Views - Fall 2011 - Page 1

President’s Message………………1 News from the Heights………...….2 Street Renaming……………………4 From our NYC Council Member Daniel Dromm……….….. 5

J.H.C.R.E.W. ………………………..6 Garden Club…………………….…..6 The Green Agenda………………...7 Halloween Parade…………….9 - 11 Composting ………………………..12

Street Cleaning ……………….….13 Editorial …………………………… 14 Membership………………………..15 Holiday Lighting………………….. 16

Message from JHBG President, Edwin O’Keefe Westley A Jackson Heights Update “When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but of-ten we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.” - Helen Keller I’ve decided to include a random quote in the President’s mes-sage. Sometimes it will be related to the column, and other times hopefully it will promote your thinking. 84-01 37th Avenue The Landmarks Commission granted final approval, for con-struction of a six-story commer-cial/residential building, on Tues-day, July 19. There were several hearings beginning with our com-munity board and ending with the Landmarks Commission. The JHBG, Roosevelt Terrace, Coun-cil member Dromm and Janet O’Hare, a concerned neighbor, were active in suggesting modifi-cations. The good news is that several of the suggestions have been incorporated into the build-ing. They are:

- Green space has been in-corporated at the 84th Street residential entrance

- An interior courtyard is planned

- Installation of windows on the east side instead of a blank wall

- Special attention will be paid to the quality of the construction details. Jackson Heights Neighborhood Transportation Study Our Community Board approved the final recommendations of the NYC Department of Transportation. The final plan is available in the “Recommendations” section at http://a841-tfpweb.nyc.gov/jackson-heights. I concur with most of the recommendations but have some concerns. They are: 1. 75th Street has changed direc-tion between 30th Avenue and 37th Avenue, from a northbound street to a southbound street. The Q47 and Q49 buses have been re-routed from 73rd Street to 75th Street. Does this just move the traffic conges-tion and noise from one street to another? 2. Introduce the PARK Smart Pro-gram on 69th Street between 37th and 34th Avenues. Convert parallel parking spaces to 90 degree park-ing. These spaces become 3 hr me-tered parking, Monday – Saturday, 9

am – 5 pm to encourage long term parking away from the retail core (73rd and 74th Streets be-tween Roosevelt and 37 Ave-nues). We are assuming po-tential customers will walk 6 – 7 blocks to shop. Some of us feel that the merchants are parking in the retail core and unless they move their cars to 69th Street there is no chance of success. 3. 37th Road has been closed to all vehicles (except emergen-cy vehicles) between 73rd Street and 74th Street making it a Street Plaza. We all agree that our neighborhood needs more open space but is this the right place? This presents an opportunity for Street Vendors and retail Pop Ups to take over this community open space. The Jackson Heights Merchants Association has requested 37 Road be reopened to traffic because their businesses have experienced a severe drop in sales. 4. Shared bicycle lanes have been installed on 74th and 75th Streets to improve the safety of cyclists…. This is absurd be-cause the plan increases vehi-cle traffic on these streets; it will be a safety nightmare.

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News from the Heights By Daniel Karatzas

A Record Historic Weekend  This year’s annual “Historic Jackson Heights Weekend,” held on Saturday June 18th and Sunday June 19th, was our most successful ever. About 275 tickets were sold for the Garden Tour, and 80 for the Walking Tour. This year, Fill-more Hall, Laburnum Cout, and The Greystones participat-ed in the Garden Tour, raising the number of gardens to 13. Attendance was enhanced by a “PS 69 Reunion” organized by a few loyal alumni. About 50 former students, most of whom graduated in the 1960s, returned to their old neighbor-hood. After a tour of PS 69 they attended our slide lecture, toured the neighborhood while on the Garden Tour, and end-ed their day with a dinner at Armondo’s. It was a great weekend for all. The New Building at 84th Street and 37th Avenue On July 19, 2011 the Land-marks Preservation Commis-sion (LPC) held its final hearing and approved the proposed new building at the northeast corner of 84th Street and 37th Avenue. While many may feel the building is too large, the review process overseen by the LPC since December of last year has resulted in a much improved building. Key

