TIMES, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2014 • 26 Ridgewood ‘Seasonal’ Bar Owners Voice Appeal At Board 5 Meeting -CONTINUED FROM PG. 3- and other facilities in nearby provided board members included reference letters from Jeffrey Laufer, district manager of Brooklyn Community Board 7, which recommended a liquor license for Mister Sunday’s outdoor bar and event space on Second Avenue and 36th Street in Industry City. Letters from local residents supporting The Back Yard’s application were also included. Organizers anticipate most patrons would head to and from the bar via public transportation; the Halsey Street and Wilson Avenue stops on the L line are just over a quarter-mile away from the location. Private security officers will also be on site. Board 5 Chairperson Vincent Arcuri said “it’s obvious we have to continue the dialogue” with Carter and others involved in the project. He referred the matter to the board’s Land Use Committee for further examination. Even so, Board 5 member Jean Tanler—who is also with the Maspeth Industrial Business Association—cautioned that reusing the industrial site for a commercial venture such as a bar would further deprive Ridgewood of business space. “We are experiencing a shortage of industrial space in New York City,” she said. “A lot of property owners will just sit on the property and just wait for zoning changes and variances” permitting other, more profitable uses. Budget priorities Board members unanimously approved their capital and expense budget wish lists for the city’s 2016 fiscal year, which all community boards are required to provide to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) by Oct. 31. Speaking first about the capital budget, Board 5 District Manager Gary Giordano stated the top item on the list remains the ongoing reconstruction and redesign of the sewer system in Board 5’s confines. Progress, he noted, is being made in the form of sewer upgrades set to start soon on Calamus Avenue and 69th Street, on the Maspeth/Woodside border, and along Penelope Avenue and 74th Street in Middle Village. Other top capital budget priorities for the board include the reconstruction of the bridge carrying Metropolitan Avenue and Fresh Pond Road over the LIRR Montauk branch; making capital improvements to boost safety at the intersections of Grand Avenue, 69th Street and Borden Avenue in Maspeth; construct new school space where needed; evaluate and repair the elevated M line in Ridgewood; rehabilitate the Glendale library; reconstruct south Middle Village streets; rehabilitate the Ridgewood Reservoir and portions of Highland Park; and provide new street tree plantings. Giordano also summarized some of the top priorities in the expense budget list, including elderly services; building inspections; child protection services; fire and police services; parks maintenance; refuse collection; and youth services. Child support John Cnapich of the city’s Office of Child Support Enforcement offered a presentation on the agency’s efforts to hold divorced or separated parents responsible for taking care of their children. The office actively investigates cases in which a noncustodial parent fails to provide timely child support payments as required. More than 400,000 child support cases currently exist in the five boroughs, though Cnapich conceded it’s a topic many people would rather avoid. Delinquent parents who avoid their responsibilities could have their wages garnished, driver’s license suspended, tax refunds intercepted or even have liens placed on their bank accounts or real property, he noted. The office also provides discounted DNA testing to help parents determine if they are the biological parents of their children, Cnapich added. For more information, visit www.nyc.gov/html/hra/html/serv ices/child.shtml. Other news Street resurfacing is finally underway around Board 5’s confines, Giordano told members. Department of Transportation crews have begun work in Maspeth and Middle Village. The board unanimously recommended approval of a Board of Standards and Appeals application to extend a 10-year operating variance for the Shell gas station at 60-04 Metropolitan Ave. in Ridgewood. According to Land Use Committee Chairperson Walter Sanchez, no complaints or objections were lodged against the business. Regarding the proposed Glendale homeless shelter, Sanchez noted the committee is consulting with an architect to determine alternative uses for the site. A committee recommendation may be presented to the full board at its November meeting. With the city’s Parks Department abandoning its plan to breach the Ridgewood Reservoir’s walls, Parks Committee Chairperson Steve Fiedler reported the agency now plans to spend the money for that endeavor on improving ball fields Highland Park. The improvements include new handball courts and a renovated playground near Cypress Hills. Liquor licenses Arcuri announced the board received a new liquor license application for Kathleen Hanrahan Pyle or an entity to be formed, d.b.a. O’Neill’s Restaurant, located at 64-15/23 53rd Dr. in Maspeth. It also received liquor license application renewals for Krolewskie Jadlow of Ridgewood Inc., d.b.a. Krowleskie Jadlow, located at 66- 21 Fresh Pond Rd. in Ridgewood, and O’Reilly’s Daughters Inc., d.b.a. Yerman’s Irish Pub, located at 70-26 88th St. in Glendale. Ogle Front Hall Inc., located at 1616 George St. in Ridgewood, also submitted a catering establishment license renewal. Those who wish to comment on any of the applicants may do so by calling Board 5 at the number listed at the end of this article. The