Woodhaven

Woodhaven Town Hall Meeting on Rezoning Jan 21

The Woodhaven Residents Block Association will host a presentation by the NYC Department of City Planning on Saturday, January 21st at 1 PM.  The meeting will be held at the Woodhaven Volunteer Ambulance Corps (78-15 Jamaica Avenue).  

The new zoning laws will determine the size and shape of Woodhaven in the very near future.  The question is -- do you want Woodhaven to expand housing, to expand development in the resedential areas.  The current proposal seeks to discourage development -- to avoid furthering the overcrowding that has resulted in limited parking, more noise and traffic, more garbage and a depletion of services.  Schools are already complaining of overcrowded classes -- the city has been looking to cut down on services such as transit and firefighting.  

Think of how much worse these problems will be with apartment houses, or extra-large housing popping up all over the place.

This is your best chance to learn about this proposal -- and show support for it to protect your investment in this community.  If you won't speak up to protect your investment, to protect your family, to protect your family -- what exactly will you speak up for?

Saturday, January 21st at 1 PM is your chance to speak up.

Woodhaven Straw Poll - How Did Your Issues Fare?

At the most recent Woodhaven Town Hall meeting, we had a little experiment.  A number of the issues that are frequently called in, or discussed at meetings, were put on display, on a table -- each problem affixed to a cup.  Noise, Illegal Conversions, Illegal Signs, etc.  Over a dozen different "issue cups" were put out.  And as each resident came into the meeting they were handed 7 straws.

The idea was that they had to place a straw into each cup which they felt needed attention.  And if they felt that a particular issue needed extra attention, they could place 3 or 4 or all 7 of their straws in that issue cup.  Residents took their allotted straws and began voting in our "straw poll" --

One resident said they needed more than 7 straws -- illustrating the point of limited resources.  We'd like to concentrate on all of the issues -- but sometimes we have to pick and choose our battles, and this experiment was designed to see which issues mattered most to the residents of Woodhaven.  And if a particular issue was not on the table, they were free to add their own issue cup. 

It was an interesting experiment, as were the results.  "Not Enough Police" came in first with 46 straws (22%), "Illegal Conversions" was in second place with 25 straws (12%) and "Gangs" came in third with 23 straws (11%).

Here are the complete results -- how did the issues that matter most to you fare?

1) Not Enough Police 46 (22%)
2) Illegal Conversions 25 (12%)
3) Gangs 23 (11%)
4) Dirty Streets 20 (10%)
5) Graffiti Vandals 18 (9%)
6) Noisy Neighbors 16 (8%)
7) Noisy Cars 15 (7%)
8) Illegal Driveways 10 (4%)
9) Illegal Dumping 9 (3%)
9) Out Of State Parking 9 (3%)
11) Forest Park Carousel 8 (3%)
12) Bad Snow Response 7 (3%)
13) JHS 210 Students Destroying Property 6 (2%)
13) Illegal Signs 6 (2%)
15) Clogged Sewers 2 (1%)

A few notes:

** Some people felt that Noisy Neighbors and Noisy Cars should have been a single issue -- combined they got 31 straws (15%), good enough for 2nd Place.

** Some issues may be seasonal.  Perhaps if we took this straw poll again after the next blizzard, the snow response issue may have gotten more than 3%.  On the other hand, we did have a long session with the Department of Sanitation at a prior meeting - perhaps the residents were satisfied with the answers they received.

** The issue with students at JHS 210 was added by a resident, we will be meeting with residents and gathering more details on this issue.

It was an interesting experiment -- and the results have given us food for thought.  We'll be having a 2nd Round of our Woodhaven Straw Poll soon -- make sure you attend a Town Hall meeting so you can make sure your voice is counted!  the next Woodhaven Town Hall is on Saturday, October 15th at 1 PM -- at the Woodhaven-Richmond Hill Ambulance Corps (78-15 Jamaica Avenue).

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.