Season's Greetings:

The Juniper Park Civic Association has been fighting to save St. Saviour's Church for almost a year now. Thus far, we have been successful. The developer took over the property on December 26th of last year, and a week shy of the one-year anniversary of this event, the church is still standing, now with a “for sale” sign on the fence.

West Maspeth, where this site is located, currently has no park and no open space. The children in this heavily polluted neighborhood that sits alongside truck and diesel train routes currently use the yard of a warehouse as a playground. This is simply unacceptable.

Last week, Mayor Bloomberg unveiled his goals for the future of NYC. One of these was that every city resident would live within 10 minutes walking distance of a park. The St. Saviour's grounds are a ready-made park, containing 185 trees, many of which are of the old-growth variety, and a beautiful 1.5-acre landscape. Many bird species call it home as it is the only green space around. I personally have seen different hawk, falcon, flycatcher, woodpecker, warbler and vireo species on the property. The historic church that sits atop the hill and the parsonage at the bottom of the hill can be converted into a museum and community center. Don't you think this proposal is preferable to the 71 units of housing that the city is still considering to allow to be built upon the land? And the best part about this ready-made park is that it's for sale!

So please write to Mayor Bloomberg at this website and tell him that St. Saviour's is the perfect place to start working on his goal to have everyone within walking distance of a park. A couple of sentences is all that is necessary. If you don't live in NYC, don't worry, the city is accepting suggestions from prospective residents and tourists as well.

Thank you to everyone who signed the St. Saviour's petition. We have over 700 signatures now. If you haven't signed it, please take a moment to do so.

If you have no idea what I am talking about, then, boy, do I have a story for you!

Please pass this on to anyone you think would like to help.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!

Yours truly,

Christina Wilkinson
Chair, JPCA Committee to Save St. Saviour's
www.junipercivic.com
www.forgotten-ny.com