EDITORIAL
READERS WRITE
Lack of fed funds will derail BQX plans
There is a fatal missing
$1.4 bi l lion federal funding
short fall flaw toward
funding the Brooklyn
Queens Connector streetcar
overlooked at the May
31 NYC Council meeting
hearing for the project .
After four years, there
has been no real progress
in securing federal funding
for the proposed project .
In 2015, The Friends of the
Brooklyn Queens Connector
original ly claimed it could
be bui lt for $1.7 bi l lion. In
2016, the NYC Economic
Development Corporation
said $2.5 bi l lion.
Today, the estimated cost
is $2.7 bi l lion.
How many more
bil l ions might it cost
upon completion? It
takes more than a simple
planning feasibi lity study
to turn it into a viable
capital transportation
improvement project .
There have been no
environmental documents
or design and engineering
ef forts necessary to va lidate
any basic estimates for the
$2.7 bi l lion construction
costs.
Without a bi l lion or
more from Washington,
don’t count on riding the
Brooklyn Queens Connector
in your li fetime.
Instead, try running
simple limited stop bus
service on the same route.
Larry Penner, Great Neck
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LISTEN TO ASTORIA!
Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney and
Assemblywoman Catherine Nolan are taking
umbrage with the de Blasio administration’s
senseless plan to cut funding to the Astoria Houses
senior center, close it and bus hundreds of senior
citizens to the Queensbridge Houses when the new
budget kicks in July 1.
A City Hall spokesman said the closing was a cost
cutting move while providing seniors with access to
a better center, claiming the one at Astoria Houses
was underutilized. It’s as absurd a plan as it gets.
City Councilman Costa Constantinides was the
first to blast City Hall saying the closure would come
at a time when the Astoria Houses seniors were
planning on celebrating the grand reopening of their
center following a $500,000 renovation project to turn
what was a “glorified broom closet with a television”
into a proper facility for the seniors.
Nolan fired off a letter to de Blasio complaining
that the $500,000 of taxpayer money would be wasted
if the administration goes through with it plans.
Nolan demanded that City Hall take a step back,
listen and engage with community leaders and
figure out a better path forward.
Maloney also wrote the Mayor urging him to keep
the center open as hundreds of seniors depend on the
one hot meal a day many of them get through the
center’s lunch program in addition to educational
and social programs.
Claudia Coger, the 84-year-old Astoria Houses
Tenants Association president, has lived in the
development for more than 60 years and knows these
seniors better than anyone. She said that closing the
center would save the city a mere $220,000 a year. The
Mayor’s proposed budget is a record $92.5 billion.
State Senator Michael Gianaris said the Astoria
Houses senior center provides a vital lifeline to the
elderly who are geographically cut off from services
that are available to other western Queens residents
and he vowed to fight against the closure to make
sure the seniors get they respect and attention they
deserve.
Assemblywoman Aravella Simotas said with
the closure, New York City is sending a disgraceful
message that seniors are not its priority and she
strongly urged de Blasio to reverse this misguided
decision given the detrimental impact it will have.
Why won’t City Hall listen to the elected officials
in western Queens? What will it take for the Mayor
to see the light?
If he spent more time doing the job he was
elected to do instead of traveling the country on his
misguided presidential campaign, de Blasio would
understand why the closure of the Astoria Houses
senior center is such a bad idea.
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16 TIMESLEDGER, JUNE 14-20, 2019 BT QNS.COM
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