Community Rallies for Colin

On Saturday, February 18th neighborhood residents rallied to help 6-year old Colin Flood in his battle against Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL). Colin, who is a first grader at Our Lady of Hope School and player in his peewee basketball league, spent Christmas receiving his first round of chemotherapy in the hospital. His mother Jennifer has lived every parent’s nightmare, watching her normally active 6-year old have his life sidelined by this disease as he undergoes aggressive rounds of chemotherapy, forcing him to remain in the hospital at all times. Now his doctors say that his only chance of survival is a bone marrow transplant. Unfortunately, his brother is not a match and now his life depends on a stranger.
Remarkably, 1,943 residents and friends showed up at OLH to register and be tested for a possible bone marrow match.
Colin’s father Kevin Flood, a retired NYC firefighter from Engine 210, risked his life aiding in the search and rescue efforts after 9/11.

A Bathroom for a Billionaire

At $2.3 Million, the Elmhurst Park comfort station seems way overpriced. Apparently that’s par for the course when it comes to city capital projects. But according to the NY Daily News, Parks Department officials are defending the cost. “We follow the city’s rules when procuring projects and select the lowest responsible bidder,” an agency spokesman said. “The costs of this building per square foot are similar to those of other new comfort stations.” “That’s part of the problem,” said Robert Holden, president of the Juniper Park Civic Association, “city officials are quite comfortable with spending an obscene amount of taxpayers’ money on a bathroom.” The futuristic bathroom is scheduled to open sometime in June, 2012.

Civic pushes for crackdown on chronic eyesores

Fed up with chronic eyesore sites in the community, JPCA President Robert Holden has notified the Department of Buildings (DOB) of several locations that must be cleaned up. In response, DOB has alerted the agency Padlock Team to explore shutting down these sites which would mean prohibiting access to the property by the owner until the violations are removed. For instance the first location listed by the DOB is 58-22 84th Street. The site has been an eyesore in the community for over a decade. The property owner owes over $25,000 in fines and has ignored all DOB summonses and orders. He alsocontinues to illegally park commercial vehicles on his property. Since coming into office, Council Member Elizabeth Crowley has failed to address these sites which have a huge negative impact on our area.

JPCA Wins $1,000 Grant

The Juniper Park Civic Association (JPCA) has been awarded a “Love Your Block Grant Award” from the Citizens Committee of New York City. The grant will be used for various clean-up projects sponsored by the civic association. JPCA board member, Len Santoro, who organized several clean-ups around the area, applied for the grant and will once again lead the Juniper Juniors this year in neighborhood beautification projects. The Citizens Union is scheduled to present the grant at the JPCA’s next town meeting on March 8th at Our Lady of Hope Auditorium.

Vietnam Memorial Wall Coming to Juniper

The Vietnam Memorial Moving Wall will be coming to Juniper Valley Park for display, tentatively, from June 29 to July 2, 2012. The Memorial Wall will be located on the lower ballfields in front of the flagpole and memorial for the annual candlelight vigil for victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
The Juniper Park Civic Association welcomes the Vietnam Memorial Wall and the opportunity to pay homage to the veterans who have given the ultimate for our country. We are grateful and proud of all the men and women who serve, protecting the freedoms we enjoy as Americans, and the Vietnam Memorial Wall in particular is the symbol of their sacrifice. It is our community's opportunity to say “thank you,” to our veterans of the Vietnam War.