Communities of Maspeth and Elmhurst Together

COMET N E W S L E T T E R / FA L L 2 0 1 8

VEHICLES WITH NO PLATES OR OUT

OF STATE PLATES IRK RESIDENTS

We were pleased to see the 108th Precinct towing a

vehicle parked on the street with no license plates

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1-888-692-7233 or 1-888-NY-SAFE You can attach photos or send information.
 Reading of the Declaration Regulating Commuter Vans
of Independence By James Zhang

On June 29th, Assemblyman Brian Barnwell held his second annual
reading of the Declaration of Independence at the Maspeth Memorial.
Detective Tom Bell, 104th Precinct, was one of the people chosen to
read a paragraph and COMET member James Zhang, standing in the
background with Assemblyman Barnwell and Senator Addabbo, also did
a reading.
A Speed Bump on 53rd Avenue?
Residents noticed that
a speed bump sign was
installed on 53rd Avenue
between 69th and 70th
Streets. The sign was
installed but after a couple
of months the speed bump
was never installed. Some
folks are not sure if the New
York City Department of
Transportation (DOT) might
have installed the sign just to
reduce speeding, are backlogged on speed bump installation or perhaps
completely forgot about the project. We have followed up with the
agency and hope to see the speed bump installed before our newsletter
goes to press.
As we all know, there are numerous
commuter vans roaming around Elmhurst,
portions of Maspeth and Woodside as well
as surrounding areas. The size and seating
capacity of these vans can range from 7 to 25
seats. Some vans are registered and some of
them are unregistered.
The Taxi & Limousine Commission (TLC) issues
licenses to companies which permits them to
operate in a specific “zone”. Three companies
are approved to operate in portions of
Elmhurst. The vans you see making pickups
and drop-offs in Maspeth and Woodside are
operating outside of their “authorized zone”
and are subject to a summons by the TLC.
Despite being in violation, there are still many
registered and unregistered commuter vans
driving through our neighborhoods picking up
people because of lack of enforcement by the TLC and NYPD.
The real concern besides the possible illegality of their operation is the
safety and dangerous risks these vans may pose. We have all seen the
worst, from people squeezing in the van with pull out seats, to young
mothers holding their infants on their laps without seatbelts even while
traveling on highways. Sooner or later something tragic will happen and
it will be too late because doing enforcement after a casualty will not
change the loss. We need to prevent the tragedy before it occurs.
A big complaint we are hearing from folks is that the commuter vans
are navigating our narrow Elmhurst streets picking up passengers. This
creates a problem because passengers meet at a specific location on the
narrow street, sit on private property and throw paper or cigarette butts
in front of the property forcing the property owner to clean up the mess.
The other problem is that the vans block intersections and/or the street
while loading or discharging passengers.
Perhaps we need to take a look at how the Flushing commuter vans
operate. Flushing has set up specific commuter van stops where people
can get on and off at one or two designated stops in a specific area.
The vans are parked in one area in the event a TLC inspector wants to
conduct a safety check and determine if the driver is properly licensed.
Clearly regulating the vans is doable. The operators just need to
understand the law and not risk people’s lives to make a quick buck. I
am not here to stop businesses from making money. I agree that these
commuter vans have advantages and are a convenience, but again safety
trumps convenience anyway and every day.
I will be reaching out to Councilman Danny Dromm and Community
Board 4 to see if we can come up with a viable solution that will neither
adversely impact the commuter vans or their passengers.
NOTE: COMET has reached out to the 104th and 108th Precincts asking
they work with TLC to issue violations and do whatever is necessary
to get them to cease and desist operating in Maspeth and Woodside
illegally. We are working with our NCOs in the 110th Precinct to curtail
the van activity where they have not been licensed to operate.

Pg. 2 Fall 2018 COMET

 Tilting Utility Poles Flushing Avenue

A number of electric poles were installed in residents’ front yards along Calamus Avenue during
the lengthy combined sewer project. If you take a moment to look, you will notice that the poles
are tilting almost on a 45 degree angle to the street. These poles should have been removed
when the project was completed or, if for some reason they must remain, they should at least
straightened up for safety. We have reached out to Con Edison and are waiting for a response.
Block Captain Lucille Winsko took a photo of this tilting utility pole on the northwest corner of
Flushing Avenue and 64th Street.
If you walk around the community tilting utility poles are a common site. Apparently the utility
companies are not concerned but residents fear high winds, heavy rain or even ice and snow
piling up on these poles may cause them to fall. Hopefully something gets done before there’s
property damage or injuries. Calamus Avenue

