Board 2 Briefed On Conditions Post-Sandy
Rep. Carolyn Maloney and City Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer updated residents on hurricane relief efforts in Western Queens at Community Board 2′s Thursday, Nov. 1 meeting at Sunnyside Community Services.
Maloney told the crowd that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) “is responding beautifully to the crisis before us; of course, no one is perfect.”
Maloney noted that “sporadic” power outages remain throughout the area as of Thursday, and food is also in short supply.
Maloney noted that she had toured the Long Island City area to survey the damage earlier that day.
“I spent a day down there; people are really helping each other,” Mal- oney said, adding that the lack of electricity and cell phone service had hampered some relief efforts.
She announced that Queens County lawmakers will be “united as a delegation” in asking for the maximum amount of federal aid from the government in the wake of the storm.
“Long Island City is a village, and it takes a village to support a village,” said Maloney. “I’ve had an incredibly inspiring day.”
One resident asked Maloney about the state of area hospitals, noting that many Western Queens residents are often taken into Manhattan for emergency care, an arduous task when some East River routes are closed and others are full of traffic.
The lawmaker responded that she is working to help Mount Sinai Queens Hospital in Astoria expand to meet local needs.
“It’s a very good hospital but it’s very overloaded,” she stated.
Van Bramer noted that over 75 reports of downed trees were called into his office as of Thursday. Some trees have been cleared while others are being worked on. Andrews Grove in Long Island City, nicknamed “Shady Park,” lost many trees in the storm but new ones will be replanted, according to the lawmaker.
“Four pretty significant buildings” in Hunters Point still lacked power, as well as others throughout Van Bramer’s district. Several restaurants and bars experienced flooding, including the Waterfront Crabhouse restaurant in Long Island City.
Shelters in the area are taking care of residents but are short on food, blankets and clothes, he noted.
Van Bramer urged the city to help provide shuttle buses for the 7 and F train lines, which were down Thursday; they were restored next week.
In response to a question from the audience, Van Bramer noted that service was first restored between the Flushing-Main Street and 74th Street-Roosevelt Avenue stations; the MTA was working to repair circuitry across the line to allow train cars to travel all the way to Queensboro Plaza. By Tuesday, Nov. 6, service along the line was restored.
When asked about why polling sites in the area were moved around both pre- and post-Hurricane Sandy, Van Bramer answered, “I cannot say, nor would I ever claim to speak on behalf of the Board of Elections.”
Rispoli
Van Bramer noted that no progress has been made in the case of Lou Rispoli, a Sunnyside resident who was murdered in the area on Saturday, Oct. 20.
“We have been working with the 108th Precinct very closely to make sure that the three men who took Lou’s life will be caught,” the lawmaker stated. “We will find who did this to Lou Rispoli.”
A march is being planned to honor the victim.
There were some questions regarding the police’s response to the murder.
“What I will say is that is that I talked to Captain [Donald] Powers relating to this crime, and there are a lot of things that are still unanswered,” he stated. Powers is the 108th Precinct’s commanding officer.
According to Van Bramer, officers responded to the scene quickly at about 2 a.m. on Saturday night (around the time of the incident), but the evidence van did not come until later on Sunday.
“I think it’s a fair question to ask why the evidence van did not show up at 2:30 or 3 o’clock in the morning,” he stated.
Budget priorities
Board 2 approved its capital and expense budget items for the next fiscal year.
According to Chairperson Joseph Conley, a big priority is the establishment of a Beacon school program in the area; Board 2 is the only community board in Queens without one, he claimed.
With the city’s Greenstreets program now under the purview of the Department of Environmental Protection, Board 2 Environmental Committee Chair Dorothy Moorehead urged Board 2 to specify the creation of bioswales as part of their request for Greenstreets. Bioswales are used to collect floodwaters, decreasing the strain on city sewers.
The Times Newsweekly was unable to obtain a final version of the capital and expense priorities as of press time.
Other news
Penny Lee of the Department of City Planning told the crowd that a preliminary study of traffic in the area of Vernon Boulevard and Jackson Avenue is underway.
Conley also stated the Board 2 wants the city Department of Transportation to look at traffic in the area of Skillman Avenue and 48th Street.
Lee noted that the city may revisit the planned design of the Hunters Point South development in an effort to make them more stormproof.
Board 2’s Sheila Lewandowski told Lee that the city should also reevaluate transportation options in Queens West.
Jean Carubia, who heads the board’s Education Committee, noted that Hunters Point residents attending a recent forum on new schools for the area are insisting that the schools be locally zoned, citing the investment the residents made in purchasing homes in the area.
Conley told the Times Newsweekly that the owners of Show Palace, a strip club at 42-50 21st St. in Queens Plaza at that has repeatedly been unsuccessful in obtaining a State Liquor Authority license is preparing to file at Article 78 proceeding, which would be a precursor to a lawsuit against the agency.
Board 2 usually meets on the first Thursday of the month at Sunnyside Community Services, located at 43- 31 39th St.
