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One resident, however, said the community faces a more deep-rooted problem, pointing to examples of homes that are in foreclosure, windows that are boarded up or smashed, overgrown lawns and mailboxes overflowing with tickets from the Sanitation Department — all of which affect property values in the neighborhood.
“People are parking their cars indriveways of abandoned homes to make it look like someone lives there,” the woman said.
Both Ulrich and Gulluscio responded by reminding residents that each problem house has to be dealt with on a case-by-case basis. The councilman mentioned an example of one house on 114th Street in South Ozone Park that had been inhabited by squatters last spring. In conjunction with police and the Sanitation Department, he was able to have the house cleaned and secured. “That hell house is not a hell house anymore,” he said.
Gulluscio said he deals with the same issues on a daily basis in Rego Park, where he serves as district manager of Community Board 6.
“It doesn’t happen overnight,” he said of the efforts needed to clean and refurbish abandoned and foreclosed houses. He added that community boards and elected officials rely on residents to keep them informed when a residence appears in ruins and restated his committment to keeping his district office “proactive,” accessible and open to the public 24 hours a day, seven days a week. “You employ us; make it work,” he said.
Although Gov. David Paterson is still an indeterminate length of time away from selecting a winning bidder for the Aqueduct racino project, the predictable traffic and parking problems that would arise from the endeavor were of great concern.
“Whichever developer moves in here, we have to sit down with them and make sure traffic and parking are addressed,” Gulluscio said.
A similar question was asked relating to Centreville’s thorn-in-side HQW411B construction project, which has called — repeatedly — for new sewers and drains to be installed in the Ozone Park community. Both Ulrich and Gulluscio reiterated the need to get the project off the ground as soon as possible.
Although both candidates have clocked hours before a blackboard — Gulluscio began his career as a teacher in Queens’ public and parochial schools, and Ulrich taught religion at Xaverian High School in Brooklyn — the councilman addressed concerns about overcrowding and absentee rates posed by an educator from John Adams High School.
In addition to overpopulated facilities, Ulrich said the way schools are evaluated is a problem, touching upon the fact that test scores are often relied heavily upon to determine a school’s progress.
“There shouldn’t be a cookie cutter education,” he added, expressing the need for a greater investment at the high school level in vocational training, which would offer an avenue for those students more adept at electrical engineering than balancing equations.
The final question of the evening, one that seemed to divide the room, concerned the candidates’ feelings about Mayor Mike Bloomberg and term limits. Gulluscio kept it short and simple, declaring his opposition to the mayor’s overturning of term limits.
As expected, Ulrich was required to do a bit more explaining.
“If it’s good enough for the president, it’s good enough for me,” Ulrich said in favor of term limits.
Although he is a supporter of Bloomberg, Ulrich said it was unfortunate that he hadn’t been elected yet to the City Council when the term limits vote took place.
“What’s done is done though,” he added.
The two candidates will meet again on Monday, Oct. 26 at 7:30 p.m., when they take part in a debate hosted by the Queens Chronicle and The Forum at St. Barnabus Church, located at 159-19 98th St., Howard Beach.
