Bayside Jewish Center may become public school

From the Queens Chronicle:

The Bayside Jewish Center, a fixture in the community for 77 years, is closing due to a lack of members and will be sold.

Natalie Winter, president of the congregation, said on Monday that members agonized over the decision, but that the expense of operating the building was just getting too high.

“The property is up for sale, but the building is not shut down. We will continue to be open until it’s sold,” Winter said. “This was not an easy decision.”

The rabbi, Moses Kirsh, has left and there will be no religious services at the facility, located at 203-05 32 Ave. Winter indicated that certain programs are remaining open but did not want to elaborate.

“Once the building is sold, we will merge with another viable synagogue,” she said. “No final decision has been made yet but it will be a Conservative synagogue.”

She said she and other members are heartbroken about the closing because “we take pride in the name, which we will take with us wherever we move. It’s sad.”

The congregation was organized in 1938 and moved to its present location more than 60 years ago.

Marilyn Bitterman, district manager of Community Board 7, said she will suggest the site as a possible public school to Borough President Melinda Katz, who is seeking locations for new ones.

Flushing Commons runs into parking problem

From the Queens Chronicle:

Parking at the proposed Flushing Commons mixed-use development project seemed to be on the minds of officials Thursday at a meeting of the Community Board 7 District Cabinet meeting.

Michael Meyer, president of TDC Development — which is working with the Rockefeller Group to develop the five-acre project on the site of Municipal Parking Lot 1 — outlined plans at the cabinet’s monthly meeting held at the Queens Botanical Garden.

But those in attendance were more concerned about long-term parking than when the first shovel will go into the ground. Although the entire project is not expected to be completed before 2021, 1,144 parking spaces will be retained during construction.

Meyer explained that the project has been broken up into two phases so as not to disrupt parking during the conversion. The site is bounded by Union and 138th streets and 37th and 39th avenues.

He said the plan will reduce congestion and benefit merchants. But CB 7 Chairman Gene Kelty was less sanguine about the plan, which calls for extended long-term parking on the second level of the existing lot.

“We want to divert commuter parking to Citi Field to open up more parking downtown,” Kelty said. “Instead, commuters will only have to pay $16 for the maximum time.”

The chairman said the announced plan “was not what we were told” and “that’s a big problem.”

He was supported by District Manager Marilyn Bitterman and representatives of the business community.

“If it becomes a problem with commuters hogging spaces, we can control it through pricing,” Meyer said.

The developer explained that rates will be different than the city’s, but that they will be locked in by the city until a year after the project’s completion.

Lippman Plaza graffiti is out of control

From the Queens Chronicle:

Lippmann Plaza, a pedestrian walkway in downtown Flushing, has been a problem for years with its graffitied walls and litter-strewn paths. Despite efforts by elected officials and volunteer groups, the site looks as bad today as it did more than 10 years ago.

Recently, Liz Vannicola, a longtime Flushing resident, contacted the Queens Chronicle to vent her frustration about the conditions in the plaza. “When young kids see graffiti, it sends the wrong message,” Vannicola said. “It becomes the norm and they think it’s okay.”

She has called the offices of area elected officials “but nothing gets done” and believes there should be ongoing cleanups at the site.

“It’s not artwork; it’s vandalizing and not welcoming,” Vannicola added.

The city upgraded the site in 2006 after talking about it since 2001. The work involved new lighting, plantings and tree pruning. But looking at the location now, the trees are just as big and sit in dingy pits of eroded soil and weeds. Litter abounds and the walls of businesses are covered in graffiti.

The plaza is a major connector for the 50,000 commuters who travel through the area every day using buses and the subway. It links Roosevelt Avenue, site of the No. 7 subway and several buses, with 39th Avenue, where there are more buses and Municipal Parking Lot 1.

Illegal street vendors set up tables at either end of the plaza, hawking their merchandise and adding to the confusion. Community Board 7 District Manager Marilyn Bitterman said police are trying to crack down, as it’s become a problem.

Bitterman noted that the property belongs to the Department of Transportation and that the Sanitation Department empties the trash cans.

MTA kills Whitestone businesses

From the Queens Chronicle:

A once vibrant commercial strip on 14th Avenue between Parsons Boulevard and 145th Place now faces extinction from a shortage of parking spaces, say merchants and their partisans.

On behalf of the block gangrened by four vacant storefronts, Assemblyman Ed Braunstein (D-Whitestone) has asked the MTA to consider moving the Q76 bus stop on 14th Avenue to one on the southeast corner of Parsons Boulevard and 14th Avenue, thereby creating new spots for customers.

In addition to property taxes as high as $14,000, “the parking situation is really a crisis for us,” said Robert Orzo, owner of Malba Delicatessen on the southwestern corner of 14th Avenue and 145th Place. On weekdays, there are at most five spaces on the block available to patrons of his deli and neighboring stores.