to these improvements were the comments and suggestions of the JHBG, Councilmember Daniel Dromm, the Historic Districts Council and other con-cerned residents. Here is a brief summary of what was accomplished: 1. Windows will now be placed on the building’s east-facing façade, where as the original proposal was simply a blank brick wall 2. The 84th Street façade is aligned with the adjacent build-ing so that there is room for a front garden. 3. The 84th Street residential entrance was set back from the façade, like the other residen-tial buildings along 37th Ave-nue. This allows for a small garden at either side of the en-trance. 4. The building’s details – win-dows being set back from the façade, size and location of the pediments, resolving the resi-dential tower with the one-story of commercial storefronts, etc. – were refined with input from the Commissioners and staff of the LPC. 5. The small rear open space was originally raised one flight above grade level, and will now be at grade level.

6. The materials being used – brick, cast stone, storefront infill – were scrutinized by the LPC and will be of higher quality than in most construction done with-out their input. The residential section will be set back from the commercial storefronts along 37th Avenue by about 10 feet, similar to Georgian Hall just west of this site. Unfortunately, the building will still be built along its north-ern lot line, and block a number or windows in the adjacent apartment building. While we would have liked for this lot to have remained a one-story building, the zoning enve-lope allows for a larger building. As detailed above, a number of significant improvements over the original proposal were real-ized. They are especially im-portant since we will have to live alongside this new building for decades to come. Jackson Hts. Historic District – Extension Submitted Over the past year the JHBG has been developing a pro-posal for extending the existing Jackson Heights Historic Dis-trict, which currently run (in an irregular pattern) from 76th to 88th Streets. Thanks to support and assistance from the Histor- (Continued on next page…)

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ic Districts Council, which in-cluded the JHBG’s proposal as one of its “Six to Celebrate” in 2011, much progress has been made.

A “Request for Evaluation” for the eastern and western exten-sions of the Jackson Heights Historic District was submitted to the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) on July 7th. The JHBG received positive response to our proposal from the LPC in August: “The com-mittee agrees that this is an important area that merits fur-ther study. A survey of the ar-ea by the Commission is need-ed and will be conducted in consideration with the Com-

mission’s overall priorities for the five boroughs.” Our basic rationale was that when the original boundaries of the Historic District were established in the early 1990s, the LPC was con-cerned about creating too large a district, since it had been almost 30 years since a district had been designated in Queens. As such, many buildings - built at the same time and in the same styles as those in the Historic District –were left out of the district. Our current effort focuses on extending the district – both east and west of the current borders – to include the apart-ment buildings, houses, and

commercial properties that rightfully contribute to the character of the Historic Dis-trict designated in 1993. With the continued support of our elected officials, the likeli-hood of realizing the proposed extensions is enhanced, alt-hough continued community support is crucial. Over the next year we plan to communi-cate directly with residents. We look forward to your sup-port! If you want to assist us in this effort, simply email us at info@jhbg.org. Below is a map of the exten-sions, which project both east and west of the existing histor-ic district.

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The Street Co-naming of RICH-ARD CECERE CORNER (Corner of 83rd Street and 37th Avenue) in Jackson Heights, took place on Sunday, Septem-ber 25, 2011.

Active as the Chair of Queens Community Board 3 and sever-al organizations, Richard was known for his dedication and hard work. Richard joined the Kiwanis Club of Jackson Heights in 1990 and served in many capacities over the years. Richard was also a board mem-ber of the John F. Kennedy Democratic Club and former president of the New Visions Democratic Club. He also served on the boards of the Newton Senior Center in Elmhurst and the United Com-munity Civic Association. Richard’s dedication and in-volvement in our community was extensive. His civic en-gagement was deep and well-known; many in the community are well aware of Richard’s tre-mendous contributions and how well-deserved this honor is. During his last battle with leuke-mia, Richard remained an inspi-ration to all with his positive and upbeat attitude. Richard passed away June 29, 2007. His unpar-alleled commitment to his com-munity is worthy of our eternal gratitude.

