8 AUGUST 9, 2018 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Huge tower may be coming to Ridgewood/Bushwick border
Get legal
help at
Miller
event in
Woodhaven
Monday
Assemblyman Mike Miller
will host the New York Legal Assistance
Group (NYLAG) mobile
van in front of his offi ce located
at 83-91 Woodhaven Blvd. in
Woodhaven.
“It is essential that those who
cannot aff ord legal services have
the opportunity to meet with a
lawyer for legal help,” said Miller.
Appointments are required.
To make an appointment, go to
mobilelegalhelpcenter.acuityscheduling.
com
Improvements coming to Woodhaven/Cross Bay SBS lanes
BY RYAN KELLEY
RKELLEY@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
TWITTER @R_KELLEY6
Several changes are coming to
the Woodhaven and Cross Bay
Boulevards Select Bus Service
(SBS) route this month, according to
an update from the Department of
Transportation (DOT).
In an eff ort to “improve pedestrian
safety, organize vehicle movements,
simplify traffi c and improve bus travel
times,” the DOT plans to implement
the following changes to the route
between 81st Road and Rockaway
Boulevard:
• Lengthen the southbound leftturn
bay at Myrtle Avenue
• Install new slip lanes between
Jamaica Avenue and 89th Avenue
• Conduct pedestrian refuge islands
at 81st Road and Myrtle Avenue
• Install mid-block signaled crosswalks
at 88th Avenue
• Continue SBS treatments
The Q52/Q53 select bus service route will see improvements along
Woodhaven and Cross Bay Boulevards this month.
Work along the route is expected
to begin sometime in early August,
according to the update.
In an email to Community Board
5 obtained by the Ridgewood Times,
a DOT offi cial explained that the enhancements
were discussed at the department’s
“multi-year Q52/Q53 Select
Bus Service stakeholder engagement.”
A DOT spokesperson further
explained that these changes
were actually part of the original
Photo via Wikimedia Commons
implementation plan when the route
was created in 2017.
“These changes were a part of the
original Woodhaven SBS implementation
project that were pushed to the
2018 implementation season due to the
need to focus on more critical elements
for the launch of Q52/Q53 Select Bus
Service,” the spokesperson said. “DOT
is committing to completing all of the
safety and traffi c improvements that
have been proposed to the community.”
BY RYAN KELLEY
RKELLEY@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
TWITTER @R_KELLEY6
Yet another major housing development
is rumored to be on
the horizon for the Ridgewood/
Bushwick border, and local residents
and representatives are already taking
action against it.
Members of the advocacy group
Churches United For Fair Housing
(CUFFH) organized a protest of nearly
50 people on July 31 next to the Food
Bazaar supermarket on Wyckoff
Avenue to draw attention to a 27-story
residential tower that is alleged to be
built at 452 Wyckoff Ave. — a small
commercial space with three stores
next to the supermarket’s parking lot.
While no permits have been fi led
yet for the project, CUFFH Network
Director Alexandra Fennell told the
Ridgewood Times that the developers
of the building, The Mattone Group,
presented their plan at a Community
Board 4 Housing and Land Use Committee
meeting in February.
The development is believed to have
three stories of commercial space and
24 stories of residential space above
that, with 115 of its 400 units slated to
be aff ordable housing. The building
can also be built as-of-right, meