Juniper Berry Fall 2016

Berry_Fall_2016_BU.qxp_Juniper Berry Dec.
'03 9/6/16 10:55 AM Page 1
An All-Volunteer publication of
the Juniper Park Civic Association
Volume 77 No. 3
Fall 2016
Middle Village, New York
Berry_Fall_2016_BU.qxp_Juniper Berry Dec.'03 9/6/16 10:55 AM Page 2
Y E S T E R D AY & T O D AY
1920
2016
60th Avenue at 84th Street, looking east.

A lot has changed at this intersection, but much also remains
the same. The top photo was taken circa 1920. The building in
the center on the right side of the street is the home of the
Haspel-Staab VFW post today. In the 1920s, it appeared to have
been a store of some kind. You will notice that many of the
houses present in the top photo remain today. A major difference in 1920 is that the Long Island Expressway was still 36
years away from being completed in this area. The open lands
seen in the background were farms until about 1925 and would
later become Rego Park. Starting in the 1890s, this area of
Middle Village was known as Newtown Heights due to its elevation and proximity to the historic center of Newtown. It later
was considered part of Elmhurst South but in 2002 it officially
joined Middle Village when the zip code was changed from
11373 to 11379 after the Juniper Park Civic Association
successfully petitioned the Flushing Postmaster for the change.
THE JUNIPER
PARK CIVIC ASSOCIATION
FOUNDED
our 77th yEar voL. 77 no. 3
1938
Town Meeting: Thursday, Sept. 22

Editor
robert F. Holden
assistant Editor
Christina Wilkinson
7:45pm
Our Lady
of Hope
School
art dirECtion
robert F. Holden
PHotograPHy
tim Brown
steve garza
Patrick McCarthy
Lee rottenberg
CONTENTS
CovEr dEsign
Brian Holden
PAGE
4
7
8
14
18
22
30
36
43
48
51
54
60
Berry Bits
Civic Membership Form
Farms & Residences of Old
Meet the Challengers
Things that are Dumb
Letters
A Maspeth United
Acacias Shady History
America Has Changed
A View from Above
Presidential politics in 1816
Mount Olivet Crescent Florists
Amazing Stories
62
64
68
70
73
80
83
84
88
91
94
95
96
Pokemon Go
Early Filmmaking in Glendale
History: CK High School site
Queens Archeology
Steuben Parade
Before the Turnpike
Great Homes
Glacial erratic
Killys Korner
Health: Fruits & Vegetables
Your Representatives
Neighborhood Hall of Shame
Queens Symphony @ Juniper
HOW TO REGISTER TO VOTE

You can register to vote online, in-person, or by mail.
To vote in the General Election you must register by
October 15, 2016.
Online:
http://vote.nyc.ny.us/html/voters/register.shtml
If you have a valid ID from the New York State Dept
of Motor Vehicles, you can register to vote online.
You can register in Queens, 118-35 Queens Blvd.,
Forest Hills, NY 11375
Tel: 1.718.730.6730 Hours of Operation 9am 5 pm
Applications are also available at
Enchanted Florist 65-10 Grand Avenue, Maspeth, NY 11378 718-326-4288
REMINDER: Voting in Primary Elections:
Tuesday, Sept 13th Democrat: Brian Barnwell vs. Margaret Markey
CoLuMnists
Maria Candela, Ed Kampermann,
John Killcommons, Patrick McCarthy,
art Linnemann, david Pambianchi,
richard Polgar, Caroline roswell,
Len santoro, dawn scala, Lorraine sciulli
david shapiro, dorothy speer,
Christina Wilkinson
advErtising
Lorraine sciulli
distriBution
John Killcommons, tony nunziato,
Len santoro
the Juniper Berry is published quarterly

by and for the membership of the
Juniper Park Civic assoc., inc.
the opinions expressed in this magazine
may not necessarily be the opinions of the
Juniper Park Civic assn. or its members.
all articles and letters become
the property of JPCa.
MaiLing addrEss
Po Box 790275 Middle village, Queens
new york 11379
tELEPHonE
(718) 651-5865
E-MaiL
letters@junipercivic.com
WEBsitE
www.junipercivic.com
suBsCriPtions
$25.00 per year
2016 Juniper Park Civic association, inc.
to advErtisE
space is limited.
Local businesses get priority.
all ads must run for a minimum of
4 issues,1 year. Call 718-651-5865
volunteers are always welcome for:
writing, photography, distribution, etc.
Have an idea for a story? Please call us!
Voting in General Elections:

Tuesday, Nov. 8th
JUNIPER BERRY Fall 2016 3
BERRY BITS
by Christina Wilkinson
MASPETH
MIDDLE VILLAGE MASPETH
NO TRUCKS SIGN PLACED ALONG GRAND AVE
CAR ADS BEING CLEANED UP
The NYCDOT has programmed a lighted sign on Grand

Avenue near Remsen Place to say NO TRUCKS EXCEPT
LOCAL DELIVERY. DOT was using the sign, without a message, to monitor the amount of truck traffic. JPCA president
Bob Holden recommended that while the unit was there the
message of no trucks should be reinforced. The next day it
was in operation. This is helpful, but what is really needed is
regular enforcement and tough penalties that stick.
There are a number

of auto body shops
in the area that take
junked cars and fix
them up in order to
resell them. However,
city streets are not
used car lots. It is
illegal to have writing
or signs that obstruct
car windows or to
advertise your car on
the street. The NYPD has ramped up their towing efforts regarding
these vehicles. If you cars with For Sale signs on our streets
please report it to 311 and email the Juniper Park Civic
Association: info@junipercivic.com.
KEEP PRIVATE TRASH OUT OF PUBLIC BINS

MIDDLE VILLAGE
SILVER NOW VILLAGE BARN
Its a sanitation violation for household trash to be placed

inside or next to public trash bins. The sidewalk bins are
meant for portable disposable items such as coffee cups or
food wrappers things
consumed on the go
and not the dumping of
residential or commercial trash. The problem
has gotten increasingly
worse and sanitation
enforcement is becoming more stringent. If
you get caught, the
fines are steep, so just
dont do it.
THE END OF AN
ERA: As many know
during the summer,
Abe Gabor, longtime
owner of Silver Barn
sold the business to
the owner of Met
Food, Bill Fani. Plans
are underway to
remodel the inside
and offer more organic foods.
Photos: Dmytro
Fedkowskyj
4 JUNIPER BERRY Fall 2016
RIDGEWOOD MIDDLE VILLAGE MASPETH
NEVER BEGINNING BRIDGE

PROJECT DELAYED YET AGAIN
We were told this spring that it

would finally happen. The week of
Independence Day, the jackhammers were going to get started on
the Metropolitan Avenue-Fresh Pond
Road LIRR Bridge replacement, the
DOT told Queens CB5. Only it didnt
happen. Then Captain Wachter was
told it would start the following week,
around July 11th. It didnt. After asking what the heck was going on, the
following response was received:
Ladies and Gentlemen,
In June, NYC DOT announced
that the Emergency Contract to
replace the deck of the bridge over
the L.I.R.R. at Fresh Pond Road and
Metropolitan Avenue would begin
shortly after the 4th of July.
Project startup which includes
review and approval of drawings with
the Long Island Railroad as well as
approval of vendors and sub-contractors has taken longer than expected. Installation of the underdeck
shield below the bridge but above
the railroad will begin in August. The
maintenance and protection of traffic

signs for construction operations at
street level are expected to be
installed, but covered, in anticipation
of commencement around Labor Day.
Before the start of work requiring
lane closures and/or detours 7-day
notice will be provided. All emergency
services, first responders and public
transit operators are being updated
on the start of active construction.
If you have any questions or concerns
please dont hesitate to contact me.
Thank you,
Nancy Catapano,
Community Liaison
718-869-1428
We understand that projects get
delayed for a variety of reasons, but
this nonsense has been going on
since 2002. We are facing the closure of the M line next year and really need that intersection to be fully
open to accommodate shuttle buses
and other alternate means of transportation.
MIDDLE VILLAGE
CYCLIST BADLY INJURED ON LUTHERAN AVENUE

The morning of July 13th, a 64-year-old male
cyclist was traveling northbound on Lutheran
Avenue. According to police, near the intersection of Juniper Boulevard North, a 71-year-old
driver made a U-turn and then backed into a parking space, hitting the cyclist in the process. The
man was taken to the hospital with a serious leg
injury. Although exact details of this incident have
not been released, reckless driving around the
park has been a longstanding problem, with traffic lights and speed humps installed in an attempt
to slow cars down and reduce the danger. With a
pre-school and grammar school located in the
vicinity, it is of utmost importance to clamp down
on drivers who speed and endanger the public
with negligent driving practices
Photo: Park users try to aid bicyclist trapped
underneath car in scene on the morning of
Wednesday, July 13th on Lutheran Avenue near
the corner of Juniper Boulevard North.
Photo was taken before emergency responders
arrived. Driver (white shirt) right sitting on the
grass, is being comforted by passerby.
photo: Aira Manampan JPCA Facebook page
MIDDLE VILLAGE BICENTENNIAL
ALL FAITHS NATURE AND

HISTORY TOUR OCTOBER 8
Join naturalist Rob Jett and Christina
Wilkinson of the Newtown Historical Society
on a walk through All Faiths Cemetery on
Saturday, October 8th. We will observe the
natural environment, including birds, butterflies, plants and trees and discuss the history
of the cemetery, its role in the development of
Middle Village and visit the graves of noteworthy people who are buried there. Meet up in
front of the cemetery office on the north side of
Metro at 9am. Bring binoculars and wear comfortable shoes. Terrain is hilly. These events
are part of the bicentennial celebration of
Middle Village. Reservations are not required.
For more information, call (718) 366-3715.
PHOTO: TURKEY VULTURE, STEVE NANZ
TOUR OF FRESH POND

CREMATORY & COLUMBARIUM
NOVEMBER 19TH
The Fresh Pond Crematory and Columbarium,
located at 61-40 Mount Olivet Crescent, seems
mysterious to many, but on Saturday, October 19
at 3:30pm, we will take a tour of the facility, originally built in 1884. Refreshments will be served.
Event is free but tour is limited to 60 people.
Please reserve by calling Newtown Historical
Society at 718-366-3715 or write to newtownhistory@gmail.com.
BICENTENNIAL WEEKEND
SEPTEMBER 24-25
September 26, 1816 was the day that the Williamsburgh-Jamaica Turnpike
opened, ushering in the development of Middle Village. The Juniper Park Civic
Association will be hosting 2 events this month to commemorate the event.
On Saturday, September 24 at 7pm, the Queens Symphony Orchestra will perform a bicentennial concert at Juniper Valley Park. Please bring your own chair.
The event is free.
On Sunday, September 25 at 12 noon, the Newtown Historical Society will join
us in leading a historical walking tour through Middle Village. Meet at the large
flagpole at Juniper Valley Park. This event is also free.
PULLIS FARM
CEMETERY REJECTED
BY LPC FOR OFFICIAL
LANDMARK STATUS
Farmer Thomas Pullis, a Dutch immigrant, was among those who purchased
land in Middle Village just after the Williamsburgh-Jamaica Turnpike had been
established. In 1822, he acquired land stretching roughly between Juniper
Blvd North and Juniper Valley Road. In 1846, the first burial happened on the
property, with the last being in 1870. In his will, Pullis bequeathed the farm to
his heirs with the stipulation that the family cemetery be fenced in and remain
undeveloped. Part of the southern end of the farm was sold to St. Margaret's
Parish and the northern part containing the cemetery became part of Juniper
Valley Park. By the 1990s, the cemetery was unkempt and overgrown with
weeds, but found a savior in Ed Shusterich, who founded a non-profit that has
been maintaining the grounds to this day. Although several surviving family
graveyards in Queens have been officially landmarked by the City of New York,
Pullis Farm Cemetery is not among them. The Newtown Historical Society
(NHS) in early August applied for landmark status for the cemetery and State
Senator Joseph Addabbo followed that up with a letter of support. Later in
August, a response from the LPC was received indicating that in their estimation, the site did not deserve landmark status. Assembly Member Marge
Markey, Council Member Elizabeth Crowley and Congress Member Grace
Meng followed this up with a joint letter requesting reconsideration. The
Landmarks Preservation Commission gives the greatest weight to the local
council member's opinion, and we are glad to see that our council member has
signed on. Middle Village getting its first officially recognized landmark during
its 200th anniversary year would be something very special and we hope the
LPC does the right thing here.
MASPETH
PLATEAU ARCHES FINALLY RESTORED!

At long last, all four of the Ridgewood Plateau arches have been
restored. Lawrence Madine of Woodside had been working on
the project some time ago when a series of unfortunate events,
including the theft of his ladder took place, delaying the work. But
this summer, JPCA and Newtown Historical Society got the ball
rolling again, and now residents of the plateau can take pride in
the appearance of the arches once more. Some work still needs
to be done to repair the masonry of the posts that hold the arches
up and we hope to work on that in the near future. The project
was completed with funding from JPCA, Newtown Historical
Society, ONeills Restaurant and Maspeth Federal Savings.
THIS MAGAZINE IS THE WATCHDOG OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD... PLEASE HELP SUPPORT IT.
Dear Neighbor:
As you know, the Juniper Park Civic Association (JPCA) is an all-volunteer effort comprised of residents who are determined to keep our
neighborhood one of the nicest in NYC. The JPCA has been
described by Mayor Bloomberg himself as "the most successful civic
association in the City of New York."
The fact that you see the Juniper Berry placed around town by
our JPCA volunteers shouldn't encourage you to conclude, "well why
should I pay $25 when I can get the Juniper Berry for nothing." We
put the Juniper Berry in the stores and businesses of our neighborhood with the thought of encouraging new membership.
And if you are already a member, please make sure your $25 yearly
membership JPCA dues are up to date. The expiration date of your
membership is on the label when you receive your Juniper Berry in
the mail. We want to continue our job of keeping you informed truthfully, no spin, about what's going on in our neighborhood and we will
always work hard towards that goal.
As always, the JPCA Officers and Executive Board thank you all
for your kind words of support and encouragement.
MaryAnn Ricevuto
Membership Committee Chair
$25 Yearly Dues includes

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PO Box 790275 Middle Village, NY 11379
HISTORY
Farms and Residences

of Old Middle Village
by Greater
Ridgewood
Historical Society
Philip Paulus House

may be seen (center) in
this circa 1903 photo of
Metropolitan Avenue in
front of Lutheran
Cemetery
Philip Paulus House was a 4 story wooden

frame house painted yellow with an open
porch facing Metropolitan Avenue and also on
the east side of the house. It was at old #1732
Metropolitan Avenue now 60-00 Metropolitan
Avenue which would be on the southeast corner of 66th Street, if this street existed today.
However this is now part of the Metro Mall
and the first street west of the Mall is 65th
Lane. We believe the house was built in the
early 1900s by Philip Paulus. He was living in
the house in 1924. By 1959, it was a field
office for Western Electric Company, Inc.
which was the manufacturing subsidiary of
American Telephone and Telegraph Co.
On October 31, 1929, Western Electric
Company, Inc. acquired an irregular shaped
plot on the south side of Metropolitan Avenue
where the Metro Mall is located today. We
estimate that the land area the purchased was
about 14 acres. On the site they built a factory
which manufactured wooden telephone
booths. The Paulus House was to the west of

the factory site and was not contiguous.
John H. Faber House was a 2 story wooden
frame house with an open porch facing

Metropolitan Avenue and was at old #1708
Metropolitan Avenue on the southeast corner
of 65th Place. Mr. Faber built a two story
wooden frame building to the west of his
house and the ground floor of this building
was used for a store. The buildings were
located on a five acre lot that he owned. By
1924, the store had a gasoline pump in front.
Henry Homeyer House was located on 10.24
acres that he owned on the south side of

Metropolitan Avenue. The house was
between what is now 65th place and 65th
Street. In 1860 it was the home of W. Powell
and in 1862 it was owned by Henry Homeyer.
In April 1886 he built a new house opposite
William Reppers saloon. He then had two
houses on his property. In November 1886 he
opened a new grocery store on Wyckoff
Avenue. He died on January 23, 1887 and had
been a resident of Middle Village since 1862.
In 1923 both houses were torn down.
Berger Brothers and Ferris were residential
home builders with the principals in the company being Carl Berger who had been associated with Paul Stier, the builder, for a number
of years, Louis Berger who was his brother
and who was president of the Ridgewood
National Bank from 1909 when it was founded, until 1921 when it merged with the
Manufacturers Trust Company and became
the Ridgewood branch of that institution, and
George Ferris. In 1923 this company constructed a number of wooden frame houses on
Admiral Avenue, 65th Street and 65th place.
To stimulate the building of residential housing, the City of New York granted a tax
exemption for a specified period of time. In
March 1923, Mayor John Hylan approved an
amended tax exemption ordinance which had
widow, Harriet, apparently died shortly thereafter and that

is when Heinericke Marquardt sold the property next to
the Burroughs property on Metropolitan Avenue.
Charles Ehrmann House was a two story wood frame
house with an open porch facing Metropolitan Avenue. It

was built in 1890 on the site of an older house built by his
father, W. Ehrmann. The older house was torn down to
make way for the new house. It was at old #1691
Metropolitan Avenue (now 65-05 Metropolitan Avenue).
In the late 1950s it was Vighs Bar and Grill.
Charles Way home on
Metropolitan Avenue in 1924.
Berger Brothers and Ferris

homes as they appear today
photo: Tim Brown
been passed by the Board of Aldermen. An exemption not

to exceed $5,000 was granted on each one-family home, an
exemption to exceed $10,000 on each two-family home
and an exemption not to exceed $15,000 on each multifamily home on which construction was begun prior to
April 1, 1924.
Robert Burroughs House was at old #1691 Metropolitan
Avenue between what is now Mount Olivet Crescent and

65th Street (The current numbers are 65-07 and 65-09
Metropolitan Avenue). Robert Burroughs married Harriet
Way, daughter of Charles F. Way. Robert Burroughs was a
Judge and also the Town Supervisor of the Township of
Newtown. He was elected Supervisor on April 4, 1871 and
was re-elected annually for six successive years with his
last election being on April 3, 1877. In the 1880s he and his
wife moved to Brooklyn where he died in April, 1886.
During his terms of office as Town Supervisor he was
instrumental in getting several of the main roads
macadamized (covered with layers of crushed stone). His
The Way Family was one of the pioneer families in the

Maspeth/Fresh Pond area. James Way, a Quaker who came
from Somersetshire, England was the founder of the family in America. He was here in 1656 when he bought two
acres of land. He died on October 2, 1685. The Way
Family were prolific and by the 1800s they owned numerous farms in the Maspeth/Fresh Pond area. James Way, a
grandson, when he died in the 1700s left in his will the
sum of $5,000 a goodly sum in those days to the Society
of Quakers to be used for the purpose of founding a free
school. Charles F. Way, who was the 8th generation of the
family in America, on May 2, 1811, acquired a 36-acre farm
from Cornelius Duryea of Jamaica for the sum of 750 lbs.
The farm was located on both sides of Fresh Pond Road
with most of the acreage north of what is now
Metropolitan Avenue. In 1811, Edward Tompkins and
Charles F. Way gave a quit claim to Richard S. Way, a
cousin of Charles F. Way, on 16 acres of land on the east
side of Fresh Pond Road immediately to the southeast of
the 36-acre farm, part of this 16 acres fronted on what is
now Metropolitan Avenue. Charles Way Farm House was

originally a one-story wood farm house built about 1811 on
the north side of is now Metropolitan Avenue on the 36acre farm that he owned. It was at old #1689 Metropolitan
Avenue, now 65-01 Metropolitan Avenue, on the northeast corner of 65th Street. Charles F. Way died
on September 20, 1854. By 1873, Conrad Arzberger was
the owner of the house and in 1874 he raised the house
and added another story underneath to make it a two-story
house. Subsequently, he added an addition to the east,
which addition became 65-03 Metropolitan Avenue. In
1924 the house and the addition were both still standing.
John Henry Brunjes Farm was on the southeast corner of
what are now Metropolitan Avenue and Fresh Pond Road,
in the 1860s thru the early 1900s. He was born in Hanover,
Germany in 1820. His wife, Anna, was born in Hanover,
Germany in 1828. We are uncertain as to whether they
were married in Germany or the United States. Before
John Henry Brunjes and his family moved to this area he
was a tenant farmer in Manhattan. As the City of New
York grew and expanded northward, the farm lands were
sold and converted into residential housing sites. In 1855,
John Henry Brunjes and his family moved to South
Williamsburgh, now Ridgewood, where he leased the 20acre Henry Bergen Farm on what is now Cypress Avenue
near Summerfield Street. On January 6, 1862 he bought
6.9 acres of land on the southeast corner of what is now
Metropolitan Avenue and Fresh Pond Road from Joseph
H. Way. This land had been part of the Charles F. Way
Farm. On July 15, 1867 he bought additional land abutting his farm from Richard S. Way. On July 13, 1872, John
Henry Brunjes bought the 21 acre Cornelius Morris Farm
on the north side of Myrtle Avenue in Glendale between
what is now 78th Street and 75th Street. It was bounded
on the north by the railroad. He bought this farm as an
investment and leased it out initially to his son-in-law
Caspar Herold. John Henry Brunjes died on January
15 1895. His heirs sub-divided the 21 acre farm in
Glendale but apparently were unsuccessful in selling
building lots. In the early 1900s his heirs sold 1.75 acres of
his farm on the southeast corner of Metropolitan Avenue
and Fresh Pond Road to the Long Island Railroad.
On September 1, 1909 they sold the balance of this farm
to the Bushwick Junction Real Estate Company, a newly
organized company which apparently was a subsidiary of
the Long Island Railroad. The price was $50,000, which
was a very high price. In 1921 his heirs sub-divided the 21acre farm in Glendale and constructed several hundred
one and two-family houses on it which they sold.
Charles Ditmas Farm in the 1850s was on the northwest
corner of Fresh Pond Road and what is now Metropolitan

