Goldfeder Questions Infrastructure
With big changes planned for South Queens, Assemblyman Philip Goldfeder spoke out on the proposed convention center for South Ozone Park at Community Board 9′s Jan. 10 meeting at Punjabi Palace in Richmond Hill.
“I’m cautiously optimistic” about the plan to build the convention center near Aqueduct Racetrack, Goldfeder told the crowd. “It’s got to be done appropriately; it’s got to be done right.”
While he noted the large potential investment in the area, he worried about the influx of people coming to the convention center.
“Infrastructure in Queens is severely, severely lacking,” Goldfeder warned; however, the influx of cash to arrive with the center could be”a great opportunity to increase our infrastructure.”
Board 9 Chairperson Andrea Crawford also panned the proposed center, accusing the state of “springing on the community” with the plan and pointing out that convention centers nationwide are losing money.
“Who’s going to pick up the tab when 2 million square feet of [space] is no longer profitabe and the state is asked to pick it up?” she asked. “Let’s keep it transparent, which it has not been up to this point.”
Street change vote postponed
Although a vote on whether to change to change the direction of several streets in Board 9, several residents made sure to make their feelings on the subject known.
The proposals include the conversion of 89th Avenue from Woodhaven Boulevard to 97th Street from a two-way street to a one-way eastbound street and 84th Street from Liberty to Atlantic Avenue from a northbound one-way to a southbound one-way
Diane Yodice, a 30-year resident of Woodhaven, decried the plan, claiming that it would force residents of the area to travel all the way to 76th Street-on the Brooklyn side of the border-to travel northbound.
According to Yodice, “84th Street is our only one-way direct street running northbound on [the east] side of Woodhaven Boulevard.”
In addition, if 89th Avenue is converted, the combination will divert traffic to 91st Avenue
“I don’t even know how I would get home,” she told Board 9.
A public hearing on the proposal will be held on Feb. 1 at St. Elizabeth’s Lower Church (84th Street and Atlantic Avenue in Woodhaven); Crawford would later say that the Department of Transportation’s Maura McCarthy and City Council Member Eric Ulrich were “really going out of their way” to set up the town hall.
Crime update
Capt. Martin Briffa, the executive officer of the 102nd Precinct, told the crowd that the area finished 2011 with a decrease in crime for the eighth consecutive year, and that the precinct was off to a “pretty good” start in 2012.
In response to a question from Board 9’s Ivan Mrakovcic, he noted that there had been no noticeable uptick in drug crime, but warned that “it’s always been here.”
Briffa also noted that the 102nd Precinct must wait until the current group of IMPACT officers in the borough is moved to other precincts before there is a possibility that some of them could be added to the precinct’s forces.
Alcopops
Avia Grasso of the city Department of Health delivered a presentation on “alcopops,” or alcoholic beverages created with malt and sugars which the city claims are designed and advertised in the same vein as sodas or energy drinks.
Calling it “a significant problem you shouldn’t ignore,” Grasso noted that one-third of city high school students do, and half of those have had over five drinks in one sitting in the past 30 days.
One-half of all city high school students started drinking before the age of 14, and those students are five times more likely to abuse or become dependent on alcohol.
The city hopes to reduce those numbers by curbing the advertising of alcoholic beverages such as “alcopops” which are marketed to a younger crowd. Grasso noted that in some cases, store owners may sell an “alcopop” to minors without realizing that the beverages are alcoholic.
To counter these problems, the city plans to propose that such drinks be sold in the same manner as wines and liquors as opposed to beer and wine coolers. A state law would be needed to accomplish this.
Licenses
Royal Indian Palace and Restaurant, located at 118-08 Atlantic Ave. in Richmond Hill, and AMD Restaurant Corp. (d.b.a. Port O Call), located at 93-10 Woodhaven Blvd. in Woodhaven received Board 9’s endorsement for on-premises liquor license renewals.
Board 9 voted against an onpremises liquor license for El Rio Bar Corp., at 131-15 Jamaica Ave. in Richmond Hill, an on-premises license renewal for De River (d.b.a. Moca Night Club & Lounge), located at 130-35 91st Ave. in Richmond Hill and Gulnaz Enterprises (d.b.a. GM Grocery), at 125-06 84th Rd. in Kew Gardens, and an off-premises license for Khan’s 7 Star Grocery Inc., at 95- 67 112th St. in Richmond Hill.
Jim Coccovillo, who co-chairs the Consumer Affairs Committee, said that the decision by the committee to recommend the denial of the license for Gulnaz Enterprises stemmed from what he believed was an error in the application, as grocery stores must apply for off-premises licenses.
“Our job has become more and more complicated,” he noted. “We’re not here to do the establishment’s job to make sure they fill out the proper papers.”