Weed Spraying by LIRR

Cause for Concern
The Long Island Rail Road’s practice of spraying weed killer along their
property in Elmhurst with no concern for those with health issues or the
effects this chemical may have on young children in the community is
nothing new. In mid- June workers showed up once again with no notice
and began spraying the chemical with hoses. Residents could smell the
chemical for blocks away.
Elmhurst residents Ed Misiura and Richie Stoike immediately called
Councilman Dromm and Assemblyman Barnwell’s offices and asked that
they look into this as soon as possible. They also alerted COMET. An on-
site meeting was held on Monday, June 25th with a representative of the
Long Island Rail Road, Councilman Dromm and Mark Papish who was
representing Assemblyman Barnwell. COMET President Roe Daraio was
on site with the concerned Elmhurst residents. They walked along 85th
Street, over the bridge at 55th Avenue and onto Richie’s property to get
a better view of the devastation.
During the meeting Richie mentioned that one of his cats was missing.
It never returned after the spraying and to this day it was never found.
Although we cannot say with certainty the weed killer killed Richie’s pet,
we all found it coincidental that the cat would go missing at the same
time the spraying was done.
In addition to the concern about the spraying, Ed Misiura brought up
the issue of the railroad’s fence along 85th Street. He believes that
over the years the railroad has been encroaching more and more onto
city property as their embankment gets washed away due to the fact
there are no trees or shrubs to absorb the rainwater. He also pointed
out a gate that the railroad had installed. There is no curb cut where
the gate is located so residents park their cars along that portion of the
curb legally. However, that didn’t go over well with the railroad so they
spray painted “no parking” on the sidewalk! Councilman Dromm was
absolutely furious and demanded that the railroad remove the spray
paint immediately. This was done a couple of days later.
Councilman Dromm’s office will be looking into whether or not the
railroad has, in fact, encroached on city property without permission. It
will be interesting to hear what the determination is. No word from the
LIRR as our newsletter went to press.

COMET Fall 2018 Pg. 3

 Out of State Plates and Vehicles A portion of a decision in a case heard by the New York State Court of
Appeals in November 2016 states the following: To ensure the safety
with No Plates Irk Residents of our roads, a police officer may run a license plate number through
a government database to check for any outstanding violations or
suspensions on the registration of the vehicle. A police officer’s conduct
of running a license plate number through a government database to
check for suspensions on the registration of the vehicle even without
any suspicion of wrongdoing, does not constitute a “search” under the
Fourth Amendment.
We believe this problem has been escalating. It’s about time the city
and state start to take a serious look at this problem to determine
whether or not these vehicles are properly registered. Enforcement is
key. Enforcement is done to determine whether or not your inspection
Those of you who struggle to find is up to date but nothing is done to vehicles with no inspection stickers
a parking spot probably can’t or license plates! Something needs to change!
help but notice the proliferation We will be working with our precincts and hope they will help restore
of vehicles throughout our area our quality of life.
with out of state license plates
as well as some with no license
plates at all. We know some
people register their cars out of
More Trees Needed Along
state to save money, but the amount of cars we’ve been seeing with LIE Service Road
license plates not only from Pennsylvania and other nearby states, but
also plates from New Mexico, Idaho, California and states across the
country is mindboggling. Something is seriously wrong!
We reached out to Assemblyman Barnwell’s office to ask about the
law relating to license plate registration and enforcement. Here is the
response that he received.
The State Department of Motor Vehicles stated, “Vehicle and Traffic
Law §250 allows non-residents of New York State to operate a vehicle
on New York State roadways, provided that the vehicle complies with
the provisions of the law in their home state relative to registration
and equipment of such motor vehicle and the display of registration
numbers. Vehicle and Traffic Law §250 further allows a NYS resident to
register a car in another state if the registrant has a place of business in
that other state, used in connection with and garaged at that business,
and the other state requires them to register it there. Otherwise, out
of state residents moving to NYS have only 30 days to operate on an
out of state registration before they must register their vehicle in NYS.
It would be up to law enforcement to enforce these laws, and the court
system to impose any fines.”
A Maspeth resident drove around the Woodside/Winfield area one
Sunday morning to see how many vehicles with out of state plates and COMET Block Captain Richie Polgar always seems to find something in
no plates were parked in the streets bounded by 67th Street to 72nd our community that needs fixing or improvement.
Street between 47th and 51st Avenues. He counted 105 vehicles but
said it was possible he may have missed some. We reached out to the When the Long Island Expressway was constructed many years ago,
108th Precinct and met with a sergeant on Calamus Avenue to discuss we were told that the hundreds of trees that were cut down would
our concern. The sergeant told us the vehicles with no plates can be be replaced “per caliper”. Needless to say that didn’t happen. To
towed but nothing can be done if an out of state plate vehicle is parked make matters worse, the State does little to maintain their property.
legally. Community members clean most of the graffiti.