Remarks from:

NYC Council Member Daniel Dromm, Host,

Elected Officials

Maureen Allen & Ed McGowan,

Kiwanis Club of Jackson Heights

From Queens Community

Board #3:

Grace Lawrence, Chairperson,

Arturo Sanchez, Member

Giovanna Reid,

District Manager,

and

Lorraine Cecere

Special Thanks to:

Kiwanis Club of Jackson

Heights

New Visions Democratic Club

 

Street Renaming in Memory of Richard Cecere By Doris Wurgler

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Nepalese Pitch In To Support JH Plaza From the Office of NYC Council Member Daniel Dromm

Jackson Heights, NY -- Re-cently, NYC Council Member Daniel Dromm participated in a street cleaning program or-ganized by the Sindhu-USA Welfare Society, a Nepalese community based organiza-tion. A group of 75 people in-cluding students from the Bryant High School Nepa-lese organization gathered to clean up the pedestrian plaza on 37th Road in Jackson Heights and all the surrounding streets in the lower 70s from Roosevelt to 37th Avenue. Dromm is especially proud of the group for giving back to their community, encouraging civic participation and supporting the Jackson Heights Plaza.

J.H.C.R.E.W. By Lori Longbotham

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Although many use the dog run no matter what the weath-er, things are beginning to slow down a bit for the sea-son. Over the winter we’re looking forward to deciding what actions and projects we want to focus on for next spring and summer. After finding out that to re-place the same wood chips we had when the run opened would cost us $14,000, we now are looking into a more affordable and practical alter-native! Dogs love dirt, but it

gets very dusty for their own-ers and friends. We’re hoping to have a good solution by the spring. Membership renewal notices have not been sent out since the run opened but we plan to do that in January. When the weather gets better, we hope to begin an active outreach. In the spring we’ll put up fly-ers around the neighborhood, handing them out at the farmers’ market, and general-ly try to get the word out.

Many in the neighborhood still don’t know about the dog run or have heard misinformation such as it costing $25/month to belong. Even though we won’t see each other at the park as much during the cold weath-er, we still have our website (www.jhcrew.org) and a Face-book page for communi-cating, and a core crew anx-ious to make it a better place and bring in more members.

Once again this past May some of our dedicated neighbors -- members of the Garden Club -- orga-nized and planted inside the tree gardens along 37th Avenue from 73rd Street to 90th Street. The unusual long dry spell during May and June were hard on the plants and only the most hardy survived, those which were faithfully watered by the merchants. The gener-ous rains of August revived many of the flowers and the public finally had a chance enjoy them. Particular praise should go to the scouts under the leadership

Update On Tree Gardens and Post Office By Jill Yardley

of John who planted the tree gardens in front of Met Foods. Their expertise and care made the gardens the most beautiful along the av-enue. As far as we know there is no younger crew to take over this project next year, but we have the impression that the “old” crew would be willing to pitch in again next year. We hope to plant more hosta and liriope in the fall. Many of you have passed by our Post Office and have seen how overgrown the garden has become. At the

urging of Mamie Tinkler, a Jackson Heights resident, a few of us have started the process of cleaning up the garden. On a recent Friday four hopeful people jumped in and started the clean up process by, weeding, cutting, pruning, etc. and made a small dent in the garden clean up. There is much more to be done and with the help of more volunteers the Post Office will look lovely by Spring. If anyone is interested in volunteering, please con-tact JHGB.

