34 The Queens Courier • OCTOBER 31, 2013 for breaking news visit www.queenscourier.com Photo Courtesy of Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer’s Office Together with nursery school children and members of the local Woodside senior community, Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer put up a community stop sign at the intersection of 47th Avenue and 60th Street. Taking traffic matters into their own hands BY ANGY ALTAMIRANO aaltamirano@queenscourier.com Woodside residents are taking matters into their own hands to make it safer to cross their streets. Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer gathered with residents young and old on October 25 to rally against the dangerous traffic conditions along 47th Avenue in Woodside. The group then also put up their own community-made stop sign at the intersection of 47th Avenue and 60th Street. “The reckless speeding and steady traffic along 47th Avenue presents serious safety hazards to countless young school children and seniors who cross the street every single day,” said Van Bramer. “We are taking matters into our own hands.” The surrounding community is home to two Big Six Towers co-op apartment buildings and the Towers Play and Learn nursery school, bringing large numbers of children and seniors crossing 47th Avenue to get to school or the co-op’s senior program. Van Bramer’s office has been contacting the Department of Transportation (DOT) since 2010 asking for traffic calming measures, like speed bumps and stop signs, to be installed along 47th Avenue between 59th and 61st Streets. According to the councilmember, the DOT has said that based on their studies such additional measures were not necessary in the area. “The time to act is now,” said Van Bramer. “Without a stop sign at this heavily trafficked intersection or speed humps along this street, the chances of an accident happening will continue to escalate.” Based on the latest data available, between 2001 and present day, there have been no fatalities at the intersection and one reported pedestrian injury. “Safety is DOT’s top priority,” said spokesperson Nicholas Mosquera. “While the agency’s recent study of this location last winter found that it did not meet the federal guidelines for additional stop signs, DOT will review the location to see what potential enhancement can be made, including adding a temporary speed board at the location to remind drivers of the safety reasons for adhering to the speed limit.” PLAZA TO HELP Reclaim their neighborhood BY ANGY ALTAMIRANO aaltamirano@queenscourier.com A new Jackson Heights community plaza is bringing color and flowers to an area where two recent daytime murders left business owners and residents Photo Courtesy the 82nd Street Partnership The 82nd Street Partnership and Councilmember Julissa Ferreras announced the formation of the 90th Street plaza under the No. 7 train, a temporary space with colorful tables, chairs and planted flowers. Get ready for Sunnyside Restaurant Week BY ANGY ALTAMIRANO aaltamirano@queenscourier.com Get ready to dine in Sunnyside. The Sunnyside Shines Business Improvement District (BID) is holding its first-ever Sunnyside Restaurant Week from November 4 to 8. The five-day celebration will offer participants a “culinary journey through Sunnyside,” featuring special three course dinner menus for $25 at 17 participating local restaurants. Six of the 17 will also feature two course lunch menus for $10. Along with indulging in cuisines from all around the world, Sunnyside Restaurant Week will also feature site-specific art installations, titled “Conveying the Invisible,” curated by No Longer Empty, a contemporary arts organization. The artworks for the week will bring visitors a combination of space, food and art. Three artists will be on-site on Monday, November 4 and the opening reception for the week will be at Venturo, located at 44-07 Queens Boulevard, at 5:30 p.m. “Sunnyside Restaurant Week is an exciting opportunity to highlight the neighborhood as a creative district with great restaurants,” said Rachel Thieme, executive director of the Sunnyside Shines BID. “We hope to draw new people to the neighborhood as well as inspire Sunnyside residents to discover new art and restaurants they haven’t tried yet.” The 17 Sunnyside restaurants, which can be found on Queens Boulevard and Greenpoint Avenue, Photo courtesy of Takesushi The Sunnyside Shines Business Improvement District is holding its first-ever Sunnyside Restaurant Week for five days in the beginning of November. include: Arriba Arriba, Bliss 46 Bistro, Bliss Street Station, Bucharest Restaurant, Dazies Restaurant, Dee Thai, I Love Paraguay, Malingo, Mario’s Restaurant, Molly Blooms, New York Style Eats, Nodus, PJ Horgan’s, Sidetracks, Takesushi, Turkish Grill and Venturo. The project is partially funded by the Avenue NYC program administered by the New York City Department of Small Business Services. Menus for each of the restaurants and details on each art installation can be found on www.sunnysideshines. org/sunnyside-restaurant-week. concerned for their safety. The 82nd Street Partnership and Councilmember Julissa Ferreras announced the formation of the temporary 90th Street plaza under the No. 7 train at the intersection of 90th Street and Roosevelt Avenue. “Considering that two murders recently occurred in this area, the reclaiming of this space could not come at a better time,” said Ferreras. “What our community desperately needs right now is to feel that we can work through whatever issues arise and be more united for it.” In September, Ever Orozco, 69, was fatally stabbed by Steven Torres, 22, after taking his wife to her routine doctor’s visit on 90th Street. A few days later, a 33-year-old man was found dead with gunshot wounds to his head and neck just a block away. The temporary plaza, which currently features colorful tables and chairs, is just a taste of one of the many things the new Jackson Heights-Corona Business Improvement District (BID) would bring to beautify and create a cleaner and safer community. After getting feedback from the community, the BID will present the community vision to the Parks Department in hopes of getting the capital funding to renovate the plaza space and install permanent tables, chairs and planted flowers. “It’s a visual improvement but it’s also a social improvement, because it makes that space a social space and it puts more eyes on the space,” said Seth Taylor, executive director of the 82nd Street Partnership. “The important piece here is that this is an example of the type of work the BID is looking to do along Roosevelt Avenue, this is a scaled down version.” If the community votes to accept the Jackson Heights-Corona BID by the end of this year, then it would be up and running by the time a permanent plaza could be installed and it would serve as the city’s maintenance partner of the space. The BID also hopes to work with local cultural institutions to curate art and cultural events in the plaza. “The formation of the Jackson Heights-Corona Business Improvement District would greatly assist our community in taking a major step in the right direction,” said Ferreras. The 82nd Street Partnership will host the 90th Street Plaza Visioning Day on Sunday, November 3 from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. at the plaza where community members can come and give their ideas for a future permanent space. The Uni, a pop-up reading room, will also be present at the site on Sunday. For more information visit www.CleanerSaferRoosevelt.org.
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