Unfair ticketing in Woodhaven

From The Forum:

Owners have faced forking over as much as $350 per ticket – once fines have accrued while an individual fights the ticket in court – for garbage problems that are not their fault, but rather stem from people who dump everything from mattresses to pieces of paper on others’ property, according to Woodhaven Residents’ Block Association President Ed Wendell and Woodhaven Business Improvement District Executive Director Maria Thomson. The two civic leaders said individuals – many of whom are likely living in illegally converted apartments where the landlords will not allow them to properly discard garbage in an effort to not draw attention to the sites – will often dump late at night or in the day’s earliest hours. Not long after people have shed their garbage, Wendell and Thomson said the city will ticket owners for such violations as improperly disposed garbage or not recycling – and then remove the garbage before the owners know any of this has transpired.

Rally to save Engine 294 in Richmond Hill

From Forest Hills Patch:

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the City Council are playing a familiar game of political hot-foot with the city's firehouses.

Twenty firehouses are on the chopping block in New York City in the mayor's current budget, the same number that have ended up there in previous years, only to be saved by eleventh-hour wrangling.

In the past, U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner and City Councilwoman Karen Koslowitz have fought to save Engine 294 on Jamaica Avenue, which serves parts of Forest Hills. It was closed once already in the city's history, from 1975 to 1991.

On Tuesday, the engine company was the site of a rally with City Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley, Assembly members Mike Miller and Rory Lancman, and state Sen Joe Addabbo.

Memorial Day in Woodhaven

Queens civic leaders endorse Bloomberg

From the Queens Campaigner:

Civic leaders from Ridgewood, Middle Village and Woodhaven endorsed Michael Bloomberg for mayor Monday and praised his work with small businesses, education, crime, and quality of life issues.

Those who threw their weight behind the independent candidate included Peter Cardella of the Peter Cardella Senior Center in Ridgewood; Maria Thomson, executive director of the Greater Woodhaven Development Corporation; Tania Broschart, president of the Middle Village Chamber of Commerce; and Sal Candela, president of the Middle Village Property Owners Association.

Photo of Maria Thomson from the Times Newsweekly