Trees, Open Space and Composting Center Tops Green Agenda Progress By Len Maniace

Have you done anything to make Jackson Heights a greener place? This is what we and your neighbors have done since release of JHBG’s Green Agenda for Jackson Heights, year: * Provided first-aid to more than 150 neighborhood street trees. * Requested the planting of 100 street trees from the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. * Worked toward expansion of Travers Park through the addi-tion of the 78th Street Playstreet and the Garden School athletic field, with our partner the Jackson Heights Green Alliance. * Won state approval for a new community composting center under the BQE at 69th Street and 35th Avenue. (See story on this elsewhere in this is-sue.) * Won construction of a new youth ball field at Landing Lights Park in Jackson Heights with our partner the St. Joan of Arc Youth Council. (We started this effort nearly a dozen years ago.) We’ve also brought in ex-perts to give talks on tree care,

energy conservation, and com-post tea (Hint: It’s not a drink). We plan to hold an electronics recycling day in April, so don’t toss those computers, printers and cell phones. So what do we mean by a green neighborhood? We’re talking about a community that makes relatively light demands on the Earth’s resources, pro-duces less pollution, and con-tributes less to climate change and global warming. JH has always been lucky on this is-sue. With all our subway and bus services, our neighbors are less likely to rely on cars than people living elsewhere. Our biggest effort so far is our tree-care program, an ef-fort that helps the environment

in surprising ways. Started in fall of 2010, we’ve removed bricks from overcrowded tree pits, chopped up compact soil and replaced them with soil and mulch. The idea is to allow more water to reach tree roots, espe-cially the roots of young trees which are most vulnerable. Our Citizen Tree Pruners have also pruned trees in need of that care. We’ve worked to involve Jackson Heights' co-ops in our tree-care effort, winning the sup-port from the Windsor, Dunnolly Gardens, Carlton Towers, the Albertson and the Greystones. We thank them and hope other co-ops will follow their example. (Continued on next page…)

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Tree-care volunteers remove bricks and loosen up soil to promote healthy growth.

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This effort won an award from the city’s One Million Trees program this past sum-mer. NYC’s goal of planting a million trees will change our city’s environment for the bet-ter, cooling sidewalks and whole neighborhoods during the summer, so we won’t need to run our air conditioners as much. It’s not obvious, but plant-ing a lot of street trees also helps reduce water pollution.

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Here’s how that works: Tree pits are breaks in concrete, allowing soil to absorb rain-water that otherwise would run down sewers. Since NYC has sewer systems that com-bine waste from houses and storm runoff even moderate-size storms overwhelm sew-age treatment plants. That causes untreated sewage to be flushed into our water-ways, making them nasty places for fishing, kayaking and just being near.

New York City has a slew of strategies to divert runoff from our sewers. Bigger tree pits, green roofs and water-absorbing parking lots and schoolyards are a few. And every time you chop up rock-hard soil in a tree pit, you help keep NYC’s waterways clean-er, too.

If you’re interested in helping and having fun doing so, contact us at: LenManiace@gmail.com and visit JHBG’s The Green Agenda for Jackson Heights’ Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/ga4jh ), or call 718-565-5344.

Volunteers plant perennials and annual is a large tree pit that allows plenty of water to reach roots.

A completed tree pit with annuals and a few perennials.

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The marchers stepped off @ 5:00 pm for the 22nd Annual Children’s Halloween Parade on Monday, Oc-tober 31st on 37thAvenue and 89th-

Street. It was a grand evening for a parade filled with ghosts, goblins, pirates and witches. This year’s theme was recognizing our Volunteers; they were the Grand Marshals. Marching behind the JHBG banner displayed by O’Doherty’s children and friends, were Mayor Bloomberg, Speaker Quinn, Comptroller Liu, State Sen-ator Peralta, Assemblyman Moya, Councilman Dromm, and the Hon-orable Judge Greco. Two great marching bands, all from Historic Jackson Heights, provided the musical entertainment. The lead band was IS 230 Marching Band and Students with the ‘Flying Pup-pets’ and ending with the powerful sound of the Joseph Pulitzer IS 145’s ‘There’s Only One Race, the Human Race’

