PHOTO: Assemblyman Goldfeder (head of table) recently met with Hamilton Beach stakeholders to listen to concerns regarding the unclaimed property.Photo Courtesy of NYS Assembly
In an effort to bring attention to a local nuisance near the A Train tracks in Hamilton Beach, Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder (D-Howard Beach) has reached out to several entities to find one that will lay claim to the neglected property.
Attempting to get graffiti cleared from the shoreline of a popular Jamaica Bay park, Goldfeder wrote to National Parks Service Northeast Regional Director Mike Caldwell, MTA Chair Thomas Prendergast, Port Authority Chair John J. Degnan and Parks Department Borough Commissioner Dorothy Lewandowski, calling for clarification on the ownership of property located along the A Train tracks adjacent to the NPS-owned park on Jamaica Bay in Hamilton Beach. Goldfeder also called on the appropriate agency to clean graffiti at the location, including multiple vulgar phrases scrawled on the rocks.
“As a father of two young children, I would not want my children or anyone else’s children to see the kind of deplorable graffiti sprayed on these rocks,” said Goldfeder. “Families in Hamilton Beach deserve to have a park they can be proud of. It’s time these agencies come together to resolve the question of who owns this property and who is responsible for cleaning it up.”
Last July, Goldfeder reached out to NPS urging the federal agency to clean the graffiti-covered rocks located at the site. In response, officials at the agency’s Gateway National Recreation Area informed the assemblyman that the property did not belong to NPS. The officials also provided maps showing that the NPS property line did not encompass the rock area.
Goldfeder’s latest request comes shortly after Hamilton Beach residents and community leaders raised multiple issues at the site during a recent community roundtable. At the meeting, which was convened by Borough President Melinda Katz and chaired by Goldfeder, residents complained of people trespassing under the A Train to access the vacant land between the tracks and JFK Airport. For Goldfeder, solving the question of ownership is the key to improving both issues.
“With any government agency, there has to be accountability to our families,” said Goldfeder. “This is the first step to making positive change in the community and I hope these agencies will step up and do the right thing.”
By Forum Staff
