Communities Of Maspeth Elmhurst Together, Inc.

I joined the Maspeth West End Block Association in 2008 because I wanted to make West Maspeth a better place to live.  I am raising my daughter here and I want her to grow up in the same neighborhood that I grew up in but West Maspeth is getting worse not better.  Practically everyone I grew up with left this neighborhood when they got married & started their families.

 

Kathy Hamilton started this organization in September 2008 to give West Maspeth residents a forum to voice their concerns. I have been helping her with the association for about a year when the original board resigned.  Since then it has been only the 2 of us running MWEBA.  We have been trying to get people to join our board but no one has volunteered.

 

We have been also trying to reach out to local businesses to join our organization but to no avail.  I went to every business on Fresh Pond Road between 60Th Avenue & Eliot Avenue and no one was interested in joining.  Only 4 of the businesses put our flyer in their window.  One business told me I could leave flyers on their counter for their customers.  These businesses make their money in West Maspeth & they won't give back to the community.

 

Most residents that I speak to tell me that our organization is a waste of time because they joined civic associations in the past but nothing got done so what makes us think we can get something done.  If everyone has that attitude then nothing will get done here.We all need to stick together to get things done.

 

I am very disappointed in Elizabeth Crowley.  She promised to help us here in West Maspeth to get a supermarket to open where Rite Aid was on Metropolitan Avenue & Tonsor Street.  I did not hear anything about it.  She had Union Reps.  come to our meeting a few months ago and they said they would look at the property and get back to her but no one said anything to us who live here.  I asked Maureen Ruggierro about it at our last meeting and that's when I found out that the supermarket chains that looked at the property felt it would cost too much money to bring it up to code for a supermarket even though it was always a supermarket before Rite Aid.

 

Now I heard The Department of Education is interested in that property..  One resident told me he saw people testing the ground and he asked them what they were doing and they told him they were from the  DOE and an elementary school is going there.  The resident wanted to know why did Council Woman Crowley say we could get a supermarket there.  I told him that I did not know about it.

 

We always had a supermarket there and a supermarket on Fresh Pond Road where Staples is now.  I have to walk now to Price Choice or go to Pioneer on Grand Ave. and come back up hill with my shopping cart from Pioneer.  I go to Stop & Shop on Myrtle Ave. because they have more bargains then Price Choice and I don't have to walk up hill with a loaded shopping cart.

 

I am also concerned about the rezoning of P.S. 153.  There are alot of people who don't care if we lose The Pre-Kindergarten, 6TH Grade and The beacon Program.  One of the mothers told me she went around with a petition and none of her neighbors would sign it.  They said get rid of the programs I don't have children going there or it is a waste of money..

 

Well I have a child going to that school and I don't want her to go to Junior High at 10 years old if they get rid of the 6Th Grade.  I don't drive so we have to use public transportation.  I would never feel right about putting my 10 year old on the Q58 bus by herself.

 

The MTA also wants to get rid of student Metrocards.  How are parents like me supposed to afford to send our children to school everyday?  We will need a job just to pay the bus fare.  I would not need to pay bus fare for my child if P. S. 153 went up to 8TH Grade like the schools in Middle Village do. 

 

I hope we see some progress here in West Maspeth or else we will see more people whose families have been here for generations like mine leaving this neighborhood.  I for one know if the elected officials ignore me & West Maspeth I will vote them out like I voted them in.

 

If anyone would like to know more about The Maspeth West End Block Association they can call me at 718-497-5384 or call Kathy Hamilton at 347-499-8223.  We will be having our next meeting on March 18TH at Trinity St.. Andrew's Church on 60Th Street between 60Th Ave. & 60Th Road. 

 

Thank you for listening.