6 times • FEBRUARY 18, 2016 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.qns.com Once more, with feeling; Community Board rejects Ridgewood street festival again BY ANTHONY GIUDICE agiudice@ridgewoodtimes.com @A_GiudiceReport At first they didn’t succeed, so Community Board 5 will try again to put the kibosh on the Fresh Pond Road street festival. For the second year in a row, the board recommended denial of a street fair application for the four-day festival sponsored by the Federazione Italo-Americana di Brooklyn and Queens, which is scheduled to take place in September. The recommendation, adopted first by the board’s Executive Committee, garnered the support of 27 board members, with only eight opposing it during the CB 5 meeting Wednesday night in Middle Village. “The Executive Committee spent a lot of time on this one based on what the board had reviewed last year,” said Vincent Arcuri, chairperson of CB 5. “And the committee voted not to approve the Fresh Pond Road street festival.” The arguments against the yearly festival are well documented. It shuts down a portion of Fresh Pond Road, between Menahan and Woodbine Streets for four consecutive nights — scheduled for Sept. 8-11 this year — causing traffic problems for residents, as well as leaving fewer parking spots. Community concerns over qualityof life issues, including the festival’s late hours and instances of rowdy behavior, are what brought CB 5 to their decision. However, the Mayor’s Street Activity Permit Office has the final say on whether or not the festival will take place. Last year, CB 5 voted to deny the festival, but it was approved by the mayor’s office and went on as planned. The community board did vote in favor of applications for five other street festivals: - Glendale Kiwanis Club festival on Metropolitan Avenue between 73rd Place and 79th Street in Middle Village, for Sunday, April 24. - Glendale Kiwanis Club’s Myrtle Avenue Festival of Ridgewood on Myrtle Avenue between Fresh Pond Road and Forest Avenue on Sunday, July 24. - Maspeth Chamber of Commerce Lions Kiwanis’ Grand Avenue Festival on Grand Avenue between 65th Street and 72nd Street on Sunday, June 12. - Ridgewood Myrtle Avenue Festival on Myrtle Avenue between Wyckoff Avenue and Fresh Pond Road on Sunday, April 17. - Myrtle Avenue Business Improvement District’s (BID) Myrtle Avenue Festival on Myrtle Avenue between Wyckoff Avenue and Fresh Pond Road on Sunday, Sept. 18. FDNY wants first ambulance charging station in Maspeth BY ANTHONY GIUDICE on board at specific temperatures. Each ambulance’s agiudice@ridgewoodtimes.com engine idling spews nearly 45 tons of pollutants @A_GiudiceReport into the atmosphere annually, according to the FDNY. The Fire Department plans to bring to Maspeth an To alleviate this problem, the FDNY wants to create ambulance charging station that aims to keep EMS these charging stations to give the ambulance units at the ready without burning fossil fuels. access to grid electricity — where the operator can Representatives of the FDNY announced the pilot plug in the ambulance — to run the communications program during last week’s Community Board 5 and refrigeration systems continuously, without meeting in Middle Village. In all, the FDNY wants the need of idling. to bring 21 ambulance charging stations to Queens, “It’s actually, technically, not charging,” said hoping that the first will be created at the corner of Stephanie Williams, facilities coordinator for the Borden and Grand avenues, where ambulances are FDNY Bureau of Facilities Management. “What it currently positioned. To do this, the FDNY would does is keeps the cab running so once they turn need dedicated parking spots by these stations to off the engine, everything is still maintained at its allow ambulance access. optimal level.” “Now it will be approximately two parking spaces, “The ambulance pulls up to the station, the EMS because the ambulance has to get in and out, that worker comes out to the station, they run the cord will be taken away from the public,” said Vincent to the ambulance,” Williams added. “Then they Arcuri, chairperson of CB 5. come back to the cab and turn it off, this way there’s As emergency response vehicles, ambulances must no pollutants. So you go from tons and tons of pollutants keep their engines running at all times in order to being emitted, to now zero pollutants.” have their communication systems working, as well as the refrigeration system to keep the medication Besides the loss of parking spaces, members of CB 5 were concerned if this new procedure would lead to increased ambulance response times. But the ambulance operator does not need to get out of the vehicle to unplug the cord from the ambulance, so it does not affect response times: “The plug is a short power plug, it is not a twistlock, but there is a locking mechanism,” said Paul Soehren, senior director of design construction, at the FDNY Bureau of Facilities Management. “That locking mechanism is deactivated when one turns the key. It will then kick out the plug, and there is an automatic retracing.” It was announced that these charging stations are estimated to save the FDNY money on fuel costs, vehicle maintenance repairs and emissions. Some board members were optimistic about the plans. “I am very glad that you guys are examining this,” said John Maier of CB 5. “It’s really unfortunate how much I watch these, when they are not called away, they are idling all the time and they are excluded from the idling laws and I think this is a great idea. It’s a great move forward to create less pollution.” The CB 5 Transportation Committee will investigate the matter further and make a recommendation to be voted on by the full board. RIDGEWOOD TIMES/File photo For the second year in a row Community Board 5 rejects the application for the Fresh Pond Road street festival.
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