Cemetery Sprucing, Air Conditioning, on Local Wish List

A wish list of projects to improve the neighborhood was submitted by the community board on Monday to the Office of Management and Budget.

Requests range from installing air conditioning at MS 74, to the construction of a "boardwalk-style" path around Oakland Lake.

The most macabre request was for the restoration of the historic Lawrence Cemetery, where its keepers, the , would like to restore the faded headstones, and put up more cast iron fencing to protect the grounds.

Stones comprising a wall surrounding part of the cemetery have been appropriated over the years, either for use by the Lawrence family itself, or by neighbors,  according to the Society's VP of Historic Sites, Paul Di Benedetto.

The fence would enclose the roughly 50 graves and wall of the little boneyard, which dates back to 1832.

The cemetery restoration was number 34 on the CB 11's list of 35 requests. Requests can languish on the list for years, even decades, before they are granted. Few items that are not billed in the top 10 ever are.

"They always ask for too much," said CB 11 Member Frank Skala, adding, "You ask for too much you get nothing." Skala was concerned that the lengthy list would give people false hope that all items would be granted, when in reality, only a few per year do.

The top Bayside priority, positioned at No. five for the district-wide list, is the reconstruction of streets and drainage between Utopia Parkway and Clearview Expressway, between Northern Blvd and 38th Avenue.

Other requests include the rehabilitation and expansion of the (No. 18), the rehabilitation of two playing fields at John Golden Park with a drainage system (No. 20), and to fix up the paths, tables and benches at Crocheron Park (No. 23).

Standing at No. six, the highest priority for the district as a whole is the construction of a new high school, to abate crowding in the district.

The Expense Budget Priorities list will be fielded through the OMB, and then to the individual agencies which would oversee each capital project. Decisions will be made in early 2011, and projects will be implemented in 2012.