FOCUS ON THE FUTURE Panel Discussion Eyes The Ongoing Evolution Of Ridgewood Borough President Melinda Katz announced the appointment during a speech before a breakfast meeting of the Queens Chamber of Commerce at St. John’s University. Miller will fill the vacancy left after Leroy Comrie departed to take his seat in the New York State Senate last month. “Economic development is a key priority of my agenda for Queens, and Melva’s multidimensional expertise to this end is second to none,” Katz said. “Her understanding of Queens’ neighborhoods is extensive and comprehensive, from both the holistic, macro-policy level to a block-byblock community basis. Melva’s ideas, professionalism and experience in government have been tremendous assets to my administration. For the communities, her focus is relentless, her passion is unwavering.” Katz made the announcement in front of an audience made up of community board members and dozens of Queens residents. Many in the audience were graduates of St. John’s, a point that the school’s new president Conrado Gempesaw stressed. Gempesaw spoke before Katz and talked about the intertwined fates between the school and the borough. “What’s good for Queens is good for St. John’s,” Gempesaw said, referencing Katz’s state of the borough speech when she stressed the importance of families. “And what’s good for St. John’s is good for Queens.” Gempesaw then invited Katz to speak. She praised the service of community board members, whom she called “the first line of defense when issues come up. It’s because of them that government runs so well.” Katz’s announcement of Miller’s appointment elicited applause. Miller has served as the director of economic development for the Queens Borough President’s Office since 2007. Previously, she was the founding executive director of the Sutphin Boulevard Business Improvement District and of KECDE!, a nonprofit dedicated to bringing the arts to community youth through dance. Miller was also previously the project director for the Downtown Jamaica Cultural District and a community organizer for the Laurelton Local Development Corporation. A lifelong resident of southeast Queens, Miller has dedicated her life to community advocacy through creative organizing and citizen participation. “It’s an honor to be tapped by Borough President Katz to help execute her vision for the World’s Borough,” Miller said. “Government makes the biggest impact when it is continually engaged with our communities. I am grateful that Borough President Katz chose to promote from within and is allowing me the opportunity to continue building the economic viability of the borough and expand to other service areas of the borough.” Speaking at the the D’Angelo center on the school’s campus, Katz made several other announcements about her economic development strategy for the borough. She mentioned that $6 million has been collected to restore the New York State Pavilion, a site from the 1964 World’s Fair that Katz called a “treasure” that could become a tourist attraction. She expressed a desire to create jobs on the western Flushing water front, an area that Mayor de Blasio singled out for affordable housing during last week’s State of the City Speech. Katz also talked about the “Jamaica initiative” to stimulate the business district’s economic activity. As former head of the borough’s economic development team and now as deputy borough president, Miller will play a key role in helping Katz to push forward Queens projects. Henry Cross, a local entrepreneur, advocate and Ridgewood Property Owners Civic Association (RPOCA) and Community Board 5 member, organized and moderated the panel discussion. The participants included local attorney and former RPOCA President Paul Kerzner, MyrtleAvenue BID Executive Director Ted Renz, Board 5 Public Transit Committee Co-Chair John Maier, Ridgewood Social founder Sarah Feldman and Queens College Urban Studies Professor Stephanie Wakefield. The panel was formed, in part, as a way to process Ridgewood’s recent growth and expansion while organizing against the harmful effects of gentrification and overdevelopment. “It’s a very telling story when you have a neighborhood with price trends going up by 17 percent per year,” he said. According to his estimates, Cross stated that nearly 75 percent of Ridgewood’s population consists of tenants, with the average one-bedroom apartment renting at upwards of $1,900 per month. For lifelong residents and civic leaders Kerzner and Renz, the current fight to preserve Ridgewood’s existing character, history and housing stock bears many similarities to battles both men waged here decades ago. Kerzner recalled a time during the 1970s when violence, crime and vandalism were pervasive throughout the streets of neighboring Bushwick. “It was unnerving to the point that people in this neighborhood were moving out for the fear that it was only a matter of time that Ridgewood was going to become another Bushwick overnight,” he explained. “The reason why it didn’t happen was not by accident.” Kerzner credits the grassroots efforts of locals with the preservation and revitalization of Ridgewood during the late 1970s. “We mobilized together because we wanted to make sure that Ridgewood stayed a stable community,” Renz added. “We wanted to stop the flight of people moving out of Ridgewood.” Both Renz and Kerzner went on to establish a variety of social and cultural services throughout the neighborhood in the 1970s and 1980s. Many newcomers have since come across Ridgewood and have decided to create lives for themselves within the community. Maier, a Board 5 member, first arrived in Ridgewood in 2001 and immediately fell in love with the history and architecture of the neighborhood. “We were very active in getting the bike lanes here within the last year,” Maier said. Like many residents new and old alike, Maier expressed desire to help improve the neighborhood. “I have gotten attached and that attachment really makes me want to work for the neighborhood,” he explained, “I look forward to doing more for the community and keeping it vital.” Feldman echoed this sentiment. The Houston, Texas native relocated to Ridgewood in 2011 after college and founded the meet-up group as a way to connect to others within the community. “I fell in love with this neighborhood,” she explained. “I started the Ridgewood Market to help support local artisans in the neighborhood and I try to have affordable products for everybody.” Feldman expressed her desire to see more newcomers and younger residents at the monthly Board 5 meetings and urged Ridgewood’s younger population to take an active interest in their community. Affordability and overdevelopment were two major areas of concern when discussing Ridgewood’s future. Kerzner proposed the conversion of apartment buildings into tenant-owned coops as a way to protect existing residents and local housing stock against unscrupulous outside investors. Wakefield agreed with the need to unify as a community and organize against outside interests. “We only lose the things we love in a neighborhood if we do nothing,” she stated. “We need to get organized and figure it out together. Only people who live here in Ridgewood can decide what Ridgewood will become.” 3 • TIMES, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2015 story and photo by Kelly Marie Mancuso Ridgewood’s past, present and future were at the heart of a special community forum among local civic leaders and residents last Wednesday, Feb. 4, at the Topos Bookstore Café. John Maier (with microphone) speaks during a special Ridgewood forum last Wednesday, Feb. 4. He is flanked by Henry Cross (at left), the forum’s moderator, and Ted Renz of the Ridgewood Local Development Corporation. Katz Appoint Miller As Deputy Boro President by Eric Jankiewicz Melva Miller, a top economic development official in the Queens borough president’s office for the past eight years, was promoted on Tuesday, Feb. 10, to deputy borough president. New Deputy Borough President Melva Miller (at right) is pictured with Queens Borough President Melinda Katz (center) and Melva’s mother, Lillie.
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