Disgraceful field conditions at FMCP

Dear Queens residents,

I have been involved and against the Flushing Meadows Park theft for several years. I am a founding member of Save Flushing Meadows Corona Park, I was featured on a radio call in show and in a video against the theft, I was a litigant alongside senator Avella and several other community activists in a winning lawsuit.

So you can imagine my disappointment when knowing, what I know about this park, and knowing that the Wilpons, and the USTA, make millions of dollars a year off of our parkland! I see the fields in this condition.

This is “field 6”. There are a few other fields in the same condition. This is appalling. Where is all the money going? We as a community deserve better, we expect better, we demand better.

Alfredo Centola
Community Activist

Ridgewood's new demographics reduce school enrollment

From QNS:

Despite School District 24 being the most overcrowded district in Queens, a huge decline in enrollment at one elementary school in Ridgewood could be indicative of a shift in neighborhood demographics.

On June 27, Department of Education (DOE) spokesman Doug Cohen confirmed that P.S. 88 on Catalpa Avenue will have to fire nine teachers due to a decline in enrollment of 100 students for the 2018-19 school year. Cohen explained that while enrollment for the 2017-18 school year was 941 students, that number is projected to fall to 841 next year.

Since schools receive budget allocations based on the number and needs of their students, the resulting budget cuts for next year meant that teachers had to be let go, Cohen said.

Yet, according to the DOE’s Fair Student Funding records online, P.S. 88 is far from the only Ridgewood school to be hit with budget cuts.

Records show that P.S. 68 will lose $212,675; P.S. 71 will lose $396,403; P.S. 239 will lose $217,822; P.S. 81 will lose $435,371; P.S. 305 will lose $102,968; and I.S. 77 will lose $33,374. That list includes all but one of Ridgewood’s elementary schools.

According to Pat Grayson, chair of the Community Board 5 Education Committee, the declining enrollment and budget cuts at elementary schools is a direct reflection of the changing age demographic in Ridgewood.

“In actuality, people got up and moved away,” Grayson said. “Millennials are the people who have children when they’re 42 … people who are buying here don’t have a family yet. The point is, the neighborhood is no longer an old person’s neighborhood.”

As this is part of District 24, which is supposedly the most overcrowded school district in the city, it's hard to fathom that this is going on. A lot of new schools have opened in Ridgewood in the past decade or so, but why?

Cuomo decision allows Claire to rezone Flushing waterfront

From QNS:

A 62-acre portion of land on the Flushing waterfront may soon see substantial redevelopment after receiving a special designation from the state.

Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the Brownfield Opportunity Area (BOA) designation for an area of land in the western area of downtown Flushing, bounded to the north by Northern Boulevard, to the east by Prince Street, to the south by Roosevelt Avenue and to the west by Flushing Creek and the Van Wyck Expressway.

The Flushing Willets Point Corona Local Development Corporation (FWCLDC) presented the application for the BOA, which is described as a vacant, underdeveloped and/or polluted area where, under the program, economic environmental conditions are examined and redevelopment opportunities are identified in an attempt to attract public and public investment.

The designation opens up several benefits for future developers, including support from state municipalities and a potential for tax credits.

“I thank our entire board for its support during this process and now look forward to the next phase which will include a formal ULURP application to implement the zoning recommendations included in our nomination study,” said Claire Shulman, president and CEO of the Flushing Willets Point Corona LDC said in a letter to the LDC’s board. “The LDC thanks the Department of City Planning for its stellar work on our nomination study and environmental assessment report. Our staff at the LDC also deserve thanks for their hard work in overseeing and ensuring completion of this critical phase of our work. The LDC will apply for funding for the next phase of our work (implementation) as soon as it becomes available from the state.”

East New York to be a basement conversion "guinea pig"

From CBS 2:

“We’ll use East New York as the guinea pig of how this program can work and whether or not it will work,” said Councilman Rafael Espinal, who sponsored the pilot program. “If we’re able to create a successful program, then the hope is that we'll expand it citywide.”

The councilman said in East New York, 75 percent of basement apartments are being rented illegally, which he said is dangerous. So the pilot program will offer homeowners low-interest loans to renovate apartments to make sure they are safe.

Espinal told Kramer he worked with the FDNY and Department of Buildings to develop standards, making sure the apartments have sprinklers, adequate exits, windows and ventilation.

“There’s concerns about, for example, the fact that we have boilers and furnaces in the basement. The bill will allow for homeowners to wall-off those furnaces,” he said.

I'm sure East New York enjoys being referred to as a "guinea pig". Seriously, what elected official talks like this about a neighborhood, and to a reporter no less? And what 2-family homeowner is going to take out a loan to install sprinklers when they can just continue renting out their basements illegally for tax-free $$$ the way 75% of their neighbors do?

Did we land in Oz?

Glendale RV extravaganza!

From CBS 2:

A busy street in Queens has been a little more crowded lately – not with cars, but with recreational vehicles.

Glendale residents say the RVs have been parked there for a while, creating an eyesore in the community.

A worker for the moving company, Brian and His Van, that owns the vehicles said not to worry, they will be moved out of there in the next few weeks. He said three of the RVs are used for travel and construction, and one is being transformed for the community.

Carrington said it will soon be called the Multimedia Dream Machine, a mobile art and music studio for local students.

So, is this "establishment":

a) a moving company
b) for travel and construction
c) an art and music studio