Woodhaven

Swingtime Big Band @ St. Thomas the Apostle Sept. 29th

St. Thomas the Apostle Church is hosting a fundraiser featuring the Swingtime Big Band. The dance, with live music, will take place on Sunday afternoon, September 29, from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM in Msgr. Mulz Hall, 88-08 Jamaica Avenue in Woodhaven. Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the door. We are offering free parking at Forest Park with shuttle service to and from the venue. Please join us for a fun afternoon of nostalgia. Shine up your dancing shoes and join us as we enjoy the music of the ‘40s and usher in the Fall season. We hope to see you there. For more information, please call the Parish Office, 718-847-1353.

Dedicated to the preservation of the Big Band Sound which defined our nation’s culture for over 3 decades, SWINGTIME BIG BAND is a 20 piece orchestra including vocalists. The ensemble specializes in arrangements of Big Band classics from the Great American Songbook. They are purists who when they play a Glenn Miller tune, it sounds like the Glenn Miller band.

 

The band has performed at numerous venues including Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall and Eisenhower Park. Their scheduled performance on September 29^th at 2:00 at Monsignor Mulz Hall on Jamaica Ave is a return to the Woodhaven area as they last performed at the Forest Park bandshell in July, 2011.

Swingtime’s members are all consummate musicians who also happen to have day jobs such as doctor, banker ,music teacher and IT specialist. They are led by Steve Shaiman, a passionate advocate of Big Band swing for his entire life. Their dedication and skill was recognized in 2007 when they were named “Ambassadors of Big Band Music” by the Big Band Hall of Fame.

For more information on this unique band, please feel free to visit their website at swingtimeny.com . For more information on the concert on September 29^th or for tickets at the advance ticket price of $15, please contact Natalie at St. Thomas the Apostle at 718-847-1353.

Forest Park Attack / Unresolved Dangerous Conditions

There has been another attack on a female jogger, again in the Forest Hills section of Forest Park.  This attack, similar to an attack in the same area in March, took place near the secluded horse trails which joggers frequently use. 

Update: The NYPD has linked several other attacks in Forest Park to this animal and relased an updated sketch -

Wherever you are, if you are going to go jogging in a secluded area, do not go alone.  If you were going to go hiking Upstate New York, you would not go alone -- do not do so in a city park.

Also, you need to readjust your thinking as to what constitutes a "secluded area."  Just because you are only a few feet from a roadway, that does not mean you are in the clear.  For example, as you go along Union Turnpike in Forest Hills, if you step inside the park and into the horse trails -- you can see Union Turnpike from there -- but people on Union Turnpike will not be able to see you. 

Unresolved Dangerous Conditions

There are lights out all over the area -- and the amount of time it is taking to resolve is completely unacceptable.

1) Forest Park Drive - From Park Lane South to Myrtle, through Forest Park, across Woodhaven Boulevard.  Reported to 311 and DOT inspected and, unbelievably, they closed the 311 after inspecting it. 

2) Myrtle Avenue, from Woodhaven Boulevard to Park Lane South - a long dark stretch.  We parked along there the other morning -- when we got back from the track, this had happened:

The 102 Precinct has been along there, warning drivers not to leave valuables in their cars - telling drivers that there have been a lot of break-ins along that stretch.

And yet, even though the lights have been out for a while (reported 8/16) they have not yet been repaired. The map below shows where we know there to be lighting issues in and around Forest Park. 

Here is some video we took of how the road looks just before 6 AM, about half an hour before sunrise - an hour when there are many joggers on the road.  We have witnessed first hand, joggers jogging with flashlights.

 

These issues have been reported to 311.  But in light of ther ecent attacks, DOT and Con Edison needs to escalate these problems and fix them immediately.  As in, today. 

There is no excuse for the city to put people who use the park in jeopardy. 

And people wonder why the residents of Woodhaven aren't enthusiatic about the QueensWay?  Check out how the city currently takes care of park security -- and this isn't a new problem and ask yourself if you want more of that brought directly into your neighborhood.

And these are not recent issues.  When illegal sex and drugs in Forest park were the hot topic a few years ago, Mary Ann Carey of Community Board 9 stated that this had been a problem for 20 years or more.

We have been in touch with our electeds - and they have been in contact with the appropriate people - they have been calling every day -- but now we need a bright light shined on this problem -- this needs to be resolved immediately.

PS There is a huge increased park presence with the addition of a command center in Richmond Hill (at the Buddy monument).  We drove past this morning and saw the NYPD truck -- fittingly, it was sitting beneath a string of lights that were out.  Now, the lights along Myrtlke at that spot are on -- but the lights over this truck and up the hill, deep into the park and along the jogger trails were all out at 6 AM.