By Alex Davidson
State Assemblywoman Nettie Mayersohn (D-Flushing) toured part of downtown Richmond Hill last Thursday as part of her effort to meet community and civic leaders in the newest addition to her 27th Assembly District that includes parts of Flushing and Fresh Meadows.
Mayersohn listened as 10 Richmond Hill residents told her about their vision for the area they are trying to make into a historic district. Local business owners and historians outlined their concerns that there are not enough downtown parking spaces, sewers are not maintained and street flooding is continues to get worse.
“We'll find out what's going on,” said Mayersohn, who secured $75,000 in January from the state Legislature's Metropolitan Transportation Authority capital improvements fund to remove trash and other debris from the closed Richmond Hill Long Island Rail Road station and install high security fencing. “We're going to take this one step at a time.”
Nancy Cataldi of the Richmond Hill Historical Society, Bob Wooldridge, co-owner of the RKO Keith's theater, John Sommese, co-owner of Simonson's Funeral Home and Irving Schwartz of the Richmond Hill Hall Corporation came to the walking tour, which was cut short because of a snowstorm.
Mayersohn listened as the local residents told her they wanted to use space under the Long Island Rail Road tracks for municipal parking. Part of that space, which is adjacent to the triangle on Hillside Avenue, Lefferts Boulevard and Babbage Street, just north of Jamaica Avenue, is being taken up by Salerno restaurant in a private lease with the MTA.“It would help every business in the neighborhood,” Bob Wooldridge, co-owner of the RKO Keith's theater said about possibly having more parking spaces in the area.
The Richmond Hill community leaders said they would like to use that area instead for public parking to accommodate local businesses and the new Museum of Sound Recording that will open in the second floor of the Keith's theater.
The triangle became part of Mayersohn's assembly district Jan. 1 because of state redistricting.
The railroad station shut down in 1998, but the property below had been leased by Simonson's Funeral Home and used as a parking lot for customers until 1993.
For more than 20 years, the spot has been an enclave for the area's homeless population, who camped out underneath the railroad arches, and a dumping grounds for broken furniture, Community Board 9 District Manager Mary Ann Carey has said.
“We have such a great potential here,” Schwartz told Mayersohn about downtown Richmond Hill.
Sommese described the flooding problems in the area as creating “lakes” that prevent the normal flow of both foot and road traffic. Cataldi said she was concerned that any security or construction improvements in the downtown not take away from the essential character of the historical neighborhood.
In the end, Mayersohn requested that the community to draft a report detailing the needs of the area and also past communications the residents have had with governmental agencies to try to solve local problems. She said she wants to meet in the upcoming weeks with the residents to talk about potential solutions for the parking and sewage dilemmas.
“We would ask that the community be consulted before anything is done,” Mayersohn said. She said she hopes to return to the area in the upcoming months to take a more extended tour.
Reach reporter Alex Davidson by e-mail at TimesLedger@aol.com or by phone at 1-718-229-0300, Ext. 156
