16 The Queens Courier • december 8, 2016 for breaking news visit www.qns.com Woodside split over decision to build mega-church By Angela Matua amatua@qns.com @AngelaMatua Dozens of congregants from The Universal Church of the Kingdom of God in Woodside attended a Community Board 2 meeting on Dec. 1 to speak in favor of a plan to expand the church to nearly double its current size. Located at 68-03 Roosevelt Ave., the church serves about 700 congregants during four Sunday services. The church is seeking a zoning variance from the Board of Standards and Appeals (BSA) to build higher and wider. The architect for the project, Mothusi P. Phometse, presented the plan at a community meeting in September and to the community board several times but tweaked the plan after listening to the board’s concerns. The new plan would add a public plaza on Roosevelt Avenue and light fixtures along the corridor. These additions are in response to the board’s concern that demolishing the current building on Roosevelt Avenue would create a void corner and dead space. Owners argue that the extra space is needed to expand their congregation and to accommodate needs for the church’s programs. Those at the Dec. 1 meeting explained to the board how the church changed their lives and why the additional space is needed. Gustavo Hernandez, a Woodside resident and member of the church, said the youth group provides young people with important programs that they cannot find elsewhere including sports programs and singing, dancing and acting groups. “We bond with the community,” Hernandez said. “We talk to many youth and most of them come from work to home or school to home. Many of them are looking for programs and we offer programs. We don’t charge a cent for you to participate in the groups.” Many members talked about how the many programs, including programs for single mothers and teenage girls, helped build their self-confidence or how the church gave them jobs after long bouts of unemployment. But many in the Filipino-American community who are business owners in the area are concerned that a twoyear construction period would cause traffic problems and pollution and would dissuade people from driving to the area to eat at the restaurants. Teresa Amarosa, a Woodside resident who works at a nonprofit, said she respects the work the church does, especially as someone who works in after-school programming. But she said she is not convinced that the church needs the additional space. “I was raised in the Christian faith,” she said. “I have a good understanding of the teachings and of the gospel and one thing that impresses me is Jesus did a lot. He did a lot of social services and he didn’t have real estate,” she said to applause. Land-use attorney Eric Palatnik told the board that the church is protected under the federal civil rights law Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 (RLUIPA). Board member Joe Conley said bringing that law up several times was “disingenuous.” The board will vote on a recommendation at their next meeting on Jan. 5, 2017. The vote is only advisory and the Board of Standards and Appeals will have the final say. Photos by Angela Matua/QNS Community members are split over a proposed expansion of a Woodside church. Broken escalator at 61st Street 7 train station in Woodside to be fixed by mid-January, MTA says By Angela Matua amatua@qns.com @AngelaMatua An escalator that has been boarded up at the 61st Street 7 train station in Woodside for about two weeks will be fixed my mid-January, according to the MTA. Denise Keehan-Smith, chairperson of Community Board 2, announced at the board’s Dec. 1 meeting in Sunnyside that she had spoken with an MTA representative, who did not have an exact date for repairs but gave her a mid-January timeline. Keehan-Smith said she was worried about the overcrowding along the stairs and platform and several Woodside residents came to her with concerns about the issue. Members of the Facebook group 7 Train Blues posted pictures of the boarded-up escalator and a sign notifying commuters that the escalator would be fixed by Dec. 31. But Kevin Ortiz, spokesperson for the MTA, indicated that repairs would be finished in mid-January. Riders voiced their frustrations on the group, arguing that they constantly have to deal with problems at stations along the 7 train line, especially in Woodside and Sunnyside. “We always get screwed, one way or another,” Susan Parker wrote in the group. According to a report released by the nonprofit Citizens Budget Commission in 2015, the 61st Street station in Woodside was ranked 16th out of 32 stations with more than half of total structural components not in a state of good repair. In 2015, one of the elevators was out for almost the entire year. The worst station on the list was the 52nd Street 7 train station in Sunnyside and others that made the top of the list included the 103 St-Corona Plaza and 111 Street stations in Corona. “This could easily be repaired if it wasn’t for the wasteful bureaucratic spending of the MTA or government agencies in general,” Ovi Ferdous wrote in the group. “Can’t even begin to explain how frustrated I get looking at all the tax payer money being wasted.” In addition to the escalator at 61st Street, riders are still waiting for a staircase at 82nd Street to be repaired and a turnstile at the 46th Street station is out of order. To report a problem with the MTA through phone, mail or email, visit http://web.mta.info/faqs.htm. Photo courtesy of Facebook/Hamal Terry An escalator that has been out of order in Woodside will not be repaired until mid-January.
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