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RT05042017

WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES MAY 4, 2017 15 New Kosciuszko Bridge makes its big debut Ridgewood-based CSA brings fresh produce to local neighborhoods BY ANTHONY GIUDICE AGIUDICE@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM @A_GIUDICEREPORT Health foodies in Ridgewood and the surrounding areas can begin signing up to receive fresh, organic produce straight from the farm as part of Woodbine’s CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program. The organizers at Woodbine — an experimental community hub located at 1882 Woodbine St. — have teamed up for the fi rst time ever with Long Island-based Garden of Eve Farm to bring a CSA program to Ridgewood. This is the third year Woodbine will be hosting a CSA. Registration to be a part of the CSA, which delivers fresh, organic, produce straight from Garden of Eve Farm, started on April 23 and continues until Saturday, May 6. The benefi ts of being part of a CSA are many. The food you will receive is fresh, straight from the farm, and oft en cheaper than a supermarket, and CSAs help support local farming and agriculture. The Certifi ed Organic Vegetable share, which includes over 40 diff erent varieties of vegetables, will cost $655 ($28.75 per week for 24 weeks) and is designed to feed two people. Participants can also purchase weekly add-ons including a half-dozen eggs for $78 ($3.25 per week for 24 weeks) and fl owers for $100 ($10 for 10 weeks). Payments for the CSA can be made in three installments. Participants can drop off three checks made payable to “Garden of Eve Farm” for $218.33 for just the organic vegetable share — for additional add-ons, add in the appropriate amount to the check — postdated for June 1, Aug. 1 and Oct. 1, before May 6. Make sure to note which CSA selections you’re purchasing on the check. Drop off payments in an envelope at Woodbine on Sundays between 7:30 and 9:30 p.m., or during normal business hours at Topos Bookstore Cafe located 788 Woodward Ave. Please write “Woodbine CSA,” your name, and email and/or phone number on the envelope. EBT is also an accepted payment method. Pickups will begin on Saturday, June 10 at Woodbine, and will run each Saturday through Nov. 18. For more information on how to sign up, email woodbinecsa@ gmail.com. BY ANGELA MATUA AMATUA@QNS.COM / @AMATUA Driving in on Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s 1932 Packard, Gov. Andrew Cuomo officially marked the opening of the new Kosciuszko Bridge on April 27. New York City’s fi rst new bridge in more than a half-century opened on the Brooklyn/Queens border, as the completed fi rst half of the Kosciuszko Bridge reconstruction project was unveiled in a ceremony. “I drove up in Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s 1932 Packard,” Cuomo said. “It is the fi rst time the car has been used in 30 years. I brought it to commemorate today and to bring the spirit of FDR to this bridge. FDR had a tremendous positive energy and FDR was all about what we can do. He never took no for an answer. He believed in New York, he believed in New Yorkers and he believed there was nothing New Yorkers couldn’t do.” The new cable-stayed bridge was built adjacent to the rusting, 78-yearold traffi c nightmare that carries the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (BQE) over the Newtown Creek between Maspeth and Greenpoint. “The old bridge did its job well but it is structurally and operationally obsolete; it has been for a long time,” Cuomo said. “The delays have been legendary. The fi rst time I heard my father use expletives was on this bridge.” The structure, twin cable-stayed spans, is the fi rst new bridge built in New York since the Verrazano-Narrow’s Bridge was completed in 1964. The Queens side of the bridge will hold fi ve lanes of traffi c while the Brooklyn span will hold four. The fi rst phase that was offi cially opened today opens three lanes of traffi c in both directions until the second phase is complete in 2020. “We have the proud son of Queens in Gov. Andrew Cuomo,” said Queens Borough President Melinda Katz. “This is a governor that has never forgotten where he comes from in the city of New York. He’s invested in our airports, in our roads, in our future and today has taken one giant step towards making sure that the future generations, those that we will never meet have an infrastructure that they can count on in the city of New York.” Consulate General of Poland in New York Maciej Golubiewski also attended the event to give a brief history of Thaddeus Kosciuszko, the military engineer the bridge was named aft er in 1940. “Kosciuszko was a prince of tolerance who stood up for the rights of European serfs and specifi cally African slaves for whose education he designated all of his fortune in his last will. His dear friend Thomas Jeff erson, who we all know, called Kosciuszko ‘the purest son of liberty I have ever known.'” The old bridge was supposed to accommodate about 10,000 drivers a day, according to Cuomo, but now, approximately 180,000 drivers use it. Once completely fi nished, the new iteration is supposed to reduce delays by 65 percent. Cuomo announced earlier this year that the approaches to the bridge would be imploded, but the steel span above the Newtown Creek will be taken apart piece by piece. The new Kosciuszko Bridge is the fi rst of twin cable-stayed spans across the creek. It will temporarily carry three lanes of BQE traffi c in each direction over the next several years while the second new bridge is built in the footprint of the old span. Photo by Angela Matua/QNS


RT05042017
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