MONTHLY NEWSLETTER OF THE CREEDMOOR CIVIC ASSOCIATION, INC.

Creedmoor Civic Association has aided in the rebuilding efforts for the Hollis-Queens Village -Bellerose Ambulance Corps whose headquarters on Braddock Avenue and Lyman Street was destroyed by fire. Our Association's members were in prominent view at the street closing sponsored by Fuzzy's Wolfrose Bar on Braddock Avenue and 240th Street held on September 25 with all the proceeds of the barbecue going to help rebuild the Corps' building.
 

From right to left: Jim Trent, Rick Duskiewicz, Barbara Lax-Brown, Rosemarie Russo, Helen Trent

In addition, the Association voted to give $200.00 from its treasury towards the building fund which needs $30,000 to complete the ambitious expansion of the existing building including the construction of a second floor. The renovated and enlarged building will feature an English Tudor style of facade which will blend in well with the architecture of many of the commercial buildings in the Bellerose area. While funds continue to pour into Fuzzy's from mailed-in checks and from donation boxes placed around the community, the September 25 block party netted just under $3,200,  not counting the CCA check.  We urge our residents to bring a check to Fuzzy's made out to the Hollis-Queens Village-Bellerose Ambulance Corps, or to the Corps' temporary trailer office alongside the headquarters at 235-01 Braddock Avenue.

Last month Republican candidate for City Council William Horowitz spoke. This month, Democrat David Weprin, seeking re-election, will present his candidacy.

This is a good opportunity to become informed and ask questions. 

Congratulations to: Mr. and Mrs. Balingit of 239th St. on the birth of their daughter Beatriz Grace, who was born September 4.

We have picked up several new merchant participants in our Welcome New Neighbors Program: Bellerose-Floral Park Florist, High Class Ices, and Lemon Tree Haircutters, all on Jamaica Avenue.  Thanks for your support!!

The Joint Bellerose Business District Development Corporation will hold its annual Luncheon to mark its 8th anniversary on October 16 at Nancy's Restaurant (formerly Nancy's Fireside) at 1 PM.

Tickets are $30 and include a free door prize ticket along with a sumptuous lunch.  Creedmoor Civic will be represented by a delegation of 10 members.  (Those who are representing the Civic, please bring your checks to the October meeting.) If anyone else wants to attend, please call James Trent at 718-343-8830 to make a reservation. 

The Queens Economic Development Corporation will conduct a special study of the business needs of the Bellerose downtown shopping district which includes Braddock Avenue between Jamaica Avenue and Gettysburg Street and will be the guest speaker at the lunch to discuss the details of this study. 

There will be several items on the November ballot dealing with City Charter amendments.  The Queens Civic Congress is hosting a debate on this subject at the Flushing Branch Library on October 20 at 7:30 PM. The most controversial item is one calling for non-partisan elections for City office.  This would not include elections for judges which are considered a State office. 

This proposal, being pushed by the Mayor, has stirred up a hornet's nest in the City, particularly among Democrats, although support among Republicans seems nil as well, though the GOP hasn't been as vocal.  The idea does have some supporters, though, and a visit to this debate should help our members make up their minds. Another Charter change is in the City's methodology of procurement.

The Library is located at the point at which Main Street and Kissena Boulevard come together.  You can reach it by Q27 bus with a free transfer from the Q1.

The Commanding Officer of the 105th Precinct, Deputy Inspector Michael Bryan, has again notified parents at our neighborhood schools that the precinct will be adopting a "Zero Tolerance" towards those who disobey traffic and parking regulations near the schools.

While this may annoy some drivers, this will hopefully bring even more attention to the ridiculously ignorant practices of a few parents who put their children and other's children at risk. Most of the parents of our school-age children park legally and take the safety of others into consideration every morning and afternoon. 

A small handful of inconsiderate parents create problems for everyone else every single day. CreedmoorCivic Association supports the 105th Precinct in this program. 

Never has Queens been under such stress as in the last five years when a rampant building boom broke out in a borough that has no empty lots.  One Queens civic leader who scoured the records of the  Department of Buildings, found the agency had issued 700 permits for teardowns throughout the borough. These were current permits! A teardown is when perfectly sound housing is destroyed to make room for larger homes, many of them illegal for the zone they are in. 

What's more, many homes are being destroyed because the zoning that overlays them is not consistent with the existing building development.  This means that the new housing is legal, but is out of character with the existing development.  In addition, when construction is illegal, civic groups get little satisfaction from a Building Department that seems always to side with the developers.

One local City Councilman said that now over 90% of the complaints coming into his office are about Building Department issues. 

Avella to the rescue

Tony Avella, the Councilman representing College Point, Whitestone and Bayside, and who had been active in the Queens Civic Congress prior to being elected to office, has taken the QCC platform and is attempting to turn it into legislation. Several bills he has written and is now trying to get passed are the following: 

1.) Board of Standards and Appeals.  This body, appointed by the Mayor is unaccountable.  They almost never vote against a developer seeking a variance, even when the variance sought is after the fact: that is, the construction has already happened.  While they are required to seek the advice of the Community Board, they almost always overrule the Community Board.  Avella wrote a bill which will give the City Council the right to review and overturn decisions of the BSA.  Creedmoor Civic's Rick Duskiewicz stood with Avella on the steps of City Hall at a recent press conference promoting this bill.

2.) Restrictive Covenants: Many homes that are destroyed shouldn't be because the original builders placed covenants on the homes that specified that their use as a one-family home was to be in perpetuity.  The problem is in enforcement.  Who enforces?  Right now it has been falling on civic associations who often have to raise $100,000 in legal fees to challenge builders in court.  While some of these cases have been won, Avella and the Civic Congress feel it would be better to put the onus on the Building Department.  Under the Avella bill, a covenant would be recorded at the DOB and no building permit would be issued if the new construction violates it.

3.) Community Facilities: These are as-of-right functions such as churches and medical facilities that have been destroying Queens neighborhoods.  Our members will remember the presentation at our own meeting one day in which the North Flushing Civic Association demonstrated graphically how in ten years the amount of their territory devoted to non-profits went from 10% of land area to 25%, making the remaining homeowners anxious to sell and get out. The Avella bill allows churches to build in manufacturing zones, thus reducing pressure on residential zones, and eliminates the farcical loophole that if seating is not fixed, off-street parking is not required.  (In other words, if you use folding chairs instead of pews screwed to the floor, you don't need a parking lot.)  This loophole has caused double parking and the blocking of driveways while churches were in session.

Building Department Useless

If you want to get a laugh out of an audience, just go to a Queens civic meeting and mention the words "Building Department."  While many of the DOB employees have been taken out in handcuffs over the last few years, civic leaders wonder about the integrity of those who still work there.  Ask about the plans of a site about to undergo construction and you will be told either that the "file is missing" or that "after the permit is issued, the builder takes the drawings back."  That's right, you will get no information.  Judges won't order the demolition of an illegally construction building, and covenant  enforcement is left to the cash-poor civics.  What if your neighborhood doesn't have a civic
association?

James Trent, of both the Queens Civic Congress and Creedmoor Civic has proposed Charter Amendments that would move the borough offices of both the Department of City Planning and the Department of Buildings from Mayoral control to the Borough Presidents. Under the Beeps, there is more accountability because a borough president is more likely to be thrown out of office for not protecting the integrity of the neighborhoods than the Mayor who is elected or unelected over his performance on issues like taxes, education, and crime rates.  This proposed amendment is supported by the Executive Committee of the QCC and the Borough Historian's Queens Preservation
Council.  Support is expected to grow.