Dear Editor:

Juniper Park Civic Association has never, nor does it now, support vandalism or graffiti. Our members did not participate in the writings on St. Saviour's construction fence and we had no advanced knowledge of this action. The words scrawled across the plywood that garnered so much attention from this paper represented the spontaneous voice of the frustrated people of West Maspeth who felt they were let down by their elected officials and a bank they had come to trust as a friend to their community.

We pledge our unwavering support to the people of the area throughout this ordeal and will stop at nothing to see that this piece of Maspeth's history is saved. It was JPCA President Robert Holden who got this dangerous worksite shut down, not Councilman Dennis Gallagher, an elected official representing the district, nor Kenneth Rudzewick, President of Maspeth Federal Savings, who, as mortgage lender, has the right to inspect the property and must provide written consent to the developer for demolition of the church.

One has to wonder where Gallagher and Rudzewick were while an illegal waste transfer station was being operated on this property, while community leaders were being threatened by the developer, while asbestos was being removed improperly, while the property was left unsecured and while work was being done illegally after the issuance of a stop work order. Their outrage only seemed to start after a politician was held accountable publicly and the hypocrisy of a bank that boasts of its strong community ties was exposed. Instead of directing their anger toward the despicable actions of the developer, they choose to malign volunteers who are trying to protect this historic area of Maspeth.

Your paper might want to dedicate a future article to an investigation of why Councilman Gallagher and his henchmen are focusing their efforts on knocking Juniper Park Civic Association instead of working with us to save St. Saviour's. You may find that it has a lot to do with the undisputable fact that the Councilman's campaign coffers are overstuffed with money from unscrupulous developers, and JPCA's efforts against overdevelopment represent a direct threat to business as usual for him.

Christina Wilkinson

Maspeth

Chair, JPCA Committee to Save St. Saviour's

Dear Editor:

In last week’s letters to the editor, Middle Village resident Joe Cimino asked why Mayor Bloomberg doesn’t do something about St. Savior’s. The mayor is a busy man and can't possibly know about everything going on in the city. It is the job of our local elected officials to alert the mayor of our problems and ask him for help on our behalf. Councilman Dennis Gallagher has not done that for St. Savior’s. In fact, sometimes I wonder if Mr. Gallagher realizes that West Maspeth is part of his district. For months, I’ve seen him in the papers trying to get landmark status for his well-off friends in Richmond Hill. I am very disappointed to say that I’ve never seen him down at St. Savior's and I can't understand why. Maybe it's because we are working class people who don't donate loads of money to his campaigns the way that developers do.

Most of us are not members of their organization, but thankfully, the Juniper Park Civic Association has responded to our pleas for help. They were successful in getting the worksite shut down, have been working hard behind the scenes, got the media to pay attention, and have always made themselves available to us at all times of day and night. When I asked Dennis Gallagher about saving St. Savior's, he told me that there was "nothing he could do," but obviously there was something he could have done. For whatever reason, he just didn't want to make the effort to do it. The truth is, if it had all been left up to Dennis Gallagher, St. Savior's would have been reduced to rubble more than a month ago.

Yours truly,

Paul Ditta

West Maspeth