COMET

Newsletter Spring 2012

Communities of Maspeth and Elmhurst Together

Illegal parking

These huge tour buses continually park on 57th Avenue in Elmhurst near Crowley Park.

Comet is working with the 104th, 108th and 110th Precincts to address the illegal parking conditions throughout our area. Dispite numerous summonses, these vehicle owners continue to park in our neighborhood for extended periods of time. Our precincts said that they will continue their enforcement efforts.
This tractor trailer continues to park illegally on the west bound LIE exit ramp at Mazeau Street in Maspeth.

The photos were taken by Shirley Warren.

Presidents Message
By Roe Daraio

PresidentsMessage
ByRoeDaraio

pollsters and utility companies. Unfortunately, most Are you one of those people, like me, who are conof the calls Ive been getting are from utility compa-Call! Do Not stantly bombarded with telemarketer calls? Ive tried nies. not picking up the phone, picking up the phone If you continually receive unwanted calls Areyouoneofthosepeople,likeme,whoareconstantly and hanging up the receiver right away, and triednotpickingupthephone,pickingupthephoneand I urge you to register your phone number on have actually picked up the call in frustration to haveactuallypickedupthecallinfrustrationtobegthe the National Do Not Call Registry. If you beg the telemarketer to leave me alone only to find out itsyou can do what Im doingI dont pick up, the still get calls a recorded message. If now find out its a recorded message. If I dont pick theyredoingthistoharassmeorjustdrivemecrazy! - file a complaint. The procedure is quick up, they continually call back. Im not sure if thatIregisteredmyphoneontheNationalDoNotCallR and easy if its done online. Perhaps if folks theyre doing this to harass me or just drive me actually filed complaints, the calls would Nowheresthecatch.EveniftheNationalDoNotCallRegist crazy! The most aggravating thing about this is stop. thehook,excusethepun,becausethereareexceptions.Yep,youwillcon that I registered my phone on the National Do Not andutilitycompanies.Unfortunately,mostofthecallsIvebeengettingare Call Registry to prevent getting these calls. You can register by phone for the Do Not Call IfyoucontinuallyreceiveunwantedcallsIurgeyoutoregisteryourphonen Registry by calling 1-888-382-1222 Now heres the catch. Even if the National Do Not try.IfyoustillgetcallsyoucandowhatImdoingnowfileacomplaint.Th OR Call Registry actually worked, it doesnt get you off online.Perhapsiffolksactuallyfiledcomplaints,thecallswouldstop. You can register online at www.donotcall.gov as the hook, pun intended, because there are exceptions. well as file a complaint. Yep, you will continue to get calls from charities, YoucanregisterbyphonefortheDoNotCallRegistryby OR Youcanregisteronlineonthefollowingwebsiteaswe

Do Not Call!

Save the Date!

Maspeth Memorial Day ParadeSavetheDate!

Sunday, May 27th 1:00 pm 72nd Street/Grand Avenue

Comet will be marching in the parade. Youre welcome to join us!

Cometwillbemarchingintheparade.Yourewe

MaspethMemorialDayParad Sunday,May27th 1:00pm nd 72 Street/GrandAvenue

Thank You!

WestMaspethresidentswanttothankCaptainCody,CommandingOfficer, West Maspeth residentsandtheofficersinthe104thPrecinctwhoticketedandtowednumerousv want to thank Captain Cody, Commanding Officer, Captain John Travaglia, Executive Officer and the officers in the 104th Precinct who ticketed and towed numerous vewithAlaska platesthatwasfilledwithscooters,aswellascommercialand hicles which included an old school bus with Alaska plates that was filled with scooters, as well as commercial HolidayInnExpress.Theireffortshaveopenedupvaluableparkingspaces and other vehicles from 55th Road near the Holiday Inn Express. Their efforts have opened up valuable parking appreciated! spaces for local residents. Your efforts are truly appreciated! 2

Thank You!

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Maspeth Avenue Accident

Mazeau Street Accidents

Heres some unlucky neighbors property and vehicles that were smashed by speeding hit and run drivers over the past couple of months. The vehicles shown in pictures 1 and 2 were hit in early February and the damage to the vehicle and property in pictures 3 and 4 occurred during the holidays. Residents on Mazeau Street are fed up with motorists speeding and using their block as a shortcut on a daily basis.

