Parks Dept Breaks Ground on Restoration of 1939 World's Fair Relic

Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe, Queens Borough President Helen Marshall and Council Member James Gennaro broke ground on renovations to the Boathouse on Meadow Lake in Flushing Meadows Corona Park. Representatives of the Boathouse’s users, TASCA, Hong Dragon Boat, Row NY and community members, also attended.

“The Boathouse at Flushing Meadows Corona Park has provided visitors with a connection to the water and the park’s history (it is one of many 1939 World’s Fair relics). Meadow Lake has hosted numerous cultural events including the annual Hong Kong Dragon Boat race, and has provided the community with opportunities to learn sailing and rowing,” said Commissioner Benepe. “Thanks to a generous allocation by Queens Borough President Marshall, the Boathouse will feature a new dock built with sustainable plastic lumber, a full interior and exterior restoration, along with a new public restroom.”

Thanks to $5.6 million from Queens Borough President Marshall and $441,000 from Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, the 1939 World’s Fair Boathouse and dock at Flushing Meadows Corona Park will undergo a full exterior and interior restoration. Along with a renewal of the boathouse’s roof, windows and façade, the old wooden dock will be replaced with a wood alternative: plastic lumber. Half of the interior space will be winterized to allow for meeting spaces for groups to use during winter. Public restrooms will be added to the Boathouse’s southernmost wing.

Additionally, areas surrounding the Boathouse will be paved to provide disabled access to the building. Under a separate $1.7 million contract funded by $1 million from Council Member Gennaro, $625,000 from a multi-modal grant from the State and $115,000 provided by Mayor Bloomberg, surrounding pathways and relocated portions of the lake edge will be reconfigured to address drainage problems.

Council Members Ranked on Environmental Issues

Crowley, Ulrich Dismiss Scorecard’s Poor Results

By Conor Greene

The League of Conservation Votes has released its scorecard grading each city council member based on how they voted on 13 bills related to the environment.

Two borough council members, Eric Gioia (D-Sunnyside) and Thomas White, Jr. (D-South Ozone), obtained perfect scores. Others, including Eric Ulrich (R-Ozone Park) and Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley (D-Middle Village) – who has made environmental initiatives a major focus of her first year in office – scored poorly due to certain votes.

Crowley, who has taken steps regarding the environment including holding a public session on “going green” in the home, received a 22 percent score. She said the scorecard “is flawed without a doubt” because of its narrow scope. “It wasn’t because I voted against something, it was that I didn’t put my name on the legislation yet,” she said, adding that some of the bills they were graded on haven’t even come up for a full vote yet.

She argued that she is actually one of the more environmentally-conscious council members and pointed out that she has been driving a hybrid vehicle for almost three years – “before it was popular” to do so. “I think I am probably one of the greenest members of the city council. That’s why I think the scorecard is flawed. It’s not just how I live my life, but my leadership on the city council and in the community.”

Other green initiatives Crowley has led or participated in include starting the Glendale Green Civic Organization, sponsoring the “go green” event in Maspeth Town Hall and heading “It’s My Park Day” in Juniper Valley Park.

Ulrich, who received a 17 percent score, had harsher words for the scorecard, which he called “legislative extortion” since council members must support certain bills to receive a high score. “They claim that because I did not sign as a cosponsor that I am in opposition to ecofriendly bills they support,” he said. “The fact is I have not voiced any opposition or support. I haven’t done anything yet because the bills have not come to the floor. I don’t co-sponsor or vote on bills I haven’t read yet.”

He added: “No other group holds legislators accountable for that which they have not voted or assumed the opportunity to take a position. If you want to judge me, how do you justify a score that is based on what I have not done?”

Among other Queens council members, Melinda Katz (D-Forest Hills) had the biggest jump in score, going from an 11 percent in 2006 to an 83 percent this year. Councilman James Gennaro (D-Fresh Meadows), who chairs the council’s Environmental Protection Committee, received an 83 percent score. The sole vote separating him from a perfect score was the controversial congestion pricing bill, which the scorecard weighted heavily.

Dan Hendrick, communications director for the LCV, said that emphasis was placed on whether members sponsored bills because it “really signals that they are behind the bill. They can say they will support it when it comes up, but it’s another thing to put your name on it, which creates more momentum.”

Overall, Queens council members ranked second behind Manhattan. “I think for us that really hammers home that the environment is become a more mainstream political issue,” said Hendrick. “The political dynamic behind environmental issues has changed a lot… A lot of people have taken [the environmental movement on the federal level] to heart and see it as part of their own political playbook as well.”