Avenue. He was a trustee of the school district in East
Williamsburgh (Ridgewood) that in 1853 opened the oneroom schoolhouse on south of what is now Metropolitan
Avenue. He had died by 1882 and his farm house was

leased to Charles Lang who operated a saloon there called
the Lafayette Cottage. Eventually the old farm house was
abandoned and in the early 1900s it burned to the ground.
Isaac Debevoise Farmhouse stood on the southwest cor-
ner of Fresh Pond Road and what is now Metropolitan

Avenue in the early 1800s to 1852. In 1851 Isaac
Debevoise, who was 68 years old, sub-divided his 50-acre
farm which was on the south side of Metropolitan Avenue
and west side of Fresh Pond Road, bounded by what is
now Amory Court on the west and by mid-block between
Menahan and Grove Street on the south. He sold mostly
3 and 4-acre plots, and then on the western end of the
farm sold 100 x 300 lots. He was the great-grandson of
Carel Debevoise who was the first of the family to move
to this area from Brooklyn in 1702 when he bought a 60acre farm at this location. The Isaac Debevoise farm house
was torn down in 1852. Franz Eberles Saenger Hall Hotel
and Saloon was on the site of the Isaac Debevoise farm
house in 1873. In July 1882 he sold the business to Henry
Both. There was a long succession of saloon proprietors at
this location as it was at a busy crossroads.
James Harper House stood in what is
now Lutheran Cemetery on the

north side of what is now
Metropolitan Avenue between
69th Street and the El Terminal.
Sometime prior to 1768, James
Harper acquired a small farm in
what is now Middle Village on
the south side of the Juniper
Swamp Road (Juniper Valley
Road) near where the Elevated
Terminal is today. He built his house on
the south side of this road as the Williamsburgh and
Jamaica Turnpike/Metropolitan Avenue did not exist.
James Harper died in the 1790s and his son, Joseph, who
had married Elizabeth Kolyer, inherited the farm. He and
his wife had four sons John, James, Joseph and Fletcher.
In 1817, John and James formed J. & J. Harper, publishers.
In 1823, their two younger brothers joined them and in
1833 they changed the name of the company to Harper
Brothers which eventually became a world renowned publishing company with Harpers Weekly and Harpers
Bazaar among their publications. In 1820, Joseph Harper
bought 18 acres of land adjacent to his farm. In 1844 and
1845, James Harper, son of Joseph and Elizabeth Harper,
was the Mayor of the City of New York. Joseph Harper
died on December 26, 1847 at age 82 and his widow,
Elizabeth, died on November 7, 1854 at age 74. With both
their parents deceased and none of the sons having any
interest in farming, on February 20, 1861 the Harper boys
sold the family farm of approximately 31 acres, with 25
acres north of the turnpike Metropolitan Avenue and 6
Over time, he and his family had amassed a farm of about

100 acres. The rooms in the house were small and the
doorways were only about 5 high. By 1934, Echo Waltz, a
garment manufacturer, owned the house and he and his
family lived in it for fifty years. After his wife, Pearl,
passed away, he sold the house in 1984 and moved to
California. He donated the dining room furniture in the
house to the Greater Ridgewood Historical Society, Inc.
and this furniture is today in the Onderdonk House. Echo
Waltz died in July, 1989 at age 98. The house was torn
down and replaced with condos by developer Henry
Fabian, a Middle Village resident.
acres south of this road. Eventually this land became part
of Lutheran Cemetery. By the 1870s Charles Kattenstroh
had leased the Harper House from the cemetery for a
saloon and hotel catering to farmers bringing their produce
to market. In early 1880 when Charles Kattenstroh died,
the cemetery decided not to lease the premises but
instead to use it for the residence of the superintendent of
the cemetery who was Max Brekendorff. The house was
near the office of the cemetery. In April 1896 the cemetery
substantially modernized the house and David Avenius
who was then the superintendent, lived in it with his family. Subsequently the house was torn down and the site on
which it stood, used for grave sites.
Thomas Morrell House This house was built in 1719 and

over the years additions were made to it. It was a 1-story
wood house which stood at old #61 Juniper Valley Road,
now 71-09 Juniper Valley Road. Thomas Morrell was one
of the early settlers in this area of Juniper Swamp in 1661.
Charles Kattenstroh House This two-story wooden house

stood on the northwest corner of what are today Metropolitan
Avenue and Pleasant View Street. It was built in 1820 by
the Furman Family and over a period of years was sold to
the North Family. Eventually by the 1870s Charles
Kattenstroh and his family lived in the house. He also was
the proprietor of the saloon in the Harper House which
premises he leased from Lutheran Cemetery. He died in
early 1880. His widow continued to live in the house and
it remained in the Kattenstroh Family (their name was
also frequently spelled as Kattenstroth) into the 1950s.
The house was then owned by the Juniper Elbow
Company who leased it out as a residence. The house was
torn down in September 1986 to make way for the Village
Plaza Condominiums. The house was located at 71-57
Metropolitan Avenue.
(below) Queens Ledger article, March 1982, Juniper Park Civic
Association was one of the groups trying to save the Morrell house.
Thomas Morton Property In 1881 the Thomas Morton
Bishop John Hughes
Photo: Tim Brown
property on the southwest corner of Metropolitan Avenue

and 80th Street was surveyed and sub-divided with streets
laid out and 487 building lots mostly, we believe 25 x 100
lots. The property extended from 80th Street to about
73rd Place, and from Metropolitan Avenue south to about
68th Avenue and 68th Road. Within these boundaries
there were several other owners, notably the Hirsch
Family owned property on the south side of Metropolitan
Avenue between 79th Street and 80th Street, W.J. Furman
owned 1.5 acres on the south side of Metropolitan Avenue
abutting 78th Street, and immediately to his west was the
property of John B. Rey, who had an estimated 3 acres on
the south side of Metropolitan Avenue starting about a
hundred feet or so west of 78th Street and going west to
about a hundred feet or so east of 73rd place. On the Rey
property was his house and also his macaroni factory. The
north/south streets laid out on the Morton sub-division
were Washington Avenue (80th Street), Morton Avenue
(79th Street), Woodlawn Avenue (78th Street), Hinman
Avenue (75th Street) and Barnum Avenue (73rd Place).
The east/west streets were Steuben Street (67th Road),
Lafayette Street (67 Drive), Pulaski Street (68th Avenue),
and Grand Street (68th Road). We are uncertain how successful the sale of the lots was when the sub-division was
opened in 1881. On May 25, 1898 Oscar Way, who was a
real estate auctioneer, offered 44 of the lots from this subdivision for sale.
St. John Cemetery was founded in 1879 by the Brooklyn
Diocese of the Roman Catholic Church St. Johns

Cemetery following the example of the New York
Diocese who had founded The Calvary Cemetery in 1845
on lands purchased by Bishop John Hughes. The lands
that are St. Johns Cemetery have an interesting history.
Van Duyn (he later changed the spelling of his last name
to Van Dine) acquired a farm of about 350 acres that
extended from what is now Furmanville Avenue and from
Woodhaven Boulevard west to 80th Street south to Union
Turnpike and then at Cooper Avenue about 83rd Street to
Myrtle Avenue to Cooper Avenue. William Van Dine died
in 1769 and he left the northern part of his farm to his son,
Dow Van Dine. This was about 200 acres with Cooper
Avenue the dividing line. The southern part of the farm of
about 150 acres was left to his two grandsons, Dominicus
and William Van Dine, sons of Cornelius Van Dine,
deceased. Dow Van Dine during the Revolutionary War
was an ardent Loyalist who strongly supported the
English King. Directly across the street on the east side of
Woodhaven Boulevard was the Remsen Farm and they
were just as strong for the overthrow of the English rule.
Four members of the Remsen Family served in the
American Army under General George Washington. After
the war three of them who were officers in the army were
buried in the Remsen Cemetery which is located at
Alderton Street and Trotting Course Lane, a short dis12 JUNIPER BERRY Fall 2016
tance northeast of the intersection of Woodhaven

Boulevard and Metropolitan Avenue. There was a bitter
feeling between Dow Van Dine and the Remsen Family.
When the British lost the war, in 1783 thousands of
Loyalists fled the country as they were fearful for their
lives. The British Government provided ships to take
them to Nova Scotia. The Dow Van Dine Family was
among those who left. The New York State Government
had passed the Act of Attainder which provided for the
confiscation of the personal and real property of those who
cooperated with the King. As a result his actions on behalf
of the English Government, Dow Van Dines farm was
confiscated and sold at public auction. The English
Government was generous and compensated him for the
loss of his farm. His farm was sold to Thomas McFarran, a
New York merchant, for 1,900 lbs. When the war was over
the soldiers in the American Army received a bonus which
was paid in script rather than hard coin. The script quickly
circulated at substantial discount and merchants bought
some at 5 cents on the dollar. However, at the auctions
of the confiscated property the under the Act of Attainder,
the New York State Government accepted script at face
value, so possibly Thomas McFarren actually paid the
Largest tomb in the

cemetery is that of
Leonhard Eppig,
a German brewer,
Photo: Steve Garza
equivalent of 95 lbs. in hard money for the farm. He was

an absentee landlord and in the 1790s and early 1800s the
ownership of the farm changed hands several times. In
1833 David Mills bought the farm and he moved his family there and operated it as a dairy farm. He died in 1851
and his heirs mortgaged the property. In the 1870s Mr.
Gorswald who owned the 5th Avenue Hotel in Manhattan
leased the farm for horse breeding and hired Joseph
Beitler to manage the farm for him. During this period the
Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York held the
mortgage on the farm and when Mills failed to make the
mortgage payments in 1878, the farm was sold at public
auction with the insurance company bidding it in for
$34,500 which apparently was the outstanding amount due
on the mortgage.
They held the property for about ten
months and then sold
it to John Loughlin,
the Roman Catholic
Bishop of Brooklyn
and he in turn conveyed the property
to newly-organized
St. Johns Cemetery.
The Brooklyn Diocese was founded out of the New York

Diocese in 1853 with Bishop John Loughlin as the head.
He remained the head of the diocese until December
1891 when he died. He was replaced by Charles
McDonnell who was the second Bishop of Brooklyn. The
Van Dine house which stood on the west side of
Woodhaven Boulevard several hundred yards north of
Cooper Avenue eventually became the Mills House and
then was used by Joseph Beitler when he was managing
the horse breeding farm. Subsequently when the cemetery acquired the land, it became the office of the cemetery and the residence of the superintendent. The house
was torn down in 1904 when a new brick cemetery office
was erected near the northeast corner of Metropolitan
Avenue and 80th Street. The largest tomb in the cemetery
is that of Leonhard Eppig, a wealthy German brewer, who
owned the Germania Brewery on George Street in the
Bushwick section of Brooklyn.
Pullis Farm In 1828 Thomas Pullis, who was 53 years old,
came from New York City and bought a 32-acre farm from
Joseph Harper for $1,350, with the farm on the northwest
corner of the Williamsburgh and Jamaica Turnpike
(Metropolitan Avenue) and 80th Street. The land
stretched north to what is now Juniper Boulevard North
and we believe the western boundary was about 150 feet
west of what is today 79th Street. Thomas Pullis died in
1851 and in February 1852 his son, James H. Pullis and
John Carhart, (who we believe was a son-in-law) hired H.
F. Betts, a surveyor, to layout and sub-divide about 17
acres of the farm. He laid out streets and 116 building lots
mostly 50 x 150 on the west side of 80th Street from the
turnpike north to Juniper Valley Road, on both sides of
Pullis Avenue (79th Place) from the turnpike north to
Juniper Valley Road, and on both sides of Furman Avenue
(79th Street) from the turnpike north to Furmanville
Avenue. They filed map #254 with the Clerk of Queens
County and started selling lots. This was one of the major
developments the history of Middle Village. In 1860, one
of the 50 x 150 lots resold for $120.
Part of the Pullis Farm can be seen in the

center of this circa 1890 photo of Middle
Village taken from Lutheran Cemtery
Meet the Challengers:

Brian
Barnwell
STATE ASSEMBLY CANDIDATE
30TH AD DEMOCRAT
rian Barnwell is both a native and current resident of

Woodside who has been an attorney for 5 years. He
practices criminal and constitutional law. Barnwell
worked for Astoria City Councilman Costa
Constantinides prior to running for office. During his
time with the councilman, he helped resolve many issues of concern throughout the district.
When incumbent assembly member Marge Markey without
offering any proof alleged that the Bishop of Brooklyn, Nicholas
DiMarzio, bribed her in an attempt to get her to drop her child sex
assault bill, Brian called her out for her unprofessional behavior.
He has pointed out Markeys poor attendance record in Albany and
history of voting with the corrupt Albany machine 99% of the time.
He also has a plan to draft a real Albany reform bill so that power is
restored to the people and taken away from lobbyists and corporate
interests.
In recent weeks, Brian has been standing with the Maspeth
community in opposition to the proposed homeless shelter. He has
been offering us free legal advice, has attended just about every
nightly protest and persevered for 5 miles with us at the March for
Maspeth. He publicly confronted DHS Commissioner Steven
Banks at both the
August 11th and
31st hearings.
Meanwhile, his
Democratic primary opponent has
been missing in
action. Brian
Barnwell is motivated to effect
change and provides quite a contrast to our current
leadership.
Tony
Nunziato
STATE ASSEMBLY CANDIDATE
30TH AD REPUBLICAN
ony Nunziato is the

Republican candidate in the 30th
Assembly District.
He will tell you the
motivation to run for elected office
resulted from his own observation
that when he would go to meetings he discovered how seriously
underrepresented our area was
with elected officials who were
never present to speak for the people on critical issues.
Tony saw the neglect first-hand because he
was doing volunteer work on Community
Board 5 and he sat on committees where he
witnessed our communitys blatant underrepresentation on very serious issues. He decided
that if it were going to be corrected, someone
had to step up to start the process of bringing
our neighborhood back to the people. After
serious soul searching Tony Nunziato threw
his own hat in the ring.
He arrives at the job of candidate with good
credentials. Tony Nunziato has been an active
member of our community for many years. He
was a member of CB5 for 10 years, a past president of Maspeth Town Hall, past president of
the Kiwanis Club of Maspeth, an active member of the Maspeth Chamber of Commerce,
and the Knights of Columbus and he is on the
Board of the Queensboro Chapter of UNICO.
He is the Chair of the Maspeth-Middle Village
Task Force and he sits on the Board of the
Juniper Park Civic Association as the
Treasurer.
For Years Queens County has had few choices in elections with usually the handpicked political bosses
selecting their candidates who more often than not had little qualifications to lead. And our neighborhoods
have paid the price with a decreased quality of life and little or no funding for important local programs.
This year there are 3 challengers to the incumbents. Now is the time to VOTE and let your voice be heard.
Mike
Conigliaro
STATE SENATE CANDIDATE
15TH SD REPUBLICAN
M
On the personal side, Tony
was born in Woodside in
1957. He went to St.
Sebastians School in
Woodside, Power Memorial
Academy in Manhattan
and he attended St. Johns
University. He moved to
Maspeth when he married
his wife, Dolores, in 1980.
They have three grown
children.
Tony started out in the
florist business as a partner in a large Manhattan
firm. When he married, he
decided he wanted to start
his own business. He
found a property in
Maspeth, opened his own
florist, named it the
Enchanted Florist, and he
has been a hard working
businessman in Maspeth
ever since.
ike Conigliaro is the

Republican / Conservative
/ Reform candidate for
State Senator in the 15th
Senatorial District which
locally includes Middle Village, Maspeth,
Glendale, Ridgewood, Rego Park, Forest
Hills, and Woodhaven as well as several
neighborhoods in southern Queens including Ozone Park, Howard Beach, Broad
Channel, Rockaway and Breezy Point.
Mikes campaign focuses on the issues
that are important to the forgotten middle
class, such as creating jobs, cutting taxes
and making sure that the next generation
has an even better shot at life. Its not
enough to stand on the sidelines and simply complain about the status quo. Mike is
running for state senate because he wants
to change things for the better and make a
difference.
Mike is a lifelong Queens resident, and
as an elected official will work day and
night to diligently represent all of the people in his district. He currently manages a
successful Real Estate Law Firm in Floral
Park and is an avid supporter of small
businesses. Cutting taxes and making life
more affordable in the district and
throughout the state will be one of his top
priorities. He will work day and night to
bring small businesses back to District 15.
Mike serves as President of the
Queensborough Community College
Alumni Association and is a mentor in connection with the Shadow Program at St.
Johns University. He also teaches
Religion to 7th graders preparing for the
sacrament of Confirmation at our Lady of
Mercy Parish in Forest Hills, and serves as
a Lector at Sunday Mass at the same church.

Mike has been happily married to his lovely wife for 19 years, Connie Conigliaro. They
are the proud parents of our two daughters,
Sophia, age 7, and newborn Madelyn Ann.
Mike says that he has watched Mayor de
Blasio and Senator Joseph Addabbo undo, in
just a short time, the over 20 years of
progress that our neighborhoods achieved
under Mayor Giuliani, Mayor Bloomberg
and Governor Pataki. Collectively they
focused on public safety as the top priority,
making sure our communities remained safe
from everything ranging from terrorism to
auto theft to quality of life crimes. Mayor de
Blasio doesnt seem to think that this matters anymore. Rather than standing up for
homeowners and law abiding citizens he is
more interested in protecting the rights of
criminals and redefining crimes as mere civil
violations.
He is obsessed with destroying our neighborhoods by forcing homeless shelters into
our backyards over the objections of the taxpayers and the residents. Many of these
homeless individuals are mentally ill, drug
addicted or alcohol dependent. What is most
disturbing is that he is using our tax dollars
to remove them from full apartments and
place them into hotels. The most recent
example of this ill-conceived policy is his
secret attempt to turn the Holiday Inn
Express in Maspeth into one of these homeless shelters. Mike has joined many of the
residents on an almost a daily basis in fighting and protesting this attempt. He has been
present while Senator Addabbo and
Assemblywoman Marge Markey have been
largely absent.
Mike vows that all issues that are brought
to his attention will be resolved since helping the individual members of his district
leads to improvement in everyones quality
of life.
THINGS THAT ARE
[dumb]
adjective, dumber, dumbest.

