By Nathan Duke
District Manager Gary Giordano said the board is considering transforming 78th Road between 80th Street and 83rd Street in Glendale into a one-way westbound street from a two-way street, following a complaint that the road was too narrow for cars to pass one another.”Personally, I can't believe it's still a two-way street,” Giordano said. I can't imagine how two cars could pass each other if vehicles are parked on the street.”Giordano said the board would conduct a study of the road. But Glendale residents near the street said they were opposed to the conversion.”This is such a short stretch of road, which is only used by the residents who live on the road,” said Glendale resident Donald Desmond. “The overwhelming sentiment I have gotten from homeowners is, although they can see the logic of it, they would like for it to stay as it is. We've coped with the situation for the past 75 years and can continue to do so.”Desmond said the conversion could make parking more difficult for residents on the street.Area residents and civic leaders also discussed the continuing fight to save Maspeth's historic St. Savior's Church, which is being developed for apartments by Richmond Hill's Maspeth Development LLC. Juniper Park Civic Association leaders recently said they were notified by neighbors of the property on Dec. 9 that a stop-work order was being violated at the site. Civic leaders said they called the police and went to the site, where they found several workers with axes and crowbars on the property.A spokeswoman for the developer declined to comment.Edward Kampermann, the civic's vice president, read a statement from Lee Principe, of the West Maspeth Local Development Corporation, which called for the securing of the land on which St. Savior's sits and not just the building itself.”We need to mend fences and get on with obtaining this entire piece for our community,” Principe said in the statement. “Remember, once gone it is never to be available for use again by the community. This is a unique piece of land in an area full of working class families, (who are) not serviced by any parks or community centers, which are too far away.”Maspeth's Frank Principe Park is named after Lee Principe's father.Reach reporter Nathan Duke by email at news@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 156.
