Graffiti, Parking Discussed At Sunnyside Chamber Meeting
BY THOMAS COGAN

Photos Luke Adams Speakers and guests at the May Sunnyside Chamber of Commerce luncheon (l. to r.) were: Roy Yearwood, deputy traffic manager, Queens North Parking Enforcement; Matthew Gorton of the mayor's Community Assistance Unit; John Vogt, president, Sunnyside Chamber of Commerce; Juan Toro, new public affairs officer of the 108th Police Precinct, and Lily Gavin, owner of Dazies.

Matthew Gorton of the Mayor's Community Assistance Unit (CAU) and Roy Yearwood, deputy traffic manager of the New York City Police Department Patrol Borough Queens North Parking Enforcement, spoke at the May luncheon of the Sunnyside Chamber of Commerce, at Dazies Restaurant on Queens Boulevard. They described their work and took a few complaints about bothersome sidewalk displays, illegal trash dumping and matters pertaining to traffic enforcement.

Gorton told the luncheon attendees that he was raised and currently lives in Glendale. He has been a member of Mayor Michael

Bloomberg's administration since February. His

job, he said, has two official functions: quality of life (which includes graffiti removal) and street permits. The biggest issues that he hears about, he said, are overdevelopment and graffiti. When he asked if anyone had any questions, Dolores Rizzotto had an additional issue to bring up: zero tolerance for sidewalk displays in front of shops. Such displays have been successfully banned along such shopping thoroughfares as Steinway Street in Astoria, she said, but in Sunnyside on Greenpoint Avenue, attempts to prohibit them have been flouted by several local merchants. Rizzotto said she complained to the mayor's office about it in her capacity as district manager of Community Board 2, and received no reply. By nudging Gorton as she did, she was perhaps hoping to get a reply, and action toward removing those sidewalk displays, before she retires from her position at the end of June. Patricia Hust of the John Vincent Daniels Jr. Post 2813 of the Veterans of Foreign Wars complained about the condition of John Vincent Daniels Jr. Square, beneath the 52nd Street/Lincoln Avenue station of the No. 7 elevated train line, saying it is despoiled by bird droppings, mainly from pigeons; she added that the triangular John Downing Park, just across 43rd Avenue from Daniels Square, is in sad shape and also needs Parks Department attention. She capped it all by saying that the trash baskets around Daniels Square are merely receptacles for household garbage that local lawbreakers dump there. John Vogt, president of the Sunnyside Chamber, told her that if she reports somebody engaging in illegal dumping and it leads to an arrest and fine, she could earn a cut of that penalty.

Members of the John Vincent Daniels Jr. Post, Veterans of Foreign Wars, and others at the May luncheon of the Sunnyside Chamber of Commerce. (L. to r.) standing: Regis Quirin and Tony Lombardo of the VFW; Marie Konecko; Matthew Gorton, of the mayor's Community Assistance Unit; Lily Gavin, owner of Dazies, and George Custance, VFW; seated: Patricia and Arthur Hust, VFW.

Roy Yearwood told the luncheon audience that he began at the traffic enforcement office of the Department of Transportation 27 years ago and became a member of the police force when the Police Department absorbed the office in 1996. He said it is much better run now and described himself as proud to be with the NYPD. He expressed pride in the way New York handles its traffic problems, and said he couldn't believe the job was being done better anywhere else in the world. Others were critical, however; Rizzotto said that truck traffic enforcement is often lax, if the 48th Street exit on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway is any example. She said that well-posted instructions for drivers using that exit are ignored as inconvenient and are not likely to be enforced. She said that when she questioned the DOT about lax enforcement, she was told, "It's on an available basis." Vogt said that when the new stadium for the Mets is being erected some time in the next three years, the current Shea Stadium parking lot, used all year round as a commuters' parking lot, will be unavailable, worsening the commuting condition; though Rizzotto said that empty space in the Sunnyside Yards might be used. Gerry Lederman, former Sunnyside Chamber president, asked how much parking fines contribute to the city's coffers each year and Yearwood said $6.5 million or more. Hust of the VFW said she believes a little too much of that is coming from Post 2813; she said that since it moved into its new address at 51-27 Queens Blvd. its members' cars have been ticketed constantly and there's confusion about what the parking authority demands. Yearwood said he would look into the case, and Hust said he could get a good look at it if he attended the dedication ceremony for the new headquarters on Saturday, May 20 at 3 p.m.

Vogt said that the effort to start a Business Improvement District in Sunnyside would get further attention with a meeting at the Sunnyside Senior Center on Monday, May 15. The chamber

welcomed a new member, Omega Medical Healthcare Plaza, at 35-11 Queens Blvd., represented by Melchias Mukendi, M.D.