Gioia Swears In Dutch Kills Officers, Board Members
BY THOMAS COGAN

As the December meeting of the Dutch Kills Civic Association was called to order last Thursday, DKCA President Jerry Walsh said he didn’t expect City Councilmember Eric Gioia, who was scheduled to swear in the association’s new officers and board to arrive. The ceremony would have to be put off till February 8, the next time the group is to meet.

But the indefatigable Gioia showed up some 20 minutes into the meeting to say that the year coming to a close had been wonderful—both politically, when, among other things, he secured a grant for children’s theatrics in Dutch Kills Park, and personally, when a daughter was born to him and his wife. He swore in the 13 officers and board members, wished everybody the best of the season and left to fulfill another commitment.

The meeting covered a few items of continuous concern to local residents. Walsh reported that Department of Sanitation police have been issuing summonses to cars that are parked “over the line”, or in places where cars shouldn’t be parked.

This is having its effect on auto dealers and auto repair shops that park automobiles on the sidewalk, a practice that is at its most blatant on 38th Avenue, between about 24th and 32nd Streets. Walsh said he noticed that day that the sidewalk in front of a shop on 27th Street, normally cluttered, was free of automobiles. This brought on the familiar complaint about the sometimes-malodorous work that goes on at these places. A man complained that fumes generated by automobile painting have often drifted to where he lives and left him and his family feeling sick. That immediately brought up references to the boiling tar odor that sometimes arises in the neighborhood.

Such olfactory outrages are not discouraging development, though. Walsh said the Dutch Kills zoning study is being completed this month, and building goes on. The Department of City Planning, he repeated, would not agree with him that some streets of the neighborhood could support higher-level buildings than the department would permit. Instead, the department is inclined to favor buildings two and three stories in height.

Walsh hailed the coming opening of the Queens Borough Library branch on 21st Street and 38th Avenue, reminding his audience that the DKCA has bought a rack of books for the new building and will receive a plaque citing the contribution. With all such business cleared away, it was time for food and drink.—Thomas Cogan