We reached out to Councilman Dromm’s office about an unrelated
matter and just happened to mention the proliferation of out of state
plates in Elmhurst and the surrounding areas. Surprise! We were given
additional information which doesn’t seem to be consistent with the
sergeant’s interpretation of the law.
Richie is working with Assemblyman Barnwell’s office to replace dead
trees and plant additional trees along the service road. The trees will
help buffer the noise as well as beautify the community. Richie said the
dead trees have already been marked for removal. Great job, Richie,
for bringing this issue to the forefront and thank you to Assemblyman
Barnwell for working to get us more trees!!

Pg. 4 Fall 2018 COMET

 Traffic Safety Measures Needed
for Calamus Avenue
Since moving to Maspeth last
year, COMET member James
Zhang has been focusing his
efforts on traffic safety in our
community. He has submitted
a number of suggestions
to the Department of
Transportation (DOT) that he
believes will help pedestrians
and motorists alike. One such
suggestion was to install a
“Stop” sign or traffic signal at the intersection of Calamus Avenue at
70th Street. Motorists pulling out onto Calamus Avenue must do so
slowly because the line of vision is obscured by shrubs and a curve in the
road. This intersection is particularly busy during rush hour as motorists
use this route to avoid the traffic signals on 69th Street.
As this newsletter goes to press we have not heard from the agency.
Drive Carefully on
Calamus Avenue
70th Street at Calamus Avenue isn’t our only concern. Residents state
that tractor trailers constantly use this route although they are not
making local deliveries here. While this avenue is wider than the cross
streets, motorists need to slow up and keep a lookout for an unexpected
“surprise”. This photo showing two vehicles in a fender-bender was
taken in late June. Apparently the driver of the vehicle turning from
72nd Place onto Calamus Avenue didn’t see a vehicle heading in his
direction on Calamus Avenue. Luckily there were no injuries or severe
damage to the vehicles.
Maspeth’s Accelerated Water
Main Replacement & Sewer
Rehabilitation Project
We no sooner recovered from the Calamus Avenue sewer reconstruction
when we started hearing drilling in the streets in northern Maspeth.
After reaching out to the Department of Design & Construction (DDC)
and Assemblyman Barnwell’s office, we found out the city was working
on an “Accelerated Water Main Replacement & Sewer Rehabilitation”
project. Some of the streets affected included 69th Street, Hull and
Clinton Avenues as well as streets in the vicinity of 53rd Drive and 70th
Street.
We found out that the affected homeowners were receiving notices
about possible water shut-offs and no parking but the surrounding
community had no idea this was going to happen. Folks who regularly
used the affected streets had to turn around and look for another route.
We think it would be more effective if the local organizations were
notified so they could alert their members to stay away from the work
zone.
Lastly, we were dismayed to hear that
rodent abatement wasn’t included in the
project. We were told they didn’t think it
was necessary. Common sense would tell
you if there is digging in the street near
catch basins and sewers, there will be a
rodent problem. We tried to reach out to
as many folks as possible to suggest they
take necessary precautions.
Needless to say, parking was impacted
not only because of the digging but
because of the pipes, work vehicles and
pallets of fire hydrants that were dropped
on a dead end street off 70th Street.
COMET President Roe Daraio was passing 70th Street at 53rd Drive
when she noticed a tree limb broken off a young tree. What was
interesting was the fact the contractor put a wooden box frame around
the trunk of the tree but did nothing to protect the tree limbs that were
protruding over the street! A complaint was immediately filed with DDC
and Councilman Holden’s office.
If an agency is going to do a project in a particular community they need
to give the entire community notice in advance rather than just a one-
day notice to affected homeowners. This can be done by providing our
elected officials and/or community boards with the information. Lastly,
the agency needs to put out notices in the languages spoken in the
community. One third of the homeowners affected by this project are
Asian but no notification was given out in Chinese and assume some
folks didn’t even know they would lose water for approximately eight
hours. COMET offered to have the notice translated but the agency said
they would have to do it.
Towards the end of the project the notices did go out in Chinese. Better
late than never!
COMET Fall 2018 Pg. 5
 Gas Project in Elmhurst
Causes Concern

