By Jeremy Walsh
After two years of conflict with their local councilman, the Juniper Park Civic Association is anticipating the election of sympathetic elected officials from the upcoming municipal and state elections.
The club heard from three candidates who hope for the club's support — but not before an admonishment from Bob Holden, the civic's president.
“No elected officials showed up to our meetings during the two years we fought Gallagher,” Holden said, referring to the club's spat with disgraced former City Councilman Dennis Gallagher. “We expect elected officials to stand with us and be proactive. … I want to see a picture of Councilman (Anthony) Como (R-Middle Village) with (City Planning Commissioner) Amanda Burden, not handing out some plaque.”
Como did not attend the meeting last Thursday at Our Lady of Hope in Middle Village.
City Councilman Joseph Addabbo (D-Howard Beach), who is running against longtime state Sen. Serphin Maltese (R-Glendale), said he recognized the problems the neighborhood is having with over-development and delays in a long-awaited rezoning project.
Maltese was not present at the meeting.
Noting he oversaw a rezoning of the Rockaways that took two years, Addabbo said he had called Burden's office and expected to have a timeline for the Middle Village rezoning in two weeks.
“It will sit on someone's desk for a while if you don't push it,” he said.
Responding to a member's concerns about Mayor Michael Bloomberg's suggestion to raise property taxes by 7 percent to compensate for reduced revenues from Wall Street, Addabbo insisted cuts could be made to the bureaucracy before a tax hike.
“We can cut hundreds of millions of dollars out of government without affecting your daily life,” he said.
Elizabeth Crowley, who lost a close special election for the 30th City Council District seat to now-City Councilman Anthony Como (R-Middle Village), also positioned herself as a foe of over-development.
She will face Como again for the same seat in November.
“We don't have infrastructure in place,” she said, referring to flooding problems that plague the area. “DEP has no plan to upgrade it.”
“If elected, I guarantee you I will get the planning commissioner out here and get a downzoning plan passed,” she said.
Florist and longtime Juniper Park member Anthony Nunziato is running against state Assemblywoman Margaret Markey (D-Maspeth) for the 30th State Assembly District seat. He emphasized his opposition to the Cross Harbor Freight Tunnel plan, which would have brought freight trains from Jersey City to a truck transfer station in Maspeth, and his work getting cleanup efforts under way at the polluted Phelps Dodge Refining Corp. site in Maspeth, where waste sludge was stored in an unlined lagoon.
“There's not going to be a bigger environmentalist than myself,” he said.
Reach reporter Jeremy Walsh by e-mail at jwalsh@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 154.
