CB 9 Member Says Riders Use Web To Congregate
A member of Community Board 9 asked police to keep an eye out for crews of motorcyclists who use social media to coordinate at the advisory body’s Tuesday, June 12 meeting at the Majestic Marquis catering hall in Ozone Park.
Board member Sam Esposito asked Police Officers Joseph Martins and Jose Severino of the 102nd Precinct Community Affairs Unit to monitor motorcycle flash mobs that he claimed are being organized via Twitter.
According to Esposito, the last such mob formed at 103rd Avenue between 88th and 90th streets with “over 2,000 motorcyclists” that held up traffic on Woodhaven Boulevard.
Severino told Esposito that the precinct was unaware of this phenomenon, although Martins noted that he saw a group of cyclists in For- est Park last year who headed along Woodhaven Boulevard.
“I’m sitting there by myself in a police car. What am I going to do?” Martins asked. “I’m literally one cop, and there are a thousand motorcycles.”
Currently, the precinct is sixthbest in the city in crime reduction for 2012, according to Severino.
The 102nd Precinct will be monitoring the area during the Fourth of July to thwart any use of fireworks, Martins and Severino told Board 9.
Board 9’s Nick Comaianni asked the officers to patrol portions of Forest Park that have seen fireworks and drag racing for the past two weeks.
J line update
“We’re about 70 percent of the way done” with repainting the overhead J/Z line, Joseph Raskin of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) told Board 9.
The agency hopes to complete the repainting by September 2013, he added.
In addition, the MTA is repairing column bases and steel along the train line.
However, “we have a lot of work to do” on the stations along the line, which largely runs along Jamaica Avenue.
Votes
“It’s speed hump day in Community Board 9,” Chairperson Andrea Crawford remarked, as the body approved four speed hump requests: on 80th Street between Park Lane South and Jamaica Avenue, on 98th Street from Jamaica Avenue to Park Lane South, on 94th Street from 89th Avenue to Jamaica Avenue; and on Austin Street between Lefferts Boulevard and 127th Street.
One resident spoke on the 98th Street hump during the public comment period, that cars parked on the road have been hit by vehicles speeding through the block, and that animals such as cats and raccoons have been killed on the road.
Turning to restaurants and bars, the advisory body voted to approve the liquor license of 84-23 Polleria Inc., at 84-23 Jamaica Ave. in Woodhaven.
However, upon the request of Jim Coccovillo, who heads Board 9’s Public Safety Committee, two liquor license applications sharing the same address-84-23 Jamaica Ave. in Woodhaven-due to multiple applicants at the same address.
On the housing front, Board 9 voted to approve the proposal for a community facility at 88-38 Woodhaven Blvd. in Woodhaven run by HeartShare Human Services.
According to HeartShare’s Linda Tempel, this would be the 10th facility in New York run by the firm.
HeartShare’s Joyce Levin added that the building will be brand-new, featuring two floors and a basement which will contain residences for the developmentally disabled.
There will be 24-hour supervision, and the site will hire workers from the area.
Finally, Board 9 voted to approve a Board of Standards and Appeals variance request for more time to secure a certificate of occupancy at 89- 15 Rockaway Blvd. in Ozone Park.
Other committee reports
A resolution proposed by Education Committee Chairperson Seth Wellins that would support a bill that would make kindergarten classes for all city residents mandatory, due to confusion over whether it would be mandatory for schools to offer or mandatory for children to attend.
A second resolution, which calls for increased communication between the Department of Education and local community boards, was the subject of an argument involving Wellins and Comaianni, who also sits as president of the District 24 Community Education Council. Comaianni claimed that Councils are already the neighborhood’s community liaison.
Eventually, the board voted in favor of the resolution.
In his Parks Committee report, J. Richard Smith stated that he and Joan DeCamp met with several merchants on 101st Avenue and 100th Street- near the abandoned Rockaway Beach train line-regarding the ongoing environmental remediation of the site.
Business owners nearby expressed concerns about soil and air quality at the site.
Crowley
City Council Member Elizabeth Crowley told Board 9 that the rezoning plan for Woodhaven recently approved by the advisory body will be headed to the City Council for a vote in the near future.
She also announced that P.S. 306, at 95-16 89th Ave. in Woodhaven, will begin an afterschool program.
However, the lawmaker told Board 9 that funding for libraries and firehouses are being cut in the proposed city budget. Crowley is fighting to keep the funding.
In response to a question from the board, she noted that each firehouse used to cost the city $1 million to operate, but that because the number of firefighters has decreased citywide, overtime costs have soared. Now, it costs the city an additional $1 million per firehouse to keep them in operation.
“It’s a philosophy thing-it’s stretching agencies or stretching city services as far as you could possibly stretch them,” she said. “At the end of the day, it starts to affect our quality of life, and it’s a problem.”
Other news
Patrick Jenkins of Resorts World New York announced that the South Ozone Park casino has added 250 new jobs, bringing the total number of jobs to 1,750.
In addition, there are new job opportunities listed on the resort’s website, www.rwnewyork.com.
Alexander Schnell, representing Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi, told Board 9 that the lawmaker has been fighting a state Department of Environmental Conservation proposal that would allow developers to “selfaudit” environmental remediations of sites.
According to Schnell, the lawmaker is “not comfortable” with the plan, fearing that it would lead to fewer inspections.
The next meeting of Community Board 9 will take place on Tuesday, July 11 at a location to be announced. Call 1-718-286-2686 for more information.
