By Howard Koplowitz
She was responding to a concern from Peter Richards, the chair of CB 13's Parks Committee, who brought up the issue at the board's meeting Monday at St. Luke's Church in Rosedale.”Currently, we don't have the funding for it,” Lewandowski said. “In the absence of that, we've done a lot of programming and capital improvements” in southeast Queens, she said, referring to concert series, puppet shows and boating outings.Lewandowski said the larger parks in Queens, such as Flushing Meadows, Alley Pond and Ft. Totten, have administrators.She also updated the board on capital projects for eastern Queens parks, including tennis, basketball and handball courts for Brookville Park and a $1.6 million cricket field for Idlewild Park being funded through Queens Borough President Helen Marshall.The cricket field is in the design stage, Lewandowski said, and that construction was expected to start by the end of the year.Summer kayaking programs are set for Thurston Basin by Jamaica Bay, she said, and a comfort station in the Laurelton Playground should open by the end of the year.The park house at the Bellerose Playground at PS 133 has been closed for 15 years, Lewandowski said, but Parks is requesting $150,000 for new plumbing, electric, water and other renovations so it can open soon.In other business, the board tabled a discussion on the so-called “zero-tolerance policy” for merchants who sell items on racks within 3 feet of their business.The board said it wanted more time to consult with local development corporations within CB 13's boundaries before taking a position on whether to allow merchants to sell their wares outside their stores.CB 13 Chairman Richard Hellenbrecht also updated the board on the process for hiring a new district manager after Sally Martino Fisher, the board's district manager for 15 years, resigned in January following questions of whether or not she lived in the city.Hellenbrecht said 10 of the 38 resumes received so far were disqualified because they came from people who lived outside the city. Living within the city is a condition for the job.He said a number of other submissions came from department or retail store employees who apparently believed the job entailed running a store.”So many of them are from Walgreen's and Strauss stores,” he said.Reach reporter Howard Koplowitz by e-mail at hkoplowitz@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 173.
