74 killed on Queens Boulevard in 7 years Miles and miles of difference between ‘reassignment’ and ‘transfer’ By TOM MURNANE PEF member Norbert Chwat had seen enough. In recent years he had seen too many people killed on Queens Boulevard, and had watched as municipal services in his Forest Hills-Rego Park neighborhood declined dramatically. Worse yet, it appeared that city government had been ignoring the residents’ cries for help. So Chwat, an investigations-group supervisor for the state Liquor Authority and a PEF member for 22 years, decided that if city government would not come to the neighborhood, he would bring the neighborhood to city government. He announced his candidacy for the New York City Council. “We are being neglected,” says Chwat, who has lived in Forest Hills for 40 years with his wife, Estelle. “It’s the cars versus the people — 74 people have been killed on this road since 1993. Queens Boulevard is supposed to be a great road for the community, but people are using it to go from Manhattan to East Queens, as well as Nassau County and Suffolk County on Long Island. It’s the ‘Killer Highway,’ and no one is doing anything about it,” Chwat says. Residents have tried in vain to have their complaints addressed, he says. In the past year or so, they have even taken to marching in the streets five times to protest problems with the road and other issues, such as poor garbage collection. As president of the Forest Hills Action League, Chwat says he knew he had to run for a council seat. Although he has never before run for elected office, the World War II veteran says he has a record of fighting for what he believes in. For example, when the state offered PEF members zero pay raises during contract negotiations in 1999, Chwat took part in the union’s protests. Chwat, who is facing a Democratic primary for the 29th District seat, says he is proud to join PEF member Julio Munoz and PEF Director of Field Services Downstate Bob Jackson in running for the New York City Council. The Communicator Home Page