City Island Civic Association

The meeting was brought to order at 7:35 p.m. by Barbara Dolensek, second vice president. The reading of the minutes of the September meeting was waived and the minutes were accepted as distributed. The treasurer reported that there was $14,974.62 in the regular account and $10,064.17 in the SONE account.

Crime: The Community Council of the 45th Precinct had its October meeting on City Island at the American Legion, and Captain Green gave an excellent summary of police issues affecting City Island. The traffic agents managed to improve the traffic situation during the summer, freeing up the officers to monitor other activities. There were 29 summonses for DWI during issued from June to October, and other summonses issued for excessive noise, etc.; two motorcycles were confiscated. There will be a report in the November issue of The Island Current.

Development: The empty store at 532 City Island Avenue is being renovated for a daytime program (9am to 3pm) for developmentally disabled persons, to be operated by the state’s Department of Health (DOH). The individuals will be brought in by vans and the client to staff ratio will be 3 to 1. A representative of the DOH agreed to address a future Civic meeting to discuss the project. There will be 25 people accommodated, and this should include those from City Island. They will not need any parking at the facility.

Dr. Domenico Mignone presented his plans for the senior housing to the Community Board’s housing and zoning committee; the project has changed yet again to include assisted living facilities (the state grants require that). The Community Board recommended that he apply to City Planning for a zoning change, but Dr. Mignone prefers to go directly to the Board of Standards and Appeals (BSA) for a variance. The Board said he would have to apply to the Buildings Department first before going to BSA. Although a smaller assisted living facility would not be as objectionable as a four-story market rate apartment house, the entrance on Schofield Street will also make it difficult for the fire trucks to negotiate turns, and insufficient parking is also a legitimate concern. The current site is now zoning M-1, on which a tow truck facility is allowed.

Residents of Reynolds Street are circulating a petition asking for “no parking here to corner” signs to be returned because of near accidents. The meeting was in general agreement to support the petition.

Gunshots were reported on Cross Street on a recent Friday night, and there was also an attempted break-in, but the perpetrator was scared off by a dog. It is very important to report incidents like this in order to get it on the record. Be sure to get an incident number when you call.

Mary Jean Dux sent the Civic a letter asking members to ask the Post Office k to keep Jim and Sonya.

There were no new nominations for the slate of Civic officers (first vice president, treasurer, and corresponding secretary); the election will be held at the November meeting.