1.lacking intelligence or good judgment;
stupid; dull-witted.
TRUCK WAY OFF COURSE
MYSTERY BARREL
REMAINS
barrel marked NYS DEC with a
bunch of numbers written on it has
been sitting under a tree with caution tape
around it at 61st Street and the eastbound
LIE service road for weeks. The Parks
Department was notified upon its discovery
on August 26, but said it was located on
DOT property and that the issue was forwarded to that department to be
addressed. As of press time, it still sits
there. Whats inside? We hate to ask.
ts no secret that we have a major problem with trucks using our residential streets as shortcuts. Here is a gigantic 18-wheeler on 74th Street trying to turn west onto Caldwell Avenue. Is this a location where a truck this
size should be seen? Caldwell Avenue is one lane from Eliot Avenue to
69th Street and a truck this large and heavy can cause some serious damage to the road, street furniture, parked vehicles and possibly even pedestrians. Unfortunately this has become almost a daily occurrence.
CROWLEY STRUMS
AS MASPETH BURNS
oy, the Crowleys sure love to say

they're from Maspeth. Yet when
Maspeth is threatened, they are
nowhere around. While we were having
nightly protests and preparing for the
8/31 public meeting about the homeless
shelter,
the
singing/guitar-playing
Congress Member Joe Crowley was the
special musical guest at a Hillary Clinton
fundraiser on Park Avenue.
PEP PATROLLING IN PAIRS
ueens has so few Parks Enforcement Patrol Officers that its

rare to see two of them in one location at the same time.
This is not the type of policing that requires officers to partner up.
It would be much more beneficial to the park and its patrons to
spread the officers around instead of pairing them up. They
should also be told to stop staring at their smart phones.
SELFISH PARKERS
ITS A CROSSWALK,
NOT A CROSSPARK!
e are well aware that parking

is at a premium in Maspeth
and Middle Village, but blocking
sidewalks is completely unacceptable. We frequently find cars
parked across sidewalks in driveways and in front of stoops. This is
illegal and residents are encouraged to report this behavior to 311
and to the civic. Chronic sites will
be monitored by the 104th Pct.
ust a reminder a crosswalk is not a

parking space. Its supposed to be a
safe area where pedestrians have the
right to cross the street. Blocking it is
extremely selfish. No one should be forced
to walk into traffic and endanger themselves in order to get around an illegally
parked vehicle.
tlas Park conveniently has

parking located both
indoors and outdoors. However
this driver, while visiting Starbucks,
felt it was perfectly acceptable to
block the only lane of traffic, that
leads out to Cooper Avenue
instead of utilizing one of the
previously mentioned options.
This selfishness endangers
pedestrians and other drivers.
BATTING CAGE LOOKING

WORSE FOR WEAR
he batting cages at Juniper Valley Park are very
popular. So popular, in fact, that the infrastructure
wears out quickly. The current condition of the cage is
deplorable and in fact renders it useless. Why hasnt
Council Member Crowley allocated funding toward the
repair and upkeep of this valuable park resource as
she did for the bungled bocce courts?
DIRTY DOG AREA

here are many people who use Juniper Valley Park who are
either not from the area or use the park during business hours
and therefore are unaware of the off-leash activity that regularly
takes place. Here is an example. A family arranged for a party or picnic in the very area where dogs urinate and defecate every morning
before 9am. Hello, E. Coli! Surely, if they were aware of what goes
on there, they would not have pitched their tent in that location.
THINGS THAT ARE
[dumb]
STEALING FROM THE CITY AS A BUSINESS.

t was reported in Crains New York Business in July that the City of New York
loses a boatload of money each year to bottle and can scavengers. Roughly
70,000 tons of recyclable materials are taken from what the city expects to collect, which affects how much the city can sell. Less profit means less money
in city coffers, which affects the provision of services. Yet Sanitation looks the
other way when vans roll up and pick up thousands of cans and bottles from
the yards of local scavengers. As this is happening in broad daylight and is
costing the city money, wed expect to see Sanitation Police do something
about it. In addition, the harmless can collector trespassing on private property may turn out to be someone who is using that as cover to case out your
home for a burglary attempt. Call 911 to report all cases of trespassing.
SOLD SIGN MUST G0

T
his property, owned by Trinity Lutheran

Church in Maspeth, was sold in 2015.
Therefore the realtor should come and pick
up her sign. Section 22-322 of the zoning
resolution of the Department of Buildings,
New York City, does not permit real estate
companies to attach a "SOLD" rider on a for
sale sign. A sold rider is only advertising for
the real estate company and the property
owner must pay the fine. Fines can range up
to $1,000 or more.
FENCE TOO HIGH
his house on 63rd Avenue apparently

T
likes their privacy. Unfortunately, they
installed an illegal fence. The zoning code
prohibits fences taller than 4 in the front
yard. The owner was fined for this infraction
in June 2015, but still has not taken the fence
down. Its time for a return visit from DOB.
TANKS FOR NOTHING

F
or weeks this Middle Village Tank

Maintenance Company has been dumping their fleet in Maspeth on the eastbound
LIE Service Rd. near Remsen & 64th St.
Somehow the No Standing 3-7pm sign has
disappeared. These trucks are an eyesore
but even worse, they cause massive traffic
jams on the crowded service rd. at rush hour.
TREES & TREE PITS ARE

NOT FREE AD SPACE
S
treet trees and tree pits are the property

of NYC all taxpayers and advertising
in or on them is prohibited by law. If you see
a business, such as CityView Realty or
Dunkin Donuts on Grand Avenue doing this,
call 311 and report it to the Parks
Department. They will visit the location and
ticket the offender. A more confrontational
alternative is to rip them down yourself. Tree
guards become eyesores
TREE GUARDS BECOME

HAZARDS & EYESORES
he people who installed tree guards on Grand Avenue meant well,
but the results are less than desirable. The ironwork sits too close
to the curb, making it impossible for passengers to exit cars. It also
leads to damage of not only the cars, but also the guards themselves.
We need a do-over with a
more intelligent design. If
your car was damaged due
to improper design and
installation you may have a
claim against the City of New
York. Please notify the Juniper
Park Civic Association if you
had damage to your car from
these fences that were installed
too close to the curb.
Email: info@junipercivic.com
or call 718-651-5865.
We can accommodate your

Birthday Party, Anniversary,
Christening, Communion,
Confirmation, Graduation,
Wedding, etc.
Let Us Cater Your Affair

Come Check Out Our
Grand Banquet Room
Family Owned and Operated Since 1933
Come Enjoy the Finest

Steak in the City
Fresh Seafood Daily
(including our
South African Lobster)
Free Valet Parking

LINDY'S TAXI SERVICE "Free Ride Home"
Ride with Lindys to our restaurant
and receive a FREE ride home!
ONeills Est. 1933

Let Our Family Serve Your Family
64-21 53rd Drive Maspeth, NY 11378 (718) 672-9696

www.oneillsmaspeth.com
Letters
Comments or Opinions?
Send to: Letters/Juniper Berry
PO Box 790275, Middle Village, NY 11379
or e-mail: letters@junipercivic.com
PARK TRAIN
ELSEWHERE
TRIMMING IS
ARBORCIDE
Tree trimming on 69th Lane
courtesy of Doms Tree
Cutting Service and NYC
Parks. I dont think these
trees have a chance of surviving. Why then are there
plans to dig up our sidewalks
to plant more of them?
June 6: So about ten minutes ago we had to evacuate

our back yard because the
locomotives pulled up again
and the lovely diesel fumes
are wafting in the air so we
can inhale deeply and die
sooner. That way theres
less complaints! Lets all turn
out and purchase a few
more locomotives at OUR
expense! Oh, and by the way,
lets NOT get any concessions from the RR (as usual). Democracy in action!
Hopefully November will
bring some real changes.
The stink is horrendous!
Dear Bob (Holden),

Today at 10 AM the inbound
train had 4 propane tankers
hooked together.
Speaking of soft targets. As
far as I know this is against
railroad policy. Sorry I have
to tell you this.
July 3: So NY & A pushes

the freight up just north of
69th Place at 3:00PM
Sunday, July 3 and leaves it
there! This wont be picked
up till some time on July 5.
Besides that, it means that
diesel locomotives will be
idling extensively, spewing
their smoke into our lungs
whenever they decide to
pick up. No sitting out in the
yard today if you live next to
it. So much for the barbecue.
They leave the garbage
because they think were
garbage, and so have the
politicians! What progress has
been made in all these years?
Dieter Keppler
Middle Village
A. Pedalino
Middle Village
Barbara Thompson
Middle Village
TOO MANY TANKERS
KEEP THE
HORNS QUIET
STREET LIGHTS
TOO BRIGHT
Earlier this year I discussed

with Sen. Addabbo various
issues regarding the New
York & Atlantic Railway, like
the pollution, fumes, noise,
debris, etc. He requested to
be informed of any active
railway issues. Ive included
all the recipients as other
parties of interest. I will do
so because this is a very
important issue to me, since
I live right next to the 88th
Street railway crossing.
I agree with points taken

completely in the June 2016
LED street light article. But
there is another problem that
wasnt addressed. The lights
are blinding to drivers
because many of the lights
are installed incorrectly. They
need to be installed level,
parallel to the ground to
avoid blinding drivers. I have
to drive with my sun visors
down because of the glare,
which cuts down my vision
and makes it unsafe for
pedestrians and other motorists.
Perhaps you can get through
to DOT, as I cant.
Last night the driver of the

Long Island bound train that
passed through the 88 street
railway crossing at 10:17 pm
blew his horn louder and
longer than I have ever heard
it in the 2 years Ive lived in
this house. It was incredible. The last blow was at
least 10 seconds long at full
blast. I dont know why anyone would do that? There
were no screeching breaks
or anything like that to suggest he was avoiding an incident or such. Plus they come
to a complete stop and idle
in place for at least 20 seconds before blowing their
horn and finally moving on. It
is utterly disrespectful to all
the residents along this rail
line. Our quality of life is
greatly affected by this issue.
This area should be designated as a quiet zone at
least at night. I spoke to a
lot of people regarding this
issue in the past 2 years and
was only discouraged from
trying to fight for this idea
because the necessary safety equipment required would
be too expensive IF it was
decided by the FRA that a
quiet zone would be allowed.
I dont see why we should
have below par safety equipment in the first place, quiet
zone or not.
Thank you for your help!
Gabriela Carmona
Glendale
RC
Middle Village
REJECT THE
CONTRACT
We applaud that our NYC
Comptroller offered the
Department of Homeless
Shelters and Samaritan
Daytop Village an opportunity 6 months ago to right a
wrong for the homeless children at the Pan American
Hotel in Elmhurst, however,
there is more that is being
disregarded. Without the
communitys protests,
kitchens would never have
been in the picture.
Nevertheless, DHS has been
selectively deaf, is still trying
to fool the community, and
may get away with it when
the contract comes up for
registration at the end of this
month.
Our quest at Elmhurst United
has been more than to get
the residents of the shelter
cooking facilities, but also
that the shelter should be a
certified Tier II shelter. Within
the same paragraph, the law
that gives families the right
to have cooking facilities in
their rooms has a second
sentence that so far is being
ignored.
QUEENS BOSS IS
KING OF HIS
VIRGINIA CASTLE
NYC ADC 21-124. b. 1. No

homeless family shelter shall
be established which does
not provide a bathroom,
a refrigerator and cooking
facilities and an adequate
sleeping area within each
unit within the shelter and
which otherwise complies
with state and local laws. All
Tier II shelter units shall be
such that they may be converted to be used for permanent housing with a minimum
of structural change.
There are rules for permanent housing in this city.
Following the dots, we must
go to the freshly updated
NYC Zoning Resolution,
Article II, Chapter 3, 23-96 (d)
(i):(d) Size of affordable
housing units
(1) In new construction
affordable housing and substantial rehabilitation affordable housing, an affordable
housing unit in a generating
site shall contain not less than:
i) 400 square feet of floor
area within the perimeter
walls for a zero bedroom
dwelling unit; or
(ii) 575 square feet of floor
area within the perimeter
walls for a one bedroom
dwelling unit; or
Taking exterior measurements of the hotel, we find
the majority of the rooms are
less than 250 square feet
each; far short of 400
square feet zoning requirement above. Unless there is
a combining of rooms, this
place, even with new
kitchens, cannot be converted to permanent housing
because it does not have
rooms or apartments large

enough to accommodate the
zoning law. Without exceeding a minimum of structural
change, little can be done
to make the Pan American
compliant with 21-124.
During litigation Commissioner
Steven Banks, while he was
at the Legal Aid Society
brought awareness to family
homeless issues including
overcrowding. Because of
this and other public pressures, Mayor Dinkins
worked with City Council and
created law 21-124. These
civic leaders came to recognize the tragedy of warehousing children into crowded rooms for long periods is
not healthy for their mental
development and progress in
school. Today families and
their children are averaging
more than a year in these
dense environments. Zoning
laws are there to protect all
New Yorkers from overcrowding and 21-124 is
there to remind us.
We ask the Comptroller
reject this contract outright,
because even with kitchens,
it is still an illegal shelter in
its current or planned configuration. Because of the laws
pointed out above, this place
could never be a compliant
as a Tier II shelter with the
current contract. If allowed,
the city will continue with its
modus operandi to warehouse
children in cramped quarters,
perpetuating their suffering.
Anna Orjuela
Elmhurst United
Joe Crowley may be the

king of Queens, but the boroughs Democratic Party
boss has his castle in
Virginia. The Crowleys live in
an expansive home in the
leafy Washington suburb of
Arlington, Va., where his
three kids attend the communitys nationally renowned
public schools shunning
New York Citys educational
system, property records show.
Rep. Joe Crowley, who has
the power to remake the
political landscape in the
borough actually lives 250
miles away with his family in
Virginia. What a joke!
But Crowley keeps a toehold
in the borough, maintaining
ownership of a longtime
family home, his mothers, on
65th Street in Woodside
though neighbors on the
block dont know who he is.
Thats not surprising, since
he bought his house in
Virginia for $690,000 in
2004, six years after he
went to Congress.
His decision to raise his
family in the DC suburbs
rather than Queens raises
eyebrows, especially to me,
because of his role as the
countys powerful Democratic
Party chairman, which
requires him to oversee politics throughout the borough,
and not just tend to his congressional duties in my opinion is a breach of contract.
Given his dual role, he
needs to spend more time in
Queens. The process is better served having a more
present party leader in the
borough, and this is why Im
challenging him. Its time
these phony representatives
are given a pink slip. Simply
put, he has a no show job.
In the real world, a full FBI
investigation would have
been implemented. What is
the difference between
someone who is on a payroll

in the private sector, who is
not at his post and someone
in the public sector who is
also not at his post. How
many people have gone to
jail for no show jobs?
Why is the King of Queens
different? Oh, you think you
have put a blanket over me.
You got the wrong guy Mr.
crooked Congressman.
What is the difference
between anyone in the private sector or the public
sector who has connections
gets a no show job? How
many people went to jail
working at the once renowned
Jacob K. Javits Convention
Center in NYC? Oh, I remember that big bust. Perhaps
its time for a bust in the
Halls of Congress. Shouldnt
they lead by example?
Federal law requires only
that a member of Congress
inhabit the state they represent when they run for election. Now, since your seeking re-election, how could
the board of elections have
overlooked this? You dont
even inhabit the State of
New York.
But the fact that Crowley is
a powerful party boss in the
political realm makes it more
of an issue. You are a
canard and if and when we
should ever debate, you better prove to me that you live
here in the state of New York.
Having a residence claiming
you live Queens is a total
canard. Its the same as
someone who has a license

out of state but resides in
NYC so they can save money on their auto insurance.
Crowley defended his decision to relocate his wife and
kids so that he could spend
more time with them.
Well if you want to spend
more time with your wife and
family, seek the congressional seat in North Virginia and
stop taking a salary on the
back of the tax payers when
in fact you have a NO
SHOW JOB - Or get a job
in the private sector. You
thought you were going to
get away with this forever.
Nah, not while Im around
Mr. Crowley. I would give
you the respect of calling
you congressman, but youre
not part of our district. You
may have bamboozled the
people of the 14 district, but
youre not bamboozling me.
physically able. I love the

Maspeth, Middle Village area
and consider it my civic
homeowners duty I was
just hoping that JPCA could
include these signs when
asking for volunteers
because Im not sure how
long I can keep up. In particular, on the south side of
Metropolitan. If I stop Im
sure that we will look like
most of the rest of this city in
a years time. Again, not looking for any credit just for this
problem to be kept in consideration. Thank you for taking
the time to read this.
We have a problem here - we

have no solid representation
in the 14th. Congressional
District, NY - Queens and
The Bronx. Youre just as
guilty as anyone who collects
a check in the private sector
and doesnt show up for work.
Name withheld
Maspeth
WHERE I COME FROM, WE

CALL THAT NO SHOW JOBS!
The following letter was sent

to Landmarks Preservation
Chair Meenakshi Srinivasan.
NICE SMILE - YOU LIKE LIVING

IN ARLINGTON VIRGINIA.
in New York, New York.
Frank Spotorno
US Congress Republican &
Conservative Nominee 14 Dist.
Queens & The Bronx
CASH FOR CARS

HAS GOT TO GO
In regards to the June 2016
page 6 article re: anti-graffiti
volunteers. I have been
removing cash for cars
signs and all other related
utility graffiti from our neighborhood for at least three
years now totaling hundreds
of signs. I want no credit and
will continue as long as Im
PRESERVE THE
HISTORY OF
ST. JAMES
Dear Chair Srinivasan: The

Queens Civic Congress is
an umbrella organization that
represents over 100 civic
associations throughout the
borough. The Queens Civic
Congress was formed in 1997
primarily to unite civic groups
to improve the quality of life
and to preserve and protect
the residential areas of our
borough and to help members fight overdevelopment
and inappropriate development in their communities.
In September of 2015, LPC's
Mary Beth Betts wrote to
Senator Tony Avella stating
that the Old St. James
Parish Hall will not be recommended to the full
Commission for landmark
destination. GCC respectfully requests you to reconsider

this position, based on the
reasons set forth below
1. Much of the interior contains the original fabric from
about 1735 After major exterior remodeling in 1883, the
structure now contains periods of and both qualifies for
status. Most have in their
use and appearance and St.
James is no exception.
Compare with other NYC
landmarks with nearly complete reconstruction (such as
the Theodore Roosevelt its
or Tavern), the St. James
structure has retained
integrity for the past 300
years, with no reconstructions or alternations. The
integrity alone would warrant
landmark designation.
2. In 2003, over $430,000
was spent for a restoration
of the exterior to its 1883
appearance. This amount
included $182,889 of state
funds which resulted in a
genuine and accurate
restoration of the exterior.
Under state supervision
much of the 1883 exterior
was restored during this project, including the Gothic
window mullions and sash,
shingles, and clapboard siding and trim. This accurate
restoration alone would warrant landmarks designation.
3. St. James has a long

social history that pre-dates
the founding of this country.
Several of its parishioners
were prominent figures of
American history, among
them Dr. Benjamin Moore
(the first president of
Columbia University) and Dr.
Samuel Seabury Jr. (the first
American Episcopal Bishop).
During the Revolution many
prominent British officers
used St. James as their
chapel, including Sir Henry
Clinton, Sir William Howe,
Earl Cornwallis, and the
future King William IV.
After almost 300 years the
Old St. James Parish still
provides services to the
community, it is one of the
oldest and most historic
buildings in Queens, worthy
of recognition and preservation by the City of New York.
Residents and businesses
would certainly benefit from
the increase in tourism and
consumer spending brought
on by the landmark designation. Your reconsideration to
this matter is appreciated. I
look forward to your reply in
the near future.
Sincerely,
Harbachan Singh
President
cc: Queens Borough
President Melinda Katz
We don't forget to take out

the garbage, but yet we forget to put out the American
Flag on patriotic holidays? We
can never forget all the lives
lost in 240 years who fought
and died for our freedom.
MOM IS IN OLD
PHOTOGRAPH
The first thing I saw when
someone gave me a copy of
the Juniper Berry was the
old car barn in Maspeth on
the rear cover. I was born
one block away on Perry
Avenue, later changed to 56
Drive. Do you notice the windows on the 2nd floor? That
was Mike Mungiolas barber
shop (below right). As a kid
in the 30s I used to get my
haircuts there. That is whenever my mother could afford
the 25.
Directly across the tracks
was Moe Ratners United
Cigar Store. I spent many a
penny there on baseball
cards and malted milk balls,
6 or 8 for 1 cent. Also placing 50 cent or $1.00 bets for
my father with the bookies

who hung out there.
According to my mother, it
was also a good place for
them to watch the ladies get
off and on the trolleys. The
step was so high they had to
raise their skirts and expose
their ankles. Oh well, they
didnt have TV to watch or
Betty Grable!
My mother was 5 years old
when she arrived at the cargo pier in NYC in 1890 with
her mother and father. Ellis
Island was not open yet.
They lived for a short time in
Manhattan, until my grandfather, Vaclav Jarkovsky,
opened an employment
office in Middle Village on
Metropolitan Avenue and
69th Street across from
Niedersteins Restaurant.
Thats when she went to a
German School on 69th
Street and took German
lessons for 5 cents per
hour. When I was a young
boy in the 1930s, she used
to teach me some phrases,
such as Arbeit macht der
meister and Arbeit macht
das lieben suss. So that is

what this letter is about. In
the classroom photo (above)
on page 11 of your March
2016 issue, I believe the
young girl in the front row is
my mother, Francheska
Jarkovsky at age 7 or 8
years. I have enclosed a picture (above) of her in 1890
for your comparison. What
do you think? I lived on 84th
Place and Goldington Court
for 40 years, my 6 children
graduated from St.
Margarets.
Calvin Mooney
Middle Village
WHERES
OLD GLORY
lsnt amazing that we just
celebrated our country's
240th birthday. In its honor I
always look forward to hanging our American Flag. While
driving around the
neighborhood during the
weekend prior to the 4th, I
could not help but notice so
many homes and businesses without our national flag
being displayed. On July
4th I stuck my head outside
to see the lovely display of
American flags that were
hanging on my block. To my
dismay there were not many.
I am confused, isn't July 4th
a patriotic holiday? What has
happened to our patriotic spirit?
My father was a World War I

veteran, my late husband
was a World War II veteran
and my son, Louis was a
Desert Storm veteran. let us
all show great love and support for our country and the
brave men and women who
have sacrificed much for our
freedom. We should never
take this freedom for granted. So display your
American flag on all patriotic
holidays, no matter how big
or small and let's show the
rest of the world we are
proud to be Americans!!
Frances Callegari
Passantino
Middle Village
ACCIDENT WAITING
TO HAPPEN
Sent to Community Board 5:
Today, I stopped by your office
and dropped off a little map
representing what I think is a
very potential traffic problem
at the site of old St. Saviours
Church grounds located on
the side of Rust St. between
57th Rd & 57th Dr in Maspeth.
The problem as I see it is
that the new warehouses
being constructed have six
(6) loading docks that will be
entering and departing right
on to Rust St.
Rust St. is a major route for
commercial vehicles. By
backing in and out of these
docks, especially with 18
wheelers, both directions of
traffic will be curtailed.
Hence, Grand Ave going
east and west, Flushing Ave
going east, 54th St going
north, 59th drive going west
and Rust St in both directions. Other streets will now
be packed as alternatives
continued on page 28
Fall Savings
We will
match or
beat ANY
advertised
price or
coupon.
Just bring in
current ad or
coupon from
any NYC retailer.
Dave, Linda & Ed
7 99
7 99
750ML
999
750ML
1399
750ML
1399
750ML
will be Fresh Pond Rd, 59th

