Cmte. Considers Liquor License Moratorium
Community Board 9 is considering a moratorium on new liquor licenses, the head of its Public Safety Committee revealed at the advisory body’s Tuesday, May 9 meeting in Kew Gardens.
Jim Coccovillo told the crowd at The Center at Maple Grove Cemetery that “if you look down Jamaica Avenue especially and even our other avenues, you can’t go a block without seeing three or four liquor licenses.”
“It’s just getting totally saturated,” he explained.
Board 9 will also be looking in depth at similar moratoriums and limits put in place by other community boards throughout the city.
Coccovillo did add that the committee will look to distinguish between businesses that cam benefit the community from a standard bar.
Koslowitz, Meng, Mooney
“The mayor is going for our children,” City Council Member Karen Koslowitz told Board 9, claiming that Beacon programs are being targeted for closure by ZIP code, a process she called “discrimination.”
“It’s going to be a tough budget this year; I thought it was going to be a little easier but it’s not,” she said.
Like many other City Council members, Koslowitz has secured money for surveillance cameras in her district, with a focus on Jamaica Avenue and 123rd Street.
Koslowitz also introduced Assemblywoman Grace Meng, who is running for the new Sixth Congressional District seat, and expounded on state legislation she is championing that would give law enforce- ment greater enforcement powers over boarding houses and require that all signage have dual-language information.
She also told the crowd that she supports the city having its own liquor authority.
Kate Mooney, representing City Council Member Elizabeth Crowley (who is also running for the Sixth District seat) told the crowd that the lawmaker is pushing a bill that would increase penalties for leaving the scene of an accident.
Committee reports
Board member Evelyn Baron informed the crowd that the city has been installing new fire hydrants but have not removed older hydrants.
While the old hydrants will be removed once the new ones are activated, drivers can still receive tickets for parking by a dead hydrant.
Baron, who chairs Board 9’s Health Committee, informed the crowd that New York Hospital Queens in Flushing is looking to take advantage of a grant that would expand emergency room beds.
The advisory body will be sending a letter in support of the plan, said Baron, who said that “whatever beds we can get into Queens can be great.”
Seth Wellins, who chairs Board 9’s Education Committee, noted that structural conditions at P.S. 54 are deteriorating, and the committee is drafting a letter to the School Construction Authority asking the agency to address the issues “much more quickly than they are being dealt with, or not being dealt with as the case may be.”
Parks Committee Chairperson J. Richard Smith lamented that the city plans to install 82 trees in Board 9- and only 11 in Woodhaven-compared to 50 trees recently planted in one day along Coney Island Avenue in Brooklyn.
“I think we’re a little short in the number of trees that we’re owed,” he told the board.
Votes and non-votes
Board 9 approved liquor licenses for Arising Banquet Catering Hall (d.b.a. Kerryel Banquet Hall) at 127- 07 94th Ave., and for Bicheiro’s Café, at 105-05 Jamaica Ave., both in Richmond Hill.
Although Bicheiro’s received a summons for serving alcohol to minors in January 2011, Coccovillo called it “an isolated incident” and added that the summons goes not to the bar but to the individual bartender.
A public hearing on three speed humps-on 80th Street between Park Lane South and Jamaica Avenue; 98th Street from Jamaica Avenue to Park Lane South; and on 94th Street from 89th Avenue to Jamaica Avenue- was postponed to June.
One resident came with a 98-signature petition calling on Board 9 to support the 98th Street speed humb, claiming that mirrors of parked cars have been smashed by oncoming traffic. Ed Wendell of the Woodhaven Residents Block Association also announced that the civic group is in favor of all three humps.
A request for a Board of Standards and Appeals (BSA) variance and an extension of the time limit to gain at certificate of occupancy at 89- 15 Rockaway Blvd. was also tabled until next month.
“We wanted to make sure that the people who are in the vicinity of the BSA get the notification” that the item is being considered, said Sylvia Hack, who heads the Land Use Committee.
Other news
Capt. Martin Briffa, the executive officer of the 102nd Precinct, announced that the command is getting 14 new officers, which will be spilt among various neighborhoods.
He added that the 102nd is among the top three precincts in crime reduction so far this year.
Vishnu Mahadeo of the Richmond Hill Economic Development Council asked Board 9 to examine congestion along Atlantic Avenue near the Van Wyck Expressway.
In her report to Board 9, Chairperson Andrea Crawford addressed the recent sentencing of former Jamaica Hospital CEO David Rosen to three years in prison as part of a scheme to bribe public officials.
“Hopefully his time will be done gently,” she stated, pointing to Rosen’s advanced age (he is 64) and Board 9’s positive relationship with the hospital.
Jennifer Manley of the Queens Library asked Board 9 to support the library in battling back against a 31- percent budget reduction.
“If this comes to pass, the library as you know it will not exist,” she stated, as most branches would only be open two days a week, and 18 branches would be in danger of closing altogether.
Residents who want more information cal visit www.savequeenslibrary.org.
Community Board 9 usually meets on the second Tuesday of every month at various locations within its confines. Call 1-718-286-2686 for more information.
