See...it actually does exist!

Do you think Jean Silva is now kicking herself for testifying in support of the USTA deal since her group is effectively being replaced with a new conservancy run by the USTA? If only Pat were still alive...

The scandal that Queens pols won't talk about

From LTV Squad:

I immediately set out to walk the trail. What I found amounts to a coverup.

The 2 large sections of the trail which were washed out and passable via paving stones have been completely covered by a brand new, thicker layer of woodchips. It completely covers up the oily soil underneath. Yes – I said it again: It covers it up. Was any of the oily mud scraped up and sent out for testing?

No work has been done on the Willow Lake Trail Bridge. Nature, however, has taken over the burned out portions with lush green vines – so unless you knew better you might not realize you’re crossing a ‘temporary’ bridge.

Between Willow Lake Bridge and the Grand Central Parkway Bridge, the trail is completely not passable. The paving stones that were used to cross the 2 washouts further east are now being placed on the west end of the trail. They suddenly dead end though, and you’re left to make you’re way through the mud, thick vegetation, and wooden planks to try to make your way to the bridge over the highway. As of this writing, if you try to access the park/trail from the forest hills side, you can only cross the bridge over the Grand Central Parkway. The path is completely lost in the brush throughout this west end of the trail.

A friend of mine from the neighborhood had this reaction when trying to enter from near the Grand Central Parkway: “I just went into the Forest Hills entrance, and it is EXACTLY as it was the last time I went in there 8 years. ago. Sidewalks cracked with tons of growth. Broken lamps. I got 100 feet down the path and had to turn around because the path is the same muddy piece of crap it used to be. Pat Dolan would be pissed if she saw her name on the gate. (As far as I know, from my side of the park, that sign and gate is the only new thing to this area)”

Between Willow Lake Bridge and the Grand Central Parkway Bridge, the trail is completely not passable.

Clearly, they are still working on making this end of the path passable. Why did they even open up the trail if you can’t walk the entire length?

I’ll tell you why: lack of coordination. Clearly our friends at City Hall and The Parks Department were completely embarrassed by the photos posted here. Someone miscommunicated how far the work crew had progressed and they reopened the trail. Assuming there is a work crew presently working on repairing the trail, it probably won’t take them more than 1-2 weeks to finish the job (depending on the size of the crew of course).

All of the old abandoned lamp posts are still along this portion of the trail. You’d think the city would rip them out of there and get a few bucks for the scrap metal.

Curiously, the new ‘Duck Blind’ that they built at the edge of the lake was basically abandoned on Sunday. The new woodchip trail does not branch off to it clearly, and reeds are growing all around it.

Again: the message sent is lack of coordination. A rush job.

Attention NYC Parks Department and City Hall: Queens is still calling, and we want some answers. We’re not going to stop asking until you provide them in great detail.

Reopening this park is a nice first step. Anyone that now goes there will be able to clearly see its potential and what an asset it is to the community this parkland is. That’s a very good thing. I have nothing but praise to the workers who pulled this off so quick, and nothing but disdain towards the politicians who allowed this fiasco to fester for so long. Make no mistake about this: opening the trail is the first large step – now it needs to be maintained, and the soil and water around the lake need to be tested so we know what we’re dealing with and can come up with a plan to clean up any potential toxic chemicals.

Walking the Pat Dolan Trail

Dear QC,

I strolled the Pat Dolan Trail on opening day, curious to see for myself what was in store. After entering from the Park Drive East side, I was greeted by a fairly clean path atop the mulch, but it was very newly strewn, and did not make for steady walking unless one were readily to tolerate wood chips in the shoes. The grounds look fairly lush, but in late May/early June, NYC is usually in bloom. The photos on ltvsquad.com were obviously taken before the height of the season, and I believe would be more reflective of how the park looks year-round. A lot of the brush remains to be cleared away. As I wove my way clockwise around the western side of the lake, the path completely gave way to mud several inches thick, traversable only by a few brittle and slippery planks. I didn't dare even take out my camera to snap the worst of it, lest I should have lost my footing and dropped it into who knows what. Hope your readers enjoy the pics.

Sincerely,
Jon Torodash

Kew Gardens Hills to get new library

From the Daily News:

A plan to renovate the Kew Gardens Hills Library, a project civic leader Patricia Dolan made a priority before her death last month, was recently approved by city officials.

The $7.3 million expansion will add 3,000 square feet to the library and include separate areas for adults, teens and children.

Construction is expected to start late winter or early spring of next year.

As head of the Kew Gardens Hills Civic Association, Dolan had argued for years that the current facility was overcrowded and outdated.

Guess who said something inappropriate this week?

Comptroller John Liu at Pat Dolan's memorial service:

"While what happened was a horrible way to die, I think that Pat went out in the way she would have wanted to - in the line of duty."

He also claimed that he was a prodigy of hers. As if she would condone racist pandering and campaign fraud...

Rest in peace, Patricia Dolan

From the Queens Chronicle:

Patricia Dolan, president of the Queens Civic Congress, was struck and killed by a car on Hillside Avenue near 198th Street in Hollis at about 7:35 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 15.

Dolan, 72, was on her way to a Community Board 8 Transportation Committee meeting at the time. She was struck by a Nissan sedan that was traveling eastbound and was taken to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead. The motorist remained at the scene.

Expansion of tennis center causes concern

From the Daily News:

The U.S. Open is poised to expand into an additional stadium at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center - but not everyone is declaring love for the new court.

The U.S. Tennis Association hopes to break ground on the 3,000-seat stadium this summer at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, a USTA official said. The association hopes to complete the flashy new court in time for the Open in August so that matches can be televised there.