next Community Board 5 meeting is scheduled to take place on Wednesday night, Nov. 12, at 7:30 p.m. at Christ the King Regional High School, located at 68-02 Metropolitan Ave. For more information, call 1-718-366-1834. Crime Drops, But Auto Theft Spike Eyed At 106th Council -CONTINUED FROM PG. 9- down 4 percent for the year at this moment. We are heading in the right direction.” “This is what I’m talking about, the hard work that the men and women of the 106th precinct do,” Schiff added. Schiff spoke on the enforcement efforts leading to arrests and told attendees the work is paying off. “Four weeks ago we wound up taking 10 vehicle thefts in one week,” he said. “That following week, we happened to lock up two individuals. And since the past three weeks, we’ve been down in vehicle thefts. Now what doss that tell us?” “I think we might have arrested the right individuals, that’s what it tells me,” he added The GreenDot Money card scam has not been a problem in the 106th Precinct since Schiff took over as the commanding officer nearly 18 months ago. He credited educating residents early on about the con artists as the reason residents were not as vulnerable and less victimized. “Well it’s morphed, I wouldnt say thats going the way of the Dodo, but we in the 106th have News From The WRBA Morphing scam had a “Noisebusters” program, where multiple members called 311 all at once to report the same noise complaint. And in a previous column, I laid out the case for impatient residents to use 311, underscoring how important it is for the city to have accurate records of problems in order to track patterns. So we at the WRBA are fervent proponents of using 311. But we also recognize its shortcomings. One issue is that if any city agency fails to be responsive to a 311 complaint, it sours the entire system—and all agencies’ responsiveness—for that resident. People begin to assume it’s 311’s fault that the problem didn’t get solved, so they stop using the system for all issues, rather than just for the type of issue they had that went unaddressed. That’s a big problem. Second, agencies often close 311 requests, providing incomplete or inaccurate descriptions of the status. For example, we reported a damaged curb to 311. The request was closed, with the following explanation: “The Department of Transportation will inspect the condition to determine if the location can be added to a curb contract (3-5 years).” In other words: maybe we’ll get to it in the next few years, and you have no way of keeping tabs on it. Third, there are technical flaws in the system. One evening, it took me 18 minutes on the phone to log one request; the operator explained that her department’s computer systems had been very sluggish for weeks. And for several requests I logged on Sept. 15, the statuses say, “The status of your Service Request will be available within 48 hours.” They have stayed that way for nearly a month, and follow-ups with 311 and the relevant agency have yielded no progress. The WRBA will continue to advocate use of the 311 system. But the city and its agencies also have to play their part to keep 311 effective. * * * Editor’s note: The next Woodhaven Residents’ Block Association meeting is on Saturday, Oct. 18, noon at the American Legion Hall, located at 89-02 91st St. Blenkinsopp is a member of Community Board 9 and director of communications for the WRBA. For additional information on the WRBA, visit www.woodhaven-nyc.org. -CONTINUED FROM PG. 17- done a very good job of identifying this problem,” Schiff said. The precinct addressed the scam “early on, in October of last year, by educating the population by handing out flyers door to door to thousands of houses,” the deputy inspector stated: “Because we educated the community, we really haven’t seen a problem in this area, where the rest of the city is seeing a spike.” “The 106th really doesn’t take that,” he added. “We took two or three in the past three or four months, so that’s good.” Con artists were scamming victims by placing phony phone calls from purported utility companies, or the IRS, but the hustle has been altered, according to police. The endgame remains the same though, with crooks calling residents to frighten them into sending money which will be stolen. “Education is key,” Schiff said. “And those people who reported it, some of them its was an attempt. They found out about the scam and they didn’t lose any money, but they still reported it to us.” The only difference between the versions is the con artists were using the cards and have begun to ask for Western Union money transfers as the preferred method to pilfer, Schiff stated. “Now what’s happening is that these individuals are starting to say your loved one has been involved in an accident, or your loved one has been locked up in whatever county in Georgia,” Schiff said. “In order to get this person out, you need to wire the money right away, via Western Union is generally the method that they want. A few people have fallen for that for a few thousand dollars.” “Anybody that gets a call saying that your loved one is in some sort of need from a third party, (say) ‘thank your for the information’ and go verify it independently yourself. Just hang up, that’s what you need to do. It’s more likely that is a scam,” Schiff added. * * * The 106th Precinct Community Council generally meets on the second Wednesday of each month at 8 p.m. at the 106th Precinct station, located on 103-53 101st St., in Ozone Park. For more information, call the 106th Precinct Community Affairs Unit at 1-718-845-2228.
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