Elmhurst residents found notices

in their doors in early August from
at night and on weekends. The local law states, “Notwithstanding any
a contractor hired by National Grid
local law or rule to the contrary, but subject to the provisions of the
saying they would be working in the
Vehicle and Traffic Law, it shall be permissible for a school bus owned,
area to install gas shutoff valves.
used or hired by a public or nonpublic school to park at any time,
One unlucky Elmhurst senior noticed including overnight, upon any street or roadway, provided said bus
the word “gas” and arrows pointing to one side of the street. They were occupies a parking spot in front of and within the building lines of the
pointed directly at her house and she subsequently found out she would premises of the public or nonpublic school.”
be getting a gas shut off valve along with a few of her neighbors. Workers
We reached out to Captain Ventre, Commanding Officer at the 110th
installed the valve on a Monday. On Wednesday there was a smell of gas
Precinct. He stated that he would have his Community Affairs Officers
so she called the company that set up the appointments as well as the
reach out to the schools to find out which buses belong there. Our
gas company. Both of the senior’s sons also called the companies asking
Neighborhood Coordination Officers PO Lee and Arrubla will stay on
that they take immediate steps to find out why there was such a strong
top of this and write summonses, if necessary. We also asked that they
odor of gas. The gas company came and said it’s normal to smell gas and
summons commercial vehicles parking overnight in the area.
drilled holes to release the trapped gas. The gas meter at that time read
60 and the worker said that was normal. .
By Thursday morning, the smell was much stronger and neighbors came
to complain and check on her. She called the gas company again and
LED Lights Make a Difference!
told them she wasn't feeling well. She had a horrible headache and was
sick to her stomach. She told them it was ridiculous that no one will
take responsibility and the smell was making her sick. Within an hour
the gas company was back. The reading was now 200 so they dug more
holes to let the air escape. The workers explained they needed to figure
out what was wrong and why it was leaking. Finally they said it was a
defect in the valve they put in. They alleged it was the first time it ever
happened.
If you think something isn’t right, keep calling the utility company. If
this homeowner and her sons didn’t keep following up she could have
become very ill, or worse.

Maurice Avenue 51st Avenue

School Buses Taking
Over 51st Avenue 51st Avenue looks much brighter now that the NYC Department of
Transportation (DOT) installed LED lights along 51st Avenue from 69th
Street to Queens Boulevard.
We reached out to the agency several months ago asking that they
reevaluate the LED lighting along Maurice Avenue from the LIE service
road to approximately Tyler Avenue. We noticed that it was extremely
dark. DOT responded and said that additional lighting was needed and
we are pleased to see the strip is much brighter now.
If you believe your street needs additional lighting, call 311.

We’ve gotten several calls from folks complaining that school buses
are taking over 51st Avenue and the streets surrounding the schools
including weekends. Residents in Elmhurst’s “valley” contend with
Electronics Recycling
school buses throughout the school year but believe they need a break

Pg. 6 Fall 2018 COMET

Sandblasting Bridges in Maspeth
Support your community!
COMET Dues for 2019 $10.00
Checks or money orders please

NAME:

ADDRESS:

EMAIL (optional):
Maspeth residents in close proximity to the LIE had quite a few sleepless
nights in late June and early July while the Department of Transportation
sandblasted the bridges on Hamilton Place and 69th Street.
COMET’s Maspeth Vice President Mike Fordunski was one of the
Existing Member New Member
unfortunate folks who was losing sleep. He reached out to a liaison who
was handling the project and asked that something be done to buffer
the noise. Thanks to his persistence, an “eco barrier” was placed around
the expressway where the work was being done. In view of the fact that
homes were so close to the expressway, this should have been done Mail to: COMET
when the project began. P.O. Box 780151
Maspeth, NY 11378

Stagnant Water
COMET”S Woodside Vice President
Dick Gundlach has been working
We need
with Community Board 2 to get the your support
company located on 51st Avenue to continue
at 72nd Street to do whatever roof repair is necessary to eliminate the our efforts in
“ponding” condition. The Health Department is always telling residents the community.
to remove standing water, particularly during summer months, to help
curtail the mosquito problem.
Problems such as this can also be reported to 311.

Report Plane Noise

http://www.planenoise.com/panynj/daPRAbr9/qs114wbt.php

C.O.M.E.T. Meetings
Please check our website for upcoming meetings.

Newsletter Committee
Mike Fordunski, Tom Porembski, Richie Polgar, Christina Wilkinson, Geraldine Walsh, Howard Moskowitz, Lucille Winsko, Theresa
Marrero, Dick Gundlach, James Zhang, Roe Daraio & Maspeth Press

Special Thank You

This newsletter is made possible by funding from Council Members Daniel Dromm, Jimmy Van Bramer & Robert Holden through
the Department of Youth and Community Development.

COMET Fall 2018 Pg. 7

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Saturday, September 8th

11:00 am
9/11 MEMORIAL CEREMONY
Printed by www.MaspethPress.com

Maspeth Memorial Square

Sunday, September 16th Newsletter Spring 2012

11:00 am - 4:00 pm
SMILE ON MASPETH DAY CARNIVAL
Maspeth Federal Parking lot

Saturday, September 29th

1:00 pm - 4:00 pm
RECYCLE DAY includes paper shredding, electronics
recycling, animal adoption, pumpkin patch 104th &
108th Precincts will be VIN etching vehicles (you may

Upcoming
save $ on your theft insurance) and registering cell
phones and bicycles.

Sunday, October 7th

Events
Noon – 5:00 pm
GRAND AVENUE STREET FAIR as well as the Car Show
in Maspeth Federal’s parking lot