20 Years Ago: The front of the Claddagh INN in a Wave photo shot in December, 2005.

10 Years Ago

Over the last month, several alarming incidents have some residents asking, “Are our young people in Rockaway out of control?” Combined with the recent announcement that the New York City Department of Education (DOE) is planning to relocate the Alternate Learning Center at M.S. 53 into the Beach Channel Educational Campus, many are concerned that the recent spate of violence could get even worse. On March 10, PS 42 Principal Patricia Finn tried to break up a fight between two students at dismissal, and was subsequently punched in the face and stomach, and kicked after falling on the ground, according to published reports.

“The names of the great centers of learning echo down the ages from the past: Oxford, Cambridge, Paris, Bologna,” declared Mayor Robert F. Wagner Jr. on April 24, 1961. “Our own American heritage contributes Harvard, Yale, Princeton …Now the four senior colleges, Queens, Brooklyn, Hunter and City, and the three community colleges will be coordinated …to make them all part of one great university.” The City University of New York was established in 1961 by New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller. The goal was to provide a high-quality, tuition-free education to the poor, the working class, and the immigrants of New York City, especially those excluded from or unable to afford private universities. In fall 1976, during New York City’s fiscal crisis, the free tuition policy was discontinued under pressure from the federal government, and tuition, which had been in place in the State University of New York system since 1963, was instituted at all CUNY colleges. Currently, tuition for a full-time student is at an all-time high of $6,330 per year at CUNY schools. Though it compares favorably to SUNY tuition, experts believe these costs will continue to rise as Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio’s public feud has now inserted its tentacles into funding for CUNY.

 

20 Years Ago

The Claddagh INN – once a busy soup kitchen that served the community during dark times, more recently one of Rockaway’s biggest eyesores – began to crumble under the teeth of a backhoe Tuesday as demolition commenced, making way for a YMCA. Although the INN stopped operating last year as well, whatever it had become, some say its service to the community ended years ago. The familiar corner property, located at Beach 73rd Street and Rockaway Beach Boulevard, deteriorated into a mishmash of common junk: automobiles, furniture, toys, clothing, and bicycles. The items were donated to help the poor but were left out to rot instead. To anyone who passed by, it looked like a garbage dump, completely out of character with the new homes sprouting around it. “It’s a shame what happened there,” said Jonathan Gaska, Community Board 14 District Manager, who described the INN’s demise as “slow death.” But there was a time, nearly 20 years ago, when it was a viable operation that helped countless Rockaway residents.

 

40 Years Ago

Sy Sheldon, Democratic leader of Part B in the 23rd Assembly District, has invited Councilman Peter Vallone, the council’s majority leader, to speak at a town hall meeting on Thursday, March 27, at 8 p.m., at the Regular Democratic Club of the Rockaways, 92-03 Rockaway Beach Boulevard, Rockaway Beach.

Police who worked around the clock (40 hours or more without a break) to arrest the slayer of Frank Faust (known as Bill), a retired St. John’s Episcopal Hospital South Shore Division surgical supply technician, are charging with murder a cab driver who reported initially that he saw the crime and was robbed by the same perpetrator.

Wednesday afternoon with Wave Publisher, Leon S. Locke, were Councilman Walter Ward; Queens Parks Commissioner Michael McDonald; Rockaway Director of Parks, Bill Miller; Annette Sangiorgio, aide to Senator Jeremy Weinstein; neighborhood residents Mario Russo, Bernie Bulm, Tony Toman, and Phil McManus; Planning Board Historian Craig Beachrow, and a few others. The meeting was called to address two items: a new park for Arverne and a plan to restore the historic Cornell Cemetery in Far Rockaway.

Charles Clink, 28, a resident of the Redfern Houses in Far Rockaway, faces a maximum term of 25 years to life imprisonment when he is sentenced on Monday April 21, for an execution-style slaying of a Queens College student who was working late at night in an oil depot across the street (and across the city line) from his home in December 1984.

 

50 Years Ago

The beautiful pine tree that was partially uprooted by high winds has been righted. The owners of the home on Beach 131st Street are to be commended for taking such pains.

Reminder, for an entertaining evening, the Leventrit Competition finalist will be performing at Beach Channel High School. Sunday evening, April 4. Tickets will be available at the door.

Bids are in for the demolition of the skeleton of the Intermediate School 44-Public School 43 complex on the oceanside of Edgemere Avenue in Edgemere.

The Chamber of Commerce of the Rockaways has appealed to Dr. Robert P. Whelan, second deputy commissioner of the Department of Health of the State of New York, to take an active role in keeping the hospital in Beach 19th Street as a functioning unit of the community.

This week, a rabbit was seen running across Beach 100 Street. We hope this will not be a forerunner of the many Easter rabbits and chicks that are turned loose after the holiday.

State Senator John Santucci and Assemblywoman Gerdi Lipschutz are co-sponsoring a bill to roll back the 50-cent toll to 25 cents.

Police locked up a man with a shotgun in Arverne on Friday, March 19. Officer Steven Kenny reported that he went to the 300 block of Beach 70 Street in answer to a complaint and found the man with a Shotgun and a gaming device.

Mrs. John Rogers has been installed as president of the Ladies’ Aid Society of the First Congregational Church of Rockaway Beach.

 

60 Years Ago

Rockaway Park is soon to have the area’s first health food store. It will be on the boulevard near Beach 116 Street. Proprietors will be Ed and Marian Brower.

The proposed Arverne urban renewal program is one of three in the city, which Mayor Lindsay marked for top priority in his request for federal funds.

At the present rate, fires in the area of Edgemere condemned for the housing project may get the demolition work done before the bulldozers arrive.

Traffic congestion on the Cross Bay Bridge last Sunday was a reminder of what to expect during the summer. It revived talk of another road across the bay.

 

70 Years Ago

Frank Himes of 803 Cross Bay Boulevard is a patient in St. Joseph’s Hospital, Far Rockaway, where he will undergo surgery this week.

Ms. William Gasman of 15-15 Cross Bay Boulevard won a canned ham at the square dance on Friday evening.

Mrs. Charles E. Herndon of 186 Beach 90 Street is chairman of St. Patrick’s Day Dance and Corner Beef and Cabbage party to be held Saturday evening in the American Irish Hall.

Mrs. Violet Hochford of Malverne, formerly a resident of Arverne and former cashier at the Gem theatre, is a patient in South Nassau Community Hospital in Rockville Center, for treatment of injuries sustained in a recent fall at her home.