This is how crazy it can get in northeast Queens. Community Board 11 recently voted 32-5 in favor of forcing Bayside High School to take down an electronic LED sign in the front of the building.
Melvyn Meer, chairman of the committee that looked into the issue, declared, “The sign is illegal and should be removed as soon as possible.” The principal agreed to turn off the sign that was paid for with $33,000 raised through school alumni and private donations and take it down as soon as possible.
The sign was used to announce PTA meetings, concerts and other events. Because it was electronic, it was easy to update and read.
Community activist Fran Skala declared, “I think the sign is dangerous. Someone is going to be looking at it instead of the car in front of them and kill a kid.”
To the best of our knowledge, no children were killed or maimed as a result of this “dangerous” sign in the short time it was plugged in.
To be fair, the community board has the law on its side. Illuminated signs are not allowed in residential areas except for hospitals and similar buildings. This raises the question: Are the signs at hospitals also dangerous?
At the same meeting, the board was updated on a “controversial” Korean church under construction in a residential Bayside neighborhood. Anthony Naletilic, speaking for a group trying to block the building of the house of worship, said, “Hopefully, we can put a stop to this out-of-character development.”
First come high school signs, then churches. Before you know it, there goes the neighborhood.
The Gardening Angel of College Point
We are not inspired by every street renaming, but we applaud the City Council’s decision to name an intersection in College Point after the late Betty Pegen. She more than earned the honor.
She served College Point quietly for 75 of her 96 years and was best known for taking care of Poppenhusen Memorial Park.
Said former Councilman Tony Avella, “She was probably one of the brightest examples of volunteerism that I know of .%u2026 Every day, for example, she would go out and clean the area around the monument and put in flowers and things, and this was every day for 50 years. It was incredible.”
