MONTHLY NEWSLETTER OF THE CREEDMOOR CIVIC ASSOCIATION, INC.

The largest multi-school campus ever built by the School Construction Authority opens this month on land once owned by Creedmoor Psychiatric Center. 

The 31-acre campus contains one high school specializing in teaching careers, and two kindergarten to eighth grade schools. However, the athletic fields have not been built because they have not been funded.  In addition, one Creedmoor building remains on the site because the occupants have not be relocated.  It is part of the masterplan for the site that the Creedmoor building be demolished, originally planned for 2003, but now seems to be behind schedule.  The cost for the three-school project was originally pegged at $204 million.  No word on the actual cost.  It has been stated, however, that these are the last schools that will be built to quality specifications.  Because of the cost overruns of the last several years where it became necessary to shelve some planned new schools such as the one on Jamaica Avenue and 224th Street, new schools will be built with less architectural frills. The opening of the new schools has been marred by controversy over the firing of the new principal of P.S. 208, the school that was assigned to District 29.  A protest of parents at the district headquarters has brought no response as to the reasons, but parents thought the timing was bad because the new school needed uninterrupted leadership. 

The Civic Congress requested a walk-through, but the request was denied because the Department of Education is against walk-throughs.  The Mayor's Office  has delegated to itself the responsibility for ribbon cuttings, though none has yet been announced .  The Civic Congress first proposed that a masterplan for the entire Creedmoor hospital campus be initiated, which led to former Borough President Claire Shulman to create a task force and incorporated not only the Civic Congress leaders, but also their conceptual masterplan features.  Out of subsequent meetings came the plan to build a school campus on these surplus acres. 

The campus has its own road and sidewalk system and all pickups and dropoffs must be made within the perimeter boundaries of the campus.  This was designed to alleviate traffic concerns of the residents of Glen Oaks Village on Commonwealth Boulevard.  State Senator Frank Padavan who negotiated the sale of the land to the City also negotiated the acquisition of additional land along Union Turnpike to create the entrances for the separate road system. 
 

COUNCIL CANDIDATE TO SPEAK 

William Horowitz, a recent St. Johns University graduate, is challenging incumbent Council Member David Weprin for his seat on the City Council.  Horowitz, a Republican, will be our guest speaker at our September 8th meeting. Weprin, who represents the Creedmoor Civic area, is being invited to a subsequent meeting of our civic. 

DECKS REQUIRE PERMITS

The recent deadly collapse of an illegally built deck at a Bayside home has brought the subject of decks to the public's attention.  The Department of Buildings has stated that the building of all decks in NYC need a building permit.  It does not matter if the deck is attached to the house or not.  You may call 311 for an inspection of your deck by the DOB.  The Department of Buildings has instituted a moratorium on summonses until September 11. 
 

ZIP CODE PROBLEM UPDATE

A small victory of sorts has been won by residents of Lyman St., Moline St, and part of 88th Ave., although a major problem still exists. Some of you may or may not know that these streets are required to use 11427 and 11428 as their zip codes. It has annoyed residents on these blocks for many years that their "official" post office is not the one closest to them, on Braddock Ave in their own neighborhood, but the one quite a distance away on Jamaica Ave. A request, made through Senator Padavan's office, to the USPS Triboro District, to allow these blocks to use the Braddock Ave station was denied. A small compromise was reached that allowed these residents to use "Bellerose Manor" as an official alternate name, in addition to "Jamaica" and "Queens Village". The owners of these homes have stated that their deeds to their homes indicate "Bellerose," not  "Queens Village". 

Unfortunately, the word has not reached everyone at the Postal Service. Residents have noticed a dramatic increase in their mail being defaced, with "Bellerose" and "Bellerose Manor" being forcefully crossed out. Some residents reported receiving their Federal tax refund checks with part of the address crossed out. There has been no response yet from the Postal Service on how they will handle this vandalism. 
 

ILLEGAL SIGNS SPARK ONE-MAN PROTEST

Small rectangular stickers have mysteriously appeared on many of the illegal signs on the utility poles throughout Bellerose and the surrounding areas.  The stickers, which read, "THIS IS AN ILLEGAL SIGN", are probably someone's reaction to the poor response by the Department of Sanitation in removing these unsightly signs. 
 

VAN BUREN HS FIELD COMPLETE

Construction on Martin Van Buren High School's athletic field was completed over the summer.  This project was done by "Take the Field", a non-profit organization that refurbishes public school athletic fields with support from City and State challenge grants.  The fields were rebuilt using both natural and artificial turf. 
 

BUSINESS DISTRICT CLEANS MALL

Some may have noticed the spotlessly clean center median in Braddock Avenue between 242nd Street and the Cross Island Parkway.  This island which got very weedy was cleaned by the Joint Bellerose Business District Development Corporation using their own landscape contractor and paid for by the District. 
 

AROUND THE TOWN

Congratulations to: A fond farewell to Larry Cohen, who recently retired as principal of PS33. Mr. Cohen led one of the best schools in SD29 for the last 12 years. 

Also a fond farewell to to Jeffrey Green, Assistant Principal for the upper grades at PS33 for the last 7 years who is retiring this month. And congrats and welcome to Maria Sultana, who is now the Interim Acting Assistant Principal for PS33's upper grades. 

Congratulations on: three new babies on 239th Street: Mr. & Mrs. Simmons with a baby boy; Mr. & Mrs. Norman Coleman grandparents to a baby boy named Thomas; and Mr. & Mrs. Curtis with a baby girl. 

Welcome New Neighbors: Hello and welcome to Danielle and Peter, new residents of 88-42 239th Street. 

