Howard Beach GOP club meets

Close to 50 GOP party faithful gathered at the Old Mill Yacht Club on Cross Bay Boulevard, for the March meeting of the Ronald Reagan Republican Club of Howard Beach and they heard a lot of dirty talk - about yards and sidewalks.
Ignazio Terranova, Citywide Community Affairs Officer of the New York City Department of Sanitation (DOS) made a presentation of current DOS rules and guidelines, to help residents avoid tickets and get action from the Department.
The group, which included two Republican candidates for City Council - Eric Ulrich, a party leader for the area, and guest Anthony Como, a candidate in the non-partisan special election for the open Council seat in Maspeth - listened closely and asked pointed questions.
After taking pains to spell out his first name, Terranova (“You can call me ‘Iggy’”) also carefully spelled out the rules that require sidewalk cleaning, including 18 inches out into the street. On the upside, he also explained that under current rules, “dirty sidewalk tickets” could only be issued from 8 to 9 a.m. and 6 to 7 p.m. “If you get one at another time,” he declared, “Check-off ‘not guilty’ and mail it in. It will be dismissed.”
Terranova also illuminated some rule changes and some quirks in they system.
On private property such as building sites, for example, DOS inspectors can only issue summonses for filth that is “visible from the street.” Only the Department of Health [& Mental Hygiene] inspectors can enter private property to inspect dirty premises, he explained.
The rule on private garbage in street-litter baskets is tougher now (they only need to find one addressed item in a bag of household garbage instead of three, to issue a summons.)
Also toughened is the rule on “charity clothing collection” bins, which are all illegal on city land. “They don’t give away the clothing,” Terranova revealed, “They sell it.”
DOS will now put on a warning sticker on outlaw bins which is nearly impossible to remove. “After 30 days, we remove the contents and we do donate the clothing. Then we crush the bin and sell the scrap metal,” he declared.
A particular annoyance in the area is garbage accumulating in the wetlands.
“Unfortunately,” he sighed in response to a demand for action, “It’s federal land and we can’t put a toe on it, even to pick up litter. We were cleaning up a city-owned lot, and they watched like hawks, to be sure that we didn’t go over the line.”
The best way to get action, Terranova explained, is to “Call 3-1-1.” The trick is to get and retain the complaint number which is issued every call. “That’s the start of your paper trail,” he said.
If no action is forthcoming in a timely manner, he said, “You call and give them, or me if it’s (DOS) that number. It’s in the system and nobody can make excuses.”
Terranova was preceded by Staten Island District Attorney Daniel M. Donovan, Jr. who discussed anti-crime and law enforcement issues, and he was followed by good-government advocate Michael Ricatto, who introduced Como to the crowd.
Como pledged to work with, and asked for support from, “my next-door neighbors.”
The final guest speaker was Dolores Maddis, a Rego Park woman whose young niece was murdered by a jilted lover who violated an official order of protection.
She is campaigning for passage of “Erika’s Law,” which would require persons under such court orders to wear electronic devices to keep them at the court-ordered distance. The bill has bi-partisan support in the Legislature. It passed the Senate last June, but died in the Assembly in January. Maddis hopes to revive it.