Woodhaven

Save Engine 294 Rally - Sunday June 5th @ 1 PM

 

The communities of Richmond Hill and Woodhaven are pulling together to stage a public rally to save Engine Company 294 at 1 PM on Sunday, June 5th in front of the firehouse at 101st Street and Jamaica Avenue.  Engine 294, which serves both communities, was revealed to be on a list of 20 fire companies that are slated to be closed to balance the city's budget.  

    

The Woodhaven Residents' Block Association (WRBA) and the Richmond Hill Block Association (RHBA) are joining forces, along with other local civic groups, organizations, and elected officials to try and ensure that this doesn't happen. 

    

The National Fire Protection Association says that studies show that once you surpass a 4-minute response to a fire, the risk of civilian death triples.  Public Advocate Bill de Blasio released a report this week showing that the closure to Engine 294 will push our response time over that 4-minute threshold.  This issue impacts each and every family in our community and all residents are encouraged to attend.  

   

Volunteers will be needed in the days leading up to the rally, to hand out flyers and help spread the word.  Contact either the RHBA ([email protected]) or the WRBA ([email protected]) for details.  There is also a "Save Engine 294" Page on Facebook that residents are using as an online petition and a place to share their thoughts and feelings about this possible closure.  This page has attracted nearly 250 fans in its first 24 hours.  

   

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Contact:

   

WRBA:

   

[email protected]

WRBA office: (718) 296-3735

www.woodhaven-nyc.org

   

RHBA:

   

[email protected]

RHBA office: (718) 849-3759

www.richmondhillny.com/Orgs/RHBA.html

 

Sign The "Save Engine 294" Online Petition

Engine 294 on 101st Street and Jamaica Avenue serves both Richmond Hill and Woodhaven.  It is also on the list of fire companies to be closed in order to balance the budget.  Mayor Bloomberg hasn't fully though through the ramifications of this decision.  

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) — Mayor Michael Bloomberg defended his proposal to close 20 city fire companies as a budget-cutting measure.

On his weekly WOR Radio show on Friday, the mayor said firefighting has changed over the last century. He says most houses today are not made of wood, have sprinklers and “hopefully” smoke detectors.

Most houses today are not made of wood?  Mr. Mayor, most houses in Woodhaven and Richmond Hill were built a hundred years ago.  And sprinklers?  

Sheesh!

The residents of Woodhaven and Richmond Hill are joining together to ensure the Mayor hears why this is a horrendous idea -- and have created an online petition on Facebook where you can tell everyone why Engine 294 needs to be saved -- it will also serve as a communications center for when the upcoming rally will be held.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW / JOIN THE ONLINE PETITION

Stay Tuned!

 

 

 

What's Happening in Woodhaven, Queens - May 20th, 2011

Greetings friends and neighbors  . . . 

** As you've probably heard, Engine 294 on Jamaica Avenue has -- once again -- been slated for closure.  This decision puts all of our lives -- all of our families' lives -- at risk.  A rally will be held, date and time to be announced.  And it will be a main topic of conversation at Woodhaven's Monthly Town Hall Meeting TOMORROW -- SATURDAY -- 1 PM at the Woodhaven Ambulance Corps (78-15 Jamaica Avenue).  We will discuss how we plan to mobilize in support of our firehouse, as well as how best to tackle other problems in our community.

** Bonus -- the WRBA will be making a MAJOR Quality of Life Announcement during tomorrow's meeting.

** Speaking of Quality of Life, once again, the residents of Woodhaven will be taking to the streets Sunday Morning (May 22nd) to paint over graffiti vandalism.  Last time, our volunteers covered up approximately 80 instances of graffiti -- what an outstanding job!  We'll be meeting at the bandshell at 11 AM -- drop us an e-mail if you're interested in joining.  If you can't make it to the bandshell, let us know and we'll arrange something.

Also -- we are collecting empty plastic milk containers for our future clean ups -- we will fashion them into lightweight, disposable paint containers -- so if you buy milk by the gallon, please bring some empty containers to our Town Hall meeting tomorrow or drop them off at our office.  (If our office is closed, leave them with Charlie the Cleaner next door.)

** Remember, we're on the air LIVE every Friday Night at 10 PM, talking about Woodhaven -- click here tonight at 10 to listen!  Want to share your opinions?  Call (646) 378-1612 between 10 and 11 PM Friday nights.  Note: If you miss the live show, you can always come back later and check it out in the archives!

