NYC Council Member Ruben Wills Inauguration Ceremony at York College on December 11th...

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Queens Courier: Call For More Howard Beach Security by Tonia N. Cimino...

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Most Howard Beach residents consider the Buckeye Pipeline “part of the landscape,” but in the wake of the recent terror plot, many are calling for increased Homeland Security funding for the area.

In the wake of the recent terror plot that targeted the jet-fuel tanks at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) and the Buckeye Pipeline that runs primarily through Howard Beach, city, state and federal officials - as well as concerned residents -held a meeting to call for increased Homeland Security funding for camera surveillance and a beefed-up police presence in the area.

“We wanted to reassure people that we are not going to blow up, and that something will be done,” said Community Board 6 (CB 6) District Manager Frank Gulluscio at the Sunday, June 10 forum. “The way lower Manhattan and Wall Street are protected, we should have a similar level because of the high density of people.”

Gulluscio noted that many in Howard Beach consider the orange pipes with a yellow label and black lettering that read WARNING PETROLEUM PIPELINE “part of the landscape.”

According to City Councilmember Joseph Addabbo, the pipeline crosses from Lindenwood southeast to 157th Avenue, over Cross Bay Boulevard, to the other side of Howard Beach, and ends at JFK Airport. He went on to say that along this span are two senior centers, P.S. 232, St. Helen School, the Rockwood Park Jewish Center, P.S. 207, Our Lady of Grace School, P.S. 146 and a day care center.

“We are looking to expand [the cameras found on city sidewalks] to compensate for the lack of police officers,” said Addabbo. “We are also asking for an increase of federal funding and federal attention to this issue.”

Congressmembers Gregory Meeks and Anthony Weiner echoed the call for added vigilance.

“I am calling for increased federal resources from the department of Homeland Security to complement the ongoing security efforts of the Port Authority of New York/New Jersey at JFK,” said Meeks. “Such resources would include increased federal funding out of Homeland Security dollars, as well as federal law enforcement police patrolling the fuel farms and working with the Port Authority Police Department who has primary jurisdiction at New York’s airports to better protect lives, property and commerce in and around JFK Airport."

“We’ve invested hundreds of millions of dollars,” said Adam Hicks, Port Authority spokesperson.

“Security has always been a priority,” he continued, pointing out that the agency recently announced plans for the construction of a $138 million “virtual fence” to surround the airport.

Modeled after that at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport, the fence would utilize technology such as motion detectors, sensors, radar, and thermal imaging.

Despite the plans, many residents feel less than safe, especially now.

“I think it was awful that they put the actual map of the pipeline in the paper,” said Stacy Ricci, 38, who lives in Howard Beach. “Now, everybody knows where it [the pipeline] is if they want to blow it up.”

Others complained that, in the post 9/11 era of “If you see something, say something,” calls of suspicious behavior to 3-1-1 have gone unheeded.

“Residents saw suspicious cars and people taking pictures of the airport runways in a Hamilton Beach park,” noted Gulluscio. “When they called 3-1-1, they were told to call the local (106th Precinct). This is a federal issue.”

Times-Ledger: JFK Pipeline Warrants Police Patrol: U.S. Reps by Howard Koplowitz...

Two Queens congressmen joined together Sunday in calling on federal, state and local law enforcement officials to do more to protect John F. Kennedy International Airport from a terrorist attack.

At a news conference in Howard Beach, U.S. Reps. Gregory Meeks (D-Jamaica) and Anthony Weiner (D-Forest Hills) said the fuel tanks allegedly targeted in a terrorist plot that was recently foiled should be monitored by surveillance cameras.

They also called for additional police patrols of the area and more communications between federal, state and local officials.

Both Meeks and Weiner said the aborted terror plot should serve as a reminder to the federal government that New York remains one of the country's most prominent targets.

"I am calling for increased federal resources from the Department of Homeland Security to compliment the ongoing security efforts of the Port Authority of New York/New Jersey at JFK," Meeks said.

Prosecutors claim that alleged mastermind Russel Defreitas, Abdul Kadir, Abdel Nur and Kareem Ibrahim planned the attack. Defreitas was arrested at a Brooklyn diner earlier this month while Kadir, Nur and Ibrahim were apprehended in Trinidad. A Trinidadian judge denied bail for Kadir, Nur and Ibrahim pending an extradition hearing.

In the wake of the failed plot, state Assemblyman Michael Gianaris (D-Astoria) said Google should blur out or obscure images of sensitive locations, such as the airports, nuclear power plants and landmark buildings, from its Google Earth program.

"I don't know why anyone would need to know where a jet tank is located," Gianaris said.

Residents and leaders of the neighborhoods surrounding the airport also said recently that more needs to be done to protect JFK, specifically the pipeline that brings petroleum to the airport. Members of Community Board 10, which covers Howard Beach, Ozone Park and Broad Channel, also said at their monthly meeting last week that an evacuation plan for residents near the pipeline should be drafted.

CB 10 member John Marus said police should monitor the pipeline, which runs primarily under 157th Avenue in Howard Beach, by helicopter.

"By the grace of God, we were spared," Marus said, noting there should be evacuation routes in case of an attack on the pipeline.

"What do we have as far as a local plan?" he asked.

One CB 10 member said there was no "comprehensive escape plan for the area.

"It's get up and run [but] when all the cars crash at the intersection, nobody runs," he said.

CB 10 Chairwoman Betty Braton said there should be more of a police presence in the vicinity of the pipeline, but cautioned that she was not asking authorities to profile individuals.

She also said there should be video surveillance of trucks that enter the airport.

Kenneth Zorn, community affairs officer for the 106th Precinct, said the precinct was asked to identify potential terrorist targets following the Sept. 11 attacks. The pipeline was listed as such a target. He said officers routinely search the weeds surrounding the pipeline for suspicious activity during patrols. But Braton said it is not just a possible attack on the pipeline that has her concerned. Howard Beach is known for elaborate fireworks displays on July 4, which Braton said could enable a terrorist to blend into the celebrations and fire off a missile.

"You could probably arm a small army with what's in our back yards," she said, referring to the fireworks.

Queens Chronicle: Congressman Meeks Tours Run-down Charles Park...

Congressman Gregory Meeks (D-St. Albans), right, met last Thursday with Gateway National Recreation Area representatives and almost a dozen members of the South Queens communities that regularly use Howard Beach’s Charles Park. Because of a lack of maintenance, its ball fields present dangers to the thousands of young baseball and softball players who use them each spring and summer, parents and coaches say.

After seeing the state of the fields, Meeks pledged to work with Gateway officials to specifically address ways to improve their conditions. He also said he will reach out to groups such as New Yorkers for Parks to gauge their interest in adding a Charles Park improvement project.

“It’s no longer about the issues in the park. It’s about what we are going to do to solve this. We owe it, morally, to our children to have a functioning park,” said Dorothy McCloskey, left, the chairwoman of the Committee to Rebuild Charles Park, the group that invited Meeks to Howard Beach. Fellow member Anthony Allia joins McCloskey and Meeks.

—Joseph Wendelken