The line of marchers also included: ∗Kiwanis Club of Jackson Heights ∗Jackson Heights Early Learning Center Students PS 212 Students ∗Girl Scout Troop 4208 & Brownie Troop 4269 ∗Community Board Q3 ∗PS 149 Students ∗PS 69 Students ∗IS 230 Marching Band and Stu-dents ∗St. Joan of Arc Youth Council ∗PS 280 Students ∗82nd Street Academics Students ∗Renaissance Charter School Stu-dents ∗IS 145 Marching Band and Stu-dents ∗Human Ethical Society of Jack-son Heights ∗Neighborhood Parents and Chil-dren A reception followed for all the volun-teers who stuffed Treat Bags and guided the marchers down the ave-nue – 30 Key Club Members from

Newtown HS, crowd control - 8 Ex-plores from the 115 Precinct, and handed out the 3,000 treat bags. Music, the American Songbook, was provided by Bethany Wild. We recognized Lillian ‘Lil’ Shubitz, an extraordinary lady who helped us each year. Mrs. Shubitz passed away this past year. Her daughter (and parade photographer), Patty Lowen-haupt, accepted a framed parade poster in her honor. Finally I would like to thank Darryl Hoss, my Co-Chair, and the parade committee: Emma Brandt, Janet Kelly, Bill Kresse, Patty Low-enhaupt, John McCaffrey Jr., Joe ‘William’ Ricevuto, and our Emeri-tus members Mairé Breen and Bridget Shaughnessy. Hope to see you all at next year’s parade!

22nd Annual Children’s Halloween Parade A Neighborhood Tradition By Edwin O’Keefe Westly

Patty Lowenhaupt receives framed poster in honor of her mother, Lillian ‘Lil’ Shubitz.

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We encourage each of you to thank and patronize each of the businesses that have given both merchandise and money to make the parade a neighbor-hood success. They have given back to the community and we should continue to patronize the-se businesses especially in the-se difficult economic times. Buy Local with Cash. The Dime Savings Bank and the JHBG provided the treat bags. Met Food on 37thAvenue provides a fruit drinks; McDon-alds on 82nd Street donated cookies, for our 3,000 treat bags distributed to the children of Jackson Heights at the end of the parade. Coca Cola Bottling Company for providing 16 cas-es of beverages. Based of their level of contribu-tions to the parade the following list of good, better and best has been developed:

Best Friends of the Parade Capital One Bank, the 82nd Street BID, Frank’s Pharmacy, Joseph Lock and Alarm, Jack-son Heights Jewish Center and Astoria Federal. Thank you to the parade com-mittee for their great work: Co-Chairs Darryl Hoss and Edwin O’Keefe Westley, Emma Brant, Janet Kelly, Bill Kresse, Patty Lowenhaupt, John McCaffrey Jr., Joe ‘William’ Ricevuto, and our emeritus members Mairé Breen and

Jackson Heights Merchants Support the Children’s Halloween Parade By Edwin O’Keefe Westley

Bridget Shaughnessy. Better Friends of the Parade

Armondo’s Restaurant, Koep-pel Nissan, Brown’s Army/Navy, Italian Farms, HSBC Bank, Byran Pu-Folkes, Esq., the Jackson House Restau-rant, New Peking Kitchen, In-dia House, Noah’s Ark Pet Clinic, Taco Bell, Queens County Federal Savings, and the 82nd Street Tenants Corp., Ponce DeLeon Bank, Maram Pharmacy, and TD Bank. Thank you to the40 Friends of the parade who help us pack the 3,000 Halloween bags the day before the parade. The 30 Key Club Members from New-town HS and the 15 Explores from the 115 Precinct who guided the marchers down the avenue. Good Friends of the Parade

Olivos Opticians, Kiwanis Club of Jackson Heights, Ho’s Florist, Dr. Abe Dyzen-haus, Schnier Eye Care Cen-ter, , Ultima Florist, Black Tie Cleaners, Supper Soccer Stars, Pramukh Health Foods, COSTCO, Lety’s Bak-ery & Cafe, Carola Bakery and Giani’s Pizza. Finally, thank you our Jack-son Heights neighbors who have made it the Largest Chil-dren’s Halloween Parade within the five boroughs.

