WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES JULY 27, 2017 13
CITY OUTREACH
SHOULDN’T BE FOR
ONE WEEK
On July 18, I attended the Community
Resource Fair at Queens Borough
Hall sponsored by Mayor de Blasio
and Borough President Katz. It was
excellent! There must have been 30 or
more city agencies represented there.
They had tables set up for each agency
and people could go from table to table
and actually speak to agency commissioners/
representatives regarding
concerns/issues that they had.
Although 311 is a great resource for
residents to communicate with city
agencies, there is nothing like dealing
with a real person who has a face
and a name and contact information
associated with a particular agency.
I would encourage the mayor and
the borough president to hold these
resource fairs more oft en during the
year. Perhaps one could be scheduled
for evening hours and/or on a weekend
day, so that people with 9-to-5
weekday jobs could attend as well.
Often our borough of Queens seems to
be ignored, along with the other non-Manhattan
boroughs. Those four boroughs are
often referred to as the “outer” boroughs
by our governmental representatives
and those in the media. We are not “outer”
anything. We are all part of the City of New
York and should be treated with the same
dignity and respect as our friends and
neighbors in Manhattan.
The Community Resource Fair really
made me feel that Queens was a true
partner in the functioning of our city.
Henry Euler, Bayside
ENOUGH WITH
THE ILLEGAL
FIREWORKS!
Editor’s note: The following is an
open letter by the author to Councilman
Paul Vallone.
Professional fireworks displays
are beautiful around the Fourth of
July. However, when illegal fi reworks
take place every year in our neighborhoods
by children and adults, they
become a problem.
It’s the illegal fireworks that set some
homes on fire. It’s the illegal fireworks
that sometimes cause extensive burns,
loss of fingers and eyesight by those
children and people setting them off. It’s
the illegal fireworks that create the loud,
annoying, disruptive noises which have
caused dogs to have heart attacks and die.
Why do we allow this to happen
every year?
I am not just asking but pleading with
you to end all the grief that has been
caused by illegal fi reworks. I strongly
believe that if a law is passed to give a
fi ne of $5,000 to anyone (child or adult)
who is in possession of fi reworks, shooting
off fi reworks or giving fi reworks to
children to shoot off , it would stop the
dangers and disturbances of fi reworks.
Mary Donahue, Flushing
OP-ED
7 line needs
repairs before
countdown locks
BY LARRY PENNER
There are better investments
Metropolitan Transportation
Authority New York City Transit
can make to improve service on
the 7 line than installation of countdown
clocks.
In March 1953, a super express began
operating from Flushing–Main
Street to Times Square in the a.m.
rush hour. This 7 stopped at Main
Street and Willets Point before
skipping all stops to Queensboro
Plaza, skipping the Woodside and
Junction Boulevard express stops.
The running time was cut down to
23 minutes from 25 minutes. This
ended in a few years.
Holiday and Saturday express service
was discontinued in March 1954.
Midday express service between 10
a.m. to 3 p.m. was discontinued in
August 1975. It briefl y returned for
several years in the 1980s before
ending once again.
Riders have had to endure too many
years of inconvenience as a result of
the MTA NYC Transit investing $774
million in Communication Based
Train Control (CBTC) on the 7 line.
With or without CBTC, there are
opportunities to increase capacity
and service by running trains more
frequently midday, evenings, overnight
and weekends on the 7 line.
There has been no express service
between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.
most days due to periodic ongoing
track, power, signal and routine
maintenance projects for decades,
including work to support CBTC.
Upon implementation of CBTC
by early 2018 (which was supposed
to have been completed
between October and December
2016), let’s hope midday express
service resumes. Will it be worth
investing $774 million in CBTC
when it may only result in increasing
the number of rush hour
trains by 2 from 30 to 32 in each
direction? After that, the MTA
NYCT no longer has any other
opportunity for increasing rush
hour capacity on the 7 line. How
many millions of dollars are being
invested in countdown clocks
at 7 subway stations?
There is also seed money in the
current $32 billion MTA 2015-2019
Five-Year Capital Plan to look into
the possibility of the long forgotten
Flushing Bus Terminal. Construction
of a Flushing intermodal bus
terminal could facilitate a smoother
transfer between bus and subway.
Given the tremendous growth
in 7 ridership 24/7, riders would
welcome restoration of midday,
Saturday and holiday express services
along with more frequent local
service off peak, late evenings,
overnight and weekends. These
would be far better investments
than wasting millions for installation
of countdown clocks.
Larry Penner is a transportation
historian and advocate who
previously worked 31 years for the
U.S. Department of Transportation
Federal Transit Administration
Region 2 NY Office.
LETTERS AND COMMENTS
A LOOK BACK
Thursday, Aug. 1, marks the
109th anniversary of the fi rst
publication of the Ridgewood
Times. To celebrate this
occasion, we present a photo
from 1908 of the very fi rst
Ridgewood Times offi ce, located
at 1492 Myrtle Ave., near
Irving Avenue in what today is
Bushwick, Brooklyn. The fi rst
issue of the Ridgewood Times
was actually printed in two
languages, English and German,
to accommodate German immigrants
who counted for a large
percentage of the area’s population
back then. Send us your
historic photos of Ridgewood
by email to editorial@qns.com
or mail printed pictures to A
Look Back, ℅ Ridgewood Times,
38-15 Bell Blvd., Bayside, NY
11361. All mailed pictures will be
carefully returned to you.