St, 61st St, 57th Rd and
Maspeth Ave.
I brought this situation to the
Queens Ledger and my
friend Tony Nunziato (who
agrees 100% with this). In
fact, Tony is the one asked
me to speak with you. Ive
lived on 59th St in Maspeth
for most of my life. Ill be 69
in August and have seen my
beloved Maspeth fall apart in
recent years.
Joe La Rocca
Maspeth
CROWLEY RAIL
PLAN IS ILLEGAL
The following is from a letter to
the editor Queens Chronicle:
Councilwoman Crowleys
plan to put light rail on the
Lower Montauk Branch,
while applaudable in theory,
is in violation of federal law.
For safety reasons, the government prohibits the sharing of tracks between light
rail and freight trains at the
same time. Consequently,
the construction of this line
would either require the eviction of freight operation
another federal violation
or the construction of a separate right-of-way alongside
the Lower Montauk Branch,
a difficult feat without the use
of condemnation. To elaborate on the inadvisability of
evicting freight operations,
federal common carrier rules
dictate that a freight railroads successor must carry
all freight in areas previously
served. As this light rail line
would by definition be
unable to carry freight, that
alone makes it illegal. Track
sharing agreements between

light and heavy rail have been
made in the past (example:
freight runs at night, passenger in the day), but due to
the fact that Queens needs
24-hour service, and the
freight railroad also needs to
operate at all times of the
day, it would not work here.
Also, ending freight service
would (among other things)
leave massive areas of
Queens without an outlet for
their trash, thereby requiring
them to use hundreds of
trucks a week instead of rail.
Lastly, the use of freightcompatible equipment on
this line is inadvisable at
best. Because of the extra
weight needed for compliance
with crashworthiness standards, trains would accelerate slowly, making closetogether stations inefficient.
Uday Schultz
Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn
CROWLEY'S
MEETING WITH
CB5 MEMBER
Dear Bob (Holden),
I was in the room with (my
husband) Jerry Drake,
(Community Board 5 member)
when he met with Elizabeth
Crowley and Roman Paprocki
on August 25th.
Crowley first mentioned to
Jerry that she knows he has
not attended many CB5
meetings in the past which
she heard was due to health
reasons (not knowing that
Jerrys son had a tragic accident) and she said she "kinda" went to bat for him to
keep him aboard on CB5.
Then she really stressed that
the DHS wants to have alternate sites offered to them
and time is of the essence,
that the protests really make
no sense, and her message
was that we only have a
certain amount of days
before they PUT THIS IN,
CB5 DISTRICT
MANAGER GETS
POLITICAL
meaning the shelter. She
knows developers that have
sites that could be offered to
DHS, and she gave us pictures of two sites.
One is the Welbilt site and
another by Mt. Zion cemetery
off 58th Street. They are not
hotels, just buildings. (We
gave these photos and locations to CB5 District Manager
Gary Giordano.) Jerry mentioned about the pre-K
schools opening up in
September at the old Holy
Cross school and that the
principal of the school was
very concerned about the
opening of the proposed
shelter. Jerry mentioned
numerous times that she
wanted to speak at the 8/31
meeting.Crowley said she is
preparing a declaration to be
sent to DHS/DiBlasio about
why the shelter is not a good
idea for our district.
In my opinion, the core of the
meeting was that time is of
the essence to find an alternate site and the protests
are really a waste of time.
She said she would not be
attending the March for
Maspeth because of how
she was treated at the MLS
meeting.
Kind regards,
Debbie Drake
Maspeth
Dear Editor,
On Friday August 19th I visited the CB5 office at 61-23
Myrtle Avenue to sign up for
speaking slots at the upcoming homeless shelter meeting
at the Knockdown Center. A
gentleman named Gary
Giordano greeted me.
After giving him the 4 names
of Elmhurst United members, Gary told me the
speaking slots are for
Maspeth residents and not
Elmhurst people. I had to
explain to him that Maspeth
residents are fighting the
same homeless issues as
Elmhurst, that both communities share many common
issues, and the shelter
issues I witnessed at Pan
Am are currently been
unfolded at the Holiday Inn. I
then said Maspeth residents
welcome Elmhurst joining
their fight against homeless
shelters. He still wasnt convinced so I further went on to
explain that I graduated from
William Cowper JHS 73, I
shop weekly at Stop and
Shop, and my youngest
daughter graduated from PS
290 on Metropolitan Ave.
A good 5-10 minutes went
by before he decided to take
out his speaker clip board
and enter the names I provided to him. Then he asked
how many Elmhurst residents would be going to The
Knockdown since he is concerned that Elmhurst resi-
dents would take

up all the seats
and there would
be no seats left
for Maspeth residents. I told him
that only a few
Elmhurst residents will be
attending and that
the Knockdown
Center seats 3,000.
The subject of the discussion
changed to the infamous meeting at Martin Luther School. He
said There was a near riot that
night at Martin Luther School.
He said, The crowd was infuriated by instigators, the instigators
are those who are running for
office against Addabbo and
Marge Markey. You know who
they are right? Brian Barnwell,
Tony Nunziato, and Mike
Conigliaro. Marge Markey didnt
want to be there, she doesnt
want to go near people who
would start riots.
He went on for a few more minutes about the limited space at
Martin Luther. Since he was not
at the meeting I sense his words
above were not his opinion, but
that he was only repeating to me
what was told to him by Crowley
and others who were at the
meeting.
The subject then changed again
to Robert Holden. Gary said,
Robert Holden loves to take bad
pictures of Elizabeth Crowley,
and put them on the cover of his
Juniper Berry magazine.
I thought it was strange that as a
district manager, he was talking
about a well-regarded civic leader and community board member like this, especially to someone he had never met before.
Phil Wong
Elmhurst
Editor: The only person who
instigated anything at the MLS
meeting was Steven Banks, by
stating lies like Maspeth currently has 243 people in shelters. As
for Mr. Giordano, politics is not
part of his job description.
DID YOU
KNOW?
BY JOSEPH
MAGNUS, E.M.T.
NEW KIND OF HUMAN FOUND
AN HONOR TO
PARTICIPATE
To: Citizens for a Better Maspeth
& Juniper Park Civic Association
Attention: Robert Holden & Tony
Nunziato...
Enclosed please find one check
in the amount of $100 as my
contribution to the legal fund to
stop the Holiday Inn Express in
Maspeth from being converted to
a homeless shelter and one check
in the amount of $25 as a membership fee for the Juniper Park
Civic Association.
It has been an honor to participate
in the protests at the Holiday Inn
Express and the protest march
through Maspeth on August 2th.
I plan to continue participating in
these efforts as much as possible going forward. Please feel
free to contact me if you need
any additional assistance. Your
leadership in these matters has
and continues to be a credit to
our community and is greatly
appreciated. And I would like to
do my part to maintain the quality
of life we all enjoy in the Middle
Village/Maspeth community.
It just so happens that I will be
out of town on September 22nd
and will not be attending the
JPCA meeting at Our Lady of
Hope but I will make a point of
finding out what transpired at
that meeting. I'm sure we'll cross
paths before that time. Again, if
you need assistance with anything
feel free to contact me and I will
gladly do whatever I can to help.
Sincerely,
Paul Hogan
Middle Village
South Africa Scientists say they discovered a new member of the human family
tree, revealed by a huge trove of bones in
a barely accessible, pitch-black chamber
of cave in South Africa.
The species, named Homo naledi, has an
odd mix of human-like and more primitive
characteristics, researchers said.
Scientists are unsure how the bones
wound up in the chamber, reachable only
by a complicated pathway with passages
less than a foot wide. The site has yielded more than 1,550 specimens since its
discovery in 2013. The creature, which
evidently walked upright, has hands and
feet similar to a human, but its shoulders
and small brain are ape-like, according to
lead researcher Lee Berger, a professor
at the University of the Witwatersrand in
Johannesburg.
HOW TO STAY SAFE
IN THIS CRAZY WORLD
More than 4,000 Americans 55 years of
age and older become crime victims in
their homes every day. Criminals target
older people, expecting them to be less
able to protect themselves and more likely to be poor witnesses. Eighty percent of
these crimes could be prevented if
seniors learned more about criminal tactics and took a few simple steps to
improve security. Here are the facts about
some of the most preventable crimes and
how to avoid them.
The idea that criminals will not enter an
occupied house is a dangerous myth.
Using force or trickery, crooks enter the
homes of more than 50,000 people each
year with at least one family member
inside. Most of these crimes would not
occur if people would take precautions.
Dont open the door to strangers.
Dont trust people because they are
friendly.
Be wary of impostors.
Lock your house door always.
Keep your house key secure.
Do not give your house key to anyone.
ISSUES
A
Maspeth
united
will
never
be
defeated
The prediction
About two years ago, the Pan Am Hotel on Queens Blvd was unexpectedly converted into a homeless shelter without community notification. Shortly thereafter, word came that the Maspeth Holiday Inn
Express was for sale. I sent out an email sarcastically predicting it
would become our next area homeless shelter. In my heart I was only
half-joking because I could see the writing on the wall.
The betrayal
Word came to me about the proposed conversion of the Maspeth

Holiday Inn Express into a homeless shelter while the secret meeting
about it was underway the morning of August 3rd at the Maspeth
Library, which was quite an interesting choice of venue. The meeting
was among city and elected officials and the community board chair
and district manager. It is interesting that so many representatives
of our community had known about this meeting since late July but
failed to inform civic leaders about it. A few people who had heard a
rumor about the meeting were allowed to attend. Meanwhile, the group
looking to provide shelter services, Acacia Network, had posted a job
listing for social workers in Maspeth well before the date of this meeting.
The first secret meeting
A clip of the last 5 minutes of the meeting has been circulating online.
In it, Vincent Arcuri, Chairman of CB5, mentioned that the next regularly scheduled CB5 meeting would not happen until September
14th and that the community needed more time to become informed
and study the issue. The city planned this entire thing during summer break so that the major civic players would be caught off guard.
The mayors representatives insisted that the City has to plan capacity. Arcuri then pointed out that they are not planning capacity if
they are moving people in the day it converts. In reality, there is no
immediate need to shelter more people, but it helps Blasios friends
in the industry.
Assembly Member Marge Markey and State Senator Joe Addabbo
remained mute during the meeting for some reason, and Addabbo got
up and walked around a lot.
The secret meeting

Aug 3 at the
Maspeth Library
At one point prior to the start of the recording,

an ultimatum was apparently issued where
the City offered to shelve the Holiday Inn
site in favor of an alternate proposal put forth
by the community. The criteria for the
replacement site are as follows: the site must
have at least 35 rooms and be in move-in condition. There obviously is no location within
CB5 for that and that was a disingenuous
attempt at extending an olive branch.
On the recording, City Council Member
Elizabeth Crowley stated, As the council
member that represents both Glendale and
Maspeth, I feel that you are pitting one part of
my district against another and I think thats
unfair. So does that mean that a swap deal
was made as many have feared? She also
demanded that the 60-day clock that the mayors reps were threatening the community
with be stopped, but instead of answering her,
the city reps simply ended the meeting, stood
up and walked out. At the very end, a spectator yelled out, So is the clock ticking? but
there was no response from anyone.
The outrage
I immediately notified the media before the

meeting had ended about what was taking
place. Meanwhile, the residents of Maspeth
had turned to Facebook and other social media
to express their outrage. The community
board announced that they were scheduling a
meeting for August 31st, but that was too far
in the future for most people, so Mike
LoCascio scheduled a meeting for August
11th at Martin Luther School. Crews of people spread the word online and via flyers
around the neighborhood. It was the only

thing people around town were talking about
for a full week.
The turnout
The night of August 11th was steamy. A

strong, but short-lived lightning storm passed
through the area around 6pm but the humidity and heat lingered. By 7:30 pm, the non-air
conditioned Martin Luther gym was packed
to the rafters with hot, angry taxpayers. There
were hundreds more who could not fit inside.
Council Member Elizabeth Crowley, State
Senator Joseph Addabbo and State Assembly
Member Margaret Markey all made an
appearance, although only 2 of them stayed
and spoke.
The lies
Dept. of Homeless Services Commissioner

Steven Banks proceeded to tell the crowd
that Maspeth would be getting a shelter for
adult couples with the total occupancy being
about 220 people. When challenged about
why we should take on this burden, Banks
claimed, There are currently 243 people in
the shelter system from Maspeth. That set
off a chorus of screaming and boos because
this is patently false. Homeless census numbers that were obtained from the city via a
Freedom of Information request during the
Pan Am fight in 2014 showed 36 total people
in the system that had listed their last address
as being in Maspeth.
The representatives
After Banks spoke, Council Member Elizabeth

Crowley, who looked like a deer in the head-
August 11th at Martin Luther School

Photo; Daily News
lights when the enormous crowd initially jeered her, read

from a prepared statement and said she was 100% opposed
to the shelter. State Senator Joseph Addabbo said the
same. Assembly Member Marge Markey never returned
to MLS after telling meeting organizers that she was going
home to change her clothes and would be back.
Dozens of people, one by one, then took to the microphone to ask questions of the commissioner and to express
their anger. The commissioner was short on answers and
kept a smug grin on his face for most of the night. The
mayors representative, Lincoln Restler, sat with his head
down and playing with his smartphone during the entire
meeting. Acacia Network, the service provider, did not
send a representative to answer questions, which was
quite disrespectful.
The people
Despite some of the medias portrayal of Maspeth residents as uneducated yokels, the vast majority of people
who came to the microphone made cogent arguments as to
why this proposal was a bad idea and provided intelligent
reasons for their opposition.
Several members of Elmhurst United expressed concern
over a shelter in Maspeth due to their miserable experiences with the Pan Am Hotel. They detailed problems
with crime, harassment, school overcrowding and mentioned that the Pan Am hotel owner is getting more than
$3,000/month per room from the city to shelter homeless,
not the paltry $1800/month that the DHS claims it will
pay at the Holiday Inn Express. Phil Wong poignantly
stated that the shelter provides segregation in what is otherwise a well-integrated, diverse community.
Tony Nunziato explained that it was unfair to warehouse
hundreds of people with obvious problems in close quarters. He made what was perhaps the most on point statement of the night when he said that a facility from which
the neighborhood needs protection in the form of a security patrol and added police manpower is something that is
not welcome in Maspeth.
Manny Caruana pointed out that New York offers more

freebies than anywhere else, which attracts people far and
wide in a blatant abuse of the system.
Brian Barnwell, assembly candidate and attorney, explained
how the electeds could file an injunction in court to stop
the shelter and other ways to use the legal process to
everyones advantage.
I myself pointed out the fact that most Maspeth residents
live within a mile of at least one of the existing shelters in
the area and we therefore are doing our fair share and are
burdened enough.
The increased crime that these facilities bring and the
stretching of our already thin police resources were common topics of concern. At one point, two young girls took
to the microphone to say they wanted to be able to play in
Maurice Park without worrying about sex offenders lurking there.
The first march
The crowd that was turned away at the door organized and
marched down to the hotel site in protest. They entered
the lobby and chanted. One man was given a summons for
disorderly conduct after an altercation with police, but by
and large the protest was forceful yet peaceful. It showed
that Maspeth was not backing down. The protests at the
hotel have taken place every weeknight since the shelter
meeting. Michael Conigliaro, Republican candidate for
State Senate, joined State Assembly candidates Tony
Nunziato and Brian Barnwell, civic leaders and residents
in calling for the deal to be shelved. State Senator Joe
Addabbo marched for the first time with protesters on
September 1 but no other local electeds have shown up.
Shouldnt they actually be the ones leading the protests?
The real deal
The day after the Martin Luther meeting, the DHS told
the media that the 243 figure they quoted relentlessly is
actually for all of CB5, not just Maspeth. So in reality
Maspeth is expected to be the sacrificial lamb for the
Rally at Pan Am
Homeless Shelter in Elmhurst
Photo by Chris Barca, Queens Chronicle
entire community board. However, breaking down the

numbers, it appears that most of the homeless from CB5
are families, meaning that multiple people would share
single rooms at a shelter. In 2014, four families without
children were from CB5, which makes it clear that just
about all of the families to be housed at the Holiday Inn
Express will be from outside CB5. This despite Mayors
Office of Intergovernmental Affairs Representative Lincoln
Restler stating at the library meeting that the majority
sheltered there would be former residents of our neighborhood. As a matter of fact, western Queens has more shelter
rooms than homeless people, meaning that many of those
residing in places like the Pan Am are from outside
Queens. So which other communitys problem are we taking on?
a constitutional convention, followed up with legislation

and a referendum. When the state pols ask for your vote
this election season, respond by asking them what they
have been doing to make sure this happens.
The right to shelter
Acacia Network board members and the hotel owner are

regular donors to de Blasios campaigns. They also have
targeted Comptroller Scott Stringer, the person who
authorizes the contracts that the city enters into with
homeless shelter service providers.
Approximately 25-30% of homeless are from outside

NYC. They come from other communities in NY state,
many are from other states all together and some are even
from outside the country. Why has housing them become
the NYCs taxpayers burden? Why arent other municipalities being responsible for their own residents and are
instead dumping them on us?
As I mentioned in the September 2014 issue of the Juniper
Berry (Homelessness is Big Business), New York is a
right-to-shelter state, meaning that you dont have to be a
resident of NY State in order to ask for shelter here.
However, most municipalities in the U.S. are not right-toshelter. The total entitlement benefits package for NYC is
one of the highest in the country, which entices people to
move here to collect. In fact, people in other states are
being sent into our shelter system via bus or plane tickets
paid for by their hometowns. All of this could be changed
via legislation but thus far the State legislature has lacked
the will to do it. It would require a change to the state
constitution after an affirmative vote by the people to hold
The phony progressivism
In the June 2016 Juniper Berry, I wrote an opinion piece

entitled, Bill de Blasio: Redefining Progressive. To
quote myself, Under the guise of caring for people who
are down and out, de Blasio throws millions at badly run
charities which happen to be run by his friends. The
homeless crisis has gotten more out of control under de
Blasio than it ever was before, mainly due to liberalization
of sound policies that had been in place previously, all for
the benefit his shelter-owning donors.
The second march
On Saturday, August 27th, 1,820 people (per an official

NYPD head count) participated in the March for
Maspeth a 5-mile trek which started at the hotel and
then proceeded through the streets of Maspeth. Leading
with a banner that read Solutions Not Shelters we
closed down Grand Avenue, 69th Street, 53rd Drive and
63rd Street. Protesters were extremely angry that once
again the only elected official to show up was Tony Avella,
a representative of communities on the other side of
Queens who was also the first elected official to join us at
the nightly protest. Elizabeth Crowley, Joe Addabbo and
Marge Markey were all no-shows. State Senate candidate
Michael Conigliaro (running against Joe Addabbo), State
Assembly candidates Tony Nunziato and Brian Barnwell
(running against Marge Markey) and State Assembly
During the first 2 weeks,

Senator Tony Avella was the
only elected to show at the
Maspeth protests
candidate Joe Maldonado (running against Mike Miller) marched with us.
The second secret meeting
On August 30th, one night before the big meeting at the Knockdown Center,
another secret meeting was held at ONeills Restaurant among the elected officials, members of the community board, Captain Wachter and Acacia Network to
discuss the security plan for the shelter. When word got back to the protesting
crowd assembled at the hotel, there was a march over the pedestrian bridge and
up to the restaurant to confront them. But the police at the hotel had radioed
ahead, the meeting broke up and the electeds and/or their reps vacated as
quickly as possible. We found it very disconcerting that a meeting was held with
the group we are trying to stop from opening a shelter in our area to discuss
their security plan. That gives the appearance of throwing in the towel. The
focus right now should be on preventing them from opening in the first place!
The big public meeting
The Knockdown Center was the venue for the official public meeting that
was held about the proposed shelter. Once again, DHS Commissioner Stephen
Banks addressed the crowd and was short on answers and long on bureaucratspeak. He revealed nothing new about the proposal. Acacia Network did not
have a representative in attendance to present their plans or answer questions.
The police estimate that about 800 residents of Maspeth attended and we all
left not knowing any more than we had when we walked through the door
earlier that night.
Photo by Anthony Giudice, QNS
The route of the march included a visit to Marge Markeys house and office.
Since she refused to attend the protests, the protest was brought to her
doorstep. Follow up events were planned to next take it to Gracie Mansion and
outside the home of the owner of the Maspeth Holiday Inn Express, Harshad
Patel, who has made a pretty penny off NYC taxpayers by converting several of
his hotels into shelters over the years. He also has an admitted history of bribing an elected official. He told the Daily News in 2011 that he had been making
monthly bribes to the convicted felon and former state senator, Carl Kruger, in
a failed attempt to secure a zoning change for a hotel he owned in Brooklyn.
MARGE MARKEYS
MELTDOWN
Remarks by State Assembly
Member Marge Markey at the
8/31/16 meeting: Why are you
booing me? Why? I am opposed
to this shelter. I am not giving any
money to it. You are being manipulated. I have not, nor has the
state put any money into this
shelter. We are not funding it, we
are not cooperating and we
oppose the shelter. But if you
dont want it I guess you do
because youre booing me then
that is the answer. That is the
answer. You are, as I said, being
manipulated. Thank you, goodbye, take care.She then walked
out and went home.
Markey was booed because she
did not speak at the Martin Luther
meeting, did not attend any of the
protests in front of the hotel,
skipped the March for Maspeth
and has been wholly absent in
her district for decades. Not
because people are being
manipulated.
WHAT YOU CAN DO

