QUEENS — Forest Hills residents have created a new Facebook group to exchange ideas about the neighborhood after another group booted them for posting about efforts to save a decades-old movie theater, they said.
The new group — "Forest Hills, Rego Park, Kew Gardens - Our Communities" — was created on Saturday by local residents who said that their goal is to “make our neighborhood residents and friends feel welcomed, spark friendships, and exchange ideas to help each other and our communities.”
In four days the page racked up about 485 members.
The group was created after many members, who in the past belonged to another Facebook page — "Forest Hills 11375 - My Town" — said that its administrator recently started deleting their posts and blocking them from the group when they questioned her decision.
"Over the course of the past week, the administrator of 'Forest Hills 11375 - My Town,'" which has more than 1,600 members, "blocked many of its dedicated community members," said local historian Michael Perlman.
The group, they said, was established about 2 years ago. Until recently, members were free to post information about local events and news on the page, which appeared to have been deleted as of Thursday morning.
Perlman said he was not sure what prompted the animosity, but he said it started when a number of members posted information about the efforts he initiated to help Cinemart Cinemas, a struggling Forest Hills movie theater.
"Long-term members including myself posted information about the Cinemart Cinemas Preservation Campaign, [as well as about] volunteering, Forest Hills' unique small businesses, and local events, and we were all blocked," Perlman said.
The administrator of "Forest Hills 11375 - My Town" responded to a request for comment by sending a set of rules applying to the group, which say that "only non profit organizations are allowed to post their events here."
"No commercial posts, no promotion of your book, your store, your yard sale, etc etc is allowed," the rules read.
Michele Dore, one of the co-administrators of the new page, said she was a member of the "Forest Hills 11375 - My Town" group for about a year.
But at some point, she said, she found out that the administrator banned comments from Perlman.
"I was shocked and asked what happened," she said, adding that shortly after she was banned too.
David Battaglia, a resident who initiated the new page, said in one of his first posts that the group is currently working on its regulations, but the "number one rule is: NO 'talking down to anyone on here.'"
Perlman, who is also a co-administrator of the new page, said the posts on the new page will mostly “reflect our interests in local events, supporting our small businesses, and the arts, culture, history and historic preservation in our community.”
The group is planning to organize meetups at local businesses, such as Red Pipe Organic Cafe, La Boulangerie or Eddie's Sweet Shop.
"We want our members to have a portal to voice their opinion, share their thoughts, photos," Dore said. "We want to help mom-and-pop stores in our area to shine and we will help them to do so while informing our members about it."