But the new stadium has raised concerns about increased traffic congestion and parking woes.

"We're not opposed to it," said Pat Dolan, president of the Flushing Meadows-Corona Park Conservancy, a park advocacy group. But "there is a very, very real burden on the people who live and do business around the park."

She is worried that green spaces will be converted to temporary parking lots in the park during the Open to accommodate tennis buffs, she said.

"I would like to see there be a public review of the plan for the stadium," Dolan said.

Photo by By llee_wu on Flickr

Repair shop owner seeks zoning change

From the Times Ledger:

Community Board 8 was bitterly divided over an owner’s plan to extend a commercial overlay on 164th Street and ultimately decided to vote against the plan during its monthly meeting last week.

The board voted against the proposal by a vote of 19-15.

J&H Management Construction, which operates an auto repair shop at the site at 69-15 164th St., is seeking a change in zoning on the block so a two-story building, with one floor of retail and a second floor of offices and a lobby, can be constructed on the lot.

Joel Fisher, president of the company, wanted to speak at the meeting but was denied because he had not signed up for public speaking time.

Steve Konigsberg, chairman of CB 8’s Zoning Committee, said the body voted 6-2 in favor of the change but that he voted against the proposal because of “reservations with promises and assurances” by the owner.

CB 8 member Kevin Forrestal said the applicant was asked to cooperate with elderly neighbors on the block but there had been a “lack of cooperation.”

Forrestal said the management company should seek a variance instead of changing zoning on the block.

“To give a change in zoning ... is inappropriate and we should vote this down and leave the option to the applicant to go another route and ask for a variance,” Forrestal said.

CB 8 member Pat Dolan said changes like the one the applicant is seeking is happening more frequently, citing Northern Boulevard in CB 11 and College Point Boulevard in CB 7.

Someone remind me again why we have zoning if developers can come in and change it?

Letter to Gov. Andrew Cuomo re: Personal Income Tax Surcharge

March 9, 2011

Hon. Andrew Cuomo
The Capitol
Albany, NY 12224

Dear Governor Cuomo:

The Queens Civic Congress is a coalition of more than 100 of Queens’s major neighborhood based civic groups that represent thousands of tenants, condo and co-op owners and homeowners living in every part of the Borough. QCC is the only borough-wide group of its kind in New York City.

QCC recognizes that the State is facing almost intractable fiscal challenges and that the 2011 and 2012 budgets must include painful cuts that all New Yorkers will feel. But your cuts in education, health and social services are aimed squarely at the middle class and the working poor who could not possibly duplicate the services they will lose. The cuts in aid to New York City, especially to education, health and social services, would further exacerbate the budget’s deleterious effects on children, teens, the elderly and families.

The Queens Civic Congress has studied the effects of the executive budget on the State, City and on Queens in particular. We have concluded that the 2011-2012 budget must include
Revenue enhancements. QCC urges you to include retention of the Personal Income Tax Surcharge (PITS) in this year’s budget.

When the stakes of letting Wall Street fall were too high, taxpayers bailed out the banks and much of the financial service industry. Lower Manhattan has since largely recovered and companies that risked middle class families’ pensions and mortgages are once again making profits. Meanwhile, middle class families in Queens and across the State continue to struggle. Jobs have not rebounded. Foreclosure signs and abandoned homes deface our streets. Classrooms are packed to the brim. Tuitions at public universities have soared. Services to families and the elderly are being decimated.

44% of New York City’s wealth is in the hands of the top 1% of income earners and yet they only contribute 1/3 of the tax base. Our representatives in Washington, Albany and City Hall are asking us to sacrifice. But our neighbors have been sacrificing for years, and continue to do so through increased prices, wage freezes, MTA hikes and various user taxes and fees. QCC believes the wealthiest New Yorkers should pay their fair share through the extension of New York State’s Personal Income Tax Surcharge.

By implementing this modest revenue generating measure, you can keep the State from failing its citizens.

Sincerely,

Patricia Dolan
President

FEMA won't replace trees

Dear QCC members and friends,

The Queens Civic Congress has learned that any disaster aid program administered by FEMA would not include funds to replace the thousands of trees lost in the September 16 storm. QCC urges you to contact members of Congress to plead for assistance in replacing the downed trees that provided enormous environmental and aesthetic benefits to our neighborhoods.

Thus, FEMA would not help with the restoration of trees in MacArthur Park in Forest Hills where half the trees were destroyed rendering this local park a disaster. Nor would FEMA offer assistance to replace the hundreds of trees Middle Village or Forest Hills lost.

There is nothing like a tree.

Please contact your local member of Congress and ask him/her to demand tree replacement assistance for the affected boroughs from FEMA.

Pat Dolan
Rich Hellenbrecht

Photo from Twitpic

Bearak resigns as prez of Queen Civic Congress

From the Times Ledger:

Corey Bearak, the former campaign manager for state Assemblyman David Weprin (D-Fresh Meadows), said he resigned as president of the Queens Civic Congress last week in order to spend more time on his career and with his family, but Weprin’s former opponent contends community leaders irate over his decision to send out a campaign mailing with an image of a swastika prompted him to leave.

“There were people threatening to pull their civics from the congress unless Corey resigned,” said Bob Friedrich, who ran against Weprin on the Republican line in the special election last week. “I received numerous e-mails from numerous civic leaders telling me how offended they were by the piece. There were a lot of e-mails going back and forth demanding Corey’s resignation.”

Bearak, however, said he had planned for months to resign from the Queens Civic Congress, where he had served as president for more than two years. He had recently begun his third term at the organization.

Kew Gardens Hills Civic Association President Patricia Dolan is now the QCC’s president.