The legal action
We started a GoFundMe
page where donations are
being collected to help mount
a legal challenge. Although
Council Member Crowley used
her staffer to file an injunction against the shelter, we
are planning to hire our own
attorney to take legal action
as well. You may donate to
this fund via this link:
www.gofundme.com
/noshelterinmaspeth.
Alternatively, you may write a
check made out to Citizens
for a Better Maspeth and drop
it off at Enchanted Florist or
mail it to:
Citizens for a Better Maspeth
c/o Tony Nunziato
65-10 Grand Ave
Maspeth, NY 11378
Photos: (left) Protesters march up

60th Street near Maspeth
Avenue. Called March For
Maspeth 1,800 residents walked
for 5 miles in 90 degree heat.
(below) CB5 Public Hearing at the
Knockdown Center in Maspeth
when crowd turned their back on
Social Services Commissioner
Steven Banks in silent protest.
The phone calls and letters

Write letters and call the
following every day:
Council Member
Elizabeth Crowley
Atlas Park Mall
71-19 80th Street Suite 8-303
Glendale, NY 11385
(718) 366-3900
Comptroller Scott Stringer
One Centre Street
New York, NY 10007
(212) 669-3916
State Senator Joseph Addabbo
66-85 73rd Place
Middle Village, NY 11379
(718) 497-1630
Assembly Member Marge Markey
55-19 69th Street
Maspeth, NY 11378
(718) 651-3185
The vote
Registered Democrats of Assembly District 30 have

the chance to show one sitting elected official what
they think about her performance on this issue on
Primary Day, September 13th. Marge Markey is running against Brian Barnwell, who has attended every
Juniper Park Civic Association meeting this past year,
as well as every rally and public meeting about the
shelter. The winner of that contest will meet
Republican Tony Nunziato in the General Election
on November 8th. Also, State Senator Joseph
Addabbo meets Republican challenger Michael
Conigliaro in the General Election.
It is imperative that all registered voters express
themselves in the voting booth this fall. The future of
Maspeth is hanging in the balance.
HOMELESS
SHELTER
Assembly Member Cathy Nolan

(West Maspeth)
47-40 21 Street Room 810
Long Island City, NY 11101
(718) 784-3194
Congress Member Grace Meng
118-35 Queens Blvd, 17th Floor
Forest Hills, NY 11375
(718) 358-6364
Borough President Melinda Katz
120-55 Queens Blvd
Kew Gardens, NY 11424
(718) 286-2669
A CHANGE IN POLICY
A city hall insider has told us that policy changes by
the de Blasio administration are mostly to blame for
the surge in homelessness we have experienced over
the past few years.
The Giuliani & Bloomberg administrations would not
allow homeless traveling from other states (or have
relatives in other states) from staying in NYC
shelters. The City would pay for a one-way ticket
back to the city of their last known address. De Blasio
said that was inhumane.
The de Blasio administration raised the minimum
income on affordable housing and qualification for a
free apartment from $20,000 to $40,000.
Homeless service providers have no incentives to
diagnose seriously mentally ill residents. So instead of
transferring them to hospitals, they keep them in hotel
room/shelters indefinitely to make more $.
And finally, Crowley seems to have alienated de
Blasio or senior staff members since her district is
being targeted for several shelters while other council
members still have none in their districts.
Photo by Anthony Giudice, QNS
ISSUES
The shady history I

of Acacia Network
ts time to shed some light on the nonprofit that

applied to run the shelter. Lets look at Acacia
Network Housing.
by Charles Martellaro
The Acacia Network Housing is part of nonprofit empire

based in the Bronx consisting of 13 related nonprofit and
profit organizations. What makes this relationship interesting are the people serving on
one board also appear to serve on
other organizational boards in their
nonprofit empire. Theres nothing
illegal about it but it does raise
questions about the independence
of each organization.
In fact, according to their 2014 tax
returns, publicly available, the
same 4 people serve as officers for
most of these nonprofits, each
drawing considerable salaries and
other benefits: Raul Russi (CEO),
Pamela Mattel (COO), Hector L.
Diaz (President), and Tomas Del
Rio (CFO-no longer with the
group). In one case, 1 of these officers may have considerable influence in the related profit corporation Sera Security Services. It
received $5,131,844 from Acacia
Network House. Most of that money coming from city grants.
Based on their 2014 tax return filings for their nonprofit entities
Acacia Network Housing is the
main bread winner having received
$75,613,262 from the NYC Dept of
Homeless Services. Some of this
money is funneled to their related
nonprofit and profit organizations.
I mentioned earlier the same 4
people who serve as officers for
most of these organizations. Who
are they and how much do they
earn? Again, this is based on IRS
Form 990 for 2014 thats available
to the public. Who knew working a
reported 35 hours per week and
helping the poor could be a lucrative career?
How does an organization win $75,613,262 worth of

contracts from the city? Performance, effectiveness, and
community reach play a role. Do political connections and
relationships help? Hector L. Diaz, President, was NYC
Clerk and Clerk of the NYC Council, Bronx County Clerk,
and served 7 terms in the NYS Assembly. Raul Russi, Chief
Executive Officer, was appointed Commissioner of NYC
Department of Probation and Chairman of the NYS Parole
Board. Other members of their boards and advisers have
held important government positions.
This infographic (left) shows the flow of public money to
Acacia Network Housing and how its funneled to other
nonprofits & profit companiesall led by Raul Russi,
chief executive officer, and the Honorable Hector L. Diaz.
Both former city and state officials.
Hector Diaz is no stranger to city politics. You may remember former Council Speaker Christine Quinn. Shes now
running a nonprofit organization for the homeless too.
Quinn appointed the former 6 term assemblyman from the
Bronx to City Council Clerk where he earned $185,000 a
year. His tenure would be short, he resigned 6 months
after the appointment to work for a nonprofit drug program in the Bronx.
Information is based on 2014 data publicly available.
Acacia Network and hotel owner Harshad Patel first
teamed up to bring Queens the womens shelter at the
Verve Hotel in Dutch Kills earlier this year. The following
is an excerpt of an article entitled, Precinct Asks For
Help Securing Homeless Shelter After Violent Incidents
Break Out by Michael Florio of the LIC Post, February
17, 2016:
The Commanding Officer of the 114 Precinct has
called on the community board for help in combating crime at a womens homeless shelter in
Long Island City, following two violent incidents
that broke out at the shelter last week.
Captain Peter Fortune addressed Community
Board 1 at its monthly meeting Tuesday and
asked the Board to reach out to the City regarding
the womens shelter in the former Verve Hotel,
located at 40-03 29th Street.
Fortune informed the Board of two incidents
where residents of the shelter had to be arrested,
with one resident assaulting police officers.
The first incident occurred on Feb. 11, where

police responded to a dispute between two roommates. As police arrived, one roommate struck the
other in the head with a metal object, Fortune said.
The suspect was arrested and taken to Cornell
Hospitals psychiatric center for evaluation. Upon
arrival, as the suspect was being taken out of the
ambulance, she assaulted an officer. She head
butted the officer, Fortune said. That officer
has been out with injuries.
While in the hospital, the suspect struck an officer
numerous times with a metal IV pole and kicked
him. That officer has needed treatment as well.
Then on Feb. 12, a resident refused to go through
the shelters metal detectors and began to act
aggressively, Fortune said. She broke the metal
detectors and then began throwing chairs and bottles around the lobby.
She was arrested and brought to Cornell Hospital
for a psychiatric exam, Fortune said.
Fortune said he subsequently spoke to the shelter
contractor, the Acacia Network, and they were not
aware of these incidents or arrests.
He added that the Precinct has received complaints from neighboring business owners, primarily bodega owners, who say residents from the
shelter harass them.
Meanwhile, CB 1 District Manager Florence
Koulouris said Acacia is supposed to be patrolling
the area in a marked car but has not been doing
so, instead stating that their marked car is in the
shop and using an unmarked car instead. She
called this completely unacceptable and urged
a more visible security presence.
Acacia Network runs cluster sites in the Bronx and
Brooklyn that are being shut down by the city due to poor
maintenance. Cluster sites are full apartments run by
private landlords who take placements from social service
organizations like Acacia. Instead of fixing up these apartments to make them more habitable, or forcing the landlord to do so, the de Blasio administration is moving their
residents out and cramming them into hotel rooms in
Queens without kitchens, which is why 10 hotels have
been converted into shelters here in the last 2 years.
104 PCT UPDATE
rt 104th Pct Report 104th Pct

The following actions were taken by the 104th Pct in Maspeth
& Middle Village since the last edition of the Juniper Berry:
SOME LOCAL HIGHLIGHTS
FROM THE SUMMER
JUNE 10 Based on a complaint
at the JPCA Town Meeting
regarding For Sales Signs ON A
CAR with no plates, we went to
the location after the meeting and
towed the car.
JUNE 19 We issued 10 summons
in Juniper Valley Park from
930pm till 1045 pm for beer drinking. In addition 8 parking summons to vehicles were issued.
JULY 10, members of the 104th
Precinct Conditions unit arrested
a 25 year old resident of Maspeth
in Ridgewood for auto-breakins.

Upon further investigation, he
was in possession of credit cards
and property from prior vehicle
thefts in Glendale and Middle
Village. He is currently incarcerated in Rikers Island.
JULY 12 At approximately 1119
pm, members of the 104th
Precinct Conditions unit arrested
a 16-year old resident of Maspeth
inside of Juniper Valley Park for
possession of 27 Xanax pills. This
male was also wanted for a
Grand Larceny (Stolen Wallet
from a Vehicle) that occurred in
Glendale on June 01. The criminal history of this individual
includes prior Robberies, Grand

Larceny, and numerous auto
breakins. He is currently incarcerated on Rikers Island.
We have been seeing a increase
in teenagers hanging out and
drinking in the park from 10pm till
2am. I have redirected our conditions team to dedicate more time
at this location during these
times. As a result, we have
issued 26 summons over the last
week. Most of these kids are
Middle Village and Maspeth residents.
August 1 at approximately 0655
hours, we arrested a 42 year old
Captain Mark T. Wachter

Commanding Officer
Precinct:
(718) 386-3004
Community Affairs:
(718) 386-2431
Community Policing:
(718) 386-4006
Crime Prevention:
(718) 386-6223
Domestic Violence:
(718) 386-3044
Youth Officer:
(718) 386-2486
Auxiliary Coordinator:
(718) 386-3674
Detective Squad:
(718) 386-2735
On Friday, August 12, 2016, members of the 104th Precinct

Highway Safety Unit conducted a commercial overnight parking
operation. This operation yielded 34 Summonses for commercial
vehicles being stored. In addition, 1 detached trailer and 1 school
bus were also summonsed. For the last month, we issued 119
overnight commercial summonses and 1038 for the year. We will
continue to conduct daily enforcement and arrange a tow operation
in the next few weeks.
THE VANDALS TOOK THE HANDLES

(wheels) This NYPD Digital Traffic Speed
message unit tilted precariously on
Juniper Boulevard South on Saturday,
Sept. 4. It seems vandals took the
wheels sometime on Friday night. JPCA
Executive Board member Gary Colter
alerted Bob Holden who called Capt.
Wachter and a crew was dispatched to
repair the unit.
male for breaking into cars at 69

Place and Juniper Blvd South.
This male has a extensive criminal history for auto breakins. He
is currently incarcerated.
August 9, at approximately 0020 hours,
members of the
precincts conditions
team arrested a 27 year
old male for attempting
to steal tires and rims
from a 2009 Ford
Econoline Van. This incident occurred at 59-08
61 Street. The male has
a extensive criminal history and was wanted for a
shooting in another command.
August 10 at approximately 0900
hours, an 83-year old female was
the victim of a deception Burglary.
The perpetrators rang the ladys
bell and stated they were there to
clean the upstairs apartment of
an elderly tenant. Once inside the
ladiys house, they stated the tenant was not home and asked to
leave their phone number for the
tenant. When the homeowner
went to get a pen, they removed
her pocketbook. The perpetrators
are described two Hispanic
females in their forties who had a
10 YEAR OLD CHILD WITH
THEM. This incident occurred at
60-XX 56 Drive
August 11 at 445am, members
of the 104th Precinct arrested a
27 year old Maspeth resident for
smoking marijuana in the park.

This male has 11 prior arrests for
drug distribution. In addition, we
have issued 9 summonses for
park after dark and alcohol.
In regards to the PIX-TV news

which questioned the ten days to
make a arrest in the Maspeth
Burglary. There are proper identification procedures that must be
followed before a person can be
taken into custody when identified
through Facebook and other
social media accounts. These
procedures are safeguards to
protect anybody who is accused
of a crime. This procedure is similar to a lineup procedure where a
witness or victim must identify a
person who is accused of committing a serious crime. The
precinct conducted a investigation
which included attempts to locate
the individual at his residence.
The defendant was arrested
when he showed up for court and
was taken into custody and
charged with Burglary.
NIGHT OUT AGAINST CRIME AT JUNIPER VALLEY PARK ON

AUGUST 2nd about 1,000 residents enjoyed rides, games and a
concert. (above) Inspector Gin Yee (left) and Deputy Chief
Steven Silks of Patrol Boro Queens North join Captain Mark
Wachter and Det. Thomas Bell of the 104th Pct.
Det. Thomas Bell received the Centurion Award for his outstanding service to the community. He was recognized for his efforts in arranging the Relay for Life and Patrick
Winberry Memorial Basketball Game. His efforts raised over 3,000 dollars. This award is
given to 100 police officers a year who demonstrate continued commitment to the community they serve. Det. Bell is pictured (right) with his wife, Monique and Chief of
Department Carlos Gomez.
Have a healthy & enjoyable Autumn!
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ISSUES
by: Rick Hayes
mericans have always prided themselves as people

who respond to the needs
of others around the world
in times of catastrophic events, lead
the world in producing the best
doctors and inventing cutting edge
medical procedures and provide a
haven for those threatened due to
their political or religious beliefs.
America Has Changed

Just looking at the recent Olympic Games held in Rio,
how many times was it mentioned that an athlete competing for another nation was trained and educated in the
United States?
America became this great nation, in part, because of two
bloody wars based on principle, where one led to independence and the other to unification. And
now, this united and independent nation,
with its long legacy of greatness is on the
brink of real collapse.
The collapse I speak of is not so much an
economic collapse, although Americas
finances should certainly be of great concern, but rather a moral breakdown.
The thought process

where people rely
on others to pay the
bills or protect
society has brought
us to this precipice.
The modern liberal agenda has spent

decades focusing on taking God out of the
consciousness of Americans, particularly the young. And
the recent presidential election primary results speak volumes as to the success of that goal.
How else could a candidate such as the 74-year-old devout

socialist Bernie Sanders attract such a large following? Where
is the critical thinking needed to confront Sanders
promises of making public universities tuition-free or free
health care for everyone? And how is it possible that a
woman like Hillary Clinton is nominated by the
Democratic party even though she helped collapse
Americas healthcare system and was a chief architect of
the carnage we are now witnessing in Libya, Syria and the

Ukraine? And lets not forget to mention the unambiguous fact that she lied numerous times to all Americans for
over a year regarding her private server (former President
Richard Nixon resigned for much less) and lied to the parents of Americans murdered in Benghazi and then publically called those same grieving parents liars.
How an individual such as Hillary, who is a
pathological liar and steeped in many scandals could even be considered, much less
leading in the polls for the top job in this
country is a resounding victory for the godless liberal agenda - a plan that has produced millions of Americans who do not
know The Bible, The Bill of Rights or the
Magna Carta but religiously follow the latest fashion trends or sports statistics.
The thought process where people rely on others to pay

the bills or protect society has brought us to this precipice.
Godlessness in our schools, our entertainment industry,
our sources of information and our leadership has set us on
a path where morality is relative; wealth equals success,
and justice is a belief held only by the nave.
Our American society has grown in knowledge and departed from wisdom. We have forgotten that just as in the case
of natural death, Americas death will come like a thief in
the night, unannounced while everyone is asleep and at
this moment America is fast asleep.
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HISTORY
Presidential politics in 1816

n 1816, just as in 2016, the area of Queens
known as Jamaica had a candidate in the
presidential race. Today we have Donald
Trump, but in 1816, the local seeking our
nations highest office was Rufus King.
A native of Massachusetts and graduate of

Harvard, from 1783 to 1785 King served in the
Massachusetts legislature, after which that body
sent him to the Continental Congress (1784-86).
There, he gained a reputation as a brilliant speaker and an early opponent of slavery. Toward the
end of his tour, in 1786, he married Mary Alsop,
daughter of a rich New York City merchant. He
performed his final duties for Massachusetts by
representing her at the Constitutional
Convention and by serving in the commonwealths ratifying convention.
At age 32, King was not only one of the most
youthful of the delegates at Philadelphia, but was
also one of the most important. He numbered
among the most capable orators. Furthermore, he
attended every session. Although he came to the
convention unconvinced that major changes
should be made in the Articles of Confederation,
his views underwent a startling transformation
during the debates.
With Madison, he became a leading figure in the
nationalist caucus. He served with distinction on
the Committee on Postponed Matters and the
Committee of Style. He also took notes on the
proceedings, which have been valuable to historians.
About 1788 King abandoned his law practice,
moved from the Bay State to Gotham, and
entered the New York political forum. He was
elected to the legislature (1789-90), and in the
former year was picked as one of the states first
U.S. senators. As political divisions grew in the
new government, King expressed ardent sympathies for the Federalists. In Congress, he supported Hamiltons fiscal program and stood among
the leading proponents of the unpopular Jays Treaty

(1794).
Meantime, in 1791, King had become one of the directors
of the First Bank of the United States. Reelected to the
U.S. Senate in 1795, he served only a year before he was
appointed as Minister to Great Britain (1796-1803).
Kings years in this post were difficult ones in AngloAmerican relations. The wars of the French Revolution
endangered U.S. commerce in the maritime clashes
between the French and the British. The latter in particular violated American rights on the high seas, especially
by the impressment of sailors. Although King was unable
to bring about a change in this policy, he smoothed relations between the two nations.
In 1803 King sailed back to the United States and to a
career in politics. In 1804 and 1808 fellow-signer Charles
Cotesworth Pinckney and he were the Federalist candidates for President and Vice President, respectively, but
were decisively defeated. Otherwise, King largely contented himself with agricultural pursuits at King Manor, a
Long Island estate he had purchased in 1805. During the
War of 1812, he was again elected to the U.S. Senate
(1813-25) and ranked as a leading critic of the war. Only
after the British attacked Washington in 1814 did he come
to believe that the United States was fighting a defensive
action and to lend his support to the war effort.
The United States presidential election of 1816 came at
the end of the two-term presidency of Democratic-
Republican James Madison. With the opposition

Federalist Party in collapse, Madisons Secretary of State,
James Monroe, had an advantage in winning the nomination against a divided opposition. Monroe won the
Electoral College by the wide margin of 183 to 34.
The previous four years were dominated by the War of
1812. While it had not ended in victory, the peace was
nonetheless satisfactory to the American people, and the
Democratic-Republicans received the credit for its prosecution. The Federalists had been discredited by their
opposition to the war and secessionist rhetoric from New
England. Furthermore, President Madison had adopted
such Federalist policies as a national bank and protective
tariffs, which would give the Federalists few issues to
campaign on.
Still in the Senate, that same year King led the opposition
to the establishment of the Second Bank of the United
States.
Four years later, believing that the issue of slavery could
not be compromised but must be settled once and for all
by the immediate establishment of a system of compensated emancipation and colonization, he denounced the
Missouri Compromise.
In 1825, suffering from ill health, King retired from the
Senate. President John Quincy Adams, however, persuaded him to accept another assignment as Minister to Great
Britain. He arrived in England that same year, but soon
fell ill and was forced to return home the following year.
Within a year, at the age of
72, in 1827, he died.
Surviving him were several
offspring, some of whom
also gained distinction. He
was laid to rest near King
Manor in the cemetery of
Grace Episcopal Church in
Jamaica.
Rufus King Manor, located
at 150-03 Jamaica Ave, is
now a museum that is open
to the public, with some of
the former farmland surrounding it having been
converted into a park.
Biography compiled from the
National Archives, NYC
Parks Department &
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HISTORY
THE FLORISTS OF MOUNT
John T. Linnemann Florist

on Mt. Olivet Crescent &
Wayland Avenue, circa 1910
by Art Linnemann
n 1847, the New York State legislature

passed the Rural Cemetery Act and in
1852 the Common Council of the City
of New York (then consisting of
Manhattan only) banned the future
use of any new ground for burial purposes.
These two governmental actions brought
great change to the sleepy little town of
Middle Village. Within a decade, the village
was transformed from dairy and market
farms to being a runner-up to Maspeth as the
interment capital of New York State. Middle

