“It’s imperative that the community have an active civic association,” said Tshaka, acting…
By Ayala Ben-Yehuda
Activist Mandingo Tshaka is reactivating his dormant civic association with a drive for fresh leadership and a mission to tackle new problems in central Bayside.
“It’s imperative that the community have an active civic association,” said Tshaka, acting president who has headed the Bayside Clear-Spring Council since 1976.
The group was founded in 1971 by a diverse group of Baysiders and represents the area between Francis Lewis, Springfield and Northern boulevards and Rocky Hill Road.
At its height, the Bayside Clear-Spring Council counted 200 members. Among the group’s accomplishments were the renovation of MS 158’s playground, getting rid of a Sanitation Department garage on Bell Boulevard, stopping the road testing of cars from Northern Boulevard dealerships on local streets and clearing the neighborhood of drugs.
“I saw the area, this area as a wilderness,” said Tshaka, recalling what he said was neglect by the city in maintaining the neighborhood. He is also a member of Community Board 11.
The group stopped meeting regularly around 1999, when Tshaka contends shoddy work was performed in a street reconstruction project.
“If they didn’t come out then, they weren’t going to come out at all,” said Tshaka. “You’ll find that in communities — there’s apathy.”
Meanwhile, Tshaka said he was able to accomplish things on his own like getting a speed bump on 46th Avenue near MS 158 and getting a traffic light on Oceania Street and 48th Avenue.
“I kept things going like a one-man show,” he said, but the 72-year-old wanted to make sure the show would go on “if something were to happen to me healthwise or agewise.”
The organization’s steering committee has been meeting to come up with bylaws and a board of directors. The civic group will also hold elections of officers next month, with Tshaka a candidate for the last time, he said.
Tshaka said the latest group is “a cross-section of God’s humanity. You have from African Americans, Koreans, Europeans and everything in between.”
New issues include community facilities, car accidents on 46th Avenue, poor upkeep of homes on Oceania Street and the use of basements as living space.
“It has been a course of broken bones and blood,” said Tshaka. “I’ve been rebuked and I’ve been scorned, but we kept on trucking.”
To join the civic group, call (718) 224-2357.
Reach reporter Ayala Ben-Yehuda by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 146.
