EDITORIAL
ANNUAL COLUMBUS DAY PARADE MARCHES THROUGH ASTORIA
Hundreds of Queens residents attended the 42nd annual Queens Columbus Day Parade in Astoria on
Saturday, Oct. 12. Photo by Dean Moses
READERS WRITE
We need to clarify the rules of the road
I appreciated John Amato’s
plea in the Oct. 3 edition of the
Bayside Times/TimesLedger for
people to follow the rules of the
road.
It seems simple enough. If
drivers, pedestrians, and bicyclists
were to follow the rules of
the road, then accidents would be
minimized.
Accidents lead to people getting
hurt, maimed, or even killed.
Most accidents are costly and may
become significant life events —
especially for those who become
disabled or suffer traumatic brain
injury (TBI).
It seems logical that local city
government (through the DOT) is
responsible for setting up traffic
patterns and control signals that
are aligned with state and federal
transportation regulations and
guidelines to enhance safety.
So I am left wondering: why
are no stop signs posted at the exits
of parking lots for commercial
businesses – like at the Little Neck
Plaza? Who has the right of way?
Drivers exiting the Little Neck
Plaza parking lot or vehicles proceeding
in the lane of traffic on
Nassau Boulevard (which leads
to Horace Harding Expressway
North (Westbound)?
It seems that there is a public
policy issue here that needs to be
examined more closely — so at
least we know that there is a good
rule book to go by.
Should stop signs be required
at parking lot exits? Are commercial
property owners responsible
for posting stop signs at their
parking lot exits, or is the city?
More importantly, who will bother
to look into this?
Only time will tell.
Dr. Andrew Buck
Douglaston
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NAT GRID COMPLIES QUICKLY
For more than six months, National Grid refused natural
gas service to more than 1,100 new and returning
customers as part of a moratorium the company imposed
in response to continued opposition to the $1 billion Williams
pipeline project, which was denied a permit by the
state’s Department of Environmental Prevention over
concerns it would contaminate New York Harbor.
Last week, Gov. Andrew Cuomo drew a line in the
sand, ordering the utility company to comply with the
Public Service Law or face millions of dollars in fines.
It was a line National Grid did not cross, as it reversed
course and lifted its moratorium hours after Cuomo laid
down the law.
The company took immediate steps to re-connect
customers in Queens, Brooklyn and Long Island who
had inactive accounts, or who applied for gas service and
were denied during the “connection restrictions policy”
that went into effect last May.
National Grid New York President John Bruckner
said that the company objective was to contact all 1,157
customers outlined in the order by the end of the week
to schedule a re-connection appointment based on their
needs, with the goal of reconnecting the majority of the
customers by mid-November.
“Unfortunately, that’s not possible given the current
constraints on gas supply,” Bruckner said.
The governor took umbrage with Buckner’s claim
and National Grid’s basic premise for the moratorium
in the first place — that without the Williams pipeline
bringing fracked natural gas from Pennsylvania to a terminus
a few miles off the coast of Rockaway Beach, the
company would not have adequate supply for any new
customers.
When he issued his order, Cuomo pointed out that the
Williams pipeline, if permitted, would not be in service
until December 2020 at the earliest.
He said the Department of Public Service would expand
its investigation into National Grid’s potential negligence
given that New York is entering the cold-weather
Perhaps, National Grid went too far with its moratorium
considering Cuomo already broke ground on his
$1.18 billion Belmont Park redevelopment project that
was designed to be heated by natural gas.
As new commercial customers, hockey arena that
will be the new home of the New York Islanders would be
denied connection by National Grid.
The alternative was huge underground propane
tanks and that was something that didn’t sit well with
the surrounding community.
“That’s what you came up with? Propane?” Tammie
Williams, of the Belmont Park Community Coalition
asked recently. “You want to put a bomb in a black neighborhood?
I don’t think so.”
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16 TIMESLEDGER, OCT. 18-24, 2019 BT QNS.COM
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