Housing Issues Are Topic At Dutch Kills Civic Meeting
BY THOMAS COGAN

Barbara Boyle of the Central Astoria Local Development Coalition, an authority on matters of housing and rentals, addressed the October meeting of the Dutch Kills Civic Association, which otherwise was a forum for complaints about some unpleasantness in the neighborhood, news on building projects (and one neglected derelict building) and a reminder of how the community might participate in next month's New York City Marathon.

Boyle, whose column about tenant and landlord relations may be familiar to readers of the Gazette, held the attention of the audience at the school cafeteria of St. Patrick's Church on 28th Street because she is an expert on a topic of interest to most persons in New York. She ran off a stream of facts about rent control and rent stabilization, offered advice about reviewing one's lease (if one has a lease), explained differences between renting in an apartment house and a private home (the latter affecting several listeners who were either tenants or owners) and was informative about several other items of interest, such as rent exemption programs for seniors. She even had a few things to say about bedbugs, which evidently had half her audience worried about them and the other half secretly embarrassed. She said that she is a neutral observer, being an advisor to both tenants and landlords. Anyone in need of advice about housing and living in the city should call 718-204-1056 and she will see what she can do, she said.

There was no report from the 114th Police Precinct because Precinct Commander Inspector Brian McCarthy could not be in attendance, having wrenched his back several weeks before while executing a search warrant. DKCA President Jerry Walsh said he was gratified by the turnout the previous Sunday to dedicate Bob Wilson Way at 36th Avenue and Crescent Street. Wilson, who was Walsh's predecessor as DKCA president, worked in construction, Walsh said, but always maintained in interest in parks. Long afflicted with diabetes, Wilson died in 2003.

The sign denoting Bob Wilson Way is appended to the normal street sign on the northeast corner of 36th Avenue and Crescent, across from Dutch Kills Park. That was a matter of dissatisfaction with Walsh. The Department of Transportation told him that attaching the dedicatory sign to the street sign is standard operating procedure, and the street sign is properly designated for placement on the northeast corner of those crossroads. Walsh said that Dutch Kills really begins on the south side, where the park bearing the neighborhood's name is located. He said that although he appreciated DOT's reasoning, he will try to get that sign, or some sign honoring Bob Wilson, mounted on the south side.

One of the complaints coming from the audience took Walsh by surprise. He said he had never heard about, or smelled, the heavy odor of tar that several people agreed has been a noxious presence on 24th Street between 38th Avenue and Queens Plaza North for several weeks. One man reported that the tar was being mixed in an open lot, in two large vats, and sold to roofers. Another complaint, one that is becoming chronic, concerns the automotive garages on 38th Avenue, between 29th and 32nd Streets. Those complaining have said that when the garages are in operation, cars are parked all over the sidewalks and in the roadway, to the point that not only pedestrians but drivers too are detained or detoured by the garage owners' disregard of them.

Old, unbuilt and proposed buildings also generated interest at the meeting. Walsh was asked if he was aware of an empty building on 29th Street, near St. Patrick's Church, that is a persistent eyesore and a haven for rats. Walsh replied with the address-39-22 29th St.- and said it is city-owned. The city is non-committal about it. The building, a narrow structure four stories high and four windows wide, was apparently an apartment building and is probably about a century old. It is sealed with boards or sheet metal, except for an exposed, and inevitably broken, window on the ground floor. Whether it can be rebuilt or must be pulled down is uncertain, but one man at the meeting said he knows there are people interested in it. Across the street and on the corner, the cleared lot that is rumored to be the site where a 16-story hotel is to be built-the "Holiday Inn site"-is still empty. Reportedly, official papers for the building have not been filed. And on 41st Avenue, the Department of City Planning has designated 18 lots on the north side between Crescent and 23rd Streets for development as three- or four-story buildings. Walsh found this paradoxical: DKCA actually would support building bigger, sixand seven-story buildings there, believing that particular section of Dutch Kills could support structures of such size.

Walsh said that he and many others in the association look forward to early November each year, when a contingent from the neighborhood sets itself up near an approach to the Queensborough Bridge and hands out water to runners who are finishing the Queens phase of the New York City Marathon. He said it's a celebratory event for the local participants and is appreciated by runners, who are headed over the bridge to Manhattan, where they turn north to go through The Bronx before coming back to Manhattan to complete the 26-mile race. This year's Marathon date is Sunday, November 5.