For a decade or more of service, Community Board 10 (CB 10) honored four volunteers at its most recent meeting, on Thursday, September 2.
Peter Granickas and James Caruso have been committed CB 10 members for 10 years, while Joy Patron and Rosemarie Ferrara are 20-year members.
And the board gave a special “welcome back” to Sean McCabe, who recently returned from his second tour of duty.
What seemed first and foremost on the board’s minds, however, was Aqueduct.
“After all those years of saying that something’s going to happen at Aqueduct, we’re the closest we’ve ever been,” said Assemblymember Audrey Pheffer. “I’m sure there are going to be different issues we’ll have to deal with, but Genting is a stable group.”
She continued, “The whole goal of bringing in slots and VLTs [Video Lottery Terminals] was to stabilize racing, an industry New York needs. We believe in horse racing, we believe in Aqueduct. We will certainly make money and hopefully the community will benefit.”
Agenda items the board voted on included a zoning and parking variance for the Bethany House of Worship, located at 130-34 Hawtree Creek Road. The variance is needed to accommodate a growing congregation, but, among those opposed were Richmond Hill South Civic Association president Margaret Finnerty.
After the board voted in opposition, CB 10 chair Betty Braton explained, “You need to reconcile the needs of Bethany with the needs of the community and adjacent property owners.”
Another motion that failed was the request by the Department of Transportation (DOT) to convert 106th Street to a one-way southbound between Rockaway Boulevard and Sutter Avenue and 107th Street one-way northbound. After the vote, Braton told those in attendance that the board would revisit the issue if they were to get petitions.
Also voted on was the installation of speed humps on 93rd Street between Sutter and 103rd Avenues, which is approximately four blocks. This motion failed as well.
Braton then thanked the ad-hoc committee for their recommendations to traffic changes to Liberty Avenue. “I really don’t think the DOT listened,” she said. However, they did take the recommendations into consideration, and changed the plans for the two westbound lanes on Rockaway Boulevard from Baisley Boulevard to 104th Street.
As for another project — the Catholic Charities Progress of Peoples Development Corporation purchase and development of the three-acre Bernard Fineson Developmental Disabilities Senior Office site into low- and moderate-income senior housing – Braton explained that it has been delayed due to problems securing funding.
“We are trying to work with them on securing funding to make the project move a little faster,” she said.
But safety improvement projects to P.S. 96 on Rockaway Boulevard and P.S. 108 on 109th Avenue and 108th Street are moving ahead. And, following a letter by City Councilmember Eric Ulrich to the City Planning Commission, they will look into the rezoning of Ozone Park.
Work has begun on Addabbo Playground; the Walter Ward Playground in Howard beach has been redone, and Southern Fields are complete as well, according to board member Frank Dardani.
In other area improvements, the DOT will install traffic signals at 111th Avenue and 127th, 128th and 139th Streets; and the Department of Environmental Protection will do sewer extensions at 117th Road between 132nd and 133rd Streets.