The holiday season of 2011 would have been more bright and cheery for this family on Maspeth Avenue if their vehicle wasnt hit by a drunk driver so hard that it was flipped over and totaled. The owner of the vehicle claims this is the fourth time one of her vehicles was hit while parked on this street. Comet reached out to NYC DOT to request a much needed speed bump to slow down traffic along this strip. It would also help safeguard the children who attend Martin Luther High School. We also mentioned the increased truck traffic on Maspeth Avenue as a result of the bypass to DOT. Photo by Barbara Lauri. This sign advertising pork skins popped up on a building along 51st Avenue a few months ago. We have no problem with someone advertising a business, but when advertisements like this start cropping up; it becomes visual clutter and certainly does nothing for neighborhood beautification. There are zoning regulations that dictate the type, size, shape and quantity of signs on buildings located in an M1-1 zone. Unfortunately this recent, rather large advertising sign on side of the building facing 51st Avenue is legal. Photo by Dick Gundlach

Lucky for Block Captain Linda Daquaro and her neighbors, NYC DOT is already in the process of doing a feasibility study to convert Mazeau Street between the westbound LIE to Grand Avenue into a one-way street. Linda is also hopeful that speed bumps will be installed to slow down traffic. Photos by Linda Daquaro.

Commercial Advertising

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COMET Spring 2012 Pg. 3

No Relief for Elmhurst, Maspeth or Woodside

and making dangerous U-turns on heavily trafficked streets such as Grand Avenue. A Comet member actually went out and videotaped some of the activity to show to the representatives so they could understand the reason our concerns! If they have done enforcement, theyre keeping it a national secret, and they certainly havent been back to follow up and resolve the problem. Council Member Koslowitz has promised to follow up on this issue and hopefully come up with some legislation that would further tighten regulations for the commuter van industry. She is also following up to find out what enforcement has been done, if any. These photos were taken on Calamus Avenue, a bus route, on the Elmhurst, Woodside and Maspeth border.
Photos courtesy of Tom Porembski.

Commuter Vans

Despite Council Member Karen Koslowitz valiant effort to have representatives from NYC DOT and the Taxi & Limousine Commission (TLC) attend our December meeting to discuss the negative impact the commuter vans are having in our community, the problem persists. To date, we have not heard back from either agency as to what steps they plan to take to stop pickups outside of their authorized zones nor have we heard when they will send enforcement to our area to summons the drivers who are making illegal pickups along bus routes, picking up passengers outside of their authorized zone, blocking intersections and narrow residential streets

Van Bramer Pushes for BSA Reform

for BSA reform stems from numerous instances of variances granted against the wishes of the community and elected officials. His office did a study of the BSA decisions from the beginning of 2005 until early 2011. During this time, throughout the five boroughs, there were 2,855 appeals brought before the BSA. Of these 2,481 were granted, an approval rate of 86.9%. The citywide denial rate was an anemic 2.7% and the remainder of the cases were withdrawn. In a nutshell, he has introduced four pieces of legislation that will help BSA reform. The bills include the following: BSA will incorporate the recommendations of the community into the final decision; it would expand the BSA to sixteen
Continued on page 5

If someone wants to build something that does not conform to the zoning, they must file for a variance and inevitably come before the Board of Standards and Appeals (BSA) for a final decision as to whether or not their request will be approved. Council Member Jimmy Van Bramers call
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Continued from page 4

members five from the Mayor, five from the City Council, one from the Public Advocate, and one from each Borough President; amend the City Charter to create a formal procedure for the community to draft a complaint against the issue that stands before BSA and; amend the City Charter to require all mayoral recommended members of BSA be approved by the NYC Council.

Council Member Van Bramer said, For far too long, variances have been issued without regard for the wishes of the community, civic groups or elected officials. The community has a right to have input into what sort of development occurs in their neighborhood. This legislation will limit outof-character development and protect the fabric of our communities. Photo taken by Joe Kenton.

Liveries, Liveries Everywhere!

being in place for TLC-licensed vehicles being leased to individuals running a dealership with no off-street parking requirements, we are also concerned by the fact that while livery base station vehicles are required to have their name on the vehicle, black cars and luxury limos are not. Surprisingly, we were told most of these vehicles are black cars or luxury limos. How do we know

Have you been in the vicinity of St. Marys Winfield recently? If you have, you know about the parking nightmare that has struck the area. Yep, livery cabs, dozens of them. Actually, we heard there could possibly be as many as 200 taking up parking spots for residents, church goers and employees of local businesses. The bulk of them can be seen from 69th Street to 72nd Street between 47th and 49th Avenues and if you travel further, they can also be spotted as far as 67th Street. If you really take the time to look, youll see one of these liveries perched in a gas station on Queens Boulevard at 69th Street with a Rent Me sign on it. So, you ask, why hasnt anyone done anything to resolve this? We took the opportunity to bring this issue up at our December meeting since DOT and TLC were there to answer questions and hear concerns about the commuter vans. Heres the problem. TLC regulations require off-street parking for base stations but not dealerships. As luck would have it, or not, Supreme Management Group, 69-20 48th Avenue, Woodside, is a dealership, not a base station. In addition to our concern about no regulations

these leased vehicles are actually being used by someone licensed by TLC? The dealer may lease it to a TLC licensed individual but we have no idea whether he, in turn, is giving it to someone else to drive who isnt properly licensed or even if he has a valid license at all. How do we know if a rapist or other criminal is behind the wheel? TLC did state that during the past 8 months 12 summonses were issued which included inadequate insurance coverage, lack of commission-required decal and invalid drivers license. Interesting. We are absolutely livid that someone can literally operate a business on a city street without a permit!
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Hush Lounge Update

