14 MAY 2, 2019 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Memorial bench in Glendale honors Kiwanian
BY MAX PARROTT
MPARROTT@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
@RIDGEWOODTIMES
The Kiwanis Club of Glendale
commemorated a bench at Dry
Harbor Playground in Glendale
on April 27 in memory of Michael
“Mick” Ennis, a beloved club member
and community fi xture.
Several members of the club
along with Ennis’ daughter Kerry
gave speeches commemorating the
former club president, who died on
Nov. 1, 2016.
Ennis, who led the club in 1988,
was remembered by his colleagues
for his “magnetic personality,” which
helped draw dozens of members into
the club during his long membership
before he moved to Arizona
later in life.
“He was probably the most
important member our club ever had
in its 66 years,” said Bob Kueber, the
treasurer of the Glendale club.
“One memory I have is walking the
Memorial Day Parade in Glendale
with him,” said Tony Sauro, the
current president of the club. “His
hand never went down. He must
have known everyone there. I said,
‘They ought to call you the mayor.’ He
said, ‘They do.’”
The bench, which sits catty corner
to a memorial to local victims of
the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks,
was chosen to reflect Ennis’ life of
service.
He served in the U.S. Navy before
joining the New York City Fire
Department.
“FDNY and Glendale were his life,”
said his daughter Kerry. “And he’s
with us because the sun is shining.
He even got me a parking spot,” she
said to a burst of laughter from
those gathered.
After retiring as a firefighter,
Ennis worked as the sports editor
of the Ridgewood Times and Times
Newsweekly for many years.
Ennis loved playing softball, and
coaching athletics for the Catholic
Youth Organization, which now
holds a scholarship in his name,
Kueber said.
After moving to Carefree,
Arizona with his wife Marilyn, he
joined the Kiwanis club there in
addition to serving on the Carefree
Chamber of Commerce. He was
known in the Kiwanis club for his
motto of “each one, reach one.”
“In this somber yet spiritual
Photo: Max Parrott/QNS
setting, next to the 9/11 memorial,
I can’t think of a better place for
a man that embodied Glendale,”
said former Middle Village
Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley.
L ‘slowdown’ to bring more trains to Queens
BY MARK HALLUM
MHALLUM@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@RIDGEWOODTIMES
With the MTA having started
work on the Canarsie
Tunnel, commuters have
many options to get around without
the L line during the 15 months when
overnight and weekend service
is suspended.
While many Brooklynites will look
to subway lines in Queens – such as
the 7, G and M trains – the MTA will
be provided more options for those
in north Williamsburg to reach the
J train to the south through two new
bus routes.
During the weekends, the MTA
plans to provide more trains to the
M line increasing service from every
10 minutes to every 8 minutes during
the day. During overnight hours on
weekdays, service will be extending all
the way up to 96th Street on the Q train
route instead of to Queens Boulevard.
The G line will run fi ve additional
trains on weeknights between 8:30
p.m. and 1:30 a.m. while weekend
service during the day will see shorter
intervals from 10 minutes to 8 minutes,
the MTA said.
The 7 train will remain relatively
unchanged on weekends, with service
every 4 to 7 minutes. But weeknights
will see fi ve additional trips from 8:30
p.m. to midnight.
Two special bus lines, the B91 and B92
will provide service between diff erent
options in Brooklyn between stops
on Bedford Avenue L, Metropolitan
Avenue – Lorimer Street G and L, Marcy
Avenue J and M, and the Hewes Street J
and M.
These buses will run every 3 to ten
minutes, according to the MTA.
Bedford Avenue will serve as
the western terminus of L train
service within Brooklyn during the
15-month period.
Mayor Bill de Blasio announced
on April 24 that the city would move
forward with a plan draft ed during
the period when the public in Brooklyn,
Queens and Manhattan were bracing
themselves for a round-the-clock
closure of the Canarsie Tunnel.
The de Blasio administration will
shutdown 14th Street in Manhattan
between 3rd and 9th Avenues to buses
and delivery vehicles for a period of 18
months.
“We have an opportunity to try
something new and really get bus riders
moving on one of our busiest streets,”
de Blasio said. “As we continue to address
congestion across New York City, this is
an experiment that, if successful, could
provide us another tool to move buses
faster and save people valuable time for
the things that matter.”
The pilot program, starting later in the
spring, came with the approval of both
the Tri-State Transportation Campaign
and the Riders Alliance who advocate
for better public transportation.
“The L train ‘slowdown’ threatens
to be a slow-motion crisis for
hundreds of thousands of daily L
train riders. Making 14th Street a buspriority
street closed to non-local traffi c
will mean buses can play a huge role in
picking up the slack when the L train
is down,” Nick Sifuentes, Executive
Director of Tri-State Transportation
Campaign, said.“The busway will help
keep New Yorkers moving while still
preserving residents’ and delivery
vehicle access.”
Governor Andrew Cuomo stomped
the brakes on the full closure of the
tunnel, announced three years ago
this month, back in January when he
unveiled a new approach that would
keep riders moving during the busiest
commuting hours.
During Superstorm Sandy, the
Canarsie Tunnel was completely
fl ooded by surges from the East River
which required critical concrete and
electrical work.
But a panel of experts from Cornell
University proposes casing the
bench-walls — raised walkways that
hold electrical components and act as
walkways — in a fi ber glass-reinforced
polymer with fi beroptic cabling.
For more on the L train project
and how it impacts Brooklyn, visit
BrooklynPaper.com.
Photo via Wikimedia Archives
/BrooklynPaper.com
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