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Photos from the Jackson Heights Halloween Parade 2011 By Patricia Lowenhaupt

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Jackson Heights Gets New Community Composting Center By Lenny Olsson

You already recycle your glass, paper, metal and plastic jugs, but what to do with food scraps and garden waste? Now, they’re tossed into the garbage and are then trucked to landfills in Ohio or other dis-tant states, burning petroleum that pollutes the air, contrib-utes to climate change and de-spoils the countryside. Jackson Heights will soon have an alternative. JHBG has just been granted permission to turn an unused space under the BQE at 35th Avenue into a community composting center. The space, owned by the New York State Department of Transportation, will house compost bins that will trans-form fruit and vegetable waste collected from the neighbor-hood by the Greenmarket, fall leaves collected by Project LeafDrop, and possibly mulched Christmas trees from the Parks Department’s Mulch-fest. everal neighborhood co-ops have begun composting but can’t come close to han-dling the large amounts of compostable materials pro-duced by Jackson Heights. The start of a community com-posting center also means that our compost won’t be shipped to other communities, but can

stay here and benefit Jackson Heights. The plan is to apply the finished compost to the street trees in the neighbor-hood. New York City residents gen-erate about 72,000 tons of garbage and recyclables each week. Since the closure of the Fresh Kills Landfill in 2001, New York City pays to ship all its trash to those out of state landfills. Since organic materi-al, especially fruits and vege-tables, contain a lot of water and are heavy, widespread composting can remove a sig-nificant amount of trash that must be shipped.

Additionally, finished compost has its own environmental benefits. It provides plants with slow release but easily accessible nutrients, introduc-es microbes back into deplet-ed soils which also aids the plants, and allows for greater retention of rainwater which helps reduce the strain on the city’s water treatment systems after a decent soaking. A date has not yet been set for the project to start. For ad-ditional information about what can be composted, please visit: h t tp : / /www.nyc.gov/html /nycwasteless/html/compost/edu_outdoor_materials.shtml

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On October 15, 2011 the JHBG held its fourth annual clean up along 69th Street continuing our efforts to turn the east side of the BQE into a garden entrance to Jackson Heights. With the help of many local volunteers, we cleaned from Northern Boule-vard to 37th Avenue and ex-panded our new garden. The area along the BQE has long been a dumping ground in our community as there are no businesses or residences on the west side of the street. The result is that no one takes care of the area. That is until about 6 years ago when the JHBG began work-ing to turn the space from a dumping ground into much needed useable green space. The plan has been to find spe-cific groups who need space and are willing to commit to taking care of the land. The transformation began with the formation of the dog run on the north side of 35th Avenue. With the help of the New York State Department of Transpor-tation, the dog run managed by JHCREW: Jackson Heights Canine Recreation and Exer-cise Wonderland (a committee of JHBG) opened a small and large dog run in 2010 next to

JHBG Making Jackson Heights a Little Greener

By Finuala O’Doherty

the BQE, under the train bridge. In April of 2011, JHBG planted a small 800 sq. ft. garden next to the train tracks between 37th Avenue and 35thAve-nue. The garden consists of decorative bushes, tall grass-es, daffodil bulbs and flow-ers. Along fence next to the rail road tracks herbs such as rosemary, basil, thyme, pars-ley, cilantro, lemon grass and sage were planted. With the wet summer the plants thrived. On October 15, 2011 JHBG volunteers as part of the fall clean up, expanded the gar-den by about 300 Square feet and put in more daffodil bulbs and bushes. This was done with the support of our local politicians including City Coun-cil member Danny Dromm, State Assembly member Michael Den Dekker and Sate Senator Jo-se Peralta. We have also re-ceived great support from White Castle that allows us to use the district office on 34th Avenue and 69th Street as a staging ar-

