Sunnyside has its cameras on you

Last week, politicians and community leaders were on hand to unveil a dozen surveillance cameras recently installed along Queens Boulevard in Sunnyside.
The equipment, aimed at making a generally safe area even safer, dot the boulevard at 40th, 43rd, and 46th Streets.
“The addition of security cameras on these three key blocks will make the streets of Sunnyside safer by being a twenty-four seven presence to curtail crime,” said Congressman Joseph Crowley, who helped to secure the $75,000 in federal funds for the cameras.
“These monies . . . will enable the community to crack down on graffiti, improve the streetscape and keep the sidewalks clean, making our community stronger. These enhancements will improve the experience for people shopping and dining in Sunnyside, and upgrade the quality of life . . .”
And most of those residents, including Sunnyside Chamber of Commerce board member Lily Gavin (owner of Dazies Restaurant on 39th Avenue and Queens Boulevard) see the cameras as crime deterrents and not as an invasion of privacy. “We had an incident in the area that if we had the cameras sooner, we might have caught the perpetrator,” she said.
Crowley explained that surveillance tapes will only be sent to the 108th Precinct if a crime is committed.
“The cameras are a key component of the Chamber’s security plan, developed at the request of the merchants,” said John Vogt, President of the Sunnyside Chamber of Commerce. “They are not meant to nor will they invade peoples’ privacy in any way, but they will help insure the safety and comfort of the people who shop, visit, live and work in Sunnyside.”
According to Vogt, the 12 cameras are part of a larger plan to expand the surveillance project to other areas of Sunnyside.