Newsday 01-Dec-1996

> 
>       The Fight For Fort Totten / It's a battle of ideas, and the
>       proposals are in - among them, a museum, a summer stock
>       theater, college dorms and parkland
> 
>       BY MERLE ENGLISH. STAFF WRITER
> 
>       "Fort Totten is a rare and irreplaceable piece of land jutting
>       out into the confluence of Long Island Sound, Little Neck Bay
>       and the East River. It consists of open space, rolling hills,
>       tall trees, salt marshes, beaches, a pond and a harbor. It
>       abounds in historical treasures, such as a historic fort, a
>       Native American burial ground, a museum and historical
>       buildings. It is teeming with birdlife, marine wildlife and
>       fauna. It is clear that the property should be preserved for
>       the people as public parkland, devoted to low-impact park
>       uses, such as hiking, bicycling, fishing, picnicking,
>       canoeing, rowboating, sports, tours of the historial features
>       and cultural events."
> 
>       - Ray Beckerman, in his plan for fort
> 
>       WHAT SHOULD BECOME of Fort Totten when it's not Fort Totten
>       anymore?
> 
>       The answer depends on whom you ask.
> 
>       The Civil War-era military installation is scheduled to close
>       in about three years, and there are 28 proposals - from
>       preservation groups, a government agency, an educational
>       institution and an individual - now being considered for the
>       park-like property.
> 
>       Some of the ideas stem from concern that public access to the
>       163 acres in Bayside would be restricted if St. John's
>       University or the New York City Fire Department win approval
>       to take over about 46 acres of surplus land there.
> 
>       A $12.5-million preservation and recreation plan envisioned by
>       the Preservation Alliance of Northeast Queens would create a
>       nonprofit corporation to oversee a Fort Totten Historic
>       District that would develop and operate existing and new
>       sports facilities.
> 
>       Included in the alliance's plan: An Olympic-size swimming
>       pool, three indoor and six outdoor tennis courts, two outdoor
>       roller hockey rinks, a rollerblading course meandering around
>       the complex, a gym with a college-size basketball court and an
>       amphitheater for concerts and theater productions.
> 
>       It calls for a facility for lockers, showers, changing rooms
>       and a hall for civic meetings, senior citizens programs and
>       social functions. Twenty-three barracks that have no
>       historical significance would be demolished.
> 
>       Funds generated from fees would be used for restoration and
>       upkeep of historic structures at the site.
> 
>       "We submit this on behalf of all Queens residents," said Tony
>       Avella, president of the alliance, which is seeking city
>       landmark status for the fort.
> 
>       "We feel it's a good mix," he added. "It comes up with revenue
>       and protects the historic aspect. It's not going to impact
>       negatively on the neighborhood, and it would not displace any
>       of the current uses."
> 
>       Avella says that the alliance's plan, which includes helping
>       to run tours of Fort Totten and leasing buildings to other
>       nonprofit groups, could work in conjunction with the fire
>       department's plan, if the department remains at the site after
>       a three-year interim-use period for which it was approved
>       earlier this year. He is seeking a combined redevelopment plan
>       with the department.
> 
>       "I'm sure they don't want to be in the business of running
>       tours and maintaining buildings," Avella said. And the
>       department might not always have the necessary funding for the
>       fort's upkeep, he added.
> 
>       The fire department, which needs space to expand, wants to
>       eventually move its administrative offices and training
>       programs for emergency medical teams and officers from
>       Randalls Island to Fort Totten. It agreed to provide security
>       for the fort, maintain the buildings to prevent deterioration
>       and continue to make some buildings, ballfields and open
>       spaces available to community groups during its interim lease.
> 
>       If the department wins approval for long-term use, Deputy Fire
>       Commissioner Edward Dolan said, "We will try to use the campus
>       in such a way that we continue to allow uninterrupted public
>       access, and active and passive recreation during the agency's
>       down hours."
> 
>       Like the fire department's plan, the one proposed by St.
>       John's University - which lost out to the fire department for
>       interim use of the site - would encourage continued use of
>       facilities by community groups and organizations and current
>       lease holders. The St. John's proposal states: "We will work
>       collaboratively with those groups and organizations presently
>       at Fort Totten as well as others who may ultimately be located
>       on the site to develop . . . programs to meet emerging
>       community needs. Fort Totten is a valuable community resource;
>       we remain committed to maximizing its benefits for all."