ea and feed all the volunteers lunch. We also received help from Grow NYC who provided gardening tools and Milmar Landscaping who provided ex-pertise and advice on what to plant. New York City Commu-nity Clean Up has also be a great help in keeping the area clean by periodically brining those mandated by the court to complete community service to the area to clean. NYC De-partment of Sanitation has helped by making special col-lection runs to haul away the trash at the end of the clean ups. The next step is to focus on the south side of 34th Avenue across from the dog run JHBG is again working with NY State Department of Transportation to transform the area near the BQE pumping station into a local composting site.

From The Retiring Editor of Views From The Heights, Doris Wurgler To Our Terrific JHBG Members and Community Readers:

VIEWS FROM THE HEIGHTS

Volume 23 Number 1 Fall 2011

Jackson Heights Beautification Group

Post Office Box 720253 Jackson Heights, NY

11372-0253 718-565-5344

Email: info@jhbg.org

Editor

John Petrozino

Writers and Reporters

Graphic Design James Stonebraker

Photography

Patricia Lowenhaupt

JHBG OFFICERS Edwin O’Keefe Westley,

President John J. McCaffrey, Jr.,

Vice President Nelida Florez, Vice President Doris D. Wurgler, Secretary

Darryl Hoss, Treasurer

JHBG DIRECTORS Nelida Florez

Darryl D. Hoss Daniel Karatzas Barbara Kunkel

Len Maniace Carlos Martinez

John J. McCaffrey, Jr. Finuala O’Doherty

John Petrozino Jim Riccio Basil Safos

Edwin O’Keefe Westley Doris D. Wurgler

Founding Director Maire Breen

Daniel Karatzas Lori Longbotham

Len Maniace Finuala O’Doherty

Lenny Olsson Edwin O’Keefe Westley

Doris Wurgler Jill Yardley

Contribution from:

Office of NYC Council Member Daniel Dromm

field, Jill Earick, Frank Moon, Nadia Kon-dratiev, Donna Macioce, Adrienne Sumowitz, John Moran, Edward O'Keefe Westley, Robert Laconi, Marguerite Park, Mary Sarro, Len Maniace, Jeffrey Saunders, Ralph Rivera, Celeste Balducci Chapin, Maire Breen, Frank Fiorentino, Diane Mosher, Bessie Karatzas, Doris Derwik-Wurgler, Rev. Austin Armitstead, Joseph Ricevuto, Carson Scheidemann, Rebecca Tally, Rebekah Wurgler, Mirelle Hug, Bar-bara Kunkel, Rev. Msgr. John A. McGuirl, Ellen Raffaele, James Riccio, Basil Safos, Bianca Armitstead, Yanghee Hahn, Darryl Hoss, Ralph Moreno, Byron Munoz, Doro-thy Phelan, John Azzali, Nelida Florez, Li Yu, Pat Kelly, Hon. John Sabini, Patty Shubitz-Lowenhaupt, Howard Goldberg, Hon. Hiram Monserrate, Hon. Helen Sears, Jim Steere, John McCaffrey, Paul Enger, Jeffrey Kressler, Jim Riccio, Madalyn Be-noit, Mary Galane, Janet O'Hare, Maureen Allen, Tom Lowenhaupt, Hon. Jose Peralta, Anne Raymond, Renee Stonebraker David Watson, James Stonebraker, Alexis Daniels, Alice Faber, eric Jacobs, Joe Ricevuto, Robyn Einhorn, Rev. Ronald Thompkins, Frank Bowe, Wanda Chin, Kiran Kanwar, Terry Rouge, Josh Weiss, Michele Beaudoin, Chris Boyd, M.P. Prabhakaram, Arline Schwender, Hon. Daniel Dromm, Edwin Hoffman, Megan Mosher, Lorna Ronald, Julie Weiner, Melissa Zavala, War-ren Shaw, Hannah Li, Stan Mieses, Beatriz Ruiz, Will Sweeney, Brian Pu-Folkes, Alex-is Andrews, Lillian Kowalsky, Mary Abbate, Fionnuala O'Doherty, Ziati Rothman, Susan Ross, Margaret Fabrizi, Zoe Sullivan, Mari-on Robertson, Marina Yoffe, Cecilia Kulhanek, John Petrozino, Caryn Garega, Alison Ostergaard, Jill Yardley.

