4 The Queens Courier • JUNE 27, 2013 for breaking news visit www.queenscourier.com THE COURIER/Photo by Melissa Chan Turan Ates of College Point is leading the fight against a noisy neighboring truck company. COLLEGE POINT RESIDENTS SAY BIG RIGS A NUISANCE BY MELISA CHAN mchan@queenscourier.com Some College Point residents are tired of being kept awake. Neighbors of a 24-hour truck company If You’re Ready to Buy a Home,We are Ready to Help. The State of New York M ortgage Agency offers: Up to $15,000 Down Payment Assistance 1-800-382-HOME(4663) for Housing www.sonyma.org at 129-16 14th Avenue say dozens of loud, heavy-duty vehicles come and go at all hours of the night and into the early morning. “It’s rough. We like to have our windows open in the summer. They’re running their trucks, going up and down the block. It wakes people up,” said David Toic, 34. “We don’t want to be sleeping and all of a sudden hear trucks running.” More than 20 people have signed a petition calling for action against the company, TNP Trucking. Turan Ates, who has been leading the fight for 17 years, said the daily disturbances keep his 11-year-old daughter tossing and turning in bed. “I can’t wake her up in the morning for school,” said the 47-year-old father of three. “These people, they don’t let us sleep. We shouldn’t be living like that.” Ates has filed nearly 90 complaints with the city since 2011, officials said. He claims trucks constantly idle for more than three minutes, the maximum time frame under city law. “They come here, pick up a coffee and leave their trucks on for hours,” he said. “It’s not just one truck. There are 20 trucks. When they come here, they park their trucks all around the block completely.” Dominick Sciallo, who lives directly across the street from the truck yard, said vehicles dominate the street. “It’s a disaster over here,” he said. A spokesperson for the city’s Department of Environmental Protection said it has conducted 70 inspections but never found any violations. A TNP Trucking official said vehicles come and go because they work around the clock, hauling beams and debris away from city emergencies on highways, tunnels and bridges. “If the city had a big emergency, we would be called in,” said David Francis, who runs TNP’s College Point headquarters. “If this is a 24-hour operation, where am I supposed to go?” Francis said the company is unionized under Teamsters Local 282 and has been in business for more than 30 years. Newly bought trucks have clean air equipment to reduce toxins, he added. “We’re not doing anything wrong,” Francis said. FOREST HILLS BIZ OWNERS: Parking plans would ‘kill us’ BY MELISSA CHAN AND ROSA KIM mchan@queenscourier.com The city’s plans to make a dangerous Forest Hills intersection safer would crush local shops, business owners said. The Department of Transportation (DOT) has proposed turning 14 metered parking spots along Metropolitan Avenue, between 70th Drive and 71st Avenue, into No Standing zones. The measure is meant to improve traffic flow, ease congestion and make the crosswalk safer for pedestrians and simpler for motorists, a DOT spokesperson said. Thirteen people were injured at Metropolitan Avenue and 71st Avenue between 2006 and 2010, the DOT said. Two were pedestrians who were severely hurt. In 2011, a left-turning car struck and killed another person who was crossing the street. But business owners said the change would devastate already struggling stores that rely on more than just foot traffic. “Without parking spots, we cannot operate,” said Tony Sparacino of Father and Sons Florist. “As little as we have, we need them. It’ll kill the drugstore, the bakery, all of us.” Sam Cardenli of Piccola Italia said parking is already sparse. “Sometimes you go around and around and you don’t find any parking,” she said. “If they remove the parking from here, it’s going to make it harder for the customers and we’re going to lose business.” The DOT said many Metropolitan Avenue businesses have their own parking lots. Surveys conducted by the department show low Muni Meter usage, with only a fraction of spaces being occupied throughout the week. THE COURIER/Photo by Rosa Kim The city’s plans to make Metropolitan Avenue and 71st Avenue safer is not sitting well with local business owners. There are also plans to relocate the 71st Avenue bus stop to 70th Drive and install a painted center median with a left turn bay. The DOT said the projects are not yet scheduled. “If it happens, there’s going to be an uproar,” Sparacino said. Forest Hills resident Wolfgang Rapp said he crosses the intersection daily without thinking he is in danger. “This intersection is nothing compared to Queens Boulevard, which is really a death trap,” he said. “Reasonable people cross the street in reasonable ways. They look around and cars don’t really speed. So that concern about the safety of this area, it’s a non-issue.” Pedestrian Karah Michaels said she could see the logic behind moving the bus stop. “Despite the lights, a lot could happen here,” she said. If it’s going to a street where there’s a lot less traffic, I think it would be a lot safer.” Bayside arcade closes after nearly 30 years BY MELISA CHAN mchan@queenscourier.com Game over. Peter Pan Games, a popular arcade in the Bay Terrace Shopping Center, has closed after nearly 30 years. The owner of the video game house, who could not be reached, chose not to renew his lease, officials said. “It appears with all of the latest technology with games, so many younger folks are able to play at home,” said Mary Hughes, vice president of leasing at Cord Meyer Development, which rents the space. “We are sad to see the doors close,” Hughes said. Peter Pan Games was located at 212-93 26th Avenue on the upper level of the shopping center. Gamers enjoyed crazes like Dance Dance Revolution there as well as classic Skee Ball, Pac Man, claw machines and air hockey. “It’s a shame,” said 13-year-old Shawn Choi. “A lot of people have fun there. There are no arcades around here.” Smiles Entertainment Center in College Point went out of business years ago. An online search showed only two operating mom-and-pop Queens arcades: Funtopia at 66-26 Metropolitan Avenue in Middle Village and Kids Fun House at 62-73 Fresh Pond Road in Ridgewood. There are also two Chuck E. Cheese’s franchise arcades in Flushing and Long Island City. “I’m sad it closed,” said Dylan Morrow, 23. “I used to go there all the time. But I haven’t gone in a while now that I got older. That’s a bummer. All these kids are playing video games in their houses now with their crazy Xboxes.”
QC06272013
To see the actual publication please follow the link above