Recognizing that the scorecard focused on 13 specific pieces of legislation, Hendrick said the ranking “isn’t the be-all-end-all, but it’s certainly a useful tool.”

Rep Weiner Announces Security Funds for Jewish Groups

Just weeks after planned attacks on two Bronx synagogues were thwarted, several Queens lawmakers announced that five high-risk non-profit religious groups in the borough will receive federal Homeland Security funds.

Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Forest Hills) was joined by Assemblyman Rory Lancman (D-Fresh Meadows) and City Councilman James Gennaro (D-Fresh Meadows) on Tuesday to announce the grants. Five local Jewish institutions – the Israel Center of Conservative Judaism of Kew Gardens Hills, the Jewish Institute of Queens in Rego Park, Far Rockaway’s Beis Medrash Heichal Dovid, the Hillcrest Jewish Center and Parker Jewish Institute for Health Care in New Hyde Park – will receive a total of $307,050.

Citywide, 61 institutions around the city will receive a total of $4.1 million from the Department of Homeland Security. The city will receive approximately three times more than the amount give to any other locality nationwide. In total, New York State will receive $4.6 million.

In May, federal authorities working with the NYPD arrested four men who were allegedly planning to bomb the Riverdale Temple and the Riverdale Jewish Center in the Bronx. The men were also planning to attack military planes at an upstate Air National Guard Base, according to authorities.

The grants are being made available through the Urban Area Security Initiative grant program and will provide significant funding for security measures at the very institutions being singled out as potential targets – including hospitals, synagogues and universities. Since the program began in 2005, more than 200 New York City nonprofits received nearly $17 million in funding.

Institutions that qualified for the current grant program were eligible to receive up to $75,000 that can be used to train security personnel and install security measures should as cameras, barriers and controlled entry systems.

“As the planned attacks in the Bronx highlight, nonprofit and religious institutions are at risk and need protection,” said Rep. Weiner. “Worshippers, museum goers and hospital visitors expect and deserve a safe environment, and these grants will go a long way towards ensuring their safety.”

“Congressman Weiner’s commitment to protecting our community is an example the state should emulate,” said Assemblyman Lancman. The millions of New Yorkers who benefit from our non-profits deserve the state’s maximum efforts at keeping them safe.”

Push For Bike Lanes on Queens Boulevard

Rally at the Site of Fatal Accident to Highlight Need

By Conor Greene

Relatives of Asif Rahman, who was killed while biking along Queen Boulevard in February, gathered with officials and residents on Sunday at the scene of the fatal accident to highlight the need for bike lanes on the seven mile stretch of road.

The family gathered near 55th Avenue, where a white ghost bike commemorates the 22-year-old Jamaica Estate man’s death, with Councilman James Gennaro (D-Fresh Meadows) and members of Transportation Alternatives to demand that bike lanes and more crosswalks for pedestrians be installed along the notorious “Boulevard of Death.”

“Asif loved to ride his bike since he was a little boy,” said his mother Lizi Rahman. “I always worried about his safety. We all know that Queens Boulevard is a dangerous road. If it had a bike lane, Asif might still be with us today.”


Roughly 100 pedestrians and bicyclists are struck by vehicles on Queens Boulevard each year, according to Transportation Alternatives, a group that advocates for bicycling, walking and public transit as better options than driving. “There has never been a better time for the city, elected officials and the community to come together and fix this dangerous street once and for all,” said Paul Steely White, the group’s executive director.

Gennaro distributed a letter sent to Mayor Michael Bloomberg pushing for installation of a bike lane “that is practical and safe for bicyclists, motorists and pedestrians alike.” The letter, also signed by Councilmembers John Liu and Eric Gioia, notes that Asif “died instantly upon being struck by a truck as he biked... on his way home from work.” His life was cut short by a “reckless driver” in a type of that has become “all too common [since] bike ridership increased 77 percent” since 2000.

“We as a City owe cyclists like Asif, who contribute to a healthier environment by not driving automobiles, a better infrastructure of protection as they try to traverse the length of the borough,” wrote the councilmembers. “Cyclists who attempt to ride down Queens Boulevard continue to do so at a great risk for themselves and those around them. The lack of dedicated bike lanes on Queens Boulevard leaves cyclists without a safe path to travel, and leaves motorists and pedestrians without the adequate separation they need to avoid collisions.”

