City Island Civic Association

The meeting was brought to order at 7:40 p.m. by Bill Stanton, president. The reading of the minutes was waived and they were accepted as distributed. The Civic Association website is www.cicivic.org for everyone to keep up on the news and current events.

Quality of Life issues: Complaints were registered about certain locations, including 151 Carroll Street, 610 City Island Avenue (commercial sign) and a house on Minneford that has a rock planter sticking out into the street. Two residents were ticketed for having boats on their property; City Planning is addressing the issue with the Dept of Buildings since it relates to commercial businesses that store boats rather than private individuals. Residents are urged not to post flyers on utility or telephone poles (it is illegal) and are urged to clean up after their dogs.

Lt. Ortiz of the 45th Precinct and Officer Caldero, the new Community Affairs Officer, attended the meeting to address our major issues, including motorcycle and car noise and the improper use of the fire lane. Homeowners are fed up with the fact that visitors to the Island are disrespectful of the residents. There are plans to have police stop all motorcycles coming on the Island; it was successful last year and several were confiscated; this may send a message to the motorcycle groups coming to the Island. The 45th Precinct has no control over traffic agents; that is regulated by the traffic department within the NYPD. It was suggested that off-duty officers be hired by some of the businesses where these offending visitors hang out; we also need more traffic control at the circle and at the intersections. There were reports of kids using drugs in Hawkins Park and in the school yard and certain street-end beaches; of illegal parking at the southern end of the Island on the side streets. The police urge residents to call if they witness a crime in progress; the call will be anonymous. There was a discussion of the way in which the police allocate their officers, who seem to spend more time checking car registrations than they do preventing crimes. The 45th Precinct’s Community Council meeting is held the first Thursday of every month, and anyone with a complaint is urged to attend. The Community Board approved the elimination of the U-turnaround on the Hutchinson Parkway exit in Pelham Bay Park.

Other issues included the appropriate time to enter the fire lane to make a left turn; answer: when the line in the right lane is no longer a double line. It is not legal to stay in the fire lane all the way over the bridge to make a left turn at Bridge Street. All parades in the city are being shortened by 25 percent, so even our shot Memorial Day Parade will be shorter. There will be coverage on that weekend and on July 4. Tow trucks speeding down the fire lane are still being reported; sometimes as many as five trucks will show up at an accident and some will take a car away without authorization.

Ladder Company 53 has not yet been slated for closure, as the city budget is on hold while Albany fusses with the state budget. All shutdowns have to be announced 45 days in advance. The CI Branch Library is also at risk because of budget cuts. This and other issues involving fiscal waste are being investigated by Senator Klein. In the meantime, city water rates have increased again, for the third year in a row.

The Chamber of Commerce is preparing a new picture map of City Island; the cost is $360 to place your business on the map.

The security cameras being funded by Senator Klein are in the works; property owners where they are to be placed need to submit paperwork, which is all that is holding up the project.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:58 p.m.