Sunnyside Shines BID board members enjoy the annual meeting at Sidetracks Restaurant on April 27. (Top Row l. to r.): Executive Director of Sunnyside Shines Jim Bray, Robert L. Kennedy representing the Department of Small Business Services Office of the Mayor, White Castle System Chairman John Vogt, LIC Building, Inc. and BID Treasurer Arthur Weiner, (Bottom Row l. to r.): Lillian Gavin of Dazies Restaurant, Vice Chairman of Pickman Realty Chris Winchester, Alicia Prendergast, resident board member, April Glass Secretary Patrice Lee and Gerry Lederman of Triad Management. Photo Jim Bray The second annual meeting of Sunnyside Shines was held on April 27 at Sidetracks Restaurant on Queens Boulevard. Sunnyside Shines is the embodiment of the Sunnyside Business Improvement District (BID), which runs along both sides of Queens Boulevard from 39th to 50th Streets and Greenpoint Avenue from 42nd to 50th Streets. In two years of existence it has had three executive directors, and the latest, a recent graduate of Rutgers, introduced himself. An award was presented to the Sunnyside Drum Corps and a visitor from Queens Patrol Borough North informed the BID of a cooperative program with the police to provide security. There was a very brief 108th Police Precinct report; a comparably brief word from City Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer, a treasurer’s report and elections of directors and executive committee officers.

The meeting was begun as new Executive Director James Bray welcomed Tony Lana of the Sunnyside Drum Corps, an institution that predates Sunnyside Shines by quite a few years. Lana accepted a plaque and announced a coming event featuring the Drum Corps. The Sunnyside Flag Day Parade, sponsored by the Kiwanis Club, will be held this year on Saturday, June 12 on a six-block stretch of Greenpoint Avenue. The parade is unique to Sunnyside, being the only one held anywhere in the city. Bray next introduced Patrol Officer John Gumpel of Queens Patrol Borough North, who came bearing sign-up sheets for a police-merchants program designed to improve the security of business places. It would include a visit by a crime officer who could inspect the store, assess the hazards for robbery or burglary and recommend preventive measures. Officer Gumpel said the program is in effect in Patrol Borough South but not yet in P.B. North, where there are seven BIDs. Next came P.O. Youssef of the 108th Police Pct. who said the yearto date crime rate is down 10 percent despite a 3 percent rise last month.

Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer arrived to say that Sunnyside was “safer and cleaner” because of the BID. John Vogt, chairman of the BID executive committee, praised Van Bramer for his help as candidate and councilmember. Visitors from Greenpoint, all the way down Greenpoint Avenue in Brooklyn, said a BID is needed there also and they are working to create it. Jim Bray then introduced himself, saying that he was from New Jersey. While still a student at Rutgers this past November, he started working on the Sunnyside Shines Web site. He went on to unearth an unused grant, bring in some business for the BID, build an email list and develop a newsletter for the BID merchants. Impressed with his accomplishments, the board and the executive committee decided to make him the new executive director.

Artie Weiner, BID treasurer, commented that “sidewalks have never been cleaner” locally and that the BID is maintaining the security cameras mounted on the No. 7 viaduct on Queens Boulevard. The special assessment from the city is fixed at $300,000, while grants and contributions, which rise and fall, are projected at $15,000 for 2010 and 2011. Parity for sanitation and marketing expenses is projected for next year, at $90,000 apiece, so the streets can remain clean and the BID can “drive more traffic into the stores”, Weiner said. Planters are being installed through an anonymous donation. The professional services expense will be in the form of an audit submitted to the city. A reserve amounting to $32,000 will go toward maintaining the Sunnyside Arch at Queens Boulevard and 46th Street and putting up holiday lights for November and December. Goals for this year and next include establishing Friends of the BID, extending BID benefits to merchants and organizations beyond its boundaries, Sunnyside Day, a street fair with local merchants, sponsoring street music on weekends and continuing the Taste of Sunnyside which celebrates local restaurants. This year’s Taste of Sunnyside will be Tuesday, October 19, from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. at Master Billiards, on the north side of Queens Boulevard at 39th Street.

The executive committee and other members of the board, as elected at the annual meeting, are as follows. Members of the executive committee are White Castle System Chairman John Vogt, Vice Chairman of Pickman Realty Chris Winchester, LIC Building Inc. and BID Treasurer Arthur Weiner and April Glass Secretary Patrice Lee. Board members include Steve Fleischer of Ownership Realty, Lillian Gavin of Dazies Restaurant, Gerald Lederman of Triad Management, Maureen Lynch from Lynch Funeral Home, Joseph Wessely from Dime Savings Bank, Robert L. Kennedy representing the Department of Small Business Services Office of the Mayor, Alicia Prendergast, Sunnyside resident, Josh Mazess from the New York City Comptroller’s Office, Melva Miller from the office of the Queens Borough President, Tim Roberts for City Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer and Debby Markell-Kleinert, Community Board 2.