Hotels Draw Complaints From Dutch Kills Residents
BY THOMAS COGAN

The executive officer of the 114th Police Precinct spoke at the October meeting of the Dutch Kills Civic Association, but many of the other voices heard there were not at the level of speaking so much as shouting. This is to say that the attendees raised the related topics of rezoning and hotel building in Dutch Kills again. Before the meeting was forcefully concluded by DKCA President Jerry Walsh, mainly because the same things were being said and rebutted over and over, the disputants made it plain that an environmental impact study, such as is currently being conducted, appears futile if the environment is being worsened by construction as it proceeds; but they were wildly divergent about what could be done to change it.

One side of the dispute was initiated when Marykate Zukiewicz, from City Councilmember Eric Gioia's office, told the meeting she had been talking to a Department of Buildings official about a few construction sites in Dutch Kills, being concerned about some of the things reportedly going on at them. At 38-30 28th St., for instance, work was being done well below ground and at night. The DOB official told her that the department was dealing with the developer about the excavation, but would not disclose details.

Megan Friedman, who lives on 28th Street, said she was so concerned about that site and others that she stuffed flyers under neighbors' doors, inviting them to get in touch with her if they were similarly concerned. She said she was surprised when 40 people, some of whom were total strangers to her, came to her door. She arranged for some of them to go with her to the Queens Borough Hall office of City Planning and see Queens Commissioner John Young on the same day the DKCA meeting was held. She told Young, Penny Lee and Joy Chen, also of City Planning, that there were nine hotel construction sites in Dutch Kills at the moment, with four others that could be added to them. Friedman said that Lee was shocked that the number was so high. Friedman also said that she was told outside the meeting that builders' progress could be stalled by constant interference from persons worried about the negative impact of such construction. Spotting and reporting construction violations, for instance, could lead to construction delays while the legitimacy of the whole operation was being examined. Zukiewicz said the DOB has on file every complaint phoned in on 311, adding that an intergovernmental officer from the agency showed her lengthy lists of them.

Replying to such assumptions as Friedman's, and not for the first time, was George Stamatiades, Community Board 1 member and Dutch Kills resident, who maintained that the community must await the results of the environmental impact study and the eventual day when the new zoning takes effect. At that time, he said, such building will come to a stop, since the floor-area ratio (FAR), now at 5 on most local streets, will become 2 FAR, and erecting buildings the size of the hotels currently in question will be plainly illegal. This outlook was scorned by Friedman and those allied with her; they said that by the time the new zoning is finally in effect, Dutch Kills will be overwhelmed with one hotel after another, each of them being perhaps 10 to 16 stories tall. Stamatiades scoffed at any attempts to delay and frustrate current construction as self-defeating, because the builders can wait residents out and build as they please even under new zoning, since these constructions were begun when the zoning was 5 FAR.

Before the dispute arose, the meeting heard from the executive officer of the 114th Police Precinct, who went over crime statistics and described himself as the precinct's traffic specialist, before answering questions from his audience. He was proud of being the precinct's traffic man, saying that when he was assigned to the unit it was in bad shape, and that he promptly doubled its size, picking all the new officers himself. The attendees' complaints began immediately, the first being one about taxicabs on 31st Street that use parking meter space as their own taxi stands, never paying into the meters that, after all, are designed for short-term local parking. He also heard that some mysterious party or parties are dumping old tires an 27th and Crescent Streets, near 40th Avenue, and during the day. To the latter complaint the officer suggested the dumper's license plate be taken down and submitted to precinct headquarters. Taking plate numbers was also suggested to those complaining about prostitution being conducted in parked cars on 29th Street, though this might be more difficult at night; they were also urged to call 311.

Other complaints heard concerned 38th Avenue repair shops that leave cars all over the sidewalks and Club 1 on 35th Avenue, whose patrons are so bold as to park in residents' driveways. The captain said he had lately been applying pressure to the 38th Avenue shops. The neighbors unwillingly providing parking spaces were told to take plate numbers and make reports.

In the month's crime review, it was learned that arrests have lately been on the increase. Robbery complaints were down, though robberies showed an increase. Grand larceny complaints (identity thefts included) were up. Auto thefts, burglaries and robberies were down.

Walsh said that grant money expected from the state legislature had arrived, and that Gioia had told him that $4,000 was definitely coming from the council.

Spotting and reporting construction violations could lead to construction delays while the legitimacy of the whole operation was being examined..the DOB has on file every complaint phoned in on 311..