Foreclosures, water bills, building violations, education, public safety, flooding and raccoons were among the issues discussed at a nearly two-hour town hall meeting in Woodhaven on Monday night.About 100 community residents and leaders gathered in the meeting room of the Woodhaven-Richmond Hill Volunteer Ambulance Corps, located at 78-15 Jamaica Ave., to ask questions of and get answers from their elected officials.
City Councilman Joseph Addabbo Jr. (D-Howard Beach) organized the meeting and invited City Comptroller William Thompson Jr. and state Assemblywoman Audrey Pheffer (D-Ozone Park) to participate. The three were eager to respond to the complaints and concerns their constituents voiced, and each found the meeting to be successful.
“It’s the summer and people can be elsewhere, with their families or home, and instead they spent some time with us to discuss the issues and try to make our community better,” Addabbo said. “So, hopefully we can show the residents that their time there last night was worth it. And, I think it was.”
Click photo to enlargePheffer also agreed and said residents demonstrated their contentment when Woodhaven resident Allan Smith raised the subject of inadequate performance by the Department of Buildings.
The audience burst into applause after Smith asked the officials his all-encompassing question: “How can we enforce laws relating to zoning infractions, illegal conversions, McMansions, lack of landmarking in Queens, historic districts, concreting over lawns, out-of-character structures, permanent fencing, teardowns, self-certification by engineers and architects?”
Thompson immediately took the opportunity to answer. “The Department of Buildings, to be honest about it, has dropped the ball,” he said. “In Queens, it’s usually the first or second issue that anybody brings up. ... There isn’t an issue I hear about more.”
What it comes down to, the comptroller said, is that the DOB needs to add personnel who are better trained. The buildings department fails to properly inspect violation complaints and to respond quickly and efficiently, he added.
Audience members nodded in agreement. “I think people felt very good about hearing about the Department of Buildings because everyone there really had an issue with them,” Pheffer said.
Other hot-button issues brought up during the meeting were water rate hikes, flooding, insurance claims related to flooding and the inaction of the Department of Environmental Protection.
“Make no mistake, we’re being ripped off,” Thompson said of increasing water rates. The water board and the DEP raised the rate by 11.5 percent last year and 14.5 percent this year, generating outrage from city residents and elected officials. “They are putting their hands in your pockets. ... They are charging us more than it takes to run the water system.”
In a move that further frustrates local residents, the DEP has attempted to absolve itself of responsibility for last summer’s flooding, calling it “an act of God,” according to Thompson. Numerous parts of Queens were devastated after torrential downpours in July and August 2007 destroyed some homes and caused many to lose valuable possessions.
The Comptroller’s Office depends on the DEP to determine who, if anyone, is liable for the flooding damage. In many cases, the DEP does not hold itself accountable, which is why one resident at the meeting called the agency a “zero” pulling a “con game.” Recognizing that the DEP’s negligence is unfair, Thompson is working with the agency to find solutions that are more equitable to homeowners.
This has caused a delay in the compensation owed by the city to those who filed claims with the Comptroller’s Office regarding their losses. Thompson apologized to those like area resident Pat, who did not give his full name, awaiting a response. Thompson is also trying to extend the final deadline for compensation, so that homeowners will not have to file lawsuits against the city.
Putting the issue in context, Addabbo said overdevelopment and building violations are causing the city to lose its natural drainage. Paving over lawns, illegally converting buildings and erecting three-family homes in areas designed to accommodate only single-family structures are actions that exacerbate flooding in the city’s antiquated sewer system, he noted.
It appears the inadequacies of one city agency contribute to those of another — and what contributes to them all? According to Ozone-Tudor Civic Association President Frank Dardani, 311.
Since Mayor Michael Bloomberg created the public information center several years ago, city agencies have gotten lazy, Dardani implied. He believes they do not take initiative. Instead, they must be prompted by repeated complaints. According to Thompson, 311 was designed as a supplement to, not a replacement for, city agency’s awareness of and response to problems.
Woodhaven resident Elaine Bauman said there is one issue of which the city is aware, but just does not care: raccoon infestations. Families of the so-called “masked bandits” have taken over the backyards of homeowners living near Forest Park, she said. And unless residents want to trap and remove the pests themselves, they are here to stay because there is no city agency with oversight on the matter.
Addabbo admitted that the city is reluctant to deal with raccoons unless they are rabid, and suggested residents call his office so he can refer them to private trappers.
Other residents complained about excessive graffiti in their neighborhoods and were assured by Addabbo that the City Council is attempting to increase penalties for graffiti. The councilman also urged audience members to call his office for help cleaning up defaced property.
The topic of education was discussed at length toward the end of the meeting. David Quintana of Ozone Park asked Thompson for his opinion on mayoral control of the city’s schools, to which the comptroller — who is a likely contender in the 2009 mayoral race — responded with a smile.Thompson believes in mayoral control, but questioned who’s in charge. There is a flaw in the law that created mayoral control, which allows the Department of Education to remain an unaccountable entity, according to Thompson, who has been outspoken in his criticism of School’s Chancellor Joel Klein.
“Parents are more left out than ever,” he said, adding that the next mayor should create in the DOE a greater level of accountability, responsibility, openness and transparency.
One of the last subjects discussed at the town hall meeting was foreclosures. Vance Barbour of the Woodhaven Residents Block Association asked several questions regarding what is being done to repair the foreclosure crisis that has gripped the nation.
The state is taking various steps to help keep people in their homes, Thompson said. Pheffer, in particular, sponsored legislation earlier this year that created a $150 million mortgage assistance grant fund to assist borrowers in owner-occupied homes who are in default.
Residents raised several smaller issues that the elected officials addressed and people left the meeting with a sense of accomplishment or confidence that they’ve been heard, according to Pheffer.
But it was also advantageous for the elected officials. “It helps our leaders help us,” Dardani said, adding that it’s always beneficial when people gather to have dialogue about serious issues.
