By Jeremy Walsh
The Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 551 in Middle Village is embroiled in a domestic war all its own over plans to serve liquor and food in its side yard.
People on both sides of the fight appeared in front of Community Board 5 Sept. 10 to express their opinions on an application the post will soon file to add limited outdoor service to its club liquor license.
The post ran afoul of next-door neighbor Ralph DeSanto, who began to complain on Memorial Day when the VFW barbecue disturbed DeSanto's family.
Michael Brown, the post commander, described an orderly barbecue with roughly 20 attendees, many of them seniors.
“Mr. DeSanto was running around taking photos [for documentation],” he said.
DeSanto, whose family has lived at their 60th Avenue and 84th Street home since 1962, described the situation as a quality-of-life issue.
“We have tolerated the normal things with the club,” he said. “But two years ago, the club started taking parties out into an alley they had paved over,” setting up tables and a 20-foot-long tent. “We can't sleep in our homes when they are out there.”
DeSanto's 85-year-old mother, Josephine, angrily refuted Brown's claim that parties usually comprise 20 people.
“They better learn how to count,” she said, complaining of loud profanity and motorcycles parked on the sidewalk in the residential neighborhood.
“We are willing to comply with any reasonable times the community board would recommend for the service of alcohol,” VFW attorney Tom Monahan said.
Some CB 5 members were skeptical about the proposal.
“To bring drinking outside means you will turn the neighborhood upside down,” said one community board member. “You have been good neighbors for 30 years … but you're tarnishing the image of the VFW.”
Tom Lynch, a 38-year member of the post, accused DeSanto of writing “vicious, slanderous letters to different people and organizations.”
Linda Mullins, who lives across the street from the post, said the neighbors she spoke to had no problems with the VFW post. She said Ralph DeSanto characterized the post's side yard plans as a “beer garden” on a petition he circulated.
“The dispute over the side yard is just DeSanto's problem,” she said. “This is not a community issue, but a personal issue.”
DeSanto has sent a letter to state Sen. Serphin Maltese (R-Glendale) asking why the senator funds the group.
Maltese, a Korean war veteran, declined to take sides in the dispute.
“I wish you a great deal of luck in your decision,” he told board members.
Reach reporter Jeremy Walsh by e-mail at jwalsh@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 154.