Village gained hold to Lutheran and St. John
Cemeteries while Maspeth and its surrounds
were home to Mount Olivet, Mount Zion
and Calvary Cemeteries. Prior to passage of
the act, many of Newtowns departed were
buried in family plots inside church yards,
public grounds and, of course, on family
farms. Afterward, most burials occurred in
commercial cemeteries.
The insatiable need to find final resting
places for a growing New York metropolis
transformed the arteries of Middle Village
from rural to suburban in the blink of an eye.
As this journal has recorded, the
Willamsburgh & Jamaica Turnpike
(Metropolitan Avenue), Juniper Avenue
(69th Street), Dry Harbor Road (80th Street)
and Trotting Course Lane (Woodhaven
Boulevard) all became busy thoroughfares
and the land alongside them was divided
into lots and developed into a mlange of
structures. The cemeteries became the economic engine of Middle Village and it
OLIVET CRESCENT
attracted ancillary businesses which took up residence in
these buildings serving the cemetery trade. Dotting the
streets were hotels, saloons, restaurants, dry goods shops,
stonecutters, livery stables and, of course, florists.
As the cemetery trade expanded, the land along these
byways grew in value and florists needing space for
shops, cold frames, sheds and greenhouses looked to secondary roads. One of the most important of these was
Mount Olivet Avenue, todays Mount Olivet Crescent.
Mount Olivet, as it does today, emanated at Metropolitan
Avenue and climbed along Lutheran Cemeterys western
border to the top of what is now Eliot Avenue, then continued down across Fresh Pond Road into part of
Maspeth. Due to 20th century naming dictates by New
York City, Mount Olivet Crescent now ends in name two
blocks east of Fresh Pond Road at 64th Street and
becomes 59th Drive.
At Lutheran Cemeterys founding and for years later it
was fenceless along Mount Olivet Avenue, but, as the
area became urbanized, a wooden fence was built there
with at least two formal entrances; one being Way
(Wayland) Avenue, which was a public street, and another several hundred feet farther north which made it easier for visitors to gain entry to
the burial grounds. In the early
20th century, Way Avenue was
confiscated by Lutheran
Cemetery and a permanent
gate with iron and stone fencing was installed limiting
access via Mount Olivet
Avenue and causing great consternation to the florists and
the local population.
to Lutheran Cemetery, many of the florists decided to

locate their business along the avenue. In a short time
structures necessary for a continued profitable floral
enterprise appeared along Mount Olivet. Shops were
attached to homes while the aforementioned sheds, cold
frames and eventually greenhouses appeared in quantity
with the obligatory saloons, hotels and stonecutters interspersed among them.
The florist business was much similar to farming except
their crops were flowers and plants. They also sold seasonal items such as Easter plants and Mothers Day,
Thanksgiving and patriotically themed decorations for
national holidays. Christmas was a very busy and hectic
time for the florists during which time they made and
sold wreaths and blankets made from fir boughs for door
and grave adornments. Hothouse grown poinsettias were
also in demand for indoor ornamentation.
In addition to the seasonal business the florists maintained grave plots for those who were unable to perform
those duties by themselves. Theyd mow the grass,
weed, and plant flowers and ground cover such as ivy
and pachysandra.
As most Middle Village residents know, Mount Olivet

runs along a hill which at its
peak is one of the highest
points in all of Queens County.
Being on the descending part
of the hill the land on the west
side of Mount Olivet was not
prime real estate and had a
rather reduced value compared
to Metropolitan Avenue. Due
to this and the two entrances
The life of a florist was demanding and unforgiving.

Their business was at the mercy of Mother Nature who
could wreak havoc on a seasons planting with a cold
snap, torrential rain or drought. It was also a business that
demanded a seven day work week with sunrise to sunset
hours and a family venture employing the labor of wives
and children. Wives and daughters helped in the shop;
they arranged flowers, prepared bouquets and tied bows
while sons were generally relegated to the more physical
exercises such as overturning the dirt, planting, hoeing,
caring of the horses, repairing the glass, stoking the boilers and overall maintenance of the complex.
One problem on Mount Olivet was the muddy hill and
erosion from storms. However that was soon solved when
the town paved Mount Olivet with Belgian blocks commonly known as cobblestones. It also made life much
easier for the florists, their families and their customers.
Some of the names of the hard working proprietors might
be familiar to some longtime residents of Middle Village.
Names like Lowenhaupt, Wunderlin, Russol, Leopold,
Fischer, Krapf, Brant, Marquardt, Kalish and Morgo. All
these families successfully plied their trade on Mount
Olivet between the late 1800s until the 2000s. They conscientiously served those who travelled to pay respects to
deceased families and friends and they decorated the
graves for those who couldnt make the trip.
In recent decades, visiting cemeteries and placing flowers at the burial sites has fallen out of favor. Years ago,
visitation of the graves was an honored ritual. This was
before photographs were aplenty and
cameras/movies/videos were yet to be invented, or avail56 JUNIPER BERRY Fall 2016
The only trace of the florists business is this dilapidated building on

Mt. Olivet Crescent
able to all classes, through which one could remember

deceased loved ones. Business has fallen off at florists
due to the changing societal mores, the advent of artificial flowers and revision of cemetery decoration rules.
One by one, the florist shops of Mount Olivet Crescent
have disappeared and several years ago, Lutheran (now
All Faiths) Cemetery closed the Mount Olivet gate
entrance, leaving Metropolitan Avenue as the lone
entrance. The last surviving shop on the Crescent was
operated by Ted and Marge Morgo. The Morgos closed
their shop several years ago although they still maintain
and care for cemetery plots for many of their clients.
Mount Olivet Crescent is not the only street without a
floral shop. A recent trip around the perimeter of All
Faiths Cemetery showed that there are no florists
remaining on Metropolitan Avenue, 69th Street or Eliot
Avenue. A once vibrant business has totally vanished and
probably will never return.
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e-mail: francine@crifasi.com
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Catering Available for all Occasions
Phillies Pizza Restaurant has always given the people

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80-02 Eliot Avenue Middle Village, NY 11379

Phone: (718) 429-6611 Fax (718) 672-6759
Store Hours: Mon-Fri 9am-8pm; Sat 9am-7pm; Sun 9am-3pm Open 7 days a week
June 19, 1893 New York Times
from Maspeth, Middle Village, Glendale

Brooklyn Daily Eagle, December 17, 1909
PASTORS HENNERY ROBBED
Men Carrying Fowl Away

Caught at Middle Village.
90-Cent Debt
Row Leads to
Stabbing
An argument over a 90-cent
gambling debt and drunken
brawl in Hoover Village,
a down-and-outers camp
near Newtown Creek,
Maspeth, sent one man to
the hospital with serious
stab wounds and another
to the police lineup on a
felonious assault charge today.
Steve Pigkowski, 46, whose
only home is one of the two
dozen wooden shanties in
the Village, the creditor
in the controversy, is in
Wyckoff Heights Hospital,
where his condition was
said to be serious. The
debtor, John Giba, 40,
also addressless, was in
the police lineup today,
where it was found he had
a previous record of three
arrests.
Emil Brynian of Malden Avenue and Jacob Nagle

of Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn, aged respectively 51
and 61 years, were arrested about 3:10this morningby Patrolman Green of the Glendale precinct,
at Metropolitan and Mount Olivet Avenues,
Middle Village, each carrying a bag filled with
chickens, the possession of which they could not
explain to the satisfaction of the policeman. Nine
of the birds were dead and six were alive. It was
learned later that the fowl had been taken from the
rear of St. Margarets German Roman Catholic
Church, Middle Village.
August 13, 1931 New York Times
Brooklyn Daily Eagle, March 9, 1934
A shantytown built on Maspeth Ave. near Newtown Creek in 1934. The photo is included in
the book "Forgotten Queens." (GREATER ASTORIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY.)
Brooklyn Daily Eagle, May 31, 1929

Brooklyn Daily Eagle, September 8,
1919
DIES IN CESS POOL AS HE TRI

ES RESCUE
In attempting to rescue George Dun
can, 42 years
old, a plumber, of Ward St., Middle
Village, from
drowning in a cesspool, in the yard of
4422 Hinman
St., William Avroch, 28 years old, of
the Hinman
street address, also fell into the pit. He
died in the
Wyckoff Heights Hospital last evening.
Duncan met
death by suffocation and water entering
his lungs,
according to Dr. Levine of St. Johns
Hospital, who
also treated Avroch and removed him to
the Wyckoff
Heights Hospital, where the combined
aid of the surgeons there failed to restore him to
consciousness.
Duncan had agreed to do some repa
irs to the
cesspool for Avroch, but because of a rush
of business
was compelled to leave the job carry
over until
Sunday.
Brooklyn Daily Eagle, October 18, 1877
April 26, 1934 New York Times
THE TROUBLE CAUSED

BY A COUNTERFEIT.
Last evening E. Wade, a dry goods dealer at No. 471 Grand Street,
received a $5 note on the Tamaqua National Bank of Pennsylvania in
payment for goods sold to two young women. Later he discovered the
note to be a counterfeit, and notified the police of the Sixth Precinct. An
hour afterward the young girls, who are residents at Maspeth, L. I. and
named Henrietta and Anna Bartman, were arrested by Detective
Holland, while making small purchases. The girls say that their father, a
blacksmith, yesterday received the note from a customer. All they had
about them were the articles bought and less than a dollar in change,
and it is supposed that these girls from the country were not conversant
with the real character of the note.Todaythey were taken before a U. S.
Commissioner. United States Commissioner Winslow held them to bail
in $1,000 to appear for examination on the 19th instant.
Times
July 7, 1926 New York
Nov. 8, 1939 New York Times
BERRY LIFE
risk, being lured into certain

neighborhoods that they
have no knowledge of [sic]
and subjecting themselves
to potentially being victims
of crime.
While these concerns are
valid, a few simple safety
measures injected with some
common sense can keep you
safe on your journeys, like
exploring new neighborhoods with groups of people
instead of going solo, only
going out in the daytime
(Pokmon have to sleep too!),
and doing some research on
areas beforehand. Does the area have a lot of
crime? How close is public transportation to
where you will be going? How well-lit are the
neighborhoods you will be visiting?
Its all about how

you play the game
by Tim Brown
everal weeks ago, outgoing NYC

Police Commissioner Bill Bratton
had a few harsh things to say regarding the hit mobile game, Pokmon
GO, and those who play it. For
the uninitiated, Pokmon GO
is a free GPS-based game which can be
downloaded to smartphones, and primarily
consists of the player walking around
neighborhoods to virtually catch fictional
creatures called Pokmon. The Pokmon series
itself has been around for decades. First
released in Japan in 1996, it has since
spawned multiple video game sequels, a
TV cartoon show which is running to this
day consisting of over nine hundred
episodes, nineteen films, and innumerable
collectibles.
While millions of people have used the game
worldwide there have been a number of harrowing incidents during play that have been
reported. Examples include a teenager discovering a dead body while hunting for Pokmon
and unsuspecting gamers being robbed at reallife landmarks the game calls them Pokstops
by criminals who took advantage of features
of the game.
Bratton had a few things to say about the game
which were less than kind calling it one of the
stupidest crazes Ive ever seen, and claiming
that people are putting themselves at great
Police departments nation-wide have been

posting handy tips such as these, and by following them you can have a safe and fun Pokmon
journey. Staff of the Berry, even ones who were
not interested in the franchise previously, have
been playing Pokmon GO and enjoying the
thrill of the hunt.
Bill Bratton may not like Pokmon GO, but the
rest of the world seems to. Local businesses are
reaping the benefits of those seeking to Catch
em All. Pokstops can have items called Lures
placed on them, which bring more Pokmon to
that area. Businesses can request that
Pokstops be placed nearby, which will attract more customers to their locations. Pokstops placed at historic
landmarks can also entice players to explore locations
that they have previously never considered visiting
before, and point out interesting features of familiar places
which may have gone unnoticed. It can, in fact, be educational. Perhaps the biggest advantage to games like
Pokmon GO is that it burns calories. You actually have
to walk around a lot in order to play it, making it different
from traditional video games where the player remains
sedentary.
Safety is an important consideration when planning your
next quest for a Vaporeon, but as long as you plan accordingly and avoid risking any harm, Pokmon GO is just
about the most fun you can have with your phone and
the city. Bratton doesnt have to like the game, but he
should know that this is one of many millennials childhood fantasies realized and brought to life. Next time he
goes on record about this game he should learn how to
say it correctly though its PokMON not
PokMAN!
European Styled Community

Mausoleum Design
Handcrafted Italian Marble &
Granite Crypts brought from Italy
Elegant Glass Cremation Niches
Handcrafted Stained Glass
Windows throughout, signed by
the Artist
Italian Bronze Statuary imported
from Parma, Italy
All Faiths Cemetery

Est. 1852 Non-Sectarian
67-29 Metropolitan Avenue Middle Village
718-821-1750 (fax) 718-497-2950
email: AllFaiths@NYC.RR.com
www.AllFaithsCemetery.org
2 Private Family Vaults available

All Crypts are lit in Perpetuity
Niches Starting at $540
Crypts Starting at $5,500
Single Graves
& Family Lots Available
at affordable prices
Proud Member of the
Juniper Park Civic Assn.
HISTORY
Glendale at the dawn

of filmmaking: 1915-1925
by
Christina
Wilkinson
s mentioned in previous issues of

the Juniper Berry, picnic parks were
ubiquitous in the Maspeth -Middle
Village-Glendale-Ridgewood area at
the turn of the 20th century. Its hard to imagine now, but there was a bounty of undeveloped land on which to site these large parks.
One of the parks was Rieblings Greater New
York Park Dancing Pavilion (later known as
the Glendale Casino Park), located on Myrtle
Avenue in Glendale, just east of Schuetzen
Park, which was featured in the March 2016
Juniper Berry. However, by the start of WWI,
the popularity of picnic parks began to
decline. In 1915, the park was sold to a surprise venture: a movie studio.
The earliest motion pictures were made in
the 1890s, and by the 1910s, there was a frenzy to crank out as many of them as possible.
Audiences couldnt watch them fast enough
and were demanding more. Theaters were
being constructed at a breakneck pace across
the country. At this point, the filmmaking
industry was centered in New York.
In October 1915, Mirror Films was incorporated by prominent businessmen for $2,500,000.
They had sought a location with a building
E.K Lincoln and

Agnes Ayres in
The Inner Voice
(1920), filmed at
Mirror Film Studio.
that could be converted into an indoor studio

to rent out to filmmakers. The Greater New
York Park property was chosen as it contained
a large 80 x 130 dance hall with a 25 ceiling
height which could be repurposed as a studio
and its surrounding 2 acres of land could be
utilized for outdoor scenes.
An ad published in newspapers on October
31, 1915 encouraged investment in the studio
project. The companys offer: with each
share of 7% cumulative preferred stock, you
get as a bonus one share, free, of common
treasury stock. The ad listed the companys
main office address as 16 East 42nd Street in
Manhattan but contained an illustration of the
impressive looking Glendale studio building.

By March 1916, the studio was in operation. As film was still relatively new, producers turned to stage actors to star in their pictures. A photo taken on the first day of work at Mirror Studios
featured Broadway veteran, Nat C. Goodwin and actor, playwright, producer, and stage and film director, Lawrence Marston
preparing for action.
In April 1916, the company purchased 9 2/3 additional acres of
adjacent property to facilitate the construction of huge outdoor
sets. The boundaries of the combined properties were as follows: 548 feet of frontage along Myrtle Avenue between
Schuetzen Park and Trotting Course Lane (now Woodhaven
Blvd), just north of Forest Park on the Montauk and Rockaway
divisions of the LIRR.
As of June 1916, the studio employed 49 full-time workers, and
had plans to eventually hire 1,500 workers, which would serve as
a boon to area employment.
Mirrors first major films were produced by the Empire All Star
Company. Richard Koszarski, in his
excellent book, Hollywood on the
Hudson, lists Albert Capellanis
American Maid, Dell Hendersons
Please Help Emily, and The
Unforeseen, starring Olive Tell and
David Powell, as having been shot
at Mirror Studios in 1917. In 1919,
the American Cinema Corporation
filmed The Inner Voice there. The
last major commercial films to be
shot at Mirror Studios were the
1922 Film Guild productions of
The Cradle Buster and Second
Fiddle, both starring Glenn Hunter
in the lead roles.
These films generally were successful, but business at the
Glendale location never lived up to
its potential. The moviemaking
trend was to head out west, to
Hollywood, where there was fair
weather year round and a lot of
land on which to build sets. After
WWI, filmmakers showed less
last production to ever come out of the

Glendale studio. New York moviemakers were migrating to Hollywood at a
rapid pace. The film business that
remained in New York was very competitive, and the owners of the
Glendale studio never made enough
money to invest in upgrades, rendering the facility obsolete.
The complex soon became the
Glendale Palace (later Sportland), an
entertainment venue that contained a
skating rink, bowling lanes, basketball
courts, and a dance/banquet hall. In
1933, all of it was condemned and
demolished to make way for the
Interboro Parkway, today known as the
Jackie Robinson Parkway.
interest in Mirror Studios. Its major

tenant by 1922 was C. C. Burr, a lowbudget producer of comedy shorts. By
the end of 1923, Burr had purchased
Mirror Studios. Burr, with director
Gregory La Cava, produced the following shorts at Glendale: The Four
Orphans (1922), Sure Fire Flint
(1922), Luck (1923), Restless Wives
(1924) and The New School Teacher
(1924). Burrs tenants included Ernest
Shipman, who produced The River
Road and T. Hayes Hunter, who produced The Sky Raider (1925).
In May 1925, producer/director
Whitman Bennett purchased the studio
for $110,000 and renamed it the
Whitman Bennett Studio. He had
planned to make a few of his own
movies at the facility while also renting it out to other filmmakers. However, Hollywood on
the Hudson reveals that the only film he made at
Glendale was Share and Share Alike (1925) starring Jane
Novak. Tenant producer Herman Jans shot Ermine and
Rhinestones (1925) there and that is believed to be the
Things have come full circle, however.

