Women’s center settles in Bayside

A steady stream of elected officials, community activists and well-wishers made their way to the official celebration for the Center for the Women of New York recently, after the group struck a deal with the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation (DOPR) to establish a permanent home at Fort Totten in Bayside.
The afternoon-long reception, on Friday, December 14, was held in the basement of the interdenominational chapel of the historic fort, within sight of the former Bachelor Officer’s Quarters at 205 Totten Avenue, which will undergo $1.5 million in renovations and improvements, including a $300,000 elevator.
“We’re starting from the bottom again,” quipped Ann Jawin, founder of the group. “It’s taken us five years to hammer out an agreement with (DOPR) and it better not take another five years to finish.”
Assemblymember Ann-Margaret Carrozza, a longtime supporter of Jawin’s efforts, who has come up with $75,000 for the elevator, in addition to other funding, said she was “thrilled” with the deal.
“Now we can go forward with the next round of development and fundraising,” Carrozza said.
Jawin expressed impatience with pace of converting the run-down nearly century-old structure, which has asbestos and lead in the paint and plumbing. “I know they have to fix all of that,” she said, adding, “the building was deteriorating for the whole five years we’ve been dickering about it.”
Five years ago, Jawin’s group, then called the Queens Women’s Center, lost a protracted dispute with the New York City Fire Department (FDNY) and had to vacate a building in the part of the fort ceded to the FDNY, which it had already renovated.
In the intervening time, they have been conducting their activities out of room 325 in Borough Hall at 120-55 Queens Boulevard in Kew Gardens. Jawin said that they would continue to use that space to deliver some of their services, as the location is convenient for much of the borough.
“Some people say that Fort Totten is not accessible enough,” Jawin observed. “Well, Borough Hall isn’t that easy to get to for a lot of women in Queens, and this location has tremendous advantages, including its beauty.”
In order to qualify for space in the DOPR area, the center had to add to its activities, and will include, for example, classes on yoga or recognizing trees and their diseases to clinics on money management, legal problems or job readiness.
“What’s important is that we will have the space to become a think tank for women’s issues and a strong advocate for them,” Jawin said.