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Stay Connected! In addition to the JHB official website, www.jhbg.org, you can now follow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/jhbgny.

Send e-mails to info@jhbg.org or Leave a message at 718-565-5344.

Thank you all for your support over the past eleven years. I have loved being your Views Editor but now I feel it is time for me to pass the mantle to a new editor, John Petrozino who is edit-ing this issue. I wish him all the best in this new responsibility. I know he can count on your support. John is joining a short list of Views Edi-tors since the first issue of Volume 1, No.1 published in 1989. The first editor was Jim O'Donnell who was followed by Daniel Karatzas in 1991 with Vol.3. Janet Kelly began her term with Vol.8, no.5 in 1997 and I took over with Vol.12, no.1 in 2000. Since 1989 MANY community mem-bers have contributed to the success of Views. Just for fun, I went through the back issues of Views and made a list of all the folks listed in the editorial box. In the beginning articles carried no by-lines. Take a look and reminisce over the names you remember and the great contributions that they have made over the years. Some of those names in the first few lines of the list below are still here, working for our community. Contributors to Views From The Heights: Jim O'Donnell, Lorraine Cusick, Marianne Ruch, Neil Ruggles, Gloria Daini, Dorothy Warms, Milton Schulman, Elaine Zounek Paige, Dianna Delgrosso, Michael j. Crow-ley, Daniel Karatzas, Milton Horo-witz,Margaret Schmidt, Susan Applebaum, Fannie Brustein, Joseph Bruzas, Suzanne Lall, Jacob Sherman, Michael Schelp, Tony Thomas, Rudy Greco, Fred Fox, Ja-net Kelly, Bob Sansosti, Claudia Harsh-

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Membership: Jackson Heights Beautification Group

Your annual membership in the JHBG helps us fund neighborhood activities, demonstrates your commitment to a better community, and permits us to be your voice in the revitalization of Jackson Heights. Your support is important to the future of our neighborhood. The JHBG is 100% volunteer-run, and there is no paid staff. The JHBG is a 501(C)3 nonprofit organization, and your contribution is tax-deductible. Please make checks payable to Jackson Heights Beautification Group. You will be mailed a receipt for tax purposes.

Please fill out this page and return it with your payment to:

JHBG—Membership Box 720253

Jackson Heights, NY 11372

1. Please circle membership level: Individual—$25 Business—$50 Sustaining—$100 Patron—$250 Benefactor—$500 Sponsor—$1,000 Other: ______ 2. Please print the following: Name: ________________________________________________________________ Address (including Apt. #): ________________________________________________ City/State/Zip: __________________________________________________________ E-mail Address: _________________________________________________________ Daytime Phone (optional): _________________________________________________ Evening Phone (optional): _________________________________________________ 3. Are you interested in being contacted about any of the following JHBG activities? If so, please circle the appropriate one(s): Clean Streets Friends of Travers Park Garden Club (including flower planting) Graffiti Busters Halloween Parade Historic Weekend Membership Building Newsletter and/or Website Town Halls Other: __________________ 4. Suggestions? Comments?

THANK YOU! If you have any immediate questions or concerns, contact the JHBG by phone (718-565-5344) or email (info@jhbg.org).

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Come to the Holiday Lighting Ceremony Wednesday, December 14 at 5:00 PM

Jackson Heights Post Office

78-02 37th Avenue

EVERBODY WELCOME!