20 times • JULY 28, 2016 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.qns.com Woodhaven residents ready to rally against city’s Select Bus plan for two boulevards Courtesy of Wikimedia images Residents argue that the Department of Transportation has failed to incorporate community feedback to this proposal in the past. Newly open Target in Forest Hills receives mixed reactions from the community By Nicole Kuliyev [email protected] @RidgewoodTimes Target has officially opened up on 70-00 Austin St., Forest Hills, on Wednesday, July 20. The discount giant has replaced Barnes and Nobles, which closed in December. This new Target is following a “flexible-format” strategy, which means that the store is smaller and it caters to specific needs of their local customers by featuring apparel and accessories from local sports teams. The store even offers a New York Collection called Local Pride by Todd Snyder. This is the first flexibleformat Target in New York. The store has signed a 15-year lease on its Forest Hills location. Target also provides fresh groceries, a variety of men’s and women’s apparel and accessories, health and beauty products, Target mobile and tech accessories, baby and children’s products, home items, and a CVS pharmacy. Forest Hills’ Target is housed on two levels of 21,000 square feet and it was designed with the needs of the community in mind, according to the store representative. The customer feedback was mixed. One man said, “So far, it’s good” and another admitted that having Target in the neighborhood is convenient. However, not all customers were entirely happy with the newcomer. “It’s okay. It’s just a little unnecessary since they have one in Rego Park,” said Raven Rothberg. “I’m pissed off with it. They cut down four trees to make this place. A lot of people are mad. There is no bookstore in Queens. This store does not belong in this neighborhood,” complained an angry customer. Queens does have one physical bookstore, the Astoria Bookshop. Also, a trio of former Barnes & Noble employees have set plans in motion to open another independently owned bookstore in Queens. Six other Target flexible-format locations are opening soon in Tribeca, Downtown Brooklyn at City Point, Elmont, N.Y., Freeport, N.Y., and Closer, N.J. BY CANDACE HIGGINS [email protected] @RidgewoodTimes Residents of Woodhaven are not too happy about the proposed Select Bus Service (SBS) changes that might be coming to their neighborhood, and they’re hoping to do something about it. The Woodhaven Residents’ Block Association (WRBA) organized a rally for Saturday, Aug. 6, at noon to protest the new plan that would be making major changes to the entire stretch of Cross Bay Boulevard and Woodhaven Boulevard, from the Rockaways to the Queens Center mall in Elmhurst. The Department of Transportation and MTA plan to dedicate two already existing traffic lanes to buses only (in both directions), ban left turns off the boulevard, and move bus stops off sidewalks and onto medians. Safety is a main concern surrounding these proposed changes. “We are very concerned about the safety of the pedestrians crossing the boulevard,” Maria Thomson, executive director of the Woodhaven Business Improvement District, said, “and of bus riders of who will have to access buses from an island instead of the sidewalk.” The rally will take place outside the bank in Woodhaven, at the southeast corner of Woodhaven Boulevard and Jamaica Avenue. Residents, business owners, commuters and anyone else who wants to prevent the implementation of the plan are invited. The WRBA, the Woodhaven Business Improvement District, the Greater Woodhaven Development Corporation, the Task Force for a Better Woodhaven, and the Queens Public Transit Committee are all supporting the rally. Anyone interested in signing the petition to oppose this plan can do so at http://www.saveourstreets. nyc/. All photos: Alec Posner and Nicole Kuliyev/QNS
RT07282016
To see the actual publication please follow the link above