Ninety years after what seemed to be a
permanent move to the west coast, filmmaking has
returned to New York with a vengeance, with more TV
series now filmed here than in Hollywood. And Glendale
is also again known for being home to a film studio
Broadway Stages on Cooper Avenue.
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HISTORY
HISTORY OF THE
CHRIST THE KING

HIGH SCHOOL SITE
by Greater
Ridgewood
Historical Society
hrist The King Roman

Catholic High School
was founded in 1964 by
the Bishop of
Brooklyn, Bryan J.
McEntergart and was
built with funds received from the
parishes of the Diocese of Brooklyn for
the building of Catholic High Schools.
When the building opened, it had a
girls school taught by the nuns from
the Daughters of Wisdom order and a
boys school taught by the Marist Brothers. In
1973 the two schools were merged and it
became the largest Catholic High School in
the country with 2,200 students. Hugh Kirwan,
who was the head of the boys school, became
the principal of the merged schools.
Before Christ The King High School was built,
Thriving florist and monument businesses in

1920s at what is now the entrance to Christ
the King HS on Metropolitan Avenue.
there was a baseball field in between Lutheran

Cemetery and the New York Connecting
Railroad (CSX today). It was a skinned diamond with the backstop located so that left
field was toward Lutheran Cemetery, and on a
long fly ball to right field, the outfielder had to
run back on the railroad tracks. It took great
skill for the right fielder to jump over the steel
Christ the King HS under construction in 1964.
rails with his spiked shoes, watch out for

trains, and still catch the ball. In centerfield
fairly deep was an isolated wooden frame
house. Occasionally a well hit ball to center
field would hit the house and remain in play
as the outfielders chased after the ball. This
field was there in the 1930s and possibly as
early as the 1920s. After World War II it was
called Dutch Diazs Field and eventually
became the location for a number of Little
League fields.
Christ the King HS opening ceremony, 1965.
Baseball Field with lights was

later replaced by Christ the
King HS.
HISTORY
QUEENS
ARCHEOLOGY
Remsen Farm near what is

now Woodhaven Blvd in 1923
by John A. Roberts
n the present day Queens of terraced

high rises, a little trolley rail embedded
in blacktop remains. While bones of
steel remain as buried artifacts, bones
of many colonial and Early American
settlers are lost and forgotten. Long before
there were any cemeteries or tombstone
makers, Long Island settlers (the Pullis family among them) were faced with death and
the problem of burial. The earliest solution
was to fence off a corner of the family farm
and turn it into a private burial ground.
There were many such plots in Queens once
but the cutting of streets into estates and the
coming of (mid-19th century) large public
cemeteries such as Cypress Hills (1852) and
Lutheran-All Faiths (1852) made this
approach to burial obsolete. It also left the
plots isolated and subject to vandalism and
neglect. Many (including Native Americans,
African American and poor immigrant small
burial plots were obliterated. A notable one
was the Berrien-Remsen Burying Ground,
located at the north end of Berriens Lane at
the waters edge, facing Berriens Creek,
Astoria. It was obliterated in 1902 when
Consolidated Gas Company filled the creek
between the shore and Berriens Island.
Church burial sites were also destroyed. The
Trinity Methodist Church was moved in
1886 from the south side of Main Street,
Jeromus Remsen
headstone in 1910.
Astoria, near its junction with Astoria Boulevard,

to Crescent Street and 30th Road. The
remains were re- interred, but as late as 1961,
workers excavating the site uncovered forgotten skulls and bones. Prominent families,
unlike many less affluent ones, were able to
transfer their deceased family members to
large public cemeteries. The Hallet Burying
Ground, located at Main Street in Astoria and
containing all the Hallets from the 1600s to
1861, was sold for business reasons. All the
stones then existing were transferred to Mt.
Olivet Cemetery in Maspeth where they still
may be seen.
The disappearance of small burial plots may
be attributed in no small measure to the
Rural Cemetery Act of 1847 legislation legalizing large public cemeteries, along with residential and commercial development.
However, a few small family burial plots survive in the sea of houses which now cover
every part of Queens. Among them are:
1. The Remsen Family Cemetery, a survivor
from Colonial times, is the scene of the
annual American Legion ceremonies at
Trotting Course Lane and Metropolitan
Avenue. This plot contains eight known
graves including Revolutionary War General
Abraham Remsen and Jeromus Remsen.
2. The Alsop Burying Ground inside Calvary
Betts farmhouse in Maspeth
Betts family plots in

Mt. Zion Cemetery
Remsen family plots on

Trotting Course Lane.
Lawrence Family Plot in Astoria
Cemetery, 291 feet away from the Penny Bridge entrance at Laurel
Hill Boulevard, remains. When the Alsop Family Farm was deeded
to the Roman Catholic Diocese in 1846 the arrangement provided
that the Alsop Family Plot remain inviolate and so it has to this day.
Alsop Family monument, Calvary Cemetery
3. The Lawrence Family Plot at 20th Road and 30th Street in Long
Island City is a well preserved burial plot containing 100 odd monuments dating from 1751 to 1975.
4. The Betts Family Cemetery sits inside Mount Zion Cemetery
near 54th Avenue and 58th Street in Maspeth. Mt. Zion was built in
1893, enveloping the Betts family burial plot; Captain Richard
(1613-1713) and wife Joannas home once stood at what is now the
southwest corner of the cemetery.
5. The Pullis Family Plot in Junipers passive park contains Thomas
Pullis, wife Elizabeth and a child. Thomas Pullis Sr. took steps to
insure its permanent protection. Pullis, Sr. who died May 5, 1854,
aged 76 years, bequeathed his farm to his three sons with the condition that this farm was never to be sold. In his estate funds were
provided to build a brick wall around the cemetery so that it would
be protected permanently. Ed Shusterich and other dedicated volunteers continue to maintain the Pullis plot so that it is now the
crown jewel of Juniper Valley Park.
Pullis Family Cemetery in

Juniper Valley Park
Today, bones uncovered by the pavement of

progress, bear witness to an earlier Queens
whose farms were many and whose houses
were few.
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BERRY LIFE
Join us at the German American
Steuben Parade!
by Anita Radske
he German American Steuben

Parade is held annually on the third
Saturday in September. It was
founded in 1957 by German immigrants and German Americansone
of the largest ancestral groups living in the United
States. The parade was named after General
Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, a Prussian born
General who served with George Washington in
the Revolutionary War. Von Steuben is still
regarded as one of the most influential GermanAmericans for his contributions to Americas fight
for independence; his training of the young
American troops helped achieve victory against
the British.
In April 1956, the German American Parade was
first held in Ridgewood, Queens, on the 50th
Anniversary of the Brooklyn Boys and Girls
Chorus. Being a weekend celebration it began
with a concert at the Brooklyn Academy of Music,
and concluded the following day with the Parade
down Myrtle Avenue. It ended with a gala celebration at Schwaben Hall on Knickerbocker
Avenue. The outpouring of support for this event
from many clubs and businesses who participated,
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Phone: 718-894-8700
OTHER LOCATIONS:
Ridgewood Office
62-70 Fresh Pond Road
Ridgewood, NY 11385
Brooklyn Office
313 Graham Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11211
Artistic Carpeting
Lawrence Caruana
Lic. R.E. Salesperson
cell: 917-623-7682
fax: 718-672-2968
LCaruana@Tscherne.net
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Residential Commercial Industrial
FREE ESTIMATES FREE MEASURING
Carpets/Commercial and Residential
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Whether you are planning on selling your home or

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Member of the Juniper Park Civic Association

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John Turano
718-565-1065
email: artisticcarpet@aol.com
inspired the idea for a parade celebrating German culture to be held

annually in New York City.
On Saturday, September 17, 2016, the German American Steuben
Parade will proudly celebrate its 59th year with Grand Marshal
Ambassador Peter Wittig. The parade will feature over 20 marching
groups from Germany, Austria and Switzerland as well as various cultural groups from the United States.
While the German American Steuben Parade itself
is held on the 3rd Saturday in September, there are
other festivities that take place all weekend throughout NYC. The Friday before the parade, the music
and costume groups from overseas are invited to a
warm NYC Greeting at Foley Square by City Hall.
On the eve of the parade, a black tie gala benefit
with silent auction is hosted by the Steuben Parade
Committee as a fundraiser for the parade. This year
the event will take place on Friday evening Sept. 16
at The Lighthouse at Chelsea Piers. Tickets cost
$195 per person and are available for purchase on
the website at www.germanparadenyc.org.
Generous parade supporters such as Neue Galerie,
FREY WILLE, Villeroy & Boch, Junghans Watches
and others have donated sought after gifts to the
silent auction, a highlight of the evening.
To this day, the Steuben Parade is still considered one of the most colorful parades in New York City, thanks to our
dynamic floats, and colorful cultural displays.
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82-01 Eliot Avenue

Middle Village, NY
n JUNIPER BERRY Fall 2016 77
We Accept Phone Orders

Delivery Available
Store Hours:
Mon. - Sat. 7am to 10pm
Sun. 7am to 9pm
The
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79-15 Eliot Avenue Middle Village (718) 426-0271 Fax (718) 426-9071
PACE TIRE & DIAGNOSTIC CENTER

Here is a sampling of what we
can do for you and your vehicle...
PACE TIRE has been serving the community for over 50

years. We perform all automotive services, and offer a complete line of major tire brands. We are experts in fitting your
vehicle with the right tires for your driving needs and budget. Walk-ins are always welcome and we can provide estimates on auto body repairs.
You can visit our website at www.pacetire.com or
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days a week. We pride ourselves on fast, efficient service
in a friendly atmosphere.
While you wait - NYS Inspection, oil change and

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Routine Scheduled Maintenance - Federal Law
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solely because routine scheduled maintenance was
performed at an independent repair facility. This
means that we can perform the same services and
probably save you money.
Road Service - Available 24 hours a day.
Early bird drop off and late pick up.
Local pick up and drop off - To your home or public
transportation.
Reminder service - For NYS Inspections and oil changes.
HOURS: Monday - Friday: 7AM to 6PM

Saturday 8AM to 4PM
Sunday 9AM to 3PM
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68-02 Metropolitan Avenue, Middle Village, NY 11379 | www.ctkny.org | 718.366.7454
Where Old World

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a
718-326-5180-90
fax: 718-326-5186
FAMILY OWNED AND OPERATED FOR 44 YEARS
BERRY HISTORY
How people traveled

before the turnpike
From An historical
sketch, of ancient
agriculture, stock
breeding and
manufactures in
Queens County by
Henry Onderdonk,
1867.
n order to illustrate the difficulty of

traveling on Long Island in early
times before much attention was given to the improvement of roads, we
give some observations made by
Reverend N. Huntting, on his journey from East Hampton to Newtown at the
beginning of the last (18th) century. They
were noted down in a guidebook that he
might not miss his way in traveling.
Beyond Southhampton, about 16 miles,
being about 3 or 4 miles from the mill,
going over a little brook, just beyond a
little wooden causey, and then two paths;
leave the right path which goes away to the marsh,

and take the left-hand path. Just over the river by
Parkers Fulling-mill leave the right-hand beaten
road (which goes to Southold) and take a little
and blind foot on the left hand.
A little beyond Coram house leave the right-hand
path which goes to Setauket, and take a left hand
small path by the corner of the field.
A mile beyond Huntington, take the left-hand
path; about 2 miles further you come to a new
built house and an old one on the left hand, and
the mile further take the left-hand path.
Going on to Hempstead plain take the right hand
of the two first pants if you would go the back way
and leave Hempstead town; but if you would go
through Hempstead, then take the right of the two
next paths.
Going the backside of Hempstead plain

towards Jamaica, being got past Hope
Williams about 4 miles, entering on
another part of the plain, and being come
at one house in the corner of a fence with
the well before the door, take the left-hand
Path though it be but blind, leaving the
plainest path going to houses on the right.
Going from Jamaica to Newtown, being

a little past the last house in Jamaica,
take the left-hand.
Going from Newtown to Jamaica, about
2 miles from Newtown by field, take the
right-hand path.
ENTER THE TROLLEY

Horse Cars were small passenger cars that usually held
from 22 to 30 passengers and were pulled along iron or
steel tracks by a horse. The car weighed about two tons
and the passengers up to three tons. The horse was
expected to be able to pull this load at 3 to 5 miles per
hour. Operating a horse car railroad was relatively expensive as it required buying horses and keeping them in a
stable when they were not working. Stable hands were
necessary to clean the stable and feed the horses. Homes
in the vicinity of a horse car stable on a hot summer day
were exposed to strong odors from the piles of manure
outside the stable and also to flies. The manure was collected and sold to fertilizer dealers. In 1867, horse cars
started operating from the ferry landings in Williamsburgh
to Middle Village along Metropolitan Avenue. Initially
they went as far as where the first gate to Lutheran
Cemetery was on the south side of Metropolitan Avenue.
Then later the service was extended to about 70th Street,
and then in 1882 a single track was extended to St. Johns
Cemetery at Dry Harbor Road (80th Street). About 1896
electric trolley cars replaced the horse cars
running to Middle Village as trolley cars
were less expensive to operate and were
much faster. In Manhattan the last horse
car railroad remained in operation until
about 1910. About 1917 the electric trolley
cars on Metropolitan Avenue extended the
service to Jamaica Avenue. About 1950 the
electric trolley cars on Metropolitan
Avenue were replaced by buses.
Our ancestors, doubtless, undervalued the utility of good roads. In 1702

the highway from Jamaica to New
York was so bad as to become the
subject of general complaint. In 1808
when the turnpike was projected on
this line, the farmers were so
opposed to it as to hold an indignation meeting.
replaced an earlier trail. It ended at approximately where

Myrtle Avenue and 81st Street in Glendale are today.
Eventually the road continued south thru the lands of
Thomas Betts and Stephen Lott to the Brooklyn-Jamaica
Ferry Road (now Jamaica Avenue). William Forbell, son
of Henry Forbell, in the 1800s had a farm on the east side
of the road in what is now Glendale, and he took his farm
produce by horse and wagon south on the road to the
Brooklyn-Jamaica Ferry Road and then by another road
south to the boat landing at Plunders Neck in Jamaica
Bay where he loaded his produce on board his boat and
sailed to the Catherine Street Market on the East River in
Manhattan. In 1800 there was a public well on the corner
of Cooper Avenue and Dry Harbor Road for the use of
travellers to water their horses and also for drinking water
for themselves. In May, 1925 the names of many streets
in Queens County were changed to numbers. A section of
the road in Middle Village eventually became 80th Street.
compiled by the Greater Ridgewood Historical Society
80th Street (Dry Harbor Road) was laid out

in 1780 as a wagon path by the Township
of Newtown from what is now Woodhaven
Boulevard to the cluster of farms at Dry
Harbor, namely John Morrell, Abraham
Morrell, Henry Forbell, Christopher
Remsen and Johannes Bartlefolk. It
The technology may change...
...but our Mission

remains the same!
Martin Luther School
prepares tomorrows leaders
for service today.
10/.-,+*)('.&%*10/.-,+*'.0$&%
Just a solid, Christian education
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Upcoming Events at Martin Luther School
Thursday, September 22: Buddy Day

Saturday, October 1:*("'/*"'/-(*!*",*0'"
Thursday, November 3:*(*",*0'"
Saturday, November 12:*("-*"","*.0('.-*
Exam for 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th & 9th Graders
Learn how your child can become

part of the Martin Luther family!
Call to schedule a visit today!
Come in:
Every day is an
Open House at MLS!
Stop in for a tour!
Call up:
(718) 894-4000 phone

(718) 894-1469 fax
Martin Luther
School
Log On:
www.MartinLutherNYC.org
E-mail:
info@MartinLutherNYC.org
Preparing
Tomorrows
Leaders Today

*('"/.*"%**('"/. *1**** $$$%(/-,/."1 %0+
GREAT
The communities of Maspeth, Middle Village

and Glendale have some great homes.
NEIGHBORHOOD
60 DR
HOMES
To recognize them, the Juniper
Berry highlights properties that our
staff reviews or residents send us.
If you know of a great home in the
community or think that you have a
home that should be recognized,
please send us a photo and/or the
address.
Send to: Great Homes Juniper Berry
PO Box 790275
or email information to:
info@junipercivic.com
Enchanted Florist
& GREENHOUSE LLC.

Third Generation in
the Floral industry.
We specially design
flowers for all of
life's occasions.
From the first glance
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let us reflect your
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Flowers Designed by
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PROUD MEMBER OF THE
JUNIPER PARK CIVIC ASSOCIATION
we have Juniper Berry Magazines!
Creative Distinctive Arrangements
Details make the difference
65-10 Grand Avenue Maspeth, NY 11378 718-326-4288

BERRY NATURE
GLACIAL ERRATICS:
Pre-history in the
modern world
(below) Rocks outside

3rd Calvary Cemetery
on 50th Street in
Maspeth.
(right) Onderdonk
House, Ridgewood.
(lower right) Lutheran
Ave near Juniper Blvd
South.
(opposite page, l - r)
All Faiths Cemetery,
Maspeth Memorial
Square, Dry Harbor
Road & Penelope
Ave, 2012.
everal oversized rocks are

scattered throughout our area;
some are celebrated, others
are hidden in plain sight. A
few of these rocks have recent
historical significance (recent defined
as being within the last 400 years), but
all of them date back to a time before
human existence. These boulders are
known as glacial erratics meaning
that they were carried here from elsewhere by melting glaciers more than a
hundred thousand years ago. Glacial
erratics are made of minerals that differ
from those found in local bedrock.
Most erratics found in Queens are
made of granite while the bedrock
under us is mainly a combination of
gneiss and schist.
The most famous glacial erratic in our area is

Arbitration Rock located in the yard of the
Onderdonk House along Flushing Avenue.
This rock is believed to have been one of
three large boulders that served as markers to
delineate the boundary line between the towns
of Newtown in Queens and Bushwick in
Brooklyn in the 1700s. Legend has it that
there once was a line down the middle of
each rock with one side marked B and the
other side marked N. This rock had disappeared decades ago and it was assumed that it
had been dynamited into oblivion. Queens
librarian and historian William Asadorian thoroughly researched the matter and concluded
that the rock had actually been buried underneath Onderdonk Avenue in the 1930s. It was
unearthed during roadwork and moved to the
Onderdonk House in 2001.
As mentioned previously, along with
Arbitration Rock, two other glacial erratics served as border markers during the 18th century. It is possible that
they still exist today. There is a large boulder on Varick
Avenue and Randolph Street in Bushwick that has been
painted green to match the fence next to it. Historians
believe this rock has not been moved for centuries and
sits on what was the original border between Brooklyn
and Queens. The third boulder was likely on Morgan
Avenue near the appropriately named Rock Street until
about 2008. It has since been moved to an unknown location by the owner of the private lot in front of which it
sat.
Then there is the gigantic boulder located in Elmhurst
Park, tucked away in the northeastern corner, near the
Grand Avenue side. This 7-foot tall, 4-ton glacial erratic
was dug up by a sewer contractor excavating Vanderbilt
Avenue in Fort Greene, Brooklyn in 2006. Upon learning
of the find, Queens Parks Commissioner Dorothy

Lewandowski requested that it be incorporated into the
design of the yet-to-be-constructed Elmhurst Park, and it
was transported there. The provenance of this particular
boulder was found to be the Ravenswood section of
Long Island City. An outcropping of exposed bedrock
there, known as ravenswood granodiorite, matches the
material found in Elmhurst Parks enormous rock.
Scattered boulders are also features of the landscaping
throughout Grover Cleveland Park and one is prominently displayed in Juniper Valley Park at the corner of
Lutheran Avenue and Juniper Blvd South.
For many years, a smaller glacial erratic sat right out on
the sidewalk at a Q38 bus stop located on Penelope
Avenue at Dry Harbor Road. It was painted white, likely
by a local homeowner. This rock disappeared circa 2013
when a new sidewalk was installed and its current whereabouts are unknown. A much larger boulder is present in
the small plaza located just outside the western
entrance/exit of the Flushing Avenue LIRR underpass.
Cemeteries are great places to find glacial erratics as
excavation is constantly occurring at them. Along the
fence on the 50th Street side of Third Calvary Cemetery
in Maspeth sits a row of boulders. Just west of the
entrance to Old Calvary Cemetery on Laurel Hill Blvd,
some of these giant rocks were arranged into sidewalk
decorations. The 9/11 memorial at Lutheran-All Faiths
Cemetery is also made from a glacial erratic that was
unearthed during a grave excavation.
Many of our public memorials are comprised of glacial
erratics as well. These include memorials at Drumm
Triangle in Glendale and at Maspeth Memorial Park.
Glacial erratics are happy accidents that hold an important role not only in the field of geology, but also history,
both ancient and modern.
STATE FARM
INSURANCE COMPANIES
Home Offices: Bloomington, Illinois
H
86 JUNIPER BERRY Summer 2016
Dennis OKane
Agent
Serving Queens
Since 1956
81-01 Eliot Avenue

Tel. (718) 429-7781

Fax: (718) 898-7886
CK Kids
Lil Chefs
AGES 3 & UP
A fun, creative & educational
weekly culinary adventure!
after school
program
K-8th Grade | 3:00PM - 6:30PM
Bus Transportation with Experienced Escort
First Aid / CPR Trained Staff | Homework Help
Snack | Arts and Crafts | Games | Outdoor
Playground | Computers
karate
CLASSES OFFERED FOR AGES 2.5 & UP
Builds Literacy, Science

& Math Skills!
CK Kids in partnership with American Dance &

Drama Studio offers students the full dance
studio experience right here at Christ the King!
Basketball, Soccer
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PROGRAMS OFFERED
FOR AGES 2.5 AND UP
AGES 4 & UP
Improves Focus
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Discipline
Self Defense
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ACROBATICS
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68-02 Metropolitan Avenue, Middle Village, NY 11379

718.366.7454 | WWW.CTKNY.ORG
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Killys Korner
D USWS
N
E
S R NE
YOU
by John Killcommons
Hello Everyone! Hoping you all had a great

summer. Well we did spend some time in
Montauk and as I have said before, I always
run into people from Middle Village wherever I
go and this summer was no different. While
coming from a restaurant on the dock we
noticed a group of guys with the same shirt on
and suddenly they started to approach us. They
were all from Middle Village and attending the
Annual Jim Barker Fishing Classic.
And pictured at the Sole East restaurant are

Katie, Nicole, Sarah, Jack and Julia, our
grandchildren.
Betty & John Killcommons, Lynn & Larry

