It was a busy night on Monday for Community Board 11 as the board discussed everything from a Beacon program facing closure at a Bayside middle school to a piece of parkland proposed to be named after a Douglaston activist.
Here are some highlights from CB 11’s meeting, which was held at Bayside’s M.S. 158.
Beacon Program
More than 100 northeast Queens residents turned out to speak out against the city’s plan to close a Beacon program operated by Little Neck’s at M.S. 158.
CB 11 voted unanimously in favor of a resolution to keep the Beacon site open at the school and several elected officials at the meeting, including state Assembly members Rory Lancman, D-Fresh Meadows, and Edward Braunstein, D-Bayside, called on the city not to end the program.
“We’re not going to stop until they restore funding for the program,” Braunstein told the packed auditorium.
Kim D’Angelo, M.S. 158’s Parent-Teacher Association president, said she was “outraged” upon hearing that the program would end.
“It provides parents with piece of mind that someone is caring for their children,” she said. “And 90 percent of the students who attend it are on the honor roll. Our kids deserve this program and they need it. We’re going to have to make a lot of noise to make sure funding is restored.”
Overcrowding
City Comptroller John Liu briefly discussed overcrowded schools in northeast Queens as well as .
David Solano, the PTA president for Bayside High School, said the city’s Department of Education was “stonewalling” efforts to address overcrowding.
“Bayside High School is at 158 percent capacity, but the DOE is sending students from schools that were closed to our locally zoned high school,” he said.
Joseph Hellman Overlook
Last June, CB 11 voted to , a community activist who fought to prevent the construction of a large building at the site.
But CB 11 Chairman Jerry Iannece said the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation would agree to allow an overlook with a fence and benches to bear Hellman’s name, but not the entire piece of property.
111th Precinct Crime Statistics
Captain Tommy Ng told CB 11 members that the 111th Precinct had experienced a during the past 20 days, including one rape involving an man and his ex-girlfriend and six robberies in which electronics were involved.
“If you have kids who go to high school, don’t have them bring expensive electronics to school,” Ng said. “Tell them not carry a $400 MacBook down the street.”
New CB 11 Members
Iannece also introduced the board’s new members, one of whom is from Douglaston – Douglas Montgomery, president of the Douglaston Garden Club.
