BRONX W www.BXTimes.com EEKLY December 29, 2019 2
Benedetto introduces plan for inter borough rail
BY JASON COHEN
A woman who fought for tenants
and housing advocacy for several
decades lost her battle with
multiple sclerosis on Wednesday,
December 12.
Carmen Vega-Rivera, 65, a resident
of Grand Concourse, was an
activist for 40 years in the Bronx
and Harlem.
Vega-Rivera was a team leader
at CASA, (Community Action for
Safe Apartments), served as executive
director of the East Harlem
Tutorial Program, was active
with Say Yes to Education,
the Bronx Museum of the Arts,
Jerome Avenue Public Health
Taskforce, served on the board of
Planned Parenthood, was president
of the Tenant Association at
888 Grand Concourse, a member
of the board of directors for Hostos
Community College Foundation
and participated in many
other organizations.
“We are deeply saddened to announce
the passing of our beloved
CASA leader Carmen Vega-Rivera
was an incredibly powerful
organizer, activist, and educator
that touched the lives of many of
us and her community,” CASA
said on its Facebook page. “Her
spirit and energy was contagious,
her passion endless, her wit razor
sharp, her commitment to
the Bronx deep, and she fi ercely
believed and demanded that another
world was possible.
“Carmen leaves us with the
profound knowledge and belief in
ourselves that through organizing,
we are an unstoppable force.
Our CASA family will continue
to organize relentlessly and true
to her legacy: a lifelong dedication
to social justice and building
the leadership and power of
the Bronx. Rest in power, ” it concluded.
Vega-Rivera is survived by her
husband, Juan Rivera, her daughter,
Taina Rivera, 44, son, Jaime-
Juan Rivera, 34, fi ve grandchildren
and one great-grandchild.
On Wednesday, December 18, her
daughter launched a GoFundMe
to help offset the costs of the funeral.
As of press time, it had
raised $5,800.
Rivera said growing up her
mom wasn’t always home because
she was out fi ghting for others.
As a child she didn’t understand
completely, but today she fully
grasps what her mom was doing.
“She always made sure my
brother and I had everything we
wanted and needed,” she said.
“She always wanted us to have
our education and travel the
world.”
Her daughter explained that
the same passion and love her
mom showed at home was what
she had for the community. She
recalled how her mom took kids
from the borough to Disney World
for the fi rst time and helped them
go to college and even supported
families in court.
During her last advocacy
campaign, Vega-Rivera navigated
NYC’s healthcare system
and waged her most challenging
battle, seeking medical best practices
and viable healing options.
Rivera told the Bronx Times
her mom taught she and her
brother to always stand up for
themselves and be proud of where
they came from.
Even though she had multiple
sclerosis for 21 years, she never
let it affect her, she said.
“She was a multiple sclerosis
warrior,” Rivera stressed. “She
always wanted people to move
forward. Everything she did she
did with a purpose. My mother
was selfl ess and everything she
did was.”
Tenant activist, community
leader Vega-Rivera passes at 65
Activist Carmen Vega-Rivera. Photo Courtesy Taina Rivera
BY JASON COHEN
Imagine traveling to other boroughs
via train and bypassing
Manhattan?
Well, one elected offi cial is trying
to make that happen.
On Wednesday, December 18,
Assemblyman Michael Benedetto,
along with Queens asemblyman
Michael DenDekker, spoke about
the proposed plan to build a 24-
mile train line on existing right of
way rails from Co-op City through
Queens to Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.
This model, which was created
by the Regional Planning Association,
will be called the Triboro.
New York City subways were
originally built to connect people
to Manhattan, but according to
Benedetto, more than 50 percent
of New York’s job growth has occurred
outside of the city in the
last 15 years.
“When we fi rst developed the
NYC transit system everything
was Manhattan centric,” he said.
“People now travel from borough
to borough. It’s a revolutionary
new idea that is being presented
for the Bronx, for Queens, for
Brooklyn and for the city of New
York that will help the commuters
in the outer borough.”
In these boroughs, workers
spend an average of 53 minutes
traveling to Manhattan, but travel
for work to adjacent boroughs is
longer.
A trip from the Bronx to Queens
takes 68 minutes each way for the
average worker. A trip from Brooklyn
to Queens takes 63 minutes for
a typical public transit commuter.
He stressed that this new form
of travel, “The Triboro,” will allow
commuters to move between boroughs
without having to go into
the Big Apple.
According to Benedetto, The
Triboro would connect to the four
new Bronx stations that Metro
North is developing in the next two
years, including one in Co-op City.
He proposed that once the Triboro
line leaves the Bronx and
reaches Queens it would use existing
abandoned tracks and go into
other parts of Queens and Brooklyn,
skipping Manhattan all together.
“Why should commuters go
into Manhattan to go to another
train?” he asked. “We’re calling
upon the MTA to allocate money
in their new capital plan to study
this idea.”
The Triboro has the potential to
offer 100,000 riders transit service
every fi ve to 15 minutes at more
than double bus speeds. Of the 22
possible stations identifi ed, half
would link to subway lines. Thousands
more riders could be drawn
to the Triboro to connect to the
subway system rather than rely on
transfers from slow bus routes.
The proposed project will cost
about $1.5 billion, but will be much
less than creating an entirely new
of train line.
Elected offi cials and RPA president
Tom Wright sent a letter to
the MTA in September asking for
them to look at a feasibility study
for the plan.
“RPA has completed preliminary
research, conservatively estimating
that the line would initially
serve 100,000 daily riders with a
price tag of between $1 and $2 billion,”
Wright said in the letter. “A
formal study now needs to be completed
to determine the opportunities,
challenges, and feasibility of
the Triboro Line. The study should
also take into account the need to
expand freight capacity in the region
and how best to co-mingle
services without reducing freight
movement or limiting freight expansion
goals. ”
Assemblyman Michael Benedetto and Assemblyman Michael Dendekker speak
about the propsoed “Triboro” rail on Dec. 18. Schneps Media Jason Cohen
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