CB 6 Updated On Schools, More

Board 6 Finance Committee Chairperson Todd Reisman (standing) goes over the advisory body’s capital and expense budget priorities. In the midst of Fiscal Year 2011 budget prioritizing, Community Board 6 took the time to hear updates on several notable community issues at their Oct. 14 meeting at the Kew Gardens Community Center.

City Council Member Melinda Katz, making what she admitted may be her final appearance as the area’s representative before her term expires, informed Board 6 on the state of local schools and libraries.

Piggybacking onto a question asked earlier from the audience, she announced that funding is in place for renovations to the North Forest Park branch of the Queens Library on Metropolitan Avenue, as well as for improvements as P.S. 101 and P.S. 144 in Forest Hills (the latter in conjunction with Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi).

She also told Board 6 that she has spoken to the Department of Transportation about the controversial move to change the parking configuration along 108th Street in Rego Park, where drivers are now required to back into angled parking spots.

“At this point, they are claiming that the safety aspect is extremely important,” so residents should not expect any changes to the current status.

She also claimed that a meeting held the night before with DOE officials as part of the Forest Hills Community Civic Association (covered on this page).

“From my perspective, the meeting was a nightmare,” she said. “I don’t understand how they sent in folks to a community meeting— where they haven’t been in the community for, I don’t know, over a year—about a topic that this community has worked for since 1993, and they sent folks ... that didn’t have the answers to questions that were extremely important.”

The topic Katz was referring to is whether the high school to be included in the campus will in fact be locally zoned, as was promised to the community by the Department of Education. The Council member told the community that Chancellor Joel Klein assured her that the school will in fact be locally zoned, but Katz has requested details on how students for the schools will be chosen by Election Day.

Chairman’s report

In his chairman’s report, Joseph Hennessy relayed events from a recent Borough Board meeting, where the chairpersons of all Queens community boards meet.

According to him, Boards 4, 5 and 6 have all asked for St. John’s and Mary Immaculate hospitals to be reopened, fearing that the reemergence of the swine flu will cause overcrowding in the emergency rooms of the facilties currently in operation.

“There’s something wrong when we’re closing hospitals,” said Hennessy.

The two sites have since been sold.

Hennessy also noted that at the meeting, MTA representatives assured Board 6 that no customer service agents will be removed from area stations.

Area traffic was also brought up; Hennessy told the crowd that work is soon to begin at the Kew Gardens Interchange, where the Jackie Robinson and Grand Central parkways meet with the Van Wyck Expressway, Queens Boulevard and Union Turnpike. It is expected to take two years.

In addition, he learned that vehicular accidents have risen 11 percent in the past 28 days, with bicycle and pedestrian injuries accounting for the increase. Hennessy connected the increase to the growing number of bicycle lanes throughout the borough.

“It’s a concern of the Queens County Traffic Safety Board to see if they can get cooperation,” he noted, “between all of these entities that are sharing the roadways.”

Later in the meeting, Sgt. Andrew Fioretti of the 112th Precinct’s Conditions Team reported that although crime has decreased 19.2 percent so far this year, although vehicular accidents have increased slightly, including one fatality.

Budget time

Board 6 unanimously approved its Fiscal Year 2011 budget requests.

Leading capital expense priorities were:

• funding for upgrades of all Board 6 sewer systems, focusing on areas of Yellowstone Boulevard, Alderton Street and Ascan Avenue;

• funding to continue the installation of sewers and water mains to alleviate a chronic flooding problem at 61-20 Grand Central Pkwy.;

• safety improvements for Woodhaven Boulevard, the subject of a current study;

• a safety study for Union Turnpike from Metropolitan Avenue to Woodhaven Boulevard, including inner service roads, as well as pedestrian timing devices on crosswalks along Queens Boulevard (similar to the ones installed on Steinway Street in Astoria); and,

• the installation of security cameras at all subway stations in Board 6, a longstanding request.

The advisory body’s top expense budget items were:

• increased Buildings Department inspectors;

• increased personnel for Health department pest control;

• recruitment and retaining of area crossing guards;

• increases in funding to Board 6 senior centers; and,

• the purchase of computers for Lost Battalion Hall in Rego Park.

During the budget hearing, Hennessy criticized the city for asking for ideas from the public on the Woodhaven Boulevard study without bringing any ideas of their own to the table.

“They’re supposed to be the professional people,” he said. “They’re supposed to present to us their ideas for Woodhaven Boulevard.”

Addabbo update

Funding for schools promised by State Sen. Joseph Addabbo’s predecessor will be honored, his representative assured.

Jeff Gottlieb told the crowd that Addabbo is attempting to trace as best he can the promises made by former State Senator Serphin Maltese to supply funds for new computers in the area.

Community Board 6 meets on the second Wednesday of every month (excluding July and August) at 7:45 p.m. at the Kew Gardens Community Center, located at 80-02 Kew Gardens Rd.

Call 1-718-263-9250 or visit www.queenscb6.org for more information.