While accidents involving pedestrians and bikers are a common occurrence along the boulevard, fatalities have decreased since the city Department of Transportation removed two lanes of traffic in both directions along the service roads. Those lanes were turned into metered parking spaces, and the speed limit was lowered to 30 miles per hour. The department has also changed the timing of some traffic signals to give pedestrians more time to cross and installed fences to prevent jaywalking.

There have been five pedestrians killed on Queens Boulevard in the past three years, and Rahman was the first biker killed there since 1996. In December, a woman was killed after she was hit by a cement truck while crossing near Woodhaven Boulevard.

The DOT has announced a plan to install 200 miles of bike lane around the city, but Queens Boulevard was not included something Lizi Rahman hopes to change. For details on the effort to have bike lanes installed along Queens Boulevard, contact Transportation Alternatives at (646) 873-6021 or bike@transalt.org.

Life in the Bike Lane

By Steve Tiszenkel

The best shape I've ever been in was back when I had a gym membership and three sessions every week with an ass-kicking personal trainer. I wouldn't have thought the sessions were worth $80 a pop, but my mother disagreed.

The second-best shape I've ever been in was that heady summer in the salad days of the early '90s, when I was too old for camp but too young for work. There only being so many Diff'rent Strokes reruns to watch, I actually headed out the front door, got a bicycle and pedaled. And pedaled. And pedaled some more.

I was a cyclin' fool that year. We'd just moved to the little waterfront town of Atlantic Beach—wedged between Long Beach, the infamous Five Towns and the Rockaways— and that three-block-wide island ate buckets of my dust. I rode all the way down the Long Beach boardwalk and back again, over the bridge to Oceanside, over the other bridge to Lawrence, through the bad part of town without stopping and under the low-hanging trees stopping every other square of pavement.

One day, leaning against the railing at the boardwalk looking out at the surf, I touched my right calf and was surprised to notice it didn't go anywhere. There was no squish, no pillowy softness, no give whatsoever. Seemingly out of nowhere, I could crush walnuts with my calves.

But I went back to school and there was no time for cycling, and then I got a summer internship in an office where the biggest challenge was making people think I owned more than two suits, and there was even less time. I'd get out on the bike occasionally, but it happened less and less, and lo and behold, it's 2008 and I haven't been on an uncomfortable banana seat for maybe 10 years.

The weather's great out there, and I've thought about picking up a bargain bike courtesy of Craigslist and trying to work those calves up to full strength again. But I can't. You see, I'm terrified. Because I don't live in the suburbs anymore. There's no riding on the sidewalk here in Forest Hills.

Here, it's go Queens Boulevard or go home. Asif Rahman decided to go Queens Boulevard. But while riding his bike back from work in February, a truck hit him, killing him instantly. The 22-year-old Rahman wasn't an inexperienced cyclist. Truth is, he rode his bike everywhere, sometimes traveling as far as from Jamaica to Lower Manhattan. His mother worried about him, as mothers do, but he reassured her that there were bike lanes everywhere. Unfortunately, the Boulevard of Death isn't everywhere.

Was Rahman reckless? Foolish? Naïve? Actually, he was doing exactly what activist groups everywhere tell us we should be doing. In an age when environmentalism increasingly is king, the message is that people-powered bikes will cure all that ails us, and that we have a responsibility to get out there and ride.

Asif Rahman was out there doing his duty. Whether he was motivated at least partially by altruism or whether he just liked the feel of the wind against his head, he was doing the right thing. And like many people who do the right thing, he paid a steep price for it.

Last weekend, inspired by Rahman and joined by his family, concerned residents and Councilman James Gennaro rallied for a bike lane on Queens Boulevard at the site of the fatal accident in Elmhurst. With a number of local political bigwigs signed onto the initiative, the movement earned coverage in several local newspapers. Suddenly people are thinking seriously about making our neighborhoods more bike-friendly.

Bicycling is environmentally friendly, healthy and fun. Our streets should be teeming with cyclists. If you've got a few miles to travel, there shouldn't be any reason you wouldn't use a bike. I'm ready and willing to pick up a used hunk of metal online and do my part to make Queens greener and myself healthier. But until I can be sure it's safe, my hand will be firmly on the brake.

I suspect I'm not alone.

The writer is the host of the Website Queens Central. Log on to queenscentral.com to read more about Forest Hills and the surrounding neighborhoods.