** Our Great Woodhaven Yard Sale has blossomed to 31 Families!  Click here for details.  

There is still time to register your Yard Sale with us!  If you decide to join up, we’ll add you to the list — and we’ll be publishing a map online with flags indicating each yard sale.  We’ll also be printing out lists which we’ll drop off at many of the locations — so if someone stops off at one yard sale, they’ll know where all the other ones in Woodhaven are.

The Yard Sales will be on Saturday and Sunday, June 4th and 5th. There is no charge for being part of this — just let us know by May 25th if you want to be a part of the Great Woodhaven Yard Sale (the sooner you let us know, the better).

** Have you seen our EL Train lately?  Click here to see how it's coming along -- it looks great!

** On Thursday May 26th (6-8pm) PS 306 is having a Multi Cultural Feast with a fashion show and cultural dance. Basically all the parents bring food from their cultural backgrounds and dance/dress in a representation of their culture. Weather permitting it will be in PS 306's backyard (on 89th Avenue and 96th Street).

** HBO was in Woodhaven last week, filming scenes for the series "Bored to Death."  Click here to see how that went.

** And finally, some very sad news -- St. Matthew's Episcopal Church on 96th Street is closing after 111 years in Woodhaven.  It's a beautiful church and the parishioners are very nice people and we're sorry to see this happen.  Click here for a tour of this lovely building -- and click here for a tour of the historical Wyckoff-Snedicker Graveyard that's behind St. Matt's, containing the graves of the Colonial Era founders of Queens!

Once again, remember our meeting on Saturday, May 21st 1 PM at the Woodhaven Volunteer Ambulance Corps -- we hope to see you there!  Tell your friends you heard it on the Grapevine -- get them to sign up for updates and keep plugged in to what's happening!

We truly hope to see you tomorrow so we can get in gear and start to plan for a rally!

Until next time, your fellow residents at the WRBA

Woodhaven Town Hall Sat. May 21st

The WRBA will hold their monthly public Town Hall meeting at the Woodhaven Volunteer Ambulance Corps  (78-15 Jamaica Avenue) on Saturday, May 21st 1 PM.  These meetings are designed to help the community focus on issues and problems that need to be addressed.  At this meeting, we will review the types of complaints the WRBA regularly receives and how they are handled.  We will also work with residents to show them how best to report an issue.

We will also review the recent graffiti cleanup project with Assemblyman Mike Miller -- and speak about the cleanup we will perform on Sunday, May 22nd at 11 AM.  During our last cleanup, we cleaned close to 80 separate locations which had been vandalized by graffiti -- and we did this in just over 2 hours.  

How did we get so much done in such a short period of time?

Easy -- we had 22 volunteers.  A 2 hours apiece, that's 44 hours of work that was done.  See, when we have that many people coming together on a project, we can leverage those numbers into a lot of good work.  

We will be getting together again on Sunday May 22nd at 11 AM.  All supplies are provided -- wear old clothing.  Meet at 11 AM at the Bandshell.

If people in this community are willing to volunteer 2 hours a month -- imagine the good we can do.  We'll be speaking more about this at our next meeting.

Woodhaven Residents Block Association

woodhaven-nyc.org

E-Mail: [email protected]

Phone: 718-296-3735

 

 

 

HBO Filming in Woodhaven

HBO's "Bored to Death" will be filming in Woodhaven on Thursday May 12th and Friday May 13th.  This is the 3rd time in recent memory that Woodhaven has been a location for a major production (The Sitter filmed here last year, and Tower Heist filmed here in February.)  There will be disruptions to parking:

Here are the streets where parking will be affected on Thursday, May 12th:

• Jamaica Avenue (north side) btw Dexter Ct & 76th St
• Eldert Lane (both sides) btw Jamaica Ave & 88th Ave
• 75th Street (west side) btw Jamaica Ave & 88th Ave

On Friday, May 13th, they will be using the same streets and will also be using:

• Dexter Ct (east side) btw 86th Rd & Jamaica Ave
• Jamaica Ave (south side) btw 75th St & Eldert Ln
• 86th Rd (south side) btw Dexter Ct & 76th St

Please be aware of this and make appropriate preparations.  Be aware of the signs on your street and avoid parking where the signs say that you cannot.  If you do, NYC will tow your car to the nearest legal spot.

The episode filming the next two days will air in late fall. It will be Episode 5 of Season 3. They were also filming at the Forest Park Carousel a few weeks ago -- those scenes were filmed for Episode 2 of Season 3 and will probably air in late September.

BONUS:  An entirely separate crew will be filming in Forest Park, near 85th Street and Park Lane South -- all day Friday, May 13th.  They are filming a commercial for the online retailer Zappos.