Roth, Kathy & Felix DeGiovanni and Ginny
and Gene Hummel are pictured at the dock.
Send info and photos to:
KillysKorner@aol.com
or write: Juniper Berry
PO Box 790275
DEADLINE FOR
NEXT ISSUE:
NOV 1, 2016
Congratulations
to Paul
DeSantis on
his big catch in
Montauk, a 42pound striped
bass.
And we also
ran into the
DeSantis girls,
Isabella and
Francesca, at
Gosmans
Dock.
MaryBeth Meenan, a Middle Village resident

who teaches at PS/IS 102Q in Elmhurst, won
the 2016-2017 Big Apple Award. The Big Apple
Award is a program that recognizes educators
in New York City who inspire students, model
great teaching, and enrich their school communities. In June she was informed through a surprise classroom visit from Chancellor Farina.
In the upcoming school year she will serve on
the Chancellors Teacher Advisory Group allowing her to expand her impact in education.
Best wishes for a

speedy recovery
to Father Paul
Wood, who unfortunately had to
have the lower
part of his leg
removed in July.
He is rehabilitating but expected
to soon be back
to his pastoral duties at St. Stans and
Transfiguration parishes. Our prayers
are with you, Fr. Paul!
Boulevard
South and 76th
Street. The premier of Bull
will be on
September
20th. Pictured
are Michael
Weatherly, and
John Philips
and me.
Once again, the concerts in Juniper

Park were a great success with hundreds attending. People were dancing,
singing and having a great time in the
park. On Italian night, there was one
enthusiastic fan, Lena Cialone who will
celebrate her 96th Birthday on
September 8th. Lena was my neighbor
on 80th street (where I grew up) for
many years and she still lives there.
Congratulations Lena! Continue your
wonderful spirit for many years to come.
Congratulations to Chris Hoos &

Tanya Magnus-Hoos, daughter of
Juniper Berry columnist Joe Magnus
and late JPCA Secretary Margaret
Magnus, who gave birth to twins Sean
and Margaret on June 4th. Here they
are all decked out for their christening
in August.
On Thursday, August 18th, the new

CBS Series Bull was filmed in Juniper
Valley Park. The scene was a baseball
game staged at the field on Juniper
The Secular
Franciscan
Fraternity held a
gathering at St.
Adalbert Church in
Elmhurst to select a
new fraternity Council
recently. The new
Fraternity Council
members elected are
the following:
Minister: Carolyn
Talento, Glendale;
Vice Minister: Mary
Ann Page, Middle
Village; Secretary:
Marie Casalaspro,
Elmhurst; Treasurer,
Constance Watz,
Glendale; Formation
Director: Teresa
Ornas, Maspeth.
About a million men
and women worldwide live as Secular
Franciscans married
or single with jobs living in their homes
having made a commitment to follow in
the footsteps of St.
Francis and live the
Gospel in daily life.
The Fraternity meets
on the last day of the
month in the lower
Church, All are welcome to attend. Contact
Carolyn Talento at
718-821-1875.
Middle Villages own Joseph Mortillaro

has been drafted by the Los Angeles
Dodgers. Joe is an alumnus of both
St. Margarets and Christ the King
and for years played summer ball for
our Midville Dodgers. Congratulations!
Congratulations to JPCAs Christina

Wilkinson and Ed Shusterich who
received the General Slocum Award
from All Faiths Cemetery in early
June for their service to our communities. As you are aware, Christina is
president of Newtown Historical
Society and Ed is the founder and
caretaker of the Pullis Farm Cemetery
Historical Landmark.
A heartwarming tribute was given to
Michael McHugh at Our Lady of
Hope auditorium in June with the entire
school participating. There were songs
Killys Korner
the top-rated high schools in the region.
The MLS Delegation had the opportunity
to meet with administrators and faculty
to discuss offering Chinese students,
working together in a cohort, the option
of completing Martin Luther's curriculum
to earn a MLS diploma.
Family and friends gathered in Aurora,

Ohio on Labor Day Weekend to celebrate Rick Buoncore's 60th Birthday.
Pictured from left to right: Rob and
Dotty Lackner, Rose (Buoncore) and
Jim Shea, Rick and Lori (Lackner)
Buoncore and Betty Buoncore
Killcommons.
and skits performed depicting his life. It

brought tears to the eyes of many students who had to say farewell to this
wonderful teacher. Bob Holden, Lorraine
Sciulli and I were invited guests and
were moved by the entire performance.
MHS Art Student Wins $1,000.00
Scholarship...Paloma Santana, a graduating senior from the Class of 2016,
was honored at the Metropolitan
Museum of Art. She is a finalist in a
citywide competition, PS Art 2016. Her
entry, titled 'El Trabajador,' was selected
from over hundreds of entries from all
five boroughs. Her work will be on display at the museum until October.
Additionally, Paloma also received a
$1000 scholarship from Studio in a
School. Pictured are Paloma and her art
teacher, Adam Gordon.
Martin Luther School's Executive

Director, Randy Gast, and his assistant, Director of Communications,
Kelli Westfal, recently returned from
their first journey to China! Representing
the Maspeth school, they met with two
different schools to speak about potential partnerships and expansion opportunities. The first school visited, located in
Anhui Province, has an enrollment of
more than 5,000 students and is one of
This little doll is Emily Rae Mougis. She

is the seven month old Great
Granddaughter of JPCA Vice President
Lorraine Sciulli. Emily Rae and her
family celebrated her recent "Baby
Blessing" event with the loving message
that Emily Rae's future be bright & productive as she makes her way through
life's long journey. Congratulations &
Best Wishes to all who will share in little
Emily Rae's journey. (contd on page 92)
BERRY HEALTH
Getting the most out of

your fruits and vegetables
by Shana
Spence
In general,
fruits and
vegetables
should
consist of
half of
your plate.
ost Americans are aware the eating fruits

and vegetables is part of healthy diet.
Aside from being naturally low in fat and
calories, they are important sources of many nutrients, including potassium, dietary fiber, folate,
vitamin A and C. The dietary fiber is especially
important because this reduces blood cholesterol
levels and can help lower risk of heart disease.
However, studies show that half of Americans
consumed less than 1 cup of fruit and less than 1.5
cups of vegetables daily.
The average individual should be consuming 2
cups of fruit and 3 cups of vegetables daily. One
cup of fruit would be about 1 small apple, 1 large
banana, 7 large berries for fruit. For vegetables
one cup would be, 2 asparagus spears, 2 medium
carrots, or 10 green beans. For those who might
need more guidance, the USDA MyPlate is a great
reference to follow. In general, fruits and vegetables should consist of half of your plate. And also
remember that all product forms are counted such
as fresh, frozen, canned, dried, and 100% fruit and
vegetable juices.
There are many reasons contributing to why this
may be and may include the belief that fresh produce is too expensive, also the availability for buying such might be limited. Also, many do not
think that they enjoy the taste of vegetables especially.
There are many ways to save money purchasing,
and the number one is buying in season. This
means that purchasing fruits such as cherries,
strawberries, and peaches, as well as vegetables
such as beets, broccoli, and cauliflower, during the
summer, will be less expensive than purchasing in
the fall and winter. The secret is to also enjoy local
produce from the market and cut out the cost of

importing foods from other countries. Another tip
on saving money on produce is to store everything
correctly. Never wash produce until you are ready
to consume. This will prevent the moisture from
formulating bacteria and having your fruits and
vegetables spoil faster.
As for those who think that they do not enjoy the
taste of fruits and vegetables, there are many ways
to sneak them into your diet.
Add them to sandwiches - Toss in some sliced
tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, carrots, and or
sliced apple for an extra crunch and added health
benefits such as vitamins and fiber.
Change up your breakfast - Add in mushrooms,
bell peppers, onions, and/or tomato to your omelet
or scrambled eggs for not only some added nutrients but also some added flavor. Adding spinach is
also a great way to get in some extra greens that
will not also alter the taste of the dish. Try to make
a fruit smoothie with strawberries, raspberries,
peaches, and dont forget to throw in some yogurt
for added protein.
Make a stir fry - Stir frying vegetables is a quick
way to add in nutritional value and also makes for
a quick meal. Throw in your choice of protein and
some whole grain such as brown rice for a complete meal.
In conclusion, always try to buy fresh produce in
season. If you cannot buy fresh, go with frozen
vegetables which have just as good nutritional value and are quick and easy to prepare. Try to vary
your choices and get in the daily serving amount
by adding them to different food dishes throughout the day. You can also save money by storing
your produce correctly and not washing before
you are ready to use.
Killys Korner
It is with great sadness that we

announce the passing of a good
friend in our neighborhood,
Kathleen O'Connell, who worked in
Artis Drugs for many years. All
reports indicated that Kathy was
putting up a valiant fight during her
illness but sadly, the bad news is
her passing on September 5th. The
funeral Mass was held at
Miraculous Medal Church and she
was waked at Hess Miller Funeral
Home. We send our deepest sympathy to her family and they should
know that everyone's friend, Kathy
O'Connell, will be dearly missed.
Rest in peace, Kathy, you were a
hard worker, always ready to help
anyone who had a problem.
Lorraine Sciulli
Francine
LaRosaLaSala has
joined Crifasi
Real Estate as
a Sales Agent.
Best of Luck to
Francine!
Member, Juniper Park Civic Assn.
GrandStand
Open 7 days for Lunch &

Dinner with daily specials
Private Party Room Available
Can accommodate
40-70 people
Karaoke Every Friday and the

1st Saturday of every month
Showing all Soccer & Rugby
Matches on Fox Premium,
ESPN & Fox Sports
John Browne
Proprietor
85-35 Grand Ave. Elmhurst, Queens 718-651-4996 718 -478-9633
Gunral
Service
Center
ALL PHASES OF
AUTO REPAIR
Cars, Trucks, Vans, 4-Wheel Drive
Computer Diagnostic & Fuel Injection
Call for Appointment 8am-5pm Mon-Fri
Snow Removal
64-01 Woodhaven Blvd.
Call: 718-459-7799
Gunther Duy & Ralph Barone
24 hour Emergency Service
We Charge by the Job

Not by the Hour
Senior Citizens Discount
HEATING
Boilers (Oil & Gas)
Baseboards
National Grid Certified
Contractor
New Additions
Zone Valves
Steam Piping
Radiant Heat
Annual Boiler
Inspections
Oil Tank Removal
PLUMBING
All Repairs
New Bathrooms &
Kitchens
Gas Piping
Water Heaters
Gas Leak
Water Mains
Violations Removed
Sewers
Water Meters
Appliances Installed
Sewer & Drain Cleaning
ALCO
Plumbing & Heating Inc.
61-10 85th St. Middle Village
(718) 397-7511
James Faello NYC License #01013
Your Representatives
2015-2016 Civic Officers
GOVERNOR
MAYOR
Bill de Blasio
Mayors Office, City Hall
New York, NY l0007 (2l2) 788-3000
Civic A
ark
ss
P
r
P.O. Box 790275
c.
., In
oc
633 Third Avenue

New York, NY 10017 (212) 681-4580
Jun
ipe
Andrew Cuomo
(718) 651-5865
info@junipercivic.com
SENATORS
Charles Schumer
757 Third Avenue, Suite 17-02
New York, NY 10017 (212) 486-4430
Kirsten Gillibrand
780 Third Avenue Suite 2601
New York, NY 10017 (212) 688-6262
CONGRESS
6th District (Maspeth, Middle Village)
Grace Meng
118-35 Queens Boulevard Suite 1610
Forest Hills, NY 11375 (718) 445-7861
STATE SENATORS
Joseph Addabbo
66-85 73rd Place
Middle Village 11379 (718) 497-1630
12th District (West Maspeth)
Michael Gianaris
31-19 Newtown Avenue Suite 402
Astoria, NY 11102 718-728-0960
STATE ASSEMBLY MEMBERS
28th District (Middle Village)
Andrew Hevesi
70-50 Austin Street Suite 110
Forest Hills 11375 (718) 263-5595
Marge Markey
55-19 69th Street
Maspeth, NY 11378 (718) 651-3185
37th District (West Maspeth)
Catherine Nolan
UPCOMING
TOWN MEETINGS
Sept. 22
OCT. 27
DEC. 8
S
D G
EN TIN
T
AT MEE
N
W
O
T
CE
OI
V
R
OU D!
Y
R
VE HEA
HA
61-08 Linden Street

Ridgewood, NY 11385 718-456-9492
CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS
30th District (Middle Village, Maspeth)
Elizabeth Crowley
Atlas Park 71-19 80th Street, Suite 8-303
Glendale, NY 11385 (718) 366-3900
29th District (Middle Village, northeast)
Thursday @ 7:45pm
Our Lady of Hope School
Eliot Avenue @ 71st St.
Middle Village
Karen Koslowitz
118-35 Queens Blvd, 17th Floor
Queens, NY 11375 (718) 544-8800
BOROUGH PRESIDENT
Melinda Katz
120-55 Queens Boulevard
Kew Gardens, NY 11424 (718) 286-3000
COMMUNITY BOARD #5Q
Vincent Arcuri, Chairperson
Gary Giordano, District Manager
61-23 Myrtle Avenue
Glendale, NY 11385 (718) 366-1834
NEW MEMBERS
ALWAYS WELCOME
(see membership form
on page 7)
Please Support Our

Advertisers.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
President - Robert F. Holden
Vice President - Lorraine Sciulli
First VP - John Killcommons
Second VP - Len Santoro
Treasurer Tony Nunziato
Sgt. At Arms - Patrick Trinchese
Secretary - Lu Sadowski
Recording Secretary - Marilyn Gallo
EXECUTIVE BOARD
Craig Caruana
Manny Caruana
Josephine Caruso
Gary Colter
Dr. Edmond Demirdjan
Rose Johnson
Dieter Keppler
Rudy Masi
Peter Polonski
Angelo Raneri
Mary Ann Ricevuto
Theresa Riley
Lee Rottenberg
Dennis Stephan
Dan Trembinski
Pat Zinza
COUNSELS
Alan Giordani, Esq.
Anthony R. Mordente, Esq
ADVISORS
Ed Kampermann
Christina Wilkinson
Committee Chairpersons
Advertising - Lorraine Sciulli
Auditing - Josephine Lume
Historian - Christina Wilkinson
Housing & Land Use - Robert Holden
Sanitation - Angelo Raneri
Transportation - Manny Caruana
Trees - Robert Holden
Juniper Berry - Robert Holden
Juniper Juniors - Len Santoro
Membership - Mary Ann Ricevuto
Parks - Lorraine Sciulli
Public Safety - Len Santoro
Web site - Brian Holden
Important Phone Numbers

Police: Emergency..........................911
Quality of Life Dial......................311
104th Precinct Main:.....(718) 386-3004
Comm.Policing Unit:.....(718) 386-4006
Community Affairs: ....(718) 386-2431
Youth Officer: ...........(718) 386-2486
Crime Prevention: ....(718) 386-6223
Police Reports: .........(718) 386-2362
Problems with city services such as
sewers, sanitation, streets, public transit,
public safety, parks etc. call Community
Board #5 (718) 366-1834 or dial 311
Serving parts of Middle Village, Maspeth
and Elmhurst for over 77 years.
2016 Juniper Park Civic Assn., Inc.
Neighborhood Hall of Shame CoMMunity EyEsorEs

Thankfully, the vast majority of property owners in Middle
Village & Maspeth take pride in the appearance and well-being
of our neighborhood. But a few property owners have a total
disregard for the condition of their property. So we induct these
properties into this months Hall of Shame.
If you see properties in disarray, call 311. And please send them
to us for possible inclusion in our neighborhood hall of shame.
Graffiti images on this page have been altered to not give
vandals notoriety. Send to: info@junipercivic.com or mail to:
Juniper Berry Eyesores, PO Box 275 Middle Village, NY 11379
JJJ
MIDDLE VILLAGE MESS

The house at the corner of 83rd Place and
63rd Ave has been a mess for a very long
time. The upstairs window has been missing for at least 10 years. Several of the other windows have trash bags hanging in
them. The siding on the southern face of the
building has seen better days. There are 2
new windows on the second floor in the
front of the building, so at least there is hope
for a renovation.
JJ
HISTORIC MASPETH HORROR

The old bluestone sidewalk and beautiful
hedge in front of the historic Maurice house
on 57th Place has sadly been removed and
replaced with nothing! There has been a
serious lack of sidewalk here for weeks and
the masonry work that was being done in
the yard seems to have been halted as well,
leaving the property wide open and quite an
eyesore.
WEEDHURST
The pictured lot is owned by an absentee
landlord who fails to maintain the property by allowing weeds and other garbage
to accumulate. Several calls were made
to 311, but the Health and Sanitation
Depts have found no serious violations.
The home is located at 79-10 Elks Road,
near Grand Ave and 79th Street in
Elmhurst.
DID YOUR MEMBERSHIP EXPIRE?

PLEASE CHECK EXPIRATION DATE ON LABEL.
Juniper Park Civic Association

PO Box 790275
Time Sensitive
Please Deliver
Promptly
PRSRT STD
U.S. Postage
PAID
Flushing, NY
Permit # 586
TOWN MEETING
Thurs., Sept 22nd 7:45pm
Our Lady of Hope School
Find us on Facebook
NYC DEPARTMENT OF PARKS, JUNIPER PARK CIVIC ASSOCIATION

AND BOROUGH PRESIDENT MELINDA KATZ PRESENT
Queens Symphony Orchestra

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 24TH, 7:00PM
Juniper Valley Park, Middle Village
IN CELEBRATION OF THE 200TH ANNIVERSARY OF MIDDLE VILLAGE
PLEASE CALL 718-651-5865, EMAIL INFO@JUNIPERCIVIC.COM OR FOR WEATHER UPDATES

BRING YOUR OWN LAWN CHAIR CO-SPONSORED BY ATRIA SENIOR LIVING FOREST HILLS,
CRIFASI REALTY AND THE JUNIPER VALLEY PARK CONSERVANCY

Juniper Berry Fall 2016

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Berry_Fall_2016_BU.qxp_Juniper Berry Dec.

'03 9/6/16 10:55 AM Page 1

Middle Village, New York

Berry_Fall_2016_BU.qxp_Juniper Berry Dec.'03 9/6/16 10:55 AM Page 2

60th Avenue at 84th Street, looking east.

Berry_Fall_2016_BU.qxp_Juniper Berry Dec.'03 9/6/16 10:55 AM Page 3

PARK CIVIC ASSOCIATION

our 77th yEar voL. 77 no. 3

Town Meeting: Thursday, Sept. 22

HOW TO REGISTER TO VOTE

the Juniper Berry is published quarterly

Voting in General Elections:

JUNIPER BERRY Fall 2016 3

Berry_Fall_2016_BU.qxp_Juniper Berry Dec.'03 9/6/16 10:55 AM Page 4

MIDDLE VILLAGE MASPETH

NO TRUCKS SIGN PLACED ALONG GRAND AVE

CAR ADS BEING CLEANED UP

The NYCDOT has programmed a lighted sign on Grand

There are a number

KEEP PRIVATE TRASH OUT OF PUBLIC BINS

SILVER NOW VILLAGE BARN

Its a sanitation violation for household trash to be placed

4 JUNIPER BERRY Fall 2016

Berry_Fall_2016_BU.qxp_Juniper Berry Dec.'03 9/6/16 10:55 AM Page 5

RIDGEWOOD MIDDLE VILLAGE MASPETH

NEVER BEGINNING BRIDGE

We were told this spring that it

maintenance and protection of traffic

CYCLIST BADLY INJURED ON LUTHERAN AVENUE

JUNIPER BERRY Fall 2016 5

Berry_Fall_2016_BU.qxp_Juniper Berry Dec.'03 9/6/16 10:55 AM Page 6

MIDDLE VILLAGE BICENTENNIAL

ALL FAITHS NATURE AND

PHOTO: TURKEY VULTURE, STEVE NANZ

TOUR OF FRESH POND

6 JUNIPER BERRY Fall 2016

Berry_Fall_2016_BU.qxp_Juniper Berry Dec.'03 9/6/16 10:55 AM Page 7

PLATEAU ARCHES FINALLY RESTORED!

$25 Yearly Dues includes

Membership & Juniper Berry Magazine

Juniper Park Civic Association, Inc.

JUNIPER BERRY Fall 2016 7

Berry_Fall_2016_BU.qxp_Juniper Berry Dec.'03 9/6/16 10:55 AM Page 8

Farms and Residences

Philip Paulus House

Philip Paulus House was a 4 story wooden

booths. The Paulus House was to the west of

frame house with an open porch facing

acres that he owned on the south side of

Berry_Fall_2016_BU.qxp_Juniper Berry Dec.'03 9/6/16 10:55 AM Page 9

widow, Harriet, apparently died shortly thereafter and that

house with an open porch facing Metropolitan Avenue. It

Berger Brothers and Ferris

been passed by the Board of Aldermen. An exemption not

Avenue between what is now Mount Olivet Crescent and

The Way Family was one of the pioneer families in the

Berry_Fall_2016_BU.qxp_Juniper Berry Dec.'03 9/6/16 10:56 AM Page 10

now Metropolitan Avenue. Charles Way Farm House was

corner of Fresh Pond Road and what is now Metropolitan

Avenue. He had died by 1882 and his farm house was

ner of Fresh Pond Road and what is now Metropolitan

now Lutheran Cemetery on the

Berry_Fall_2016_BU.qxp_Juniper Berry Dec.'03 9/6/16 10:56 AM Page 11

Over time, he and his family had amassed a farm of about