FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.qns.com FEBRUARY 18, 2016 • The Queens Courier 3 Residents decry restaurant row development plan By Angela Mat ua amatua@qns.com/@AngelaMatua Don’t serve up Forest Hills’ “restaurant row” to developers on a platter, residents pleaded during the Feb. 10 Community Board 6 meeting. Attendees slammed a proposed 12-story development to be constructed at 107-18 Queens Blvd., which would wipe out the restaurants on the adjacent block of 70th Road between Queens Boulevard and Austin Street. It is the only place where outdoor seating is permitted in the area. Currently, the developer can only erect a seven-story, mixed-use building on the site, which is made up of three lots. Adam Rothkrug, a lawyer for the developer, presented to Board 6 a plan for a taller building on the site. Board members must decide whether to grant the developer a special permit to modify the height provisions. “The character of the neighborhood is going to change so violently,” said Murray Gottlieb, a Forest Hills resident who lives on Yellowstone Boulevard. “Forest Hills is a little mini-Manhattan and the restaurants there, they’re so good,” his wife Maxine said. “You’re ruining Forest Hills.” No plans have been filed with the Department of Buildings as of Feb. 10. According to Rothkrug, if the developer builds as of right, residents will be left with two buildings on 70th Road and Austin Street respectively. The 12-story project proposal would provide 61 parking spots, ground floor commercial space and a rooftop garden. Oleg Kaz, owner of Mediterranean restaurant The Grill, said he has spent more than $600,000 to run his restaurant. He signed a lease on the space two years ago against the advice of his lawyer because developers had previously expressed interest in the site. Kaz’s lease includes a clause that would allow the landlord to kick him out if developers wanted to purchase the property. “When I spoke to the landlord, he said to me in exact words, ‘Don’t worry about it; we have nothing planned in the future,’” Kaz said. “The community is unique; 70th Road is the most famous restaurant road in Forest Hills.” Representatives for the developer have said that the restaurant owners are welcome to come back and lease space in the building once construction is finished. But Kaz said that most restaurant owners will not come back. “It’s not going to happen unless they’re going to build us whatever we lost,” Kaz said. “You build a restaurant according to your menu, to your design, to your concept. Every little thing counts in the restaurant world.” Residents have started an online petition to “save restaurant row.” As of Thursday morning, 1,158 people have signed it. Nico Bernuth, a board member for Lane Towers, the 19-story condo located next to the proposed site, said the additional traffic on the “oneway alleyway” caused by the parking garage would “devastate the neighborhood.” “When we heard about the construction of this building right next to our building, everybody was very shocked and heartbroken to see what’s happening to the neighborhood,” Bernuth said. “70th Road is an anchor to the rest of the neighborhood.” ‘Mayor of Kew Gardens Hills’ under fire for posting racially charged images By Alina Suriel asuriel@qns.com/@alinangelica The self-proclaimed “mayor of Kew Gardens Hills” may soon be ousted from Community Board 8 after posting online memes containing racial slurs and a cartoon parody in blackface. Councilman Rory Lancman decided to block the reappointment of longtime board member Mike Sidell, 73, after community members objected to two posts on Sidell’s personal Facebook page. In one of the posts, Sidell uploaded a collection of images containing racially offensive language, accompanied by a caption indicating that he had put up the photos in response to online criticisms of the Academy Awards choice of only white actors for main acting categories in 2016. “These reprehensible remarks have no place in our community, let alone coming from the mouth of a community leader,” Lancman said. Over the course of several conversations with The Courier, Sidell said he believed that other, less severe disciplinary actions would have been more appropriate for the situation. According to Sidell, many members of the community have expressed support for his reappointment, although some have told him it was a bad idea to share the images where others could see them. “It’s out of proportion. I’ve been on the community board for 18 years,” Sidell said, later adding that it “wasn’t meant to be intentional. It was a parody.” Although Sidell has since apologized on the same Facebook page in which he originally posted the images, Lancman shows no sign of reversing his decision. “Yeah, it’s a free country and Mike’s not going to jail for posting racist Facebook comments,” Lancman told The Courier. “But being on a community board isn’t a right; it’s a privilege that comes with the responsibility of conducting yourself as a leader.” Borough President Melinda Katz officially appoints all members of the board, with half the members recommended by City Council members and the other half chosen by her office. A source says that although Sidell could be reappointed if chosen by Katz, it is unlikely that she would use one of her appointments to reinstate someone specifically barred from the board by a City Council member. Sidell will sit on CB 8 until early April, when new members are appointed and returning members are reappointed for another term. Lancman’s decision not to reappoint Sidell came after receiving complaints about the posts from Pomonok Residents Association through civic president Monica Corbett. Corbett — who also sits as a member of CB 8 — was originally hesitant to report the images but she ultimately made a complaint on behalf of a group of outraged Pomonok residents. Image via Facebook Councilman Rory Lancman has blocked Sidell’s reappointment after 18 years on Community Board 8.
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