Demands Issues With Local Developer
Members of the city’s construction union came to Community Board 2′s Thursday, Apr. 12 meeting at Sunnyside Community Services urging the body to support their call for union labor to be used for Long Island City developments.
Joe Eisman of SEIU 32BJ, the city’s local construction union, returned to Board 2 with several union members to protest non-union workers they claim are being employed by TF Cornerstone, a developer in Long Island City.
The union pressed Board 2 to adopt a resolution put forth by board member Nick Troya condemning any developer who denies workers “industry standard benefits.”
“This development should not proceed on the backs of the workers who maintain the buildings and keep them safe and secure,” the resolution reads. “The undercutting of standards for New York City’s building service workers by Cornerstone or any other developer is the wrong direction for Long Island City.”
“The unions are there to protect the people doing hard work,” said Russ Krokoff, a resident of one of the Long Island City buildings who sympathizes with the workers. “You have my full support, and hopefully CB 2 does too.”
While Board 2 expressed empathy for the workers, they decided after some debate to table the resolution in favor of researching the situation- including talking to TF Cornerstone representatives-and possibly writing up their own statement for next month’s meeting.
“I’m a little uncomfortable about the specificity,” Sheila Lewandowski of Board 2 said, adding that she did not want Board 2 to step into a labor dispute.
A call to TF Cornerstone’s press office was not returned as of press time.
Crime update
“You live in one of the safest communities in the city,” said Terry O’Toole, the executive officer of the 108th Precinct, told the crowd.
However, robberies and burglaries have risen in 2012, along with felony assaults.
O’Toole chalked up the rise in assaults to domestic violence cases. Robberies, meanwhile, are up due to an increase in smartphone, computer tablet thefts.
“You have to protect your property,” warned O’Toole, who suggested preventative measures such as writing down their serial numbers and using the Find my iPhone application.
He would also push the precinct’s crime prevention survey program, in which a member of the precinct will come to a resident’s home and offer suggestions on how to make it more difficult for criminals to break in.
Grand larcenies auto is down significantly (37 this year as opposed to 60 last year).
The city is up four percent in crime in 2012, with robberies and burglaries driving the increase.
The 108th Precinct is also doing well in traffic, due in part to an accident prone location near the approach to the Queensboro Bridge at Queens Plaza having been fixed as part of the area’s renovation.
Finally, he told the crowd that the case of a dead body found at Calvary Cemetery remains under investigation.
UFT states its case
“There is a thirst out there for information,” said Dermot Smyth of the United Federation of Teachers (UFT), who came to Board 2 to provide “our side of the story.”
When Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s third term concludes, he will have spent 12 years-“the entire school career” of a student from first to 12th grade, according to Smyth- at the helm of the city’s school system, yet the city keeps closing schools.
Smyth claimed that the mayor’s time running the schools has been “an abysmal failure.”
As an example, he cited the manner in which the mayor chose Joel Klein (an attorney) and later Cathie Black (a magazine editor) to be chancellors of the country’s largest school system.
Smyth specifically pointed to how he never told his deputy commissioner for schools, Dennis Walcott, of Black’s hiring (Walcott would become chancellor when Black resigned).
According to Smyth, this is proof that “Mayor Bloomberg is calling the shots.”
Smyth also pointed to the mayor’s lack of communication with the public: “He doesn’t consult you on anything.”
He then spoke of how the mayor’s negotiations with the Department of Education on teacher evaluations eventually led to the current move to “turnaround” 26 city schools by closing them down and forcing teachers to reapply for the new schools.
“In this city, in this system, we have some of the greatest teachers in this country,” said Smyth, who noted that the city, not the UFT, is responsible for hiring teachers both good and bad.
Teachers who prove to be unfit can be fired within their first four years. After this, they receive tenure, which means that an administrator must prove that a teacher deserves to lose their position.
“This war on education,” Smyth stated, “has gone on long enough.”
Van Bramer updates locals
City Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer announced that he has introduced a four-piece package legislation to change the way the Board of Standards and Appeals works to prevent the city from having a “rubber stamp to overrule what we in our community believe is best for our neighborhoods.”
He is also continuing to fight to overturn what he called “one of the most reckless decisions the Department of Education has ever made:” the removal of a variance allowing
S. 229 students to take the bus to school as opposed to walking through treacherous intersection at 61st Street and Laurel Hill Boulevard.
Finally, Van Bramer spoke of a move to construct a new public school in Woodside to alleviate overcrowding at P.S. 11.
Jim Condes later spoke out against the proposed school, at 39th Avenue and 58th Street, claiming that the presence of two elementary schools located close by would put undue pressure on the area.
“We’re talking at least 2,000 children and probably much more,” said Condes. “This area of Woodside seems to be the ideal dumping ground since it’s on the fringe of all the elected officials’ districts, and doesn’t get the respect it deserves.”
Meanwhile, local resident Vitold Rak, whose home is located right near the school, told the crowd that “I want to give it the benefit of the doubt,” although he had concerns about noise and light pollution during the school’s construction.
Conley told the crowd that the new school is “a long ways off,” and that public hearings on the proposal will be forthcoming.
Cyclists seek help
Three local cyclists came to Board 2 asking them for help in the wake of a fatal car accident at Greenpoint and Borden avenues in Long Island City.
Yascha Bilan, who commutes from the area to her job as a teacher
Bushwick, called the entrance to the Greenpoint Avenue bridge dangerous for pedestrians, cyclists and drivers alike, and asked Board 2 to look into possible remedies to the situation, including leaving the walk sign on for an additional 30 seconds.
“It’s like playing chicken with the cars,” she said of the crossing, “trying to cross a simple walk sign when have the legal right [to cross]. This happens on a daily basis.”
Nancy Silverman, a professor at LaGuardia Community College, referred to herself as “a safe and sane cyclist.”
“We know too often investigations are rushed,” said Silverman, who asked the crowd to “demand that a full investigation be done” into the bike accident.
O’Toole, in his earlier report, urged riders to continue to “abide by the law” when riding their bikes.
Other news
In his chairperson’s report, Joseph Conley told the crowd that work on the Woodside Business Improvement District, the cleaning of the 52nd Street-Lincoln Street 7 train station and surrounding area, bike racks at stations underneath the 7 train line, and the new Kosciuszko Bridge project are all moving forward.
Constance Brown, Cynthia Williams and Heather Sanders of the Institute for Community Living announced that a medical and dental clinic is now running at the Borden Avenue Veterans Residence, and is open to the public.
According to Brown, the clinic, at 21-10 Borden Ave. has a federal designation that allows them to take in immigrant and uninsured residents.
Williams pointed out that for an resident to visit an emergency room, as opposed to a primary care clinic such as the one ICL has opened, costs taxpayers $1,922.50 per person.
Board 2 voted to approve three outdoor café licenses, for Sean Og, at 60-02 Woodside Ave.; Bucharest, at 43-45 40th St., and Claret Wine Bar, at 46-02 Skillman Ave.
One resident told Board 2 about noxious fumes emanating from a local auto body paint shop operating at 39th Street off Queens Boulevard (near the meeting’s location) that, according to the homeowner, is unnamed and unlicensed.
After 311 complaints led to a visit to the area from the city Department of Environmental Protection, the resident claimed that the shop is attempting to obtain the proper permits.
“If he succeeds, will the problem continue?” she asked. “I’m concerned about the safety of the air that I am breathing, the value of my home, the quality of my life.”
Board 2 will next meet on Thursday, May 3 at Sunnyside Community Services, located at 43-31 39th St.
