"Seniors, who are homeowners cannot maintain their property," said Yvonne Reddick, district manager of Community Board 12. Owning your own home requires significant maintenance including replacing air conditioning filters, pruning trees, cleaning windows and ensuring proper plumbing. For some elder citizens these tasks are overwhelming, causing the deterioration of property and prompting the sale of their homes.

But selling in a neighborhood also means buying - an economic benefit members of the Generation X cannot ignore. "Young couples that buy the houses are taking one apartment and renting the rest," said Ron Cohen of Ocean Realty. Cohen owned and recently renovated ten two-family homes on the 110 block of Francis Lewis Boulevard.

When the Reverand Charles Mixon of Maranatha Bapists Church moved into Southeast Queens in 1964, there was a lot of empty land. "It was a plain, average neighborhood, [with mainly] low class whites followed by middle class blacks moving in," recalled the Reverend. His early experiences reflected the activities that promoted the civil rights movement including having windows broken and eggs thrown at his house.

There was not an abundance of corner stores, as Linden Boulevard was the merchant strip and traffic was minimal because the average family then owned only one car. Sanitation was lax, but could accommodate the number of people in the neighborhood.

In the 37 years since, time has altered the community. "We see the make-up [of the neighborhood] changing so much," said Mixon of behalf of his congregation. "Too many houses and too many people create a situation where people are sitting on the corner."

Among his fears is the further destruction of the African-American culture. There is a sense that the rapid construction of houses with a quickly depleting land supply will cause the renovation of many single-family homes into two-families homes, increasing the population and causing serious risks to the community.

The city’s inability to maintain a proper sewage system, regular sanitation pick-ups and street cleaning are among the concerns of his congregation, now 1300 strong. Other effects include a lack of police protection causing the appearance of a ghetto and a severe overcrowding of public schools, eliminating the possibility of excellent academic standards. "The Board of Education will come out and say our black kids are reading below grade level," Mixon states. "But they don’t say our schools are over-crowded."

In an interview with the PRESS, Mixon expressed his disappointment with the African -American community. In Mixon’s opinion, community involvement will be the key to decent renovation. He charges that, as a people, African-Americans need to unify in an effort to fill their people with the courage to follow the example of other immigrant cultures including the Jewish, African, Caribbean and West Indian communities. "If we don’t fight for things, we won’t get them," he continued. "Black people make me sick because we won’t fight for our community."

This message is sincere and one he is intent on spreading to all southeast Queens residents. He feels, as a represenative of his congregation, that the general carefree attitude toward communities is its downfall. "Our own assembly people and council people aren’t saying anything," said Mixon. "We need to open our mouths. We need young people to hold onto their horns and run with it."

In an effort to clarify to the people exactly what is going on their community, Mixon has planned to hold a meeting to address overpopulation in the area. Scheduled for September 30 at 7 p.m. with a location pending, invited guests include Community Boards 12 and 13 district managers, assembly people, council members, civic associations and members of the community.

The Reverend is clear to stress that anyone who does not attend is showing a general disregard for the community, an attitude he will make certain to reveal to the public. He will hold public officials responsible for their general disinterest in the area they have been elected to represent, not to serve the interest of special-agenda groups outside the community that do not understand the impact of their industrialism