Customers cannot park at the bus stop, at the corner in front of Malba Deli — because stalled vehicles will block the sightlines of oncoming traffic for cars turning onto 14th Avenue from 145th Place — or on the northeastern corner of the block. Usually, there are even fewer parking spaces open, because, according to Orzo and Community Board 7 District Manager Marilyn Bitterman, MTA bus drivers park their cars for the day in the neighborhood before catching an early morning, free ride on the Q44 over the bridge to the West Farms bus depot in the Bronx. Orzo said these MTA employees rarely patronize his establishment: “They’re not bringing business to the block. They’re chasing it away.”

CB7 owes everyone an apology

Dear Editor (Times Ledger):

We read the Feb. 10-16 Times Ledger Newspapers article “Tale of CB 7 and Feinstein a ‘feel-good story’: Apelian” and were a little taken aback.

Apelian “said this week he was surprised to open the paper and see the letters since he believes they were misguided and cast the tale in an unfavorable light.” We pose this question to Apelian: What was “misguided and cast the tale in an unfavorable light”? Our letter was clear in that we believed Apelian and Community Board 7 owed an apology to our community for their violation of the Freedom of Information Law and their mishandling of a safety issue and a survey distributed to the community, as well as District Manager Marilyn Bitterman’s alleged comments regarding the president of our civic organization.

To date, Apelian, Eugene Kelty, Bitterman and Bob LoPinto — who called several of our members saying he was investigating the Bitterman comments — have not contacted us about the “investigation.” Our city councilman has said to date that “his office is not charged with oversight of community boards and therefore will not inquire about the investigation.” As our elected official who appoints community board members, we find this rather disheartening.

How is it that CB 7 “investigates” itself and does not report the results to the people who requested the investigation and were directly affected by the behavior being investigated? No one is being held accountable for the abuses being committed by our “community” board. Apelian is quick to request public apologies, but none are forthcoming.

CB 7 under the leadership of Apelian, Kelty and Bitterman has:

• violated the FOIL;

• ignored a decision by the state Committee on Open Government, informing it that they were in violation of FOIL and were to make requested records available immediately;

• made comments showing a disregard for human life to a Metropolitan Transportation Authority official — specifically the life of the president of an organization which has an active issue with the board regarding human safety and quality of life;

• conducted a community survey over the objections of one of its committee members who was not allowed to see the survey or know its wording before it went out;

• sent out the survey after several objections to its biased wording; and

• accepted the flawed results of the biased survey, in which we have counted over 15 discrepancies and currently have an expert reviewing the results.

There was no “misguide” on our part — we simply ask that if CB 7 is looking for apologies, it should give them as well. Or it could abide by the rules and act in the best interest of the community it represents.

Alfredo Centola
Dan Barton
Laurie Occhipinti
Pauline Falco
Nancy DePaolo
Malba Gardens Civic Association
Whitestone

CB7 has some nerve! (part 1)

Letter to the Editor (Times Ledger):

With regards to Chuck Apelian’s comments that Feinstein Iron Works take out a full-page ad in two local newspapers apologizing to him and Community Board 7 for his honest comments (“CB 7, Feinstein make amends after Willets clashes,” Jan. 20), it is amazing he would have the audacity to make such demands. After all, he is a public official in his roles as vice chairman of CB 7 and the CB 7 land use chairman.

Our organization has had the misfortune of dealing with CB 7 with regards to a public safety matter, which it quickly turned into an inconvenient matter. Marilyn Bitterman, district manager of CB 7, was responsible for writing a survey that was to be sent out to our community regarding the dangerous situation. The manner in which she wrote the survey was biased and stressed the “inconvenience” of driving an extra two blocks.

We immediately sent out a letter requesting to have more time to review the survey in order to come to a more non-biased wording and, objecting to the wording as shown to Alfredo Centola, we received no response and the survey went out anyway. We then requested to see the surveys under the Freedom of Information law; they illegally refused us. We obtained a decision from Robert Freeman from the state Committee on Open Government; they still refused.

A couple of months later, we received an e-mail from an MTABT official quoting Bitterman and her ill feelings to the president of our civic association. This e-mail quotes Bitterman as saying “she would step over his prone body and refuse to call for help.” Our organization immediately sent Apelian a letter calling on him to act, as the CB 7 vice chairman, to address Bitterman’s unprofessional and biased comments. He replied, “It will be reviewed,” but then never responded.

Several months ago, some members of our organization received a call from a man claiming to be on the board in regards to conducting an investigation. CB 7 investigating itself? To date we have heard nothing about the results, if any, to the investigation. City Councilman Dan Halloran (R-Whitestone) has refused to get involved, saying he is not responsible for oversight of CB 7, but we only asked he inquire about the outcome of the investigation as our elected official.

We do not know what Apelian is looking for. If he has such a thin skin, maybe he should exclude himself from the vice chairmanship. For the most part, he has a much calmer and respectful tone than his counterpart Eugene Kelty. But to ask for an apology and take out a full-page ad in two local papers? Maybe CB 7 should take out ads in two or three papers to apologize for violating the FOIA law, refusing to acknowledge the Committee on Open Government’s decision and especially for Bitterman’s comments to an MTABT official showing her disregard for Centola’s life.

After all, what is right for CB 7 should be right for the community it represents.

Alfredo Centola
Dan Barton
Laurie Occhipinti
Malba Gardens Civic Association