By Mike Harte

To have a dumpster in the street; an A-frame on the sidewalk; or a vending machine on city property, a permit is required. We took this issue to Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer who is currently working with other agencies to determine what action can be taken to get these vehicles off our streets. In the meantime, while the problem of operating a business on the street doesnt fall within their purview, the 108th Precinct has been doing as much as they can to help us. Although its a time-consuming job they have been summonsing and towing vehicles, when possible. We applaud their efforts! We will continue to monitor this problem and hope that Council Member Van Bramer and the 108th Precinct will be able to resolve this situation with help from other agencies. Well keep you updated. Photos taken by Mike Harte. Under the watchful eye of Captain Michael Cody, the 104th Precinct has been proactive in responding to ongoing complaints concerning the Hush Lounge on Grand Avenue in Maspeth. His precinct has been working in partnership with the community and COMET. On January 20th an operation was supervised by Lieutenant Lombardi and summonses were issued by PO Christian for excessive noise. During this response, as other officers starting checking on some autos outside the club, some patrons left the bar and did not return. Another operation was mounted on February 3rd by Sergeant Singh and summonses were issued by P.O. Taveras for once again excessive noise as well as a State Liquor Authority violation for obstructed visibility. Drapes were blocking a clear line of sight into the club. In the early morning hours of February 11th the Hush was once again cited for noise. And the clubs owner was summonsed for double parking. Up until Captain Cody arrived at the 104th Precinct this establishment had a free hand to harass its neighbors without any repercussions. Now they are being held accountable. All the Hush has to do is be considerate of its neighbors but the word considerate does not seem to be in their vocabulary. Captain Cody runs a tight ship and is highly regarded and respected by the residents in this community for his ethics and dedication. What a breath of fresh air.
Photo by Mike Harte.

Neighborhood Wildlife

A Comet members son took this picture of a possum on 73rd Street on his way to school. Its not common to see them in daylight. In general, possums are docile, non aggressive animals and will not attack people or pets. They prefer to escape and avoid confrontations if possible. If not, the threatened possum may play possum, hiss, show its teeth, or bite in self defense as any animal would. Photo by Linda Daquaro.
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Even with support from the 104th, 108th, 110th Precincts and Patrol Borough Queens North, Maspeth, Elmhurst and the Winfield section of Woodside continue to be plagued with illegally parked school buses, tractor trailers, tour buses, Winnebagos and other assorted vehicles. Patrol Borough Queens North is assisting our precincts in summonsing and towing vehicles in an ongoing effort to alleviate the problem. While their efforts are appreciated, we havent even seen any permanent solution that would deter this activity once and for all. Some of the locations that seem to be a favorite haunt of these vehicle owners are 51st Avenue between 69th Street and

Illegal Parking Continues to Plague the Comet Area

Queens Boulevard on the Winfield/Elmhurst border, 57th Avenue on the Maspeth/Elmhurst border and a particularly dangerous condition exists just off the exit ramp of the LIE at Mazeau Street in Maspeth. Photo by Dick Gundlach.

The 104th, 108th, and 110th Precincts all sent representatives to our December and February Comet meetings. On the left is Commanding Officer of the 110th Precinct, DI Ronald Leyson , who replaced DI Richard Napolitano. On the right is Captain Terence OToole of the 108th. Photos by Mike Fordunski.

Police Report Crime Statistics at Comet Meeting

Our meetings are held on the first Monday of every month except for January, July and August. The meetings are held at the Bethzatha Church of God, 85-20 57th Avenue. Meetings start at 7:00 pm. Directions to the meeting can be found on our website, www.cometcivic.com. We will hold additional meetings to alert residents about a project or problem in their area and will translate our fliers into different languages, if necessary. Our meetings are open to everyone and we encourage you to attend with friends and neighbors. Meet and speak with representatives of the 104th, 108th and 110th Precincts to hear whats happening in our neighborhood or voice a concern. Michael Fordunski, Roe Daraio, Dick Gundlach, Christina Wilkinson, Michael Harte and Maspeth Press

COMET MEETINGS

Newsletter Committee:

This newsletter is made possible by funding from Council Members Elizabeth Crowley, Karen Koslowitz and Jimmy Van Bramer through the Department of Youth and Community Development.
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C.O.M.E.T., INC

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COMET
Newsletter Spring 2012

Communities of Maspeth and Elmhurst Together

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