Board 2 Re-Elects All Officers, Approves Garage
BY THOMAS COGAN

The November Community Board 2 meeting was comparatively brief. Of the three public hearing matters, none generated controversy, and all incumbents were returned in the board's election. Committee reports were few, since several of the committee heads were absent. There was further news on the summer power outage and on various developments in Long Island City.

An attorney spoke for Arris Lofts in the matter of ULURP 050493ZSQ, a 200-space public parking lot, to be built in the cellar of a luxury apartment building. Arris Lofts, 45-31 Court Square, is a conversion of an old industrial building across the street from the courthouse in Long Island City. It was once the home of Zeese Wilkinson, a printer, and afterward was one of the dozen or so Eagle Electric factories in Hunters Point. Eagle Electric's battleship gray paint has been replaced by notably lighter covering, and when the new residential building opens soon, it will have 236 apartments, most of which have already been bought. The residential entrance will be on Thomson Avenue, above the garage. There was no discussion about the garage by any board members, and the plan was approved unanimously.

The late Joseph Imparato was a community activist and restaurateur in Long Island City, at one time owner of Joe Im's, which later became the Jackson Avenue Steakhouse. His wife, Marie Imparato, was cheered on by a group of his old neighbors in calling for naming the northwest corner of Vernon Boulevard and 47th Avenue Joe Imparato Way. The board approved the plan unanimously.

The Waterfront Crabhouse, 2-03 Borden Ave., has long been popular despite its not being in a residential area. That situation is changing, and, no doubt anticipating the closer proximity of residences, the restaurant has applied to the Department of Consumer Affairs for permission to add an enclosed sidewalk café with 14 tables, each having two seats. The board thought it a fine idea, and gave the plan unanimous approval.

All board officers were renominated and reelected, so the board for 2005-06 will look the same in 2006-07. Joseph Conley is chairman; Steve Cooper, first vice chairman; Patrick O'Brien, second vice chairman; Lisa Deller, secretary, and Diane Ballek, treasurer.

Matthew Gorton, Queens director of the Mayor's Community Assistance Unit, was at the meeting, continuing to expand his presence at community events. Conley said he got in contact with Gorton to complain about how those involved in the Queens West project on the bank of the East River disdained contact with such community figures as himself because the project is state-run. Gorton was able to get the mayor interested in the community's isolation and, Conley said, since then communication between Board 2 and Queens West has improved greatly. Gorton was at the meeting mainly to talk about what is being done to prevent another power outage in Western Queens or elsewhere. More feeder cables are coming, he said, but Richard Gundlach, a board member, said the fragile infrastructure that provided all the trouble in July would be tested harder than ever with the great influx of new residents. Gorton also said the city would be taking a greater part in determining the extent of future outages when they happen, not leaving it entirely to Con Edison. As was revealed in the summer, Con Ed could appear clueless when estimating how many residents were affected by an outage incident. And as had some others before him, Conley said that in the matter of compensation, greater attention had to be paid to nonfood businesses that were harmed during the outage, for instance, those that were dependent on electricity to run their office machines and were thus liable to lose money when the power failed.

Conley reported that on the same day as the community board meeting, Congressmember Carolyn Maloney had held a meeting on Queensboro Plaza to mark the allocation of $18 million she had secured for the immediate improvement of the plaza. Green spaces, bicycle paths, an attempt at a facelift on the plaza's street level-all these will be worked on, beginning in 2007, with a completion date of 2009 foreseen.