Bayside Street Corner Co-Named to Honor Late Local Activist

BAYSIDE, QUEENS -- Frank Skala's lengthy resume of local leadership alone was enough to classify him a Bayside celebrity of sorts, but those who best knew the retired teacher and lifelong activist remember him for something that can't be put on paper: A fiery dedication to his hometown.

Simply put: When it came to fighting for his community, it was the Frank Skala Way or the highway.

If you need a reminder, all you have to do is head to the corner of 40th Avenue and Bell Boulevard and look up.

The northeast street corner was officially co-named "Frank Skala Way" on Saturday afternoon to honor the late Bayside community leader - he died of a stroke in 2015 - on what would have been his 81st birthday.

"Frank Skala was a fiercely dedicated community activist and civic leader," said City Councilman Paul Vallone, who posed a bill last year to co-name the street of Skala's longtime home in his honor.

"His enormous and lasting impact on the community will be forever remembered."

Skala taught history and geography for more than three decades at the now-shuttered Campbell Junior High School 218 and Adrien Block Intermediate School 25 before retiring in 1992.

In the midst of it all, he founded the East Bayside Homeowners Association in 1974 and created an alumni association - along with the first series of alumni books - for Bayside High School in 1991, Vallone said.

Skala was also co-founder of the Friends of Bayside High School group, sat on Fort Totten's Coast Guard Restoration Advisory Board and helped organize the Bell Boulevard Restoration Coalition. He also served 12 years on Community Board 11.

A month before he died, the Bayside activist received the state Senate Liberty Medal. The award, described as the highest civilian honor given to a New York resident, recognizes "exceptional heroic, selfless and noble acts performed on behalf of one’s community and fellow citizens."

Among the dozens of Baysiders gathered at 40th Avenue and Bell Boulevard for a first glimpse of the shiny new "Frank Skala Way" sign was Skala's daughter, Bonnie.

"My father would be so excited about this," she said of the sign, which sits just down the street from Skala's lifelong home.

"To honor my father here today is really to honor the decades of volunteer work he did for his beloved home town."

Lead photo courtesy of the Office of City Councilman Paul Vallone