WEDDING TRASHERS IN WDHVN.

P.O. Christopher Estrella of the 102nd Precinct's Community Affairs Unit (standing at left) took complaints from residents fed up with chronic noise offenders at the WRBA’s May 21 meeting. (photo: Ralph Mancini) Outdoor weddings which residents claim produce unreasonable levels of noise throughout the community were a sore subject at the Saturday, May 21 Woodhaven Residents Block Association (WRBA) meeting, held at the Woodhaven/Richmond Hill Volunteer Ambulance Corps.

P.O. Christopher Estrella of the 102nd Precinct’s Community Affairs Unit heard numerous complaints from attendees who charged that the NYPD isn’t adequately addressing the quality-of-life concern.

One WRBAmember claimed that a desk sergeant reportedly told her to “get out of the country” if she couldn’t tolerate the weekend festivities usually organized by individuals who newcomers who recently moved into parts of the confines of Community Boards 9 and 10.

Vance Barbour, the WRBA’s financial secretary, assured the frustrated resident that his organization would take the appropriate measures in notifying Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly about the officer.

When Estrella was asked to explain why the people in question can’t rent out a catering hall for their social gatherings, he replied that there was only so much his department could do from a legal standpoint.

Currently, attendees learned, the precinct does have a noise patrol monitoring the community on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays and giving out fines to individuals found to be disturbing the peace. Those penalties, he conceded, are minimal.

“When we give out sound permits, even at parks, we give them a time frame. In a home, there’s no time frame. This is part of their culture… we can’t do anything about it,” he said.

One attendee dismissed the notion, pointing out that perpetrators of the noise infractions fail to realize that 200 people can’t all fit inside a typical one- or two-family home in the community.

WRBA President Edward Wendell informed residents that law enforcement is operating within the constraints of laws that need to be “toughened up” by the City Council.

“Anything we get resolved takes five, six, seven attempts. We’re all very persistent,” declared Barbour. “This isn’t a forum where you come in one month, make a complaint, go home and expect others to take care of it. We need to work together.”

Unruly school children

One homeowner told Estrella that children attending J.H.S. 110 in the vicinity of 89th Street and 91st Avenue, were regularly creating ruckuses while walking home from school following dismissal.

“I bought my house eight years ago and it’s been a horror show,” he shared, referring to roving bands of adolescents who reportedly fight and curse to the point of scaring all the neighbors into their homes.

Estrella promised him that he would contact School Safety and youth officers and have them handle the situation. He asked the resident to be patient, though, given the fact that the 102nd Precinct continues to suffer from a lack of manpower.

Bart Haggerty of City Council Member Eric Ulrich’s office also mentioned that the legislator has already sponsored a bill that would give the authorities the right to confiscate speakers and other music equipment the first time noise offenders are caught harassing their neighbors.

Parking issues

Barbour tackled the topic of limited parking due to street construction, alerting the block association that the Department of Design and Construction (DDC) is presently installing pipe under streets in the area.

Upon speaking with a DDC worker, Barbour said, he learned that the necessary work would be completed within a month’s time.

Crowley on budget, FDNY

Though the proposed budget for New York City in fiscal year 2012 stands to be the largest of all time, City Council Member Elizabeth Crowley took issue with Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s plans to close 20 fire companies and called for the city to find other ways to balance its books.

“We’re still the number one target for terrorists and the FDNY is our first line of defense. You don’t have to put a fire house on every block, but you need to keep the ones you already have,” said Crowley, who chairs the Fire and Criminal Justice Committee.

The lawmaker was disappointed with the recent announcement that Engine Co. 294 on Jamaica Avenue in Richmond Hill is once again slated for closure. She recalled the company was previously closed during the 1990s, but later reopened following a Richmond Hill fire that claimed the lives of two people.

“If we close companies, response times will go up and lives will be lost,” she predicted.

On other matters, Crowley also denounced proposed cuts to the city’s public libraries. She also noted that she is working with her colleague, City Council Member Eric Ulrich, on a plan to allocated $500,000 for the Woodhaven library to install an alarm system and make other improvements.

Crowley also mentioned that the City Council would also seek funding to hire more Parks Enforcement Patrol (PEP) officers to help police safeguard Forest Park.

Crackdown on sexual offenders

Judy Close, a representative of State Sen. Joseph Addabbo, reported that the state legislator is working to establish tougher charges against known sex offenders. Part of his plan, she noted, would be to increase certain sexual misdemeanors to class D felonies.

Furthermore, organizations, such as summer youth camps, would be obligated to keep the authorities abreast of their counselors’ backgrounds or face a potential law suit.

The Woodhaven Residents Block Association will reconvene at 1p.m. on the third Saturday of the month at the Woodhaven-Richmond Hill Volunteer Ambulance Corps, located at 78-15 Jamaica Avenue. For further details, visit www.woodhaven.nyc.org.