St. Saviour's Reconstruction Funded for 2010!

Monsignor Nicholas Sivillo, pastor of Our Lady of Hope R.C. Church will be retiring on June 30th. As we bid farewell to Monsignor Sivillo and thank him for his approximate twenty-one years of service to Our Lady of Hope and to our community, there is a sense of sadness that the years have gone by so quickly and that changes in life are inevitable.

The Juniper Park Civic Association (JPCA) is calling on NYC Council Speaker Christine Quinn to investigate the April 2nd City Council vote on the construction of a High School on the corner of 57th Avenue and 74th Street in Maspeth. Robert Holden, president of the JPCA , said that council members were not given vital information that could have affected their vote on the 1,100 seat high school. The Council voted 38-10 to approve the site for a high school despite opposition from Council Member Elizabeth Crowley, Community Board 5, the Community Education Council (CEC), COMET, and JPCA. The Juniper Park Civic Association learned last week that the proposed site is contaminated with potentially cancer-causing toxins however city council members were not told of the levels or severity of the toxins.

The Juniper Park Civic Association is calling on City Council Speaker Christine Quinn to publicly censure Councilman Charles Barron for his conduct during the March 31 Public Siting Subcommittee Meeting regarding the proposed Maspeth high school at 74th Street and 57th Avenue. Before any attendees had testified, Councilman Barron went on a rant about the race of the audience, assuming that all were there to demand local zoning for the high school.

The failure of the city’s Department of Transportation to implement the Grand Avenue Truck Bypass Plan in advance of permanently closing off a heavily traveled part of Grand Avenue is causing a traffic nightmare in Maspeth.