Condolences to: the family of Fabian Ceballos.  Neighbors were shocked by the shooting of Fabian Ceballos on the morning of August 22 at his home at 89-18 Moline St.  Mr. Ceballos was shot in the back by two intruders.  Police at the 105th Precinct have theorized that he knew his assailants.  The CCA send its condolences to his family. 
 

BIKE LANE NEWS

There has been some confusion regarding the bike lanes that have been painted on Winchester Blvd., especially if it's necessary to pass a car making a left turn from Winchester.  Many drivers are unaware of the rules regarding crossing over bicycle lanes.  The Creedmoor Civic Association posed this question to Sam Schwartz, former Commissioner of the NYC DOT, and now known as "Gridlock Sam". 

His response: 

"No person shall drive across a bike lane except to enter or leave a driveway, to enter or leave a legal curbside parking space, to cross an intersection or to make a turn within an intersection.  This would make it legal for motorists to cross over bike lanes to go through the intersection." 
 

CEASE AND DESIST LOOPHOLE

Those of you who have signed up for NY State's Cease and Desist List, which is supposed to prevent Real Estate brokers from soliciting you, may have been contacted by them any way. 

Several of these brokers are using loopholes in this law by addressing their letters and postcards to "Queens", or "Queens Village" and "Jamaica".  Even after two complaints, the NY Department of State has allowed this to continue. 

ONE WAY STREET - COURTING DISASTER

A misguided attempt to make 235th Court a one-way street is under way. It is apparent that the vast majority of people that are affected by this change, the residents of our civic area, strongly oppose it. 

Many of our residents use 235th Court to access our neighborhood. If this block becomes a one-way, we would all be inconvenienced 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, every single day of the year. 

The community board originally received the request from the PS18 PTA. Theoretically, the reason is to make the block safer for the children who attend PS18, which is in the middle of that block. The real problem is a handful of parents who drop their children off on the wrong side of the street, causing problems for the children and the drivers. Changing the traffic to one-way toward Hillside Ave will not make this block any safer for the children, since these same idiotic and careless parents will drop their children off and force them to cross the street. A survey of the surrounding blocks proves that the vast majority of the residents that live on these blocks are against this conversion. 

We need your help. If you don't want to drive several blocks out of the way every time you want to come into your own neighborhood, write us a short note that we can forward to the community board: 

Creedmoor Civic Association, Inc. 
88-01 Lyman Street 
Bellerose Manor, NY  11427 
 

FIRST CORN MAZE IN NYC!

The Farm Museum is building the first corn maze in the five boroughs and will open  in conjunction with the Agricultural Fair on September 20. The two-acre extravaganza is being sponsored by Consolidated Edison. 

The country comes to the city this autumn as the Amazing Maize Maze®, the three-dimensional aerial artwork and interactive cornfield adventure, opens at the Farm in the shape of a windmill and barn. 

Visitors are invited to try to get out of the windmill vanes and the outlines of the barn by wending their way through thousands of corn stalks.  The maze will open to the public as a new attraction at the Museum's 21st Annual Agricultural Fair (also known as the "County Fair") on the weekend of September 20 and 21, and will continue to be open on weekends through Saturday, November 1. 

The brainchild of Don Frantz, the former associate producer for Disney's Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King, the Amazing Maize Maze® is, as National Public Radio put it, "a gold and green amusement park ride that stands still."  Mr. Frantz drew on his experience as a producer for Broadway, theme parks like Universal Studios and Busch Gardens as well as Superbowl half-time shows to make the Amazing Maize Maze® the world's most successful expression of agritainment - a marriage of art, agriculture, education and of course, entertainment. 

With its music, interactive games, hidden puzzle pieces and cast of characters, the Amazing Maize Maze® is an energizing brew that makes everyone feel comfortable enough to get lost and love it. 

Hours: Saturdays and Sundays, 11 AM - 5 PM. 
(Maze by Moonlight evenings held on Friday, October 10, and Saturday, October 11.  Maze stays open on these nights to 9:00 PM.) 

Admission: Adults: $6.00.  Children from 3 to 11: $4.00.  Children under 3 are free.  Group rates are available.  Admission to the Maze during the Agricultural Fair still requires a separate payment to enter. 

The maze is located in an area of the farm never before open to the public.  This is the two-acre site that had been decimated by the past winter's ice storm. Once the brush was cleared, the earth was tilled and fertilized and special equipment was brought in to plant the corn. 

This project is expected to be temporary.  Current plans are only for this year and next.  A generous donation from Con Edison made it possible to create this special project. 

The maze also includes an observation tower to monitor the visitors.  There will be mailboxes placed around where pieces of the maze map will act as clues.  There will also be a free water station for drinking, and a bridge that will allow you to see the maze from on high as you leave so you can see where you've been.  Visitors will be given a short orientation by trained staff before being let into the maze which we believe will enhance the experience.  The maze contains 1.2 miles of pathways.  Expect to spend about an hour in this exhibit adding together both the time of the orientation and the maze hiking.  This is just an average, some may need more or less time.  There will be an opportunity to speak to aides in the tower in case you get lost and need the reassurance of a live voice. You will be able to speak to the tower via telephone. 

As you can see, this is a very involved project.  You will appreciate the complexity once you go through it.  Souvenirs and light food service will be available in the Pavilion at the end of the Maze. 
 

TREES DISAPPEAR ON MOLINE STREET

Two trees that once graced the west side of Moline Street at 89th Avenue have disappeared without any record of a permit from the Department of Parks.  Another example of builders running roughshod over existing communities.  Construction of several houses where the Innes home once stood has angered residents and civic leaders because this street is unprotected by the down-zoning that we achieved for the rest of our civic territory.  It is not known how this block was exempted from the change.