8 APRIL 4, 2019 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
MTA release details on congestion pricing
A plan to create a new
entry way into Forest
Park from Glendale will
be one of the big topics raised
at the next Community Board 5
meeting in Middle Village this
Wednesday night.
As announced by District
Manager Gary Giordano, the
session takes place at 7:30 p.m. in
the cafeteria of Christ the King
High School, located at 68-02
Metropolitan Ave.
The agenda includes a presentation
by representatives of the city’s Parks
Department regarding new plans
for the construction of a new Myrtle
Avenue entrance to Forest Park.
The new entrance would be located
in the area of Myrtle Avenue and
Union Turnpike.
Following that presentation,
members of the Greater Ridgewood
Restoration Corporation will speak
to the board about housing issues in
the area.
The remainder of the agenda
includes the public forum; a review
of liquor license applications and
demolition notices; reports by
Chairperson Vincent Arcuri and
District Manager Giordano; and
committee reports.
For more information, or to
register to speak in advance, call the
Board 5 offi ce at 718-366-1834.
BY MARK HALLUM
MHALLUM@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@RIDGEWOODTIMES
MTA President Patrick Foye
briefed the press Monday
on details regarding
congestion pricing that he argued
would have benefi ts beyond better
mass transit.
Foye, whose appointment was
formally announced on April 1,
did not have details on pricing or
specific points of tolling, but offered
a clearer image of how drivers will
pay to access Manhattan below
60th Street known as the Central
Business District.
“Central Business District tolling
is a transformative initiative that
will support critical investments
in our transit system, reduce
pollution and emissions while
improving air quality,” Foye said.
“Make no mistake, this won’t fix
all our problems. We still have a
rapidly aging system and growing
structural deficit on the operating
side. We still have to reduce our
costs, increase our efficiency and
reform the MTA.”
According to Foye, people making
$60,000 per year or less will be less
impacted through a refundable
credit, and use of the highways in
Manhattan will be exempt from the
toll.
Thi s means motor i s t s
heading uptown will be able to
avoid the cost.
Tolling will start no earlier
than Jan. 1, 2020, Foye said, once
members of the Traffic Mobility
Review Board pieces together
recommendat ions for the
full implementation.
While congestion pricing is
expected to raise $15 billion for
the next five-year capital plan to
start in 2020, Foye said $7 billion
from the federal government and
revenue from other taxes will
bring the MTA $32 billion total.
The next capital plan is to be
announced in October and that
leaves the agency just short of
New York City Transit President
Andy Byford’s $40 bi llion
Fast Forward plan.
“To be at the $32 billion level
is frankly an extraordinary
achievement. It’s really almost
hard to overstate the importance
of what happened in Albany
early this morning,” Foye said.
“Getting congestion pricing after
fits and starts and frankly years,
over a decade of failure is an
incredible achievement by the
governor and Legislature.”
Then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg
first attempted to implement
congestion pricing in 2009, but the
plan was shot down in Albany.
Many of the outer borough elected
officials still hold opposition
claiming congestion pricing
would only cripple commerce
and close off residents of Queens
from services and amenities only
available in Manhattan.
But Lior Rachmany, the CEO of
Dumbo Moving, took a counterintuitive
stance in favor of
congestion pricing claiming it
would open up streets, allowing
for better logistical management,
fewer tickets and less time
spent at meters.
BY MARK HALLUM
MHALLUM@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@RIDGEWOODTIMES
The family of a late deacon
from St. Stanislaus Kostka
Church is seeking a street
co-naming for David Ciorciari, who
died from 9/11-related illness at the
age of 61 last year, at 61st Street and
Maspeth Avenue.
Eileen Ciorciari said her husband
spent 20 years with NYPD and 17
as a special investigator for the
city Board of Education, having
spent the last 10 years of his
life as a deacon in his church,
where the family hopes to have
a sign commemorating his years
of service.
“He devoted his life to trying to
make the world a better place. He
did a lot of community work by
doing religious things: Baptizing
children in the schools as well as
visiting the homebound in nursing
homes,” Ciorciari told Community
Board 5’s transportation committee
Tuesday night. “My family and
I would like to have a street conamed
in David’s honor as he lived
a life of service.”
Ciorciari said the she has
gathered petitions for the conaming
from the church and Frank
Kowalinski Post, a veterans group
representing Polish-American
former service members.
The next stage for the family
would be to take their request
to the local city council member
covering the district, which
would be Councilman Robert
Holden, who would sponsor a bill
that if approved would authorize
the co-naming.
Google Street View
CB 5 talks
Forest Park
at next meet
Maspeth deacon’s family seeks street name
“If passed, we think this will
lessen the accidents our drivers,
and others, get in and the tickets
that they receive. This will also
allow us to complete our jobs faster
and allow us to plan and map out
the logistics of each move more
efficiently,” Rachmany told the
Ridgewood Times. “Most non-New
Yorkers are unaware of the actual
traffic experience in the city, as
NYC is a unique metropolitan area
and not as restricted as European
cities – the taxi and ride share
services are essentially unlimited
here. We have the oldest subway
system in the world and will
reap incredible benefits from its
renovation.”
Assemblyman David Weprin and
senators Leroy Comrie and John Liu
formed the core of opposition to
congestion pricing after Governor
Andrew Cuomo announced in
2017 that it was idea whose time
had come.
A 7 train arriving in Long Island City on a snowy day.
Photo: Mark Hallum/RIDGEWOOD TIMES
/WWW.QNS.COM
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