Apartments Coming To R’wood Theater Schematics of the redesign of the Ridgewood Theater, which Bushburg Properties plans to build 50 apartment units and a ground-floor space for either retail or performing arts. Avenue and Madison Street. Described as a “minor vertical enlargement” in the plans, two stories will be added to the top of the threestory structure. New floors will be created within the theater’s existing shell to enable for the construction of apartments. All existing walls and foundations will remain in place, it was noted. The 50 apartments will occupy a total of 37,558 sq. ft. of the building. Reportedly, there are no imminent plans for the ground floor space, but local merchants and artists are seeking to have it used as a performing arts center. Ted Renz, executive director of the Ridgewood Local Development Corporation, stated he is looking to set up a meeting with Bushburg Properties and We Love Ridgewood Theater— proponents of a performance space at the former moviehouse—about the site’s future. “We continue to support an arts and entertainment venue in the theater space but have not had another meeting with the developers,” said Bridgette Vidunas ofWe Love Ridgewood Theater. -CONTINUED FROM PG. 3- TIMES, THURSDAY, JULY 17, 2014 • 26 CB 5 Response: Glendale Shelter Study ‘Flawed’ Montauk branch, now used by the New York and Atlantic Railway exclusively for freight transportation. The chairperson also pointed out that photographs of both Independent Chemical and the LIRR Montauk branch were absent from the AECOM report—which included photos of other areas surrounding the proposed shelter site. Turning to education, Arcuri suggested the shelter’s opening—and subsequent introduction of about 160 children at nearby schools—would “only worsen the existing overcrowding” in School District 24 “and further lower the education standards for our children.” He also noted AECOM posted incorrect enrollment data for schools including P.S./I.S. 87, P.S./I.S. 113 and P.S./I.S. 119. Even though the report concluded the shelter site has adequate public transportation nearby, Arcuri stated it was “definitely not accessible” to shelter residents, since the site is a mile away from the nearest subway station (the Metropolitan Avenue M train terminus) and a “quarter-mile walk” from the Q29, Q47 and Q54 bus lines, which pass at the corner of Cooper Avenue and 80th Street. The chairperson also mentioned the entrance to the shelter site is “located at the easterly uphill end of the Cooper Avenue underpass,” which has poor sightlines “due to the rise in the road and the merge of 71st Avenue traffic with Cooper Avenue.” “Oncoming westbound traffic is almost invisible at this point,” he added, pointing to a potential traffic safety problem for shelter residents walking through the area. He also disputed the report’s findings that the shelter fits the character of the surrounding area, as properties “within the 400 foot radius” study area around the site “are predominantly the same” industrial or manufacturing nature. Arcuri also found it “unbelievable” that AECOM included nearby cemeteries in its classification of “open space resources” close to the shelter site. The report claimed that there were 170.8 acres of open space nearby. “How disingenuous is this?” he stated. “When one subtracts the three cemeteries listed” in the report—St. John, Mt. Hebron and All Faiths— “the actual relevant open space in the study area is 17.8 acres, not 170.8 acres.” Arcuri deemed the report “flawed and should be rejected outright,” and further requested that the DHS provide to Board 5 copies of the phase 1 environmental assessment and the phase 2 subsurface investigation, conducted in advance of the environmental study. Copies of Arcuri’s letter to Taylor were forwarded to Mayor Bill de Blasio, Queens Borough President Melinda Katz, City Council Member Elizabeth Crowley, State Sen. Joseph Addabbo, Assemblymen Andrew Hevesi and Mike Miller, Rep. Grace Meng and City Comptroller Scott Stringer, who has the authority to sign or reject the DHS contract with Samaritan Village. -CONTINUED FROM PG. 4- Say He Slugged Bus Driver -CONTINUED FROM PG. 3- second- and third-degree assault, fourth-degree criminal mischief and theft of service. Iancu was arraigned on Saturday, July 12 and released on $5,000 bail by Queens County Criminal Court Judge Suzanne Melendez. He is Street Renamings Honor Heroes with its headquarters based on the Morgan Avenue block, for nearly five years. Prior to his assignment there, he served out of Engine Co. 7 in Manhattan and Engine Co. 302 in Rochdale Village; he was also a member of the Farmingville Volunteer Fire Department in Suffolk County. He succumbed to cardiac arrest on Apr. 16, 2012, while responding to a three-alarm blaze at a Bushwick factory. City Council Member Antonio Reynoso sponsored the street renaming. The intersection of 95th Street and 43rd Avenue, just down the block from the 110th Precinct’s stationhouse, will be renamed P.O. Robert M. Ehmer Place, honoring a late member of the command who died in 2010 from illnesses related to his work during the rescue and recovery efforts at the World Trade Center site following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks “Police Officer Robert Ehmer spent nearly 20 years with the NYPD, working for the community of the 110th Precinct while simultaneously working part-time as an EMT at St. John’s Hospital,” said City Council Member Julissa Ferreras, who sponsored the street renaming. “While Officer Ehmer’s notable service received recognition and medals of honor for excellent police duty, it was his selflessness that led to the ultimate sacrifice, when he heroically served as a first responder in the 9/11 attacks.” Ferreras also sponsored the renaming of the intersection of 104th Street and 35th Avenue in corona as Professor William H. Pease Jr. Way. The renaming recognizes a teacher, former engineer and advocate for African-American historical studies. Pease also served on the board of the Langston Hughes Library during the 1970s and was the first African- American president of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers. Throughout his career, he received awards from a host of organizations including the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, the New York University Weekend Tutorial Project, and the Brownsville Association for the Study of African American Life and History. In Woodside, the block of 73rd Street between 41st and Woodside avenues will be renamed Manny “The Wrong Man” Balestrero Way, honoring a jazz musician arrested and jailed during the 1950s for two robberies he didn’t commit. Balestrero went on trial for the charges, but it ended in a mistrial due after one of the jurors made an outburst during the proceedings. While awaiting retrial, the real culprit came forward and confessed not only to the crimes of which Balestrero was initially blamed, but also 38 other robberies. Balestrero’s story inspired a biography and an Alfred Hitchcock film, The Wrong Man. Scenes from the 1956 classic starring Henry Fonda and Vera Miles were shot in the area. City Council Member Daniel Dromm sponsored the renaming. Finally, the intersection of 63rd Drive and 108th Street in Forest Hills will be renamed Sergei Dovlatov Way, honoring a Russian journalist and author who emigrated to the U.S. in 1979 to escape Soviet Union authorities who harassed him for his attempts to publish stories. After arriving in the U.S., Dovlatov managed to have several of his works published, including “The Invisible Book,” “The Compromise” and “The Suitcase.” A number of his short stories were also featured in The New Yorker magazine. Dovlatov worked for a time as an editor for The New American magazine and was a script writer for Radio Liberty, which broadcasts information to nations in Eastern Europe and Central Asia where free and open communications are banned. Dovlatov’s work became popular in his native land during the glasnost period of the 1980s, when the Soviet government eased censorship. However, he would not live long enough to see the Soviet Union collapse in 1991; he died of heart failure in August 1990 at the age of 48. City Council Member Karen Koslowitz sponsored the street renaming. -CONTINUED FROM PG. 1- If You See Breaking News On Your Block... Contact The Times Newsweekly Call 1-718-821-7500 • Email [email protected]
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