> 
>       Having "acute space needs," St. John's in Jamaica is seeking
>       56 buildings and adjacent lands at the fort. In addition to
>       new class space, the university hopes to develop residence
>       halls. It also plans to expand educational services in the
>       community, including programs for schoolchildren, families and
>       senior citizens.
> 
>       Donald Oral, secretary of the DePhillips Athletic Club, which
>       has run a 25-year-old baseball club at the fort for youngsters
>       5 to 13, is wary of both plans.
> 
>       "There have been all sorts of wild rumors floating around
>       about what the fire department wants to ultimately do with the
>       place," he said. The club has supported the fire department
>       plan, he added, because "being a city agency, we figured
>       they'd leave the park open for the use we have now. We're
>       afraid of the limiting of access."
> 
>       As for the university, Oral said, there is some "community
>       opposition to St. John's being there. If it was just
>       classrooms, the community wouldn't mind so much, but
>       dormitories the community opposes."
> 
>       A Queens Community Center showcasing the performing arts,
>       sports and cultural groups and providing a base for
>       preservation and historical groups and yachting and fishing
>       groups is part of the Bayside Historical Society's dream for
>       public use of the fort.
> 
>       The Officer's Club, the society's headquarters, would become a
>       center for social activities.
> 
>       The society, which is seeking historic district designation
>       for the fort, wants to acquire eight other buildings,
>       including the chapel and the 300-seat Base Theater. The
>       theater would become a venue for multi-ethnic film festivals
>       and a Summer Stock Repertory Theater for Queens to attract "an
>       under-exploited local Queens cultural audience now spending
>       their money in Manhattan," the organization notes in its
>       proposal.
> 
>       To help generate funds, the society recommends that the
>       historical buildings be used as film locations.
> 
>       "We want to become caretakers of the whole fort, to make sure
>       the tours continue, and that the little [Fort Totten] museum
>       is taken care of, so that nothing disappears," said Geraldine
>       Spinella, the society's president. "But we can't take the
>       entire place."
> 
>       Ray Beckerman, a Jamaica attorney, is offering to establish a
>       nonprofit Fort Totten Conservancy or Fort Totten Land Trust,
>       whose "sole mission and purpose," he says in his proposal,
>       would be to "preserve the environmental and historical
>       treasures of Fort Totten for future generations with as little
>       development and commercialization as possible."
> 
>       To finance its mission, the conservancy would grant licenses
>       or subleases to nonprofit environmental and cultural
>       organizations; and invite bicycle, rollerblade, rowboat, bait
>       and tackle, parking lot, canoe rental and restaurant
>       concessions. It would also grant leases to a historical
>       society or organization to preserve and operate the fort's old
>       stone battlements as a museum.
> 
>       "This proposal is submitted only because our elected
>       officials, federal, state, city and borough have failed to
>       submit a proposal preserving Fort Totten for future public
>       use," Beckerman says in his submission.
> 
>       The proposals will be reviewed by the 15-member Fort Totten
>       Local Redevelopment Authority, chaired by Mayor Rudolph
>       Giuliani and Queens Borough President Claire Shulman. That
>       group will present its recommendation for permanent use of the
>       fort to the U.S. Army in August.
> 
>       What the Army receives, said Michael Rogovin, deputy counsel
>       to Shulman, will be a "concept" based on all the expressions
>       of interest, the professional expertise of Authority members,
>       comments from a 20-member Advisory Committee to the Authority
>       and the public and requirements of the federal Base
>       Realignment and Closure Commission.
> 
>       The Army expects to turn over the property by 1999, said Linda
>       Duncan, base-closing coordinator for the fort.
> 
>       Jim Peters, executive director of the Eastern Paralyzed
>       Veterans Association, which 13 years ago converted an old
>       warehouse for use as a wheelchair repair shop for veterans
>       under the direction of Korean-era veteran Ed Rowan, was
>       optimistic about the eventual outcome at Fort Totten.
> 
>       "Whoever takes it will be compelled to comply with whatever
>       regulations are placed on them," said Peters, who is a member
>       of the advisory committee.
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