because the city was about to take control of the former Army base.
“The government is going to convey the base to us,” he said. “In order to do that they must vacate.”
It was unclear how the showdown between the Queens Women’s Center and the Fire Department would take shape this week, with Jawin declaring that her group would not leave the building. Dixon said he did not know what the department would do.
“I would expect they would obey the law,” he said, pointing out that the Queens Women’s Center could apply to the Parks Department for other space on Totten.
The women’s center, which has a Borough Hall office and has occupied a historic building at Bayside’s Fort Totten since 1997, won a brief reprieve of the original Dec. 13 eviction notice until Jan. 15.
Totten is a Civil War-era fort which was decommissioned in 1995. This month the city is in the process of taking over the land, which was expected to be split between the Fire and Parks departments.
Building #401, which the Queens Women’s Center repaired and has used for its various events, was to go to the Fire Department.
Marshall spokesman Dan Andrews said Monday the borough president was impressed with the women’s center’s employment programs.
“The borough president recognizes the importance of the programs provided by the Queens Women’s Center and will help them secure expanded space at Borough Hall,” Andrews said.
Jawin said “what she’s doing is giving me back part of what I already had there.”
Jawin, who vowed to fight the eviction notice every step of the way, said: “I dearly hope we do not have” to go to court.
City Councilman Tony Avella (D-Bayside) said Monday he had called newly appointed Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta to discuss the Queens Women’s Center’s plight.
“I’m not so sure whether or not he’s aware of this situation,” said Avella, who said he would work to help the group obtain at least a six-month extension.
The Queens Women’s Center was founded in 1987 and provides a range of services to women and families, including job training, domestic violence programs, counseling, funding and training for women who want to start their own business, among other things.
“I don’t understand why I need to move,” Jawin said. “There is no reason the Queens Women’s Center needs to move — none at all.”
Dixon said “they’ve known for four years” they would have to leave.
The Fire Department was planning to use the Queens Women’s Center building for administration and classroom space, Dixon said. The building will be part of the department’s educational campus, which will be based at Totten once the city takes over the land.
“It will be like a college,” Dixon said of the FDNY’s plans for Totten.
Former Borough President Claire Shulman told the TimesLedger last month the group was being evicted because the fort was being taken over by the city Parks Department. Shulman said any organization with space on Parks land must have Parks Department related activities.
Jawin has questioned why her group does not fall into this category.
“No one’s thinking in terms of what the trauma is to these women,” Jawin said. “This is terrible.”
Reach reporter Kathianne Boniello by e-mail at Timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 146.
