FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM DECEMBER 19, 2019 • THE QUEENS COURIER 3
MTA gives ‘sneak peek’ of Queens bus network redesign plan
BY ANGÉLICA ACEVEDO
MTA NYC Transit offi cials paid a visit to
Queens Borough Hall to present a “sneak
peek” of what will be a transformative
redesign plan for the borough’s bus network,
as President for MTA Bus Company
and Acting Senior Vice President of New
York City Transit (NYCT) Department of
Buses Craig Cipriano said.
At Monday’s Queens Borough Board
meeting, the MTA’s Department of Buses
Chief Offi cer Mark Holmes gave a brief
presentation of the redesign draft plan.
Th e draft is based on the issues they heard
and studied from their community outreach
earlier this year — which are all outlined
in their Existing Conditions Report
that was released in September.
Th e main issues Holmes touched on in
the current bus system were the borough’s
historically tangled 107 routes, repetitive
bus routes, bus stops that are too close
to each other, overcrowding, slow bus
speeds, decline in ridership (especially for
the express buses to Manhattan during
off -peak hours and weekends), and ineffi -
cient inter-borough connections (particularly
in northeast and southeast Queens).
To fi x this, the MTA has proposed several
alternatives, including a new grid of
routes for a simplifi ed network that allows
for easier transfers and fewer redundancy,
fewer turns and bus stops for faster travel
time, and more service between Brooklyn,
the Bronx and Manhattan.
Holmes stressed throughout the meeting
that the MTA wants to start completely
from scratch with a “blank slate
approach,” for their Queens redesign project
— unlike that of their Bronx and
Staten Island projects.
“Th is is a complete and utter re-drawing
of the bus network,” Holmes said.
According to an MTA spokesperson,
the Bronx and Staten Island projects are
a few months ahead in the process and
can serve as an example of what Queens’
redesign will look like. Th e spokesperson
added that the Bronx and Staten Island’s
projects will diff er from what they plan for
Queens though, being that their networks
weren’t as circuitous.
Th e conference room was packed with
the Borough Board members and Council
members or their representatives, and
was lead by Deputy Borough President
Sharon Lee.
Lee thanked the MTA offi cials for giving
them a fi rst look at the draft plan, and
added that they take into consideration
several other issues, such as the other
overhaul projects in the borough like
LaGuardia Airport’s AirTrain.
“We are the biggest borough here in
Queens with over 108 square miles, a lot
of ground to cover, a lot of which do have
that subway desert that we talked about
and that will be relying on the surface
level of transportation options that you’ve
outlined,” Lee said.
Council Members I. Daneek Miller,
Adrienne Adams and Barry Grodenchik
were some of the most outspoken during
the Q&A portion of the meeting, stressing
that Queens needs more inter-borough
connectivity than with the outer
boroughs, among other concerns.
MTA’s Director of Community Aff airs
Lucille Songhai mentioned that the MTA
promises to visit all 14 community boards
and other civic associations in order to let
the community know their plans and get
their feedback.
Th ey also want to push people to use
Remix, an app that allows customers to
explore the proposed new system and
leave comments about specifi c routes and
stops.
Some community board chairs questioned
their ability to visit every single
community board and civic association,
to which Songhai responded that the
MTA “will spare no expense or staff ” in
order to do so.
Th e offi cial Queens bus network redesign
plan will be released as a book (the
Bronx book was more than 300 pages long
with detailed profi les of each bus route,
for instance) on Dec. 30th, which will
then begin another round of public review
and comment.
Th e offi cial redesign plan will be
released in spring 2020.
Mayor announces new NYPD unit that will seek out anti-Semitism
BY TODD MAISEL
A new police unit will seek out racially
motivated extremism before it occurs,
Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Dec. 11,
one day aft er the anti-Semitic attack in
Jersey City that left six people dead.
Th e mayor announced the unit’s operations
during an emotional City Hall
press conference on Dec. 11 surrounded
by members of the Jewish community,
fl anked by NYPD Commissioner Dermot
Shea and his new Chief of Detectives
Rodney Harrison.
