By Anna Gustafson
New FEMA Maps A Relief For Some, But No Cure For Financial Worries
While some South Queens residents breathed sighs of relief about the preliminary flood maps released by the Federal Emergency Management agency on Monday, they said the new documents are by no means a cure for what many worry will be devastating hikes in flood insurance rates. The proposed federal maps released this week, which replace the previously released Advisory Base Flood Elevation maps that were rushed out right after Hurricane Sandy and still have a lengthy approval and appeal process to undergo before they are implemented and impact insurance rates, remove all of Broad Channel from what is known as flood zone V. Many residents in zone V would have to fork over significant amounts of money to raise their houses - which federal officials say is necessary to protect them in storms - as well as face increased insurance rates because they live in an area FEMA designates as the most prone to flooding. Instead, FEMA placed Broad Channel in the AE zone - which reduces the area’s base flood elevation
- which would dictate by how much residents would be mandated to elevate their homes - from 15 to 10 feet. “The bad news is that this revised flood zone designation, although welcome, is no panacea for the burdensome and extraordinarily expensive flood insurance regulations and rate increases contained in the BiggertWaters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012,” West 12th Road Block Association President Peter Mahon wrote. The Biggert-Waters legislation, approved by Congress last year, phases out some subsidized insurance rates and allows for rate increases of 20 to 25 percent a year until properties reach actuarial status. While supporters of the legislation have said it was meant to make a debt-ridden National Flood Insurance Program more fiscally stable, homeowners in Queens and throughout the country - said the new rates would force many from their homes because they would no longer be able to afford to live there. “This could be a town killer,” Mahon said. “This could turn Broad Channel into a community of foreclosed homes.” While Broad Channel escapes
Photo Courtesy of FEMA
Revised flood maps released by FEMA on Monday place about 500 Queens homeowners 200 more than in previous maps - in the worst zone - meaning they would have to elevate their homes and absorb higher flood insurance premiums.
being placed in the worst zone, parts of the Rockaways, including sections of Breezy Point and Rockaway Park, does not escape that fate - and, according to the proposed maps, 500 families - an increase of 200 families are situated in areas where they would have to raise their homes and potentially shell out tens of thousands of dollars for flood insurance premiums.
Because of FEMA’s ongoing study of how many people are living in areas prone to flooding - which is expected to increase from about 218,000 in the 1983 New York City maps to about 400,000 in the most recent maps, Mayor Bloomberg on Tuesday outlined a proposal that he says will help to protect the city from future weather events.
St. Thomas the Apostle Students Debut Woodhaven History Film
By Anna Gustafson Bounding across the red carpet, St. Thomas the Apostle School students-turned-novice-filmmakers hugged their teacher, pivoted and turned to face the audience. There, under the lights of Forest Hills’ Cinemart Theaters on Monday night, they smiled at an audience of Woodhaven residents - past and present and clenched plaques commemorating the documentary film they credit with making them realize just how vibrant their neighborhood’s history is. After spending months collecting more than 15 hours of filmed interviews of everyone from Neir’s Tavern’s owners to elected officials and the owner of the famed Schmidt’s Candy, the 28 students in St. Thomas the Apostle’s sixth, seventh and eighth grades debuted their hourlong film, “Woodhaven: Diverse Backgrounds United in One History,” for a crowd of history aficionados and residents thrilled to take a trip down memory lane. “It was really fun to make,” Ingrid Karmazinas, 13, said of the film that was part of a collaboration between the school on Jamaica Avenue and 87th Street and the Woodhaven Cultural and Historical Society. “I learned a lot, and now we have all of this for future generations.” Other students agreed and said they learned to better appreciate the neighborhood they call home. “I really only knew about the carousel when I first started this project, so I was really excited to learn about the history of Wood-
Anna Gustafson/The Forum Newsgroup
St. Thomas the Apostle students gathered for the premiere of their film on Woodhaven’s history at the Cinemart Cinemas in Forest Hills on Monday evening.
haven,” said Daija Harrison, 12. And that is exactly what Ed Wendell, president of the Woodhaven Cultural and Historical Society, said he had hoped for - to inspire younger residents to connect with a past that few knew about. “We’re extremely proud of the work they did here,” said Wendell, whose organization donated copies of a Woodhaven history book penned by area author Vincent Seyfried to the school. “They took a book and crafted questions to our business, political and civic leaders about our past, present and future.” Patricia Eggers, the St. Thomas teacher who worked with students on the film, said she saw an appreciation and love for Woodhaven take root in the students during the filmmaking process.
“They gained a great pride in Woodhaven,” Eggers said. “It really placed them in history, and it’s going to help them hold onto history.” Students trekked all around their neighborhood for the film, learning about people like Margie Schmidt, who makes chocolates for her Jamaica Avenue store in the same fashion that her family has done for the 85 years that Schmidt’s Candy has been open, and places like Neir’s Tavern - one of the country’s oldest bars where “Goodfellas” was filmed. They spent time with Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley (D-Middle Village), Councilman Eric Ulrich (R-Ozone Park) and state Sen. Joe Addabbo Jr. (D-Howard Beach). They filmed the Forest Park carousel’s operator and spoke to Maria Thomson,a longtime civic leader in Woodhaven.
“As bad as Sandy was, future storms could be even worse,” Bloomberg said during a press conference. “In fact, because of rising temperatures and sea levels, even a storm that’s not as large as Sandy could, down the road, be even more destructive.” The proposal announced on Tuesday, a 430-page document, would cost about $20 billion, the mayor said, and would include such initiatives as fortifying infrastructure like the city’s power grid, to studying the feasibility of surge barriers across the mouth of Jamaica Bay. Additionally, Bloomberg said he aims to have the city work with the U.S. Army Corps to construct a dune project along the Rockaway Peninsula. The mayor also proposed implementing bulkheads - which are typically made of stone and concrete and hold shorelines in place - in such places as Howard Beach and Broad Channel. As part of the same initiative, the city would repair bulkheads on the Belt parkway that failed during Hurricane Sandy and repair and improve bulkheads from Beach 143rd Street to Beach 116th Street along Beach Channel Drive in Rockaway.
And it wasn’t just the students who got something out of the film - those in the audience said they were inspired by the young filmmakers who captured on tape a time long gone - but which many remember well. “The biggest thing then was to go play out on the street - everyone did that,” said Eilish Higgins, who graduated from St. Thomas the Apostle in 1973 - the same class as Schmidt. “I was the oldest of five, and my mom would throw us out of the house and say, ‘go play,’ and we’d play scully and war and ride our bicycles.” Linda Dougherty, now the principal of Our Lady of Mercy in Forest Hills, said the film was particularly poignant for her because she landed her first teaching job at St. Thomas the Apostle. “I remember I’d take the bus down Woodhaven Boulevard, and I’d walk down Jamaica Avenue and all the shops were so wonderful,” Dougherty said. “This is so wonderful for the students to connect with the past and with history, but in a contemporary way,” she continued. “When you know something about your neighborhood, it gives you a sense of pride.” That sense of pride was more than evident when the film ended and the applause died down. As the students began to filter out of the theater, Daija Harrison and her friend, Linda Lozada, 13, yelled, “come to Woodhaven!” “It’s not like any other town,” Harrison said, smiling.
THE FORUM NEWSGROUP • June 13, 2013 | 11