18 AUGUST 2, 2018 RIDGEWOOD TIMES 110TH ANNIVERSARY WWW.QNS.COM
PROGREHSES AIND ITNHGE TIMES
Fighting fi res and saving communities
In 1980, The Ridgewood Times began
an arduous campaign which
resulted in large savings in fi re
insurance for every homeowner in
the community.
It came to the attention of a group
which was known as the Ridgewood
Bushwick Task Force Against
Arson and Redlining that the insurance
companies were redlining the
Ridgewood Area.
Voluntary insurance companies
were refusing to carry fi re insurance
on many of the homes in the area, and
these homes were being thrown into an
insurance pool called the FAIR Plan.
Rates were rising to 100% over normal
rates, and homeowners, especially
those owned by senior citizens on
fi xed incomes, were being hardest hit.
The Ridgewood Times enlisted the
aid of State Senator Martin J. Knorr
who arranged meetings with the State
Commissioner on Insurance and the
State Committee on Insurance, and
with the assistance of then-Brooklyn
District Attorney Elizabeth Holtzman,
the fi ght was won.. Homes were placed
back in the voluntary market and the
rates within the FAIR Plan were kept
aff ordable.
The Ridgewood-Bushwick Task
Force also worked very closely with
the New York City Fire Department
and the Fire Marshals keeping track
of fi re instances to bolster their investigations
into the unwarranted
rise in fi re insurance, or the tendency
to redline the area simply because it
was in proximity to the fi re-ravaged
section of Bushwick.
The area was also hampered by
the fact of a Brooklyn ZIP code which
caused in inclusion of Ridgewood and
Glendale with Brooklyn for all fi re
insurance premiums.
Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro
began a campaign to reverse
the Brooklyn ZIP code and with the
assistance of the Glendale Chamber of
Commerce, and The Ridgewood Times,
she was successful in the creation of
a new zip code for the Ridgewood
and Glendale section which placed it
geographically where it belonged - in
Queens County.
The close alliance between the Fire
Marshals and the Ridgewood Times
was again enhanced when the newspaper
donated space to the Red Cap
program. In 1983, the Fire Marshals
were assigned to the Community
Board 5 as part of an ongoing, roving
program throughout the city.
Due to budgetary restraints, the
Fire Marshals could not aff ord a homebase,
and rather than lose the benefi ts
of the program for the community, the
Ridgewood Times provided a base of
operations for the Red Cap Program.
With the advent of Community
Boards a resurgence in community
interest was rekindled. City Planning
had distinctly drawn out boundary
lines and the areas of Ridgewood,
Glendale, Middle Village, and Maspeth
were geographically linked together
to form Community Board 5, Queens.
The Ridgewood Times was a strong
and vocal supporter of Community
Boards. The Ridgewood Times fi rst
and foremost carried the words of
Ridgewood residents celebrated the addition of thousands of homes on
the National Register of Historic Places
Community Boards to its readership.
One of the reasons why the offi ces of
Community Board 5 is always bustling
with residents is due to the coverage
given by the newspaper.
The newspaper sponsored a push to
have the Ridgewood area designated
as a Neighborhood Stabilization Area.
This meant that that portion, dictated
by census tract fi gures, would receive
better services in sanitation, police,
and fi re.
The socio-economic lifestyle of
the lower portion of Ridgewood was
changing, especially due to the destruction
of the bordering Bushwick
area. It became evident that a shoring
up of the Queens boundary must
become a paramount issue of the
Community Board.
The Myrtle Avenue Revitalization
grew out of Community Board 5 and
work along the major shopping strip
has begun this year end will continue
up the Avenue. It is a major overhauling
and will strengthen the commercial
backbone of the community.
A Fire Containment Cockloft Program
was developed by Community
Board 5 due to the number of woodframe
attached houses in the area.
Installation of cocklof dividers which
prevented fi res from jumping from
one house to another via the common
cockloft was completed in 1980. It was
the fi rst undertaking of this size in the
City of New York and provided homes
with cockloft dividers, sprinklers and
smoke detectors.
The Ridgewood Times has assiduously
reported on all Board meetings,
and as always encouraged its readers
to take a personal interest in attending
and having their voices heard with
regard to budgetary procedures and
other Board actions.
In 1981, aft er fi ve years’ employment
with the Ridgewood Times, Maureen
Walthers was named the fi rst female
editor of the newspaper, and at the
same time, executive vice-president
of the Corporation. She would later
bring her son, John T. Walthers, on
as the paper’s president and eventual
owner.
The Ridgewood Times staff celebrates Maureen and John T. Walthers on
their purchase of the paper.
Choristers from St. Pancras Church in Glendale sang for Pope John Paul II in 1982.