Although the focus of our February 12th meeting was our much anticipated rezoning, staff members of St. John's Queens Hospital made an impassioned plea to members of the community to help them keep their medical center open.

Representatives from St. John's Queens Hospital explained the impact that its anticipated closing will have on the community and what can be done to possibly stop it. Both Mary Immaculate and St. John's are in the process of shutting down and have stopped accepting emergency patients. Bottom line: Call Governor Paterson and tell him to release the funds to keep them open!

And now, onto the rezoning. The Maspeth-Middle Village-Glendale rezoning review period is expected to begin this Spring. The Department of City Planning requested a special meeting on February 12th at OLH to present the plan to the JPCA for the first time and we were generally pleased with what was presented. Urban Planner Paul Graziano is working on behalf of the JPCA and will be discussing the plan with the Department of City Planning in more detail.

Also discussed at the meeting was the negative impact of the proposed Maspeth high school at 74th Street and 57th Avenue. The school will not be locally zoned and is already in an area that is congested by the presence of 2 other schools and the traffic they cause.