FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.queenscourier.com FEBRUARY 6, 2014 • The Queens Courier 3 YOU CAN JOIN A COMMUNITY BOARD BY MELISSA CHAN m c h a n @ queenscourier.com Civic-minded Queens residents looking to shape their neighborhoods have until this Friday to apply to join one of the borough’s 14 community boards. Borough President Melinda Katz has extended the deadline for those applying to be a new or returning community board member to February 7, due to a snowierthan usual January. Community boards, which have up to 50 sitting members, advise city agencies on zoning, land use and community issues. The eyes and ears of the neighborhoods also make city budget and state liquor licensing recommendations. Board members, appointed by the borough president or nominated by their district’s councilmember, serve for two years. The new term begins April 1. Applications are available at www.queensbp.org. For more information, call 718-286-2900. CB 11 TO ELECT NEW CHAIR BY MELISSA CHAN mchan@queenscourier.com Community Board 11 will lose a longtime leader and elect a new chair next month. The Queens board will bid farewell to Jerry Iannece, who is term-limited due to the board’s bylaws. An election to replace him will take place March 3. “It was an awesome ride,” said Iannece, whose term ends March 31. “It was exciting, exhilarating. It’s been a labor of love in many ways.” Iannece was first appointed as board chair in 2002, stepping down in 2007 due to term limits. He returned to take back the board’s helm in 2009. Under his leadership, Community Board 11 was at the forefront of a $125 million ravine improvement project at Oakland Lake. The massive upgrade, which was more than 10 years in the making, fixed a flooding problem in Bayside Hills. “It saved Oakland Lake, and it saved the ecosystem,” Iannece said. “It’s sort of a textbook case of how a civic can identify a problem, employ their resources and get a problem solved.” But after a roller coaster, decade-long tenure — and multiple failed bids for political office — the civic leader plans to step down for good. “It’s an exhausting, full-time job without pay. I think my time as chair of Community Board 11 has come to an end,” said Iannece, who most recently ran for City Council in 2009 and suffered a devastating defeat in his bid for state Assembly in 2012. “Running for office for a few years took a lot out of me,” the attorney said. “It just wasn’t meant to be, but it’s okay.” Board members will nominate and then vote in a new chair at the end of the March 3 meeting, which starts at 7:30 p.m. at 46-35 Oceania Street in Bayside. The board covers Auburndale, Bayside, Douglaston, Little Neck, Hollis Hills and Oakland Gardens. “I think it’s always good to have fresh blood, to have someone with new ideas,” Iannece said. “We’ll find somebody that’s more than capable of filling my shoes and doing a great job.” REMEMBER THE WORLD’S FAIR? Did you or someone you know attend the 1964-1965 New York World’s Fair at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park? If yes, The Courier is asking you to share your memorabilia and/or memories with us to commemorate the event’s 50th anniversary this April. You could win a dinner for two. Please email your entries to editorial@queenscourier. com with the subject line “World’s Fair Anniversary” or to Editorial, 38-15, Bell Boulevard, Bayside, NY 11361. Note: All photos/items become property of The Queens Courier Cuts wil force St. Mary’s Program to end BY MELISSA CHAN mchan@queenscourier.com A valuable program will come to an end this year for nearly 3,000 children at St. Mary’s Healthcare System, officials announced this week. The Bayside-based facility that serves children with special needs and complex medical conditions will close its Early Intervention (EI) program May 5 due to state Department of Health cuts to reimbursement rates, St. Mary Interim President and CEO Edwin Simpser said. More than 750 children, who currently use the program, will need to be transitioned into other agencies, he said. “We know that these are challenging times for other EI providers, who are experiencing similar struggles,” Simpser said, “and we will continue to advocate for more appropriate reimbursement rates for vital childhood programs, including EI, that are so essential to the success and future of our children.” The cuts have made it difficult for the program to survive, St. Mary’s administration and other nonprofits said. “Despite the growing need for service, EI rates have not increased in 12 years, making it almost impossible for not-forprofit providers, with hospital-based providers in particular, to operate,” said Christopher Treiber, associate executive director for Children’s Services at the InterAgency Council. Each year, the state-funded EI program at St. Mary’s serves nearly 3,000 children, who are or might be at risk for developmental delays or disabilities. For more than 20 years, it has provided free evaluations, special education and therapeutic, support services for children under three years old. “Our main priority at this time is to ensure a smooth transition for the children,” Simpser said. City tallying Willets payouts BY MELISSA CHAN mchan@queenscourier.com The city is still tallying the number of Willets Point business owners who took a final payout to relocate, officials said. A pooled $3.5 million was up for grabs for auto shop owners in the Phase 1 area of the development site who agreed to leave the Iron Triangle by the end of January. The city’s Economic Development Corporation (EDC) offered shop owners a payout equal to one year’s rent, if they relocated by November 30, and six months’ rent, if they left between December and the end of January. The city was still making final counts on February 5, an EDC spokesperson said, adding that a more concrete number would be available next week. In December, nine businesses agreed to vacate by January 31 and 22 took a payout to relocate by November, according to a Megan Montalvo, a spokesperson for Councilmember Julissa Ferreras, who represents the area. And at the end of November, 30 relocated, signed new leases or are close to doing so, she said. About 50 business owners from the Sunrise Co-op, a large group fighting to relocate together, are inching closer to signing their own lease with the city to move as a group THE COURIER/File photo to the Bronx, Sunrise leader Sergio Aguirre said. “We will have good news soon,” he said. The city has been urging shops to leave in order to make way for a $3 billion project to redevelop Willets Point, which includes cleaning up 23 acres of contaminated land and eventually constructing housing units and a mega mall near Citi Field. THE COURIER/Photo by Melissa Chan
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