Th e new unit within the department’s
intelligence division, to be known
as “Racially and Ethnically Motivated
Extremism,” or “R.E.M.E,” will be dedicated
to investigating threats from both
foreign and domestic neo-Nazi, and white
supremacist organizations such as the
Aryan Brotherhood, Proud Boys, the
White Aryan Resistance to name a few.
Th e 25 member unit will work closely
with the detective division’s Hate Crime
Task Force and Counter Terrorism division
to both track down and prevent
attacks by extremists before they occur.
Th e mayor said the unit started operations
in November, but was announced at
this time because of the racially-motivated
Jersey City attack Tuesday.
Shea said that despite the attack in
Jersey City, there is “no known nexus at
this time between the attack in Jersey City
and New York,” but he said the department
is taking no chances. Th e NYPD is
beefi ng up counter-terrorism police presence
at synagogues and Jewish gathering
places around the city.
He said the department has become
very concerned about a marked increase
in hate crimes in the city, especially in
Brooklyn where a vast majority of orthodox
Jews live.
Shea said he is very disturbed by an
increase in hate crimes in the city, most
especially against Jews in Brooklyn.
Th ere were 309 anti-Semitic crimes in
the city through the third quarter of this
year, up from 144 over the previous 12
months. Th ere were also 127 arrests for
various hate crime off enses.
“Most of the attacks are not physical
assaults, but rather knocking off hats,
pulling off wigs or cars pulling up to
young Jewish children walking home
from prayer – it’s really a systematic lack
of respect and ignorance,” Shea said.
De Blasio said they are pursuing three
strategies to fi ght hate crimes through law
enforcement, community relations and
education. Recently, he formed the Offi ce
for the Prevention of Hate Crimes, calling
the problem, “the new normal.”
“We feel a lot of pain but we have to
understand why this is an emergency – it
confi rms the sad truth that there is a crisis
of anti-Semitism gripping this nation
and in this city, and it has continued to
take on more and more violent forms all
over this country,” de Blasio said. “Now
we have seen this extraordinary extreme
violence reach the doorstep of New York
City and we must take it as a warning
sign. People are living in constant fear –
they no longer feel comfortable wearing
anything that is a symbol of their faith for
fear of attack. unacceptable for any faith,
any background, the city is meant to be
for everyone, national problem, but it is
here now.”
Rabbi David Niederman of the Satmar
Jewish community in Williamsburg said
some Jewish people moved to New Jersey
because it was too expensive to live in the
city, including the family of Leah Mindel
Ferencz, who with Moshe Deutsch, were
both killed in Jersey City. Th ey will be
burying Deutsch tonight as per Jewish
custom.
“Mindel Ferencz was among the fi rst
of the community to move to Jersey City
who could not aff ord a home for her
family so they said, ‘Let’s go to where
it’s cheaper; I’ll be an example,’” Rabbi
Niederman said. “So they opened a grocery
store, people can shop locally and
they alleviated the pain of thousands of
families in unbearable conditions. What
are we telling three children, how do we
explain that, how long will they live the
scars?”
Devorah Halberstam of Crown Heights
lost her young son Ari 25 years ago to a
terrorist attack on the Brooklyn Bridge
that targeted the bus her son was on
because they were Jewish.
“I’m very upset about what happened
and am I surprised – now as I’ve been
speaking very strongly about this for
some time – it begins with swastikas and
doesn’t end with that. Th at’s how violence
begins, begins with small things,”
she said.
“At the time, what happened to my son
was looked at as an isolated event, tied to
international terrorism. I can’t believe I’m
living in times like this – I’m shocked this
is going on in my lifetime.”
Mayor de Blasio read the names of the
victims of the Jersey City attack and called
a moment of silence.
Rabbi Joseph Potasnik of the New York
Board of Rabbis was stoic about the attack
and the eff orts to stop hate crimes.
“When we said never again, did we say
it with a period, or a question mark?” he
sighed.
Photo by Angelica Acevedo
MTA offi cials Craig Cipriano, Mark Holmes and Lucille Songhai present their bus network redesign
draft plan at the Queens Borough Hall on Dec. 16.
Photo by Todd Maisel
Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a new unit to
battle anti-semitism in the NYPD.
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