Sunnyside Argument Continues to Draw Press
from Metro New York
Landmarking sparks bitter feud in Queens
by amy zimmer / metro new york
MAR 16, 2007
QUEENS. The debate over whether the Landmarks Preservation Commission should landmark Sunnyside Gardens — built as a blue-collar enclave in the 1920s — has devolved into a bitter battle, with both sides claiming to have majority support and the interests of the working-class at heart.
The group, Sunnyside Gardens Preservation Alliance, has been working for more than three years to get its leafy neighborhood landmarked, collecting roughly 2,200 petition signatures in support of its cause and claiming to have roughly 60 percent of homeowners on board. Their opponents, Preserve Sunnyside Gardens, organized a few months ago, when they say they found out about the plan. Their group, which includes many in the Bengali community who claim to have been left out of the loop, collected 500 signatures against designation and dispute the Alliance’s claim of community support.
From the remarkably biased Times-Ledger
Give us a voice: Sunnyside locals
By Nathan Duke
03/15/2007
A large group of Sunnyside Gardens residents who are opposed to the landmarking of their community criticized the city Landmarks Preservation Commission Saturday at a forum, accusing the agency of giving them no voice in recent discussions on preserving the neighborhood.
The residents said they were particularly upset about a March 6 meeting at which the commission discussed when to hold an upcoming hearing on the designation in Manhattan. They accused the commission of not taking their input into account.
“It’s not that we don’t understand the special quality of our neighborhood,” said resident Susan Meiklejohn at the meeting, which took place at the Sunnyside Reform Church on Skillman Avenue. “We just don’t want decisions about our neighborhood taken out of the democratic process.”