CB 11 Talks Auburndale Slow Zone, Northeast Queens Airplane Noise

Community Board 11 discussed a proposed slow zone for Auburndale and the ongoing noise over northeast Queens caused by a LaGuardia Airport flight route during its monthly meeting Monday night.

The boundaries for Auburndale’s slow zone, which would go into effect this summer, are the Clearview Expressway on the east, Francis Lewis Boulevard on the west, Northern Boulevard in the south and 35th in the north.

There are currently three other slow zones in Queens, including sections of Jackson Heights, Elmhurst and Corona, said Bernie Habert, co-chairman CB 11’s transportation committee.

In a slow zone, the speed limit is reduced from 30 to 25 miles per hour.

Board member Henry Euler said residents from his neighborhood would be pleased about the slow zone’s implementation.

“My civic had asked for this slow zone,” he said. “We requested it for the exact area where they have been problems.”

But board member Frank Skala said he did not believe the zone would make any difference in the community.

“When you see a cop pull over one person going more than 25 miles her hour, let me know,” he said. “They’re not going to do it. They have all kinds of rules that make us theoretically safer, but it never happens.”

Board members also discussed the ongoing issue of airplane noise over northeast Queens resulting from a flight pattern initiated at LaGuardia Airport.

Andy Rothman, a CB 11 member, said he planned on speaking about the noise at a town hall meeting that will be held on March 14 at the Bay Terrace Jewish Center.

“It’s going to be a tremendous opportunity to discuss the horrible airplane noise we’ve been experiencing,” he said.

Board member Melvyn Meer said the group should call on candidates for this year’s mayoral race as well as the governor’s office to get involved in the fight against the Federal Aviation Administration to halt the flight pattern.

111th Precinct Capt. Jason Huerta also dropped by the board’s meeting to discuss recent crime patterns.

“We’re experiencing a bit of an increase in break-ins, burglaries and robberies, but the good news is we’ve made a lot of arrests,” he said. “We’ve locked up 14 people for burglaries.”

Former City Councilwoman and state Assemblywoman Melinda Katz, who is running for Queens borough president, dropped by the meeting to call on Mayor Michael Bloomberg to not cut budgets for community boards across the city, arguing that doing so makes it difficult for the boards to operate.

She said whenever a project would come before the land use committee during her stint as the director of community boards under former Queens Borough President Claire Shulman, the first question would be whether the local community board approved it.

Watch the video (on the right) of Katz speaking to CB 11 about the importance of community boards in Queens.