One of Citizen for a Better Ridgewood’s biggest challenges is policing Grover Cleveland Playground. Last summer, residents around the park were fed up with unruly athletic league players and visitors illegally parking at bus stops, fire hydrants and driveways.
Michael Hetzer, vice-president of CBR, said he has been working with the 104th Precinct and the Parks Department to address the issue. At last month’s meeting, Rene Herrera, community parks manager for Community Boards 5 and 6, listened to residents’ complaints. Hetzer said Herrera has been very receptive to his concerns and is willing to work with the community.
On police matters, Hetzer said he hopes to get increased presence at the park, located on Grandview Avenue.
“We are trying to perhaps on the busier weekends that they can have auxiliary officers at the park that can call in conditions at the park that need enforcement,” Hetzer said. Another option is a precinct conditions car that can periodically drive around the park and call in enforcement options.
Auxiliary police can’t issue summonses and are not armed, but Hetzer said they could definitely help enforcement. “[Auxiliary police] helped at Mafera [Park on 65th Place in Ridgewood]. Just having uniformed officers helped to remind people to fulfill their social contract,” Hetzer said.
However, one fed-up resident said the NYPD needed to pay more attention to the park.
“Community activists taking pictures, that’s great, but the only way it’s going to stop is police presence,” he shouted.
The meeting’s guest speaker Vincent Arcuri, chairman of Queens Community Board 5, said the 104th Precinct simply does not have the manpower to keep a dedicated patrol around the park.
“The 104th Precinct is woefully undermanned. Every day, every shift, they go into overload,” Arcuri said. “There’s only so much that five, four or three police cars to respond to.”
He said requesting a conditions car or auxiliary officers is probably the best way to enhance police presence in a specific location because the precinct simply can’t spare any uniformed officers.
Making matters worse, Arcuri said, the recent census count, which severely undercounted Queens, could further reduce staffing in the precinct. He called on the elected officials to continue fighting for money so police precincts can have more manpower.
Arcuri told the crowd that the precinct was having staffing problems that very night. “Just before I got here, they went into alert. It’s a Monday after the holidays; there shouldn’t be a lot of bad guys out there. It’s just a lot of work for the precinct because we have a large uncounted population.”
Hetzer, who is also the president of the 104th Precinct’s Community Council, understands the staffing problems, but he said is going to start holding the precinct more accountable.
“If it’s a consistent problem, police shouldn’t have to be called,” Hetzer said.
CBR, led by resident John Perricone, is attempting to compile detailed complaint sheets to present to Parks and NYPD. Perricone said he has already received pictures of illegal vendors on his Facebook page, Ridgewood Residents for Grover Cleveland Park.
Hetzer said he wants to have a “huge list” of all the complaints filed in a given week in order to get answers about the police action for each complaint.
At the meeting, Arcuri also discussed the construction projects that will affect Ridgewood. The Wykoff Avenue street reconstruction between Flushing and Bushwick avenues has been stalled. He said he could not get an answer from the Department of Transportation about the project.
The Grand Street Bridge and Kosciusko Bridge reconstructions will both begin within the next couple of years. Arcuri said this might cause drivers to flood Ridgewood and other neighborhoods within Community Board 5 as they attempt to find back roads and side streets to bypass traffic.
Arcuri also lamented the hospital situation within Queens. “Wykoff Hospital is basically the only hospital that serves the good majority of people in Queens Community Board 5. Right now, things look to be okay,” Arcuri, who serves on Wykoff’s Board of Trustees, said. But with the new federal healthcare program set to cut Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement, Wykoff Hospital will be hurting financially. “We have to fight to keep our hospitals open and funded,” Arcuri said.
Hetzer concluded the meeting by warning residents about identity theft. There are a variety of phone and door-to-door scams that attempt to trick residents into revealing banking information or social security numbers.
“If you didn’t call them, don’t say anything to them,” Hetzer said. It may seem rude, but the majority of people soliciting donations or other services are scams, and it’s better to be safe than sorry, Hetzer said.
by Eric Yun
