Board 2 Hears Of Progress At Queens West
By Thomas Cogan

Progress with the Pepsi-Cola site is moving along despite the unanticipated need to clear away ground pollution first accumulated well over a century ago, in the post-Civil War era.

Alex Federbush, president of Queens West Development Corporation, spoke for a few minutes before the December meeting of Community Board 2, bringing attendees up to date on the huge building projects that are currently taking place, and which will continue to develop for some time to come, beside the East River in Long Island City. Other ongoing issues were covered too, among them the sound baffle (or lack of it) on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway in Woodside; the meeting the board had sought with Amanda Burden of the Department of City Planning; a Planning report on obligations incurred by Citibank when it built its tower on Jackson Avenue and how the status of those obligations has evolved, and the votes on building applications by two Woodside restaurants.

Federbush described all the building projects in progress along the river, particularly on the north end. He began with the Pepsi-Cola site, which is moving along despite the unanticipated need to clear away ground pollution first accumulated well over a century ago, in the post-Civil War era. The first of seven buildings at the Pepsi site is topped out and another one will be started in February. He said that a great deal of testing and what he called “remediating” has taken place. A great deal of dirt has been dug up, with temporarily unpleasant effects in the neighboring residential areas, and builders have been constrained to cover such clearance activities with tenting to prevent air pollution, but significant building has been done anyway, though much remains to be done.

Board 2 Chairman Joseph Conley (who later said that the community board was instrumental in making the builders do their pollution clearance under tenting) asked how much affordable housing is in the works. Federbush cited senior housing provided by the New York Foundation for Seniors, due to open in the spring, as affordable, and efforts won’t end there. He was immediately asked the meaning of “affordable” and replied that he adheres to federal Housing and Urban Development guidelines in the matter. One board member said that early plans to construct a lot of commercial space seem to have given way to an emphasis on residential building. Board Vice Chairman Steve Cooper said that two million square feet of office space was to be built along the river but that figure has been cut back radically. Federbush said that in the grand building scheme unfolding in the Hunters Point area, the Queensboro Plaza business district might wind up containing between five and six million square feet of new office space. But if residential building is to be so extensive, what school space will be created, Federbush was asked. He said that there is a school in the City Lights building now and a middle school is to be part of one of the Rockrose buildings. A third school is a possibility, he said, though where it might be built wasn’t suggested. He promised a lot about park and recreational land: an athletic field with artificial turf is being built on 5th Street, and total parkland is expected to add up to 25 acres when all has been built. What about shopping, beginning with a supermarket, another board member asked; he said that Rockrose intends to provide 30,000 feet of shopping space. As for parking, he is going by the formula of one parking space for every two apartments, provided in both surface areas and garages.

Conley announced that during the week, Congressmember Joseph Crowley, Assemblymember Margaret Markey and City Councilmember Eric Gioia announced jointly that they had secured funds for construction of sound baffles on the south side of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway in Woodside. Whether or not this will provide a happy ending for Woodside residents assailed by the constant noise of BQE traffic remains to be seen, since the New York State Department of Transportation has said that its reconstruction plans for that segment of the highway are set and probably cannot be altered for the construction of sound baffles. The situation may eventually be set right, and Conley said that congratulations should be extended to activists who insisted the baffles be installed.

He also said that board officers at last had a meeting with Amanda Burden of City Planning, who said this coming January 23 remains the certification date for the Woodside/Maspeth zoning study. He said he has grown so impatient about the time that has been taken on this report that he is ready to waive the 60-day period allowed communities after the certification date to study and possibly make alterations to such plans.

The regular City Planning report was delivered to the meeting by Penny Lee, who related how Citicorp, when it built the Citibank Tower on Jackson Avenue some 20 years ago, came under several obligations: one, to provide a link eventually between the Court Square subway station and the 45th Road elevated station, and two, to fund renovation of park space in the Court Square area and in front of the courthouse. Concerning the latter, the Parks Department went ahead with renovations several years ago and then waited for funding to come from Citi. That funding, $600,000, did not materialize until quite recently and did not include any interest that might have accumulated during the delay, since Citi did not believe it was required to pay such interest. In the case of the subway link, the passing decades have altered the terms of the obligation. These days, train traffic is entirely different in one of the stations, Court Square, and a third station, at 23rd Street/Ely Avenue, has been brought into the picture. These days also, Citi is confronted, as it wasn’t in the mid-1980s, by the Americans with Disabilities Act. The station transfer device, an elevator in all likelihood, must be built with the handicapped in mind. As now proposed, the elevator would deliver its passengers, handicapped or not, to the Queens-bound platform of the 45th Road station, not merely to the mezzanine level. Handicapped persons needing the Manhattan-bound platform would have to proceed to 61St Street-Woodside to find the next station with an elevator that would allow them to make the transfer. In addition, the elevator shaft, placed on the street below the 45th Road station, would present an impediment on the narrow sidewalk, Lee said. Much remains to be figured out.

The board took votes on applications for alterations by two Woodside establishments, Woodside Bagel and the restaurant El Agave, each of which has been the subject of complaints in recent months. Any dissatisfaction with Woodside Bagel, 57-20 Woodside Ave. (at Roosevelt), which sought renewal of an enclosed sidewalk café, with eight tables and 23 seats, was not apparent, however, as its application was renewed unanimously. El Agave, 62-10 Roosevelt Ave., which is seeking a variance to permit the addition of a dance floor and stage, was another matter. At the November meeting, several instances of legal trouble were aired, particularly an instance concerning a drug raid by police in June. At that time, 18 summonses were issued. All were later dismissed by a criminal court judge, whose action raised angry commentary last month. The restaurant’s principals, Apolonio Ramirez and his daughter, Vanessa, were back in December, along with their attorney, Carol Rosenthal. The lawyer said that El Agave no longer grants short-term rentals, such as the one that led to the drug bust in June; that identity checks and age verification are now stringently enforced to prevent repetition of a sale-to-minors incident, such as occurred in October; that there is a dress code; and that there is a security guard present after 8 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays. The restaurant was, so to speak, on probation with the authorities, and could have its liquor license suspended for a year if another violation occurred. Two lawyers on the board, Cooper and Patrick O’Brien, expressed skepticism, O’Brien declaring that approval of the application could put restaurant and board on a “slippery slope.” He said the motion should limit approval of the variance to two years, at which time it can be reviewed again. Cooper noted Rosenthal’s statement that the dance floor could be installed but couldn’t be used until El Agave got a cabaret license. He told the board that the vote was immediately about the dance floor but ultimately about the cabaret license. He recommended that if board members had any doubts about the license, they should vote down the dance floor application. When the vote was taken, most of the skeptics put their confidence in the restaurant. The final tally was 26 in favor, two against, with one abstention.

The public forum segment of the meeting firmly established one fact, that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is utterly exempt of responsibility for the appearance of its property. Community activist Jim Condes said he had received a letter from the MTA stating this, written in a manner bordering on arrogance. Conley affirmed that report, saying that two MTA agencies, the Long Island Rail Road and Amtrak, bear no responsibility for the appearance of such property as the areas under the trestles at 56th and 58th Streets along 39th Avenue in Woodside. He added that the city and state might yet confer to work out an agreement on cleanup.

Conley did have a good word for Citicorp, though. He said that when Citi started a local grants program in Long Island City, initial plans were for the program to last five years. Repeated extensions of the plan have run it out to 16 years at present, with $550,000 thus far granted. Conley called this good citizenship.