Woodsiders Gather For Town Hall Meeting

Crime, menacing livery cabs and illegal dumping were on the agenda last week at a town hall meeting organized by City Councilman Eric Gioia (D-Woodside).
About 50 residents from the Woodside/Sunnyside area gathered at St. Sebastian Parish Center on a rainy night to ask questions of Gioia and members of city agencies. Joann Ariola, the mayors community assistance coordinator for Queens South, represented the adminstration at the meeting.
Detective Glenn Yule of the 108th Precinct reported that crime was up 5% this year in the precinct, mostly due to car and home burglaries. In response, said Yule, officers were enforcing trespassing laws by going into buildings and verifying that only residents or legitimate visitors were present.
Residents of Phipps Houses seemed especially keen on an increased police presence in their buildings. Lynn McManus described constant nuisance and crimes, from burglary to drug dealing, perpetrated by residents and visitors. She asked the police to post crime alerts in the hallways to raise awareness among residents, many of whom call the propertys management instead of the police when there are crimes in their building.
Gioia proposed a town meeting at Phipps between residents, police and management to discuss crime issues in the houses.
Yule also reported that 164 summonses have been issued this year to livery cabs picking up illegal street hails on 61st Street and Roosevelt Avenue, and Ron Sobers of the Taxi and Limousine Commission said the TLC had issued 108 summonses to livery cab drivers for offenses such as lack of a license or insurance.
"These taxis have no regard whatsoever for people on the street," said Shane Moynagh, owner of Shanes Bakery on 61st Street. Of the enforcement efforts, he said to police, "You drive away and they drive right back into their spot."
Yule acknowledged that summonses werent effective, and warned the audience that hailing livery cabs could be dangerous. Police once caught a serial rapist driving a livery cab.
"This is supply and demand," said Gioia. "Too many of our neighbors are getting off the trains and into those cabs."
The councilman urged residents not to use the nuisance-causing cabs and promised to work on getting more medallion cabs into Queens.
Ariola noted that the proliferation of livery cabs was a problem throughout the entire borough and that the mayors office was working on new initiatives to combat the problems associated with them.
Tom Ryan of Woodside on the Move even complained of his block being used as a tow pound for livery cabs.
Several other neighbors complained that other types of illegal dumping were going unchecked right around the corner from the meeting.
Superintendent David Martin of the Sanitation Department promised to look at some individual complaints, but did not promise that his agency could step up enforcement in the area.
In a positive development for the litter situation, Gioia announced that he had secured city funds so that four formerly homeless men could collect garbage on Roosevelt Avenue and Greenpoint Avenue between 62nd Street and 46th Avenue. The program is expected to begin in about a month.