18 The Queens Courier • march 13, 2014 for breaking news visit www.queenscourier.com THE COURIER/Photo by Melissa Chan Owners of Nonna’s Pizzeria & Trattoria in Whitestone want a sidewalk café. Sidewalk café will go up for vote BY MELISA CHAN mchan@queenscourier.com/@MelissaCourier An application for a Whitestone sidewalk café will go up for a City Council vote at the end of the month without support from the area councilmember. “It was pretty clear that the community opposed it, and I will make my case against it,” Councilmember Paul Vallone said. “It’s just not the right fit.” The Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) approved Nonna’s Pizzeria & Trattoria owner’s bid last year to wrap an outdoor sitting area around his restaurant at 22-30 154th Street. City lawmakers will vote on the application March 26, though Vallone says the legislative body will likely follow suit with his “no” vote and shut it down. The sidewalk is not wide enough for outdoor seating and too close to residential homes, said Vallone and State Senator Tony Avella. Some residents also feared it would bring excessive noise and take away parking spaces. “A sidewalk café at this location is simply wrong,” Avella said. “If this application is approved by the City Council, abutting residents will suffer significantly increased traffic and noise.” But Joe Lobue, who manages the Italian restaurant, said the sidewalk café would let customers kick back and enjoy a meal in the sunshine. “I think it would actually help the community,” he said. “It would be a place for them to sit down and relax. I disagree with the negativity.” Hans Roessel, a 73-year-old regular of the restaurant — who also lives across the street — welcomed the plan. “It doesn’t bother the neighborhood,” he said. “They’re going to make it nice. Why can’t we sit outside?” Board votes to rename park BY MELISA CHAN mchan@queenscourier.com/@MelissaCourier A fallen Queens fire marshal may soon be honored in a way that would allow his young twin boys to grow up realizing their father’s legacy. Community Board 7 voted Monday to name a playground in Fort Totten after Martin “Woody” McHale, 50, who died of a heart attack in his car Christmas Eve 2012. McHale, who lived in Hollis Hills, suffered the attack on his way home from work and crashed his car into a tree less than 200 feet from his house, police and the Queens Medical Examiner’s office said. “Woody was a role model. He was a mentor. He was a fireman’s fireman,” said his boss, Commander Randall Wilson of the FDNY’s Bureau of Fire Investigation. “His heart was always in the right place, and if more people had a heart like his, the world would be a much better place.” McHale, a member of the FDNY for 23 years, was assigned to the bureau’s Citywide North Command in Fort Totten. He would bring his twin 4-year-old boys to the currently nameless playground next to his job on his days off, Wilson said. “He only had a few short years to spend with his sons,” the fire commander said. “Many of those days were at the playground on Fort Totten. His boys loved it there and Woody cherished the time spent at the playground with them.” Willets Point biz set up shop in Bx A group of more than 40 Willets Point auto shop owners, known as the Sunrise Cooperative, have signed a lease to move to the Bronx together, city officials said. The group will soon conduct business at an 84,000-square-foot space at 1080 Leggett Avenue in Hunts Point. “The Sunrise Cooperative’s move to the Hunts Point neighborhood in the Bronx ensures that hundreds of jobs will be retained and that dozens of businesses will continue to operate and succeed in New York City,” said Economic Development Corporation (EDC) spokesperson Kate Blumm. “We congratulate the Sunrise Cooperative on its diligence to successfully secure space at a new location that will help it thrive for years to come,” Blumm added. The city has been urging shops to leave the Iron Triangle in order to make way for a $3 billion redevelopment project, which includes the cleanup of 23 acres of contaminated land, and eventual construction of housing units and a mega mall near Citi Field. Shop owners have long said they can only survive if they are moved as a whole and can continue as a one-stop shop for motorists. The deal to relocate together has been long stalled due to negotiations. The group even filed a lawsuit against the city and developers last month, claiming the city’s failure to implement an effective relocation plan was unlawful. The change needs to be approved by Mayor Bill de Blasio and the city’s Parks Department commissioner. A bar in West Village was named after McHale while he was alive. “Having this park named in his honor would show generations of children just how wonderful he was,” Wilson said. “It would be a legacy for his family and for the fire marshal’s department.” Community Board 7 also approved a $2.4 million capital Parks Department project to rebuild the crumbling sea wall at Hermon A. Macneil Park in College Point. The City Council funded plans also include creating a separate fishing area and a kayak launch at the park. The plans still need state Department of Environmental Conservation approval. FBI: LASER INCIDENTS UP BY MELISA CHAN mchan@queenscourier.com/@MelissaCourier A crime that can temporarily blind airplane pilots and put air passengers at risk is spiking in New York City airports, authorities said. Laser beam strikes targeting in-bound planes have increased 39 percent in the city, the FBI said. The number of incidents jumped to 99 in 2013 from 71 in 2012. Authorities believe youngsters on top of residential roofs are aiming the powerful light beams at airplane cockpits as a prank. “Laser incidents are often viewed as harmless acts. This couldn’t be further from the truth,” said FBI Assistant Director in Charge George Venizelos. “A laser pointed at a plane’s cockpit could blind a pilot and down an aircraft.” At least 35 pilots have been injured by laser strikes since last December, the FBI said. In one instance, a JetBlue pilot flying into John F. Kennedy International Airport last December was temporarily blinded for more than a week, the bureau said. The federal agency is offering up to $10,000 for information that leads to an arrest and is hoping its regional awareness campaign deters the felony, which is punishable by five years in jail. “It is important that people understand that this is a criminal act with potentially deadly repercussions,” said Ron Hosko, assistant director of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division. The pointers can be easily and legally purchased, authorities said. The beams can travel further than one mile. Of all types, green lasers are by far the most dangerous, since they travel the farthest, according to the bureau’s New York community outreach officer, Kevin Mannion. Anyone with info is asked to call the FBI at 212-384-1000. Photo courtesy Randall Wilson Martin “Woody” McHale
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