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About Us
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History by Lorraine Sciulli The JPCA was started back in 1938, with the sole purpose of being an organized body to fight adversity. Yes, even in 1938 they recognized the need for a united voice in the community. Before I start mentioning our JPCA accomplishments I should state that the Juniper Berry, our civic magazine, with our President, Bob Holden, as the editor, has become a true force for "no spin" reporting. With hotshot reporters like the young Christina Wilkinson, Ed Kampermann and Bob Doocey and other volunteers we manage to keep issues on the print front burner of importance. Relying on the local newspapers for the true story is futile because their "spinning" is geared to selling newspapers and furthering their own agenda. The Juniper Berry is in no one's pocket, so to speak, and it's truly our "crown jewel," with a huge distribution. I should mention that my parents were active members of the JPCA in the early years and they instilled in me a civic pride to always work toward improving the neighborhood. I personally cameon the civic scene in the late 1970's when the newly developed western portion of Juniper Valley Park was completed. At the time, with no input from the community, the NYC Parks Department placed a huge parking lot at the site of 77th Street and Juniper Boulevard North. This parking lot became a neighborhood nightmare with all night drinking parties, prostitution and drugs. I recall going to the JPCA and its then President, Mary Cummins, and our councilman, Arthur Katzman, and asking for their guidance so we could have the parking lot closed off. We got the parking lot closed off within six months. What a high that was and it sure reinforced the legacy of my parents who often said, "If you don't like what's going on in your neighborhood, change it!" That's a little of my personal story now let me give you a snapshot of the JPCA victories over the years. I recall the horrible condition of Juniper Valley Park in the 1970's when drugs ruled and the city coffers were virtually empty. At the time the city found some money and began a project to install swimming pools in any park that would have one. Needless to say, Juniper Valley Park was at the top of the list. The JPCA was vehemently against the idea, feeling that with crime at an all time high, a pool would bring in hundreds of people and cars. They fought the good fight to defeat the pool and won. Then there was the threat of an apartment house next to Our Lady of Hope. Again, there was a big JPCA fight, and, take a look, two family homes at the site, another victory for the good guys! Let's not forget Silver Crest and the drama of that neighborhood threat when they wanted to close off 81st Street and make part of Caldwell Avenue their personal property. The JPCA fought Silver Crest for many years and did manage to defeat that idea. Presently we are on notice that a Walgreen's Drug Store will be built, as of right, on the site but the JPCA successfully fought their variance to make a larger store, smaller parking lot and no loading dock. When Bob Holden came on the scene everything went to fast-forward. Bob brought a testy impatience to the civic table. He quickly formed COP 104 when he noted the very little attention and communication we had with the 104th Pct. Bob built up the Juniper Berry to expose problems in the community. For instance, with hard work on the part of all our volunteers, Juniper Valley Park became one of the top parks in the city. We fought a homeless shelter near Metro Mall. When Bob saw the very real threat of a Home Depot at the old Elmhurst gas tanks site, he immediately put the message out there, "we need more parkland, not another Home Depot." A park is in the planning stage for the site, another JPCA victory. Let's not forget the Cross Harbor project with hundreds of additional trucks earmarked for our residential streets. Again, the force of the JPCA, accompanied by the newly formed Middle Village/Maspeth Task Force was the deciding factor in killing that crazy idea with all its negative environmental impact problems. Another JPCA accomplishment of note - noise barriers on the LIE within the Maspeth corridor. There is an undertone of resentment from some groups because of the many improvements made in Juniper Valley Park. They forget that we as taxpayers have every right to these improvements because we fund them with our tax dollars. Instead of setting their sights on working to get some of these tax moneys for their own neighborhood parks they would rather waste their energy resenting us for our park accomplishments. It wouldn't hurt for them to form their own civic association so they could bring a force to the bargaining table. One of the biggest victories of the JPCA, was the zip code change which changed the whole area east of 74th Street on the north side of Eliot Avenue, into Middle Village, with the zip 11379. There were those out there who, for personal reasons wanted to keep the 11373 zip code of Elmhurst. They did their share of sneering and I still wonder where they all hid on that cold night when we had our victory parade along the streets of "Middle Village," chanting, "Welcome to Middle Village! Then there was the downzoning of the Middle Village/Maspeth area, a big assignment which the JPCA took on over two years ago. I can tell you without the tough effort from the JPCA, this Herculean goal would never have been accomplished. We had to deal with an underfunded Department of City Planning and we, community volunteers, had to go door to door bringing the housing stock of the neighborhood up to date so City Planning could do its job. Nothing is easy! More victories to mention: the JPCA got Con Edison to pay attention to their shoddy work in our neighborhood by publicizing and showing pictures of their sloppy electric pole wiring. Pullis Cemetery in Juniper Valley Park, with the help of JPCA volunteer, Ed Shusterich, has been rehabilitated from a weeded, abandoned area, to a respectful burial site of one of the first families in Middle Village, the Pullis family. Through all of this, JPCA volunteers help maintain Juniper Valley Park and conduct several clean-ups. In recent years the formation of the Juniper Juniors helped bring in young civic-minded members to work on community projects. This year, Juniper Park Civic Association began sponsoring the annual Juniper Park Concert Series. We look forward to many more years of summer music. |
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