Queens Gazette

Arts, Parks, Traffic Discussed At Board 1 Cabinet




The first Community Board 1 cabinet meeting of the new season brought in a lineup of speakers, including the new commander of the 114th Police Precinct. Representatives of the Astoria Performing Arts Center (APAC), Public Health Solutions and the city Departments of Transportation and Parks and Recreation all got in a few words and answered a few questions in the by-now usual spot for the monthly meeting, the third floor boardroom of Kaufman Astoria Studios, where Lucille Hartmann, CB 1 district manager, presided.

In making her presentation for APAC, Taryn Drongowski, the company’s executive director, said it is in its 10th anniversary season, with the actual decade mark occurring next March. She described how APAC was begun in 2001 by Susan Scannell, an actress living in Astoria, who discovered a disused theatrical space in a local church and organized a theatrical company that she began to promote with tireless marketing (becoming a frequent visitor to CB 1 cabinet meetings in the process). Her next discovery came by way of City Councilmember Peter Vallone Jr., who got some funding for the company and instructed her in the methods and techniques of raising funds. When she left APAC in 2005, Drongowski succeeded her. At the meeting, Drongowski  described community programs for children and youth, entailing both acting and writing, and for Astoria seniors, who rehearse for five weeks before putting on two performances. The seniors’ next two performances are in May and June 2011. The executive director also referred to the past season, when APAC’s presentation of “Children of Eden” enjoyed great popularity and received three nominations for New York Innovators Theater Awards (IT), presented to Off-Off Broadway productions; and to the coming season, when a spiky comedy, “MilkMilkLemonade” and a musical version of William Saroyan’s 1943 novel, The Human Comedy are the main presentations, along with a special revue (and review) of past APAC musicals to mark the 10th anniversary in March. That show will be in honor of Vallone, APAC’s benefactor. Drongowski closed by saying that she and APAC are extremely happy at Good Shepherd United Methodist Church, where the group is starting its third year in residence.

Deputy Inspector Stephen Cirabisi was commander of the 107th Police Precinct in Fresh Meadows when, in late July, Deputy Inspector Paul Vorbeck, commander of the 114th Precinct in Astoria, surprised many by announcing his retirement from the police force. Within a few days of that announcement, Cirabisi was appointed the new commanding officer  of the 114th. He didn’t have time to speak at length to those at the meeting, so he simply said that the crime rate in the precinct in 2010 is up 1 percent, which runs counter to the general trend, even if only slightly, and must be improved.

Diana Placide of Public Health Solutions and MIC-Women’s Health Services, Astoria, was at the meeting to publicize the availability of reproductive health care at the PHS office, 12-26 31st Ave., and partnership with Cornell University Cooperative Extension, in a new program to promote better nutrition. Representing Cornell Extension, which in the city is located at 89-62 164th St., Jamaica, was Sandra Guzman. Both she and Placide spoke of the way these agencies work with the Astoria greenmarket to make fresh fruit and vegetables available to their clients. The Astoria greenmarket is set up each Wednesday near the Public Health Solutions office.

Felix Okolo delivered his Department of Transportation report to the meeting and handled the usual battery of sharp questions or complaints. His report was about pedestrian safety on Hoyt Avenue, the two-pronged thoroughfare that provides entrance and exit to the RFK-Triborough Bridge. Restriped roadways should help those on foot on their way across the north or south branches of Hoyt Avenue, Okolo said. For motorists, parking on Hoyt Avenue South, near the HANAC apartments between 28th and 29th Streets, is finally available. But at 29th Street, where a bridge exit ramp and Hoyt Avenue South converge, the ramp has a flashing yellow traffic light over it and Hoyt Avenue a flashing red one. Lucille Hartmann said the flashing red light was confusing. Okolo said it was a stop sign, while the yellow light was a proceed-with-caution sign—so Hoyt Avenue drivers must stop to allow an exiting vehicle to proceed into Hoyt or even make a left turn into 29th Street. He hinted that both lights would eventually become regular, three-color stoplights.

Area resident Eddie Velez moved the conversation several blocks south, to 36th Avenue. He said it lacks traffic lights for a multi-block stretch between 21st and 31st Streets, making crossing the avenue in the vicinity of Ravenswood Houses a risky matter. Hartmann said that 21st Avenue between 23rd and 29th Streets is similarly unprotected. Staying on the 21st Avenue issue, Fran McDonald of Community Board 1 said that lack of traffic lights on the approach to 80th Street at the west end of LaGuardia Airport, also encourages speedway driving.

Frank McMorrow, the representative of the Department of Parks and Recreation, reported that Citywide Salvage Yard had now moved under the Triborough Bridge, where Parks was using it as an acquisitions yard. Velez was more interested in finding out when the much-publicized skateboarding park built under the bridge would be open, and McMorrow promised the opening would not be delayed much longer. The fence around it, now being climbed by kids who can’t wait for an official opening, will come down. Tony Meloni of Community Board 1 announced that on Saturday, October 2, something else would be happening under the bridge, in the morning:  a giveaway of trees to private property owners. A variety of tree types would be available to homeowners for planting in backyards.

Deborah Farrington, of City Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer’s office, suggested those homeowners get their trees and then attend Van Bramer’s latest town hall meeting, to be held that same day, Saturday, October 2, from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Astoria Library. Velez announced that two days later, Monday, October 4, would be opening day for an art show at the library, with a reception from 5 to 7 p.m.
 



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