Crime, Prostitution, Botanical Garden Fill Bd. 3 Agenda
BY THOMAS COGAN

Photo Jeff Goldberg/Esto Joan Krevlin of BKSK Architects in Manhattan designed Queens Botanical Garden's Visitor & Administration Center, the most advanced green building in New York City.

The April meeting of Community Board 3 was concerned largely with informational announcements and an exchange with the commander of the 115th Police Precinct. The meeting also included a report by a representative from 39th District Assemblymember José Peralta's office about the Roosevelt Avenue prostitution scene, indicating a bad situation that could have large repercussions. By contrast, the latest reports on a dog run eventually to be built and the recent business youth convention or the Queens Botanical Garden were altogether happier, as was the announcement of next month's first Jackson Heights Poetry Festival.

115th Precinct Commanding Officer Deputy Inspector John C. Lavelle reminded the meeting that he had now been 16 weeks in the top spot at the precinct. Though he could report that the crime rate has continued to decline in his command, he had word that other precincts in the city are noticing an upward turn. He said that even in the 115th, burglary had had an immediate spike just the day before, one of the first warm days of spring. Area residents left their windows open, he said, and burglars got in. He also warned parents to warn their kids that iPods and Sidekicks in plain view were invitations to assault and robbery. When Lavelle opened his part of the meeting to questions, David Rosero of the board said the impact program of increased police concentration along Roosevelt Avenue and nearby streets should be brought back. Lavelle said it was never taken away. Rosero lamented that Roosevelt Avenue has become worse than ever, but Lavelle, referring to a previous tour of duty in the 115th, said, "It's a heck of a lot better than it was in 1999."

A discussion of local parking soon followed. One man said circumstances forced him to double-park temporarily in front of his house, though it was long enough to incur a $125 ticket; he wondered what might be done to improve a desperate situation. District Manager Giovanna Reid said that with thousands of tickets issued in the district each month, the practice has become punitive, rather than corrective. The community is gravely in need of parking facilities, she concluded. Another man bewailed the use of what he called "phony police stickers", citing a local church and its worshipers as leading abusers. Lavelle said such a situation does need looking into. He concluded by reporting that he is losing lieutenants and sergeants in his command to outside agencies, particularly other police forces; this at a time when Seattle has mounted a billboard ad in the city showing that its starting police salaries are some $20,000 higher than New York's. Lavelle said he hoped the impending reevaluation of the pay scale would be advantageous.

Yonel Letellier, chief of staff for Peralta, emphasized the seriousness of the Roosevelt Avenue situation. Letellier spoke of prostitution's impact on nearby neighborhoods, made worse by the circulation of suggestive business cards, which he says are handed even to kids, apparently in the hope they will circulate them further. (Ricardo Sanchez of the board provided a moment of amusement when he said he had called the number printed on one of the cards "to see what the deal was".) Some escort services are bold enough to claim they are endorsed by major beer companies, which they name, Letellier said. He observed that the time might be ripe for a major investigation, bringing federal, state and city law enforcement to bear on the scene.

During the committee reports, Grace Lawrence of the board parks and recreation committee reported on the committee's April 2 meeting that brought the proposed dog run at 69th Street and 31st Avenue a little closer to realization. She said that the community board would not be responsible for its upkeep, that being the business of the concerned dog owners. She said there would be another meeting about it in May, though there wasn't a definite date yet. In the youth services report, Norma Jimenez and Marta Lebreton looked back on the April 10 business youth convention in the auditorium of St. Joan of Arc Roman Catholic Church on 82nd Street, saying its combination of information (about summer jobs for youth, for example) and entertainment added up to a successful meeting. Pictures of the event were passed around. Vivian Dock of the health and social services committee joined several others in Queens concerned with the elderly, deploring the plan to deliver frozen meals that would replace current hot meals with the microwaveable kind. She moved that a resolution declaring "We urgently request that frozen meals be taken off the table" be passed, prompting a unanimous show of hands from board voters.

Susan Lacerte, executive director of the Queens Botanical Garden, delivered a brief review of the 39-acre green space that dates from 1939, having begun as an exhibit at the 1939 World's Fair in Flushing Meadows. It has been located at its present site, with its entrance at 43-50 Main St., since the time of the later World's Fair in 1964. She encouraged all present to come see the visitor and administration center, tours of which are given every other Saturday at noon. The center has a garden and photovoltaic cells on its roof and is run entirely geothermally, Lacerte said. She said also that staff members are able to show homeowners ways to channel rainwater and possibly stem the flooding that frequently disrupts much of Queens.

Some youthful representatives were at the meeting to promote the inaugural Jackson Heights Poetry Festival, to be held Thursday, May 15 through Saturday, May 17. Workshops are to be conducted May 15 from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at the Garden School, 33-16 79th St. A poetry slam will take place May 16 from 9 to 11 p.m. at Restaurant and Lounge Novo, 78-23 37th Ave. On Saturday, May 17, a poetry festival will be held at the Garden School from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. More information about the poetry festival is available online at jacksonheightsnyc. blogspot.com.