By Nathan Duke
Gianaris, who has hosted the event for five years, was joined by Queens Borough President Helen Marshall, U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner (D- Forest Hills), state Sen. George Onorato (D-Long Island City), Councilmen Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Astoria) and Eric Gioia (D-Sunnyside), Queens City Planning Director John Young, representatives from a number of city agencies, including the Departments of Parks, Buildings and Sanitation and the 114th Precinct, and about 200 residents.Key topics of discussion included accused sex offender Peter Belegrinos, who skipped a court hearing last week and is currently being sought by police; cell phone towers in Astoria and Long Island City; the chances for reinstatement of the death penalty in New York state; road and infrastructure improvements in Queens; the coordination of traffic lights in the borough; and Astoria hookah bars.Gianaris said the meeting is an important annual event in Astoria because it enables residents to voice their concerns and ask elected officials and city agencies questions on the spot.”It gives people the chance to have a face-to-face with the people they have working for them,” he said. “We've been doing it for several years and it always gets good attendance and reactions. People leave pleased that they got their questions answered.”Weiner made a special appearance to address resident concerns about recent water main breaks and questions on the stability of Queens' infrastructure. He announced that $1.4 million will be included in this year's transportation bill for street and road infrastructure improvements.Most of residents' questions concerned safety issues, including the police search for accused Astoria child molester Peter Belegrinos, who skipped a court date last week after posting $50,000 bail. Belegrinos allegedly punched a 9-year-old girl in the face near Astoria Park and molested her in August 2005, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said.Vallone criticized the court decision to release Belegrinos on bail. “The Peter Belegrinos case is an outright travesty of justice,” he said. “What we can do to protect our kids is make sure anyone who gets a first (sex) offense gets 25 to life and a second offender gets life,” he said.Gianaris said city and state officials have pushed to extend Megan's Law, which requires extensive information to be made public on sex offenders, and Jessica's Law, which mandates longer prison sentences for sexual predators, respectively.Residents also voiced concern about the placement of cellular towers in the area. Donald Ranshte, of the Department of Buildings, said the department's Web site lists where antennas are allowed to be placed in the city and that antennas can only take up 5 percent of a rooftop.”The important lesson here is you cannot rely on a cell phone company to worry about you,” Gioia said. “We need to hold these companies' feet to the fire.”Elected officials also said they have been cracking down on the construction of power plants in Astoria, graffiti artists and ExxonMobil for their part in a half-century old oil spill in Newtown Creek.Residents also expressed concern about borough traffic signals, complaining that a number of major roads in Queens have poorly coordinated traffic lights. Constance Moran, of the Department of Transportation, said the department is trying to upgrade lights on a number of major streets in the borough, such as Queens Boulevard, Northern Boulevard and Francis Lewis Boulevard.Reach reporter Nathan Duke by email at news@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 156.
