LIRR Gets Pats, Pans At Last Board 2 Meeting Of 2007
BY THOMAS COGAN

The last Community Board 2 meeting of the year was a simple matter, containing only a few announcements of meetings to come and reviews of meetings past, a few news items and a complaint or two. Board Chairman Joe Conley was not present, so Steve Cooper, first vice chairman, presided at the meeting, held as usual at Sunnyside Community Services.

Cooper opened the meeting with the public comment segment. Indefatigable activist Jim Condes came to the front of the room to pay a rare compliment to a corporate bureaucracy, in this instance the Long Island Rail Road. The LIRR has at last repaired the asphalt by the Meyers Hotel and under the trestle over 58th Street and 39th Avenue in Woodside. But Condes didn't get complacent about that, as he quickly noted that the racks for free papers and magazines on Roosevelt Avenue between 56th and 62nd Streets remain the shabby eyesores they have been for a long time. A letter deploring this condition that he persuaded City Councilmember Eric Gioia to write to the Department of Transportation in June has prompted no response, Condes said.

The slot for politicians or their representatives was filled by Martha Ayon, community coordinator from City Comptroller William Thompson's office. She said the office is trying to organize a conference on foreclosure prevention, to be held at some place in Western Queens in March or April. The first such conference is to be held Thursday, January 10 from 7 to 9 p.m., being preceded by dinner, Ayon said, at York College, 94- 20 Guy R. Brewer Blvd., Jamaica. Al Volpe, a board member, asked Ayon if there are a great many foreclosures in Community Board 2. She answered that there are some, if not as many as in, say, Community Boards 3 (Jackson Heights, Corona, East Elmhurst) and 12 (Jamaica, South Jamaica, Hollis, Springfield Gardens).

First of the committee reports was from Ron Casey of health and human services and veterans' affairs. He said there had been "dramatic change" at the Veterans' Shelter on Borden Avenue in Long Island City, which had a recent reopening ceremony attended by Borough President Helen Marshall and Roger Newman of the U.S. Department of Veterans' Affairs. Also, a representative of the city's Department of Homeless Services attended one of his veterans' committee meetings, the first one to attend in the nine years he has been chairman. Casey said the DHS representative wasn't too informative, but contact had been made. Casey's comment on the revamped shelter seemed harsh: "To me, it looked like a jail." Still, he said it had been rebuilt well, with several rooms where there used to be an open space. Also, he said, there was more freedom of coming and going, however penitential the facility might appear. What did not seem to be improved, he said, was food service. It might even be worse than before, he added.

Dorothy Morehead of the environmental committee spoke of the Woodside flood meeting conducted by Congressmember Joseph Crowley a few nights after Thanksgiving. Richard Gundlach, board member and Woodside resident, also attended the meeting and said that the proposed restoration of tidal gates in Bowery Bay was the chief announcement that night. Bowery Bay has a water treatment plant to handle water and sewage flowing north from Woodside, but when the heavy flow clashed with a high tide on the bay during the severe rainstorm on the morning of Wednesday, August 8, the backup proved catastrophic. Morehead reported that down in Newtown Creek, the decades-old oil spill, which may have been as much as 35 million gallons, is slowly being "recaptured" in wells in Greenpoint.

Pat O'Brien of the city services and public safety committee spoke of a Police Department task force report on bar/restaurants all over the city. He said that one such place, Blend, at 47-04 Vernon Blvd., has recently withdrawn its alcoholic beverages applications. If the establishment's management chooses to refile the applications, the matter will have to come before the community board for a vote of approval, O'Brien said. He also reported that the owners of Punto G (G-Spot), long planned to be constructed and opened on Barnett Avenue near 48th Street, might be trying to bring up the matter again. Aside from that, Jim Condes complained to O'Brien that pedestrian curb cuts are hard to detect and could result in ticketing for the unwary motorist who parks in front of them. He spoke from experience, having received a ticket for $165 for parking in front of a pedestrian curb cut on Utopia Parkway. He proposed that lines be painted in the street showing motorists where the curb cuts are. Cooper doubted the city would be doing that, since such parking violations are bringing in lots of revenue.

Lisa Ann Deller, land use committee chairman, reported that the committee recommended that the Department of City Planning have zoning jurisdiction on sheds, carports, fencing, mature trees and curb cuts in Sunnyside Gardens, which has been designated a historic district by the Landmarks Commission and a planned community (PC) by City Planning. The motion to recommend was carried by 15 yes votes to 8 no votes, indicating continuing minority disagreement on matters in Sunnyside Gardens.

The next Community Board 2 meeting is being moved to January 10, the second Thursday of the month, because the first one, January 3, is considered too close to New Year's Day. Cooper made the announcement, adding that certain Sunnyside matters would be covered at the meeting.