FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM FEBRUARY 14, 2019 • THE QUEENS COURIER 3
Flushing construction
destroying homes, neighbors say
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
cmohamed@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Residents living on Underhill
Avenue near Kissena Park angrily
voiced their concerns Monday
night during the Community
Board 7 meeting regarding a
commercial site project that has
caused a loud ruckus in the quiet
residential neighborhood.
Complaints of loud noise from
a dozen large dump trucks carrying
debris, air pollution, contaminated
water, and damages
to homes, resulted in residents
uniting at the Feb. 11 meeting
at Union Plaza Care Center
in Flushing, calling for removal
of the site located at the end
of Underhill Avenue and 170th
Street.
“Th e goal is to remove them
because this is a residential area,
it’s a park where people walk
their dogs, kids ride their bicycles,
it just doesn’t belong,” said
Bebe Rohani. “A processing site
belongs in an industrial site. “We
already have a petition with over
70 signatures and counting.”
Rohani says the large dump
trucks are destroying their roads.
Residents say there was no
community input to allow construction
at the storage facility
site, which belongs to the
Department of Environmental
Protection (DEP), to operate
from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily in
the community of one and two
family homes. It is also the testing
site for the Department of
Motor Vehicle, which residents
say is endangering the safety of
children as well.
“It’s a dangerous environment
when you put large trucks
and inexperienced operators in
the same area working on the
streets,” said Joe Smeragliuolo.
“ We’ve got the sound from the
trucks, we’ve got pollution from
trucks, we’ve got all of these
issues burdened on us.”
Diane Varisco and her husband
Jim, whose home is adjacent
from the site, are awaken
every morning by loud disturbing
sounds rattling their home.
“From the vibrations I have
window panes that are falling
out, we have a severe water
problem on the side of the property
that connects with their
site,” said Varisco. “We have a
lot of dust and debris that’s fl ying
around.”
When Varisco approached the
contractor of the site, he told
her he would pay for the cost
of repairs, but never fulfi lled his
promise, Varisco said.
“We have no proof that this is
going to happen, because somebody
else had approached him
also and he said ‘Yeah, Yeah I’ll
fi x it,’ but when?”’ said Varisco.
Eugene Kelty, chair of
Community Board 7, informed
residents that the DEP site is
being used for a capital improvement
project for Community
Board 11 in Bayside, replacing
a four mile stretch of old sewage
pipes.
Th e public works project —
involving the DEP, CAC (management
of construction at the
site), and DDC (Department of
Design and Construction) —
began in the summer of 2018
and is expected to be completed
by 2021.
Prior to the start of construction,
according to Kelty, he had
no objections when the contractors
asked him about working
at the site and requested a letter.
In the letter, Kelty “listed
conditions and concerns, due to
past unacceptable work and the
city agencies lack of response for
requests for corrective actions
and enforcement.”
A DDC contractor, who was
present at the meeting, was
unable to speak amidst the loud
outbursts from residents in the
room asking whether they’re
conducting legal or illegal work
at the site screening, processing,
and crushing material.
On Jan. 30, aft er receiving
an infl ux of complaint letters,
the community board, 15 residents,
the president of CAC,
and DDC personnel met with
City Councilman Peter Koo at
his Flushing offi ce to discuss the
issue.
“Th e fact that it’s been transformed
into a storage facility to
an active all day long processing
site that’s noisy with constant
truck traffi c coming out of
the narrow street, there’s a signifi
cant quality of life impact,”
said Koo’s representative, Scott
Sieber. “We think residents are
justifi ed in being upset.”
Koo’s offi ce wrote a letter to
DEP to discontinue work at the
site.
Incoming CUNY Chancellor Felix Matos Rodriguez
EXCLUSIVE
Photo by Bruce Adler
Queens College boss
tapped as CUNY chancellor
BY BILL PARRY
bparry@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Th e City University of New York ended a yearlong search and
named Queens College president Félix V. Matos Rodríguez as its
new chancellor.
Th e CUNY board of trustees voted Wednesday to appoint
Matos Rodríguez, an accomplished scholar, teacher, administrator
and public servant who has been president of Queens College
since 2014, as the eighth chancellor of CUNY. He will be both the
fi rst Latino and minority educator to head the university. He will
assume the post on May 1.
“I am deeply grateful and tremendously excited to lead the
nation’s foremost urban public university, particularly at this time
when our mission and commitment to excellent public higher education
has never been more vital,” Matos Rodríguez said. “Th is is an
extraordinary opportunity for anyone who is passionate about the
role CUNY plays in the lifeblood of the city, anyone who is deeply
committed to opening the doors of educational excellence and economic
and social mobility to all the people of New York.”
Matos Rodríguez, 56, has drawn national recognition as a trailblazer
in higher education. He enhanced Queens College’s reputation
for excellence and propelled the school to the highest echelon
in college social-mobility rankings.
“It is not easy for me to share this news with the QC community
who has so generously embraced me and my family during the past
fi ve years,” Matos Rodríguez said. “I thank each and every one of
you for your friendship and collegiality. I’m proud of the collective
work we have been able to accomplish despite tight fi scal times.”
Since Matos Rodríguez took offi ce as the 10th president of
Queens College, in August 2014, the school has been recognized for
its success at propelling students into the middle class. A 2016 study
by the Equality of Opportunity Project ranked Queens College in
the top 1 percent of all colleges in moving students from the bottom
fi ft h to the top fi ft h of the country’s income distribution, and Th e
Chronicle of Higher Education in August 2018 ranked the school
11th of all U.S. colleges for upward social and economic mobility.
“Th e appointment of Félix Matos Rodríguez as chancellor marks
the onset of a historic chapter in the narrative of this vital institution,
one in which every member of the CUNY community should
rejoice,” William C. Th ompson Jr., chair of the CUNY board of
trustees and leader of the Chancellor Search Committee. “In word
and deed, Matos Rodríguez embodies CUNY’s mission-driven
spirit. Since Matos Rodríguez took offi ce as the 10th president of
Queens College, in August 2014, the school has been recognized for
its success at propelling students into the middle class.”
Matos Rodríguez holds a B.A. from Yale University, where
he was a cum laude graduate, and a doctorate in history from
Columbia University. Matos Rodríguez has been an aggressive
fundraiser; during his tenure, the Queens College Foundation has
nearly doubled in value.
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