By Sean O’Driscoll

A furious dispute has erupted between a Queens politician and a local community board over a failed plan to have a street renamed on behalf of Frank Carvill, an Irish American immigrant rights campaigner killed in Iraq earlier this year.

New York City Councilman Eric Gioia this week said that the failure to have a street renamed on behalf of fallen National Guardsman Carvill was a slap in the face for the Irish community.

He told the Irish Voice that he was deeply disappointed with the decision and said he would be taking the issue straight to the City Council, bypassing the community board’s decision.

“I disagree vehemently with the board’s decision. Woodside is a patriotic neighborhood and I know that they want to see this passed,” Gioia said.

“If we put up a thousand memorials to Frank Carvill it wouldn’t be enough. I respect the community board. They offered their advice and I disagree with it. It’s time to move forward.”

Local Queens community board members told the Irish Voice that they were deeply angered by Gioia’s comments and accused him of hijacking the issue to gain publicity.

Gioia made his comments after the local community board voted by a single vote against renaming a street outside the Emerald Isle Immigration Center in Woodside in Carvill’s honor. 

On Monday Gioia called a press conference outside the Emerald Isle to “vehemently disagree” with the local community board vote.

The chairman of the community board, Joe Connolly, said that Gioia’s actions were “an outrage, reckless and irresponsible.”

He said that as a veteran he had lost many friends in war and was deeply offended by Gioia’s actions.

“To see him go to the press and make it look as if we are being insensitive when there was no representation from him at the meeting is disgraceful,” he said.

Connolly said he himself had been drafted at 19, whereas Frank Carvill had decided to go to war at 51 years of age, such was his dedication to his democracy.

Carvill was a founding member of the Emerald Isle Immigration Center and was later its treasurer and board member. He was killed in Iraq on June 4 in a landmine attack on a vehicle in which he was traveling. 

He and another soldier killed in the same attack were the first New Jersey National Guards to be killed in combat since World War II.

“I wasn’t there at the renaming meeting, but I do know that everyone is looking for the best way to honor Frank’s contribution. Something that can be better achieved with a memorial rather than a street sign. What’s being lost in translation here is that everyone wants to honor his contribution to the Irish community,” Connolly said.

He accused Gioia of being “a demagogue” who had acted shamefully.

The dispute has widened in the last week, with some community board members blaming the Emerald Isle Immigration Center for siding with Gioia without having made a representation at the community board meeting.

Community board member Joe Kinsella strongly condemned comments by Emerald Isle Chairman Brian O’Dwyer, who said last week that he could not express the outrage he felt over the “short sighted and mean-spirited decision” by the community board.

Kinsella said the comments were “a huge mistake” and were “over the top and totally unnecessary.”

“If he had made as much effort to go to the meeting and made a proposal on the issue, we would all have been a lot better off,” Kinsella said.

In response, O’Dwyer said that the Emerald Isle had gone before the Land Use subcommittee and had explained why they wanted the street renamed in Carvill’s honor. He said the subcommittee rejected their petition and the community board had based their decision on the subcommittee’s recommendations. 

He strongly rejected claims he had overreacted to the vote. 

“I don’t think I overreacted. We thought that this was the least controversial thing that could happen, because Frank was a genuine American hero. The subcommittee turned us down and at that point I sent to Councilman Gioia for help,” O’Dwyer told the Irish Voice.

“I admit I am emotional about it but it mystifies me why anyone would not want to honor Frank in this way. Hopefully a suitable memorial will be in the works,” he added.

Kinsella said that he was not surprised by Gioia’s actions. “The man is absolutely non-existent, as far as I’m concerned. He double-crossed Irish pub owners on the smoking ban issue and now he does this,” Kinsella said.

“He didn’t show up at the vote to make his point, neither did any of his staff. We got a letter from him after the vote, it was a day and a dollar short,” he added.

Kinsella said that he had voted in favor of the street renaming but declined to say who had voted against it. He said that the Irish Voice could obtain the information from the community board headquarters.

However, during a call to the community board headquarters, Chairman Connolly said that he would have to check with Borough Hall to check the protocol for releasing voting records to the press. He did not return with the information at the time of going to press.

Congressman Joe Crowley appeared with Gioia at the Emerald Isle press conference. He said he was deeply disappointed that the street renaming had not been approved.

“I can say this as a fact — my former chief of staff, Mike Sweeney, was a member of the community board and spoke in favor of the change. It was clear that there was broad support in the Irish community. It’s unfortunate that the board didn’t see it that way,” he said.

Crowley said he was optimistic that the dispute would soon be resolved and that the street will be renamed.

Carvill’s sister, Peggy, said that she had heard that the vote had been defeated.

“I would like to see some memorial in his name and it’s a huge honor that the Irish community in Woodside would even consider this,” she said.

If Gioia goes before the City Council this week, it may take several months before the city votes on the street renaming.