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QUEENS WEEKLY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2019
Lawsuit latest salvo in war over Fresh Pond bus lane
BY MARK HALLUM
Property owners in
Ridgewood are banding
together to take on
city hall in court after
the Department of
Transportation (DOT)
installed southbound
bus lanes on Fresh Pond
Road they claim is impacting
business on the
busy corridor.
The Fresh Pond Coalition
has filed an Article 78
proceeding in Queens Supreme
Court that claims
the city DOT’s decision to
implement the bus lanes
on the gridlocked section
of road was based on insufficient
evidence such
as polls and figures that
do not add up to locals.
As well as having
doubts about the accuracy
of the data gathered by
DOT, including a figure
that said 30,000 bus riders
travel down Fresh Pond a
day or that they polled 45
businesses, Ridgewood
Property Owners Association
President Geoffrey
Elkind even criticized
the benefits of the
bus lane.
“This isn’t about privileged
car owners or equity
for bus riders. But
if you want to talk about
equity for bus riders, is
25 percent of a three mile
an hour improvement really
equity?” Elkind said.
“Andy Byford, President
of New York City Transit,
in his Better Bus Action
Plan, identified traffic
congestion as the primary
cause of slow bus
speeds in New York City,
and we agree. Congestion
is the real problem and
the real scourge on Fresh
Pond Road.”
The seven-block corridor
acts as one of the few
major north-south routes
between Ridgewood and
Middle Village, but average
speeds of buses and
likely all other vehicles
on the road has a recorded
average of about
3 mph.
Elkind argued that if
the city was really committed
to thinning out
auto traffic, they would
consider curbing for-hire
vehicles that add to more
cars on the road than
ever before.
The two biggest contributors,
however, as
the activists see it, are
18-wheelers off loading
goods at two of the supermarkets
north of the M
train and the bus depot
below the elevated track
serving lines from both
Brooklyn and Queens.
Stephanie Burgos-Veras,
campaign manager
with the Riders Alliance,
responded to the lawsuit
Tony DiPiazza, from the Federazione Italo-Americana di Brooklyn and Queens, spoke out in support of a lawsuit challenging
the Fresh Pond Road bus lanes on Sept. 18. Photo: Mark Hallum/QNS
claiming it ignored the
needs of black and brown
people who consist of
the highest demographic
of bus riders, who on
average make $28,000,
she claimed.
“The lawsuit filed
to stop the bus lane on
Fresh Pond Road is frivolous.
It’s unfortunate that
a small group of people
are trying to block something
that would benefit
tens of thousands of riders.
More than 28,000
people depend on buses
that crawl at just 3 mph
along Fresh Pond Road
— and are benefiting
from the bus lane. Adding
bus lanes is part of
the mayor’s Better Buses
initiative to improve bus
speeds by 25 percent and
improve reliability for
the almost 2 million New
Yorkers who ride the
bus daily,” Burgos-Veras
said. “When you block
bus lanes, you block access
to economic opportunity
to bus riders who,
on average, make $28K a
year and are 86 percent
people of color. Bus riders
should have priority
on New York City streets.
This lawsuit should
be dropped.”
DOT’s press team
did not respond to a request
for comment before
press time, but in early
August, the agency did
make a concession to
the community.
“While I realize that
you still have ongoing
questions, I would like
to report that we have
heard your concerns
with regard to the hours
of the bus lane operation
and will be reducing the
hours from 2 to 8 p.m. to 3
to 7 p.m. Monday through
Friday,” DOT Commissioner
Polly Trottenberg
said to Councilman
Robert Holden.
“You can be assured
that DOT will monitor
the conditions along the
corridor following the
implementation of our
proposed plan and will
be ready to make adjustments,
as needed,” Trottenberg
said.
Tony DiPiazza, from
the Federazione Italo-
Americana di Brooklyn
and Queens, said the
new situation with the
bus lanes could put some
businesses out of action
within six months.
“It’s not something
you try and in six months
reverse. In six months
those business could be
out of business and who’s
going to repay them,”
DiPiazza said. “They just
went from plan A to Plan
Z … There were easier
fast solutions.”
DiPiazza has taken
the heat in the past for
supposedly making a
traffic hell in Ridgewood
with Fresh Pond
Road Street Fair, an Italian
cultural event that
takes over the asphalt for
four days.
“The traffic lights are
still not synchronized,
I drive down here and
every two blocks I hit a
red light,” Holden said
at the Wednesday press
conference. “They’re not
really serious about moving
traffic. They’re only
implementing their plans
and it’s rushed, by the
way. They had to meet the
mayor’s deadline, they
weren’t meeting the community’s
concerns.”
Holden added that one
step to reducing congestion
would be to establish
a bus depot to serve
the Brooklyn lines that
are stored in Ridgewood
such as the B48.
A bus travels along Fresh Pond Road in Ridgewood on Sept. 18.