Daily News from New York, New York • 590

Denis Hamill page 8 Site-- By DICK SHERIDAN DAIIY NEWS STAFF WRITER Sy Schwartz had a dream. He wanted to transform a three-block stretch of median separates the east and west lanes of Queens Blvd. along the western border of his Briarwood neighborhood into something grander. His idea was that it should resemble the green strips along Park Ave. and upper tween the rows of trees.

Sets of benches will be installed at intervals so that residents and shoppers can enjoy the scenery. "We don't have a blueprint," he said. "We don't want to presume to tell the people at the Parks Department how to design the greenery. "The idea is to beautify this part of Queens added Schwartz, a retired pharmaceutical company executive who has lived in Briarwood since the 1950s. For the past five years, Schwartz has been president of the Briarwood Community Association, an amalgam of resident, business and civic elements in the neighborhood.

"Our membership represents all segments of the community," said Schwartz, who also is a member of Community Board 8, which includes Briarwood. "Our association isn't just about clean streets and paving like a lot of community groups," he said. "We're probably the only association in Queens that has Retiree steering beautify project homeowners, storeowners, apartment building owners, community groups and institutions all in one." For a time, these groups had to fight just to get their neighborhood, which is in the shadow of Borough Hall and the Kew Gardens Courthouse, recognized as a distinct community. The central Queens neighborhood of Briarwood, with a population of about 31,000 people, is bounded on the north by Hoover on the east by Parsons on the south by Hillside at stretch of median of Queens too. Ave.

and on the west by Queens Blvd. The neighborhood was first developed in 1905 by Herbert O'Brien. But O'Brien's Briarwood Land Co. soon went bankrupt and the area remained largely undeveloped until the 1920s, when it was divided into lots that were sold at auction. "A number of single-family homes were built here back then," said Schwartz.

"That's the way it stayed until after World War The postwar real estate boom that swept Queens did not miss Briarwood. More small homes and apartment buildings began to go up. "In the beginning," said Schwartz, "Briarwood was your average New York City neighborhood Irish, Italian and Jewish. After the war, with the apartment boom, a larger number of Jews came." Now Briarwood is attracting another wave of newcomers, a diverse mix of blacks, Asians and Russians. "The Russians are really Bukharan Jews who are set- NEIL SCHNEIDER Blvd.

where benches have been HOME DELIVERY 1-800-692 Broadway in Manhattan. Currently, a 24-foot-wide medi an strip runs down the center of Queens Blvd. Trees are spaced about every 10 to 12 feet along Doth sides of the median. The boulevard itself is lined by one-story retail establishments and, at the Hillside Ave. end of the boulevard, an assortment of auto yards and shops.

Apartment buildings and private residences line the narrow winding streets behind them. Now, Schwartz's dream is beginning to come true. It calls for large concrete planters filled with flowers and shrubbery to be placed along the median be Sy Schwartz of placed in beautification effort. Sir Hi CEmim BRIARWOOD JIM WUJS OAIUT NEWS tling here and in Kew Gardens, Forest Hills and Rego Park." Schwartz said that beautifying the median strip along Queens Blvd. would "uplift the neighborhood, unify it." He said he first brought up his idea of lining the Queens Blvd.

median by approaching the community board in 1997. "It takes at least two years to get a project included in the capital budget," he said. Eileen Abramson of the Community Board 8 staff said: "Getting an item included in the capital budget is a very long and grueling procedure. To be included, even here at the community level, means it has to have a very high priority." She said Schwartz's plan had not been included among the 30 items on the board's budget priorities list for fiscal year 2000. Schwartz had better luck when he approached Councilman Morton Povman, whose 24rh Council District encompasses Briarwood.

"The councilman had $200,000 included in the capital budget for fiscal year 2000," said Povman's chief of staff, Jeff Gottlieb. "The idea was presented to us by the Briarwood Community Association for beautification of the area." Gottlieb said the plan called for three sets of four benches each to be placed at the eastern, middle and western ends of the median and large concrete planters, or "cupcakes," to be arranged between the seating stations. A Parks Department spokesman said the agency had already installed one set of four benches, but that the remainder of the work had not yet been scheduled. Schwartz said plans were being discussed so that once the work is complete, local businesses and storeowners will help maintain and clean the green area. -NEWS w-V'.

Vcv-V-v W- 'V Ti i Briarwood Community Association Trees and flowers are on the way, FAX (718) 793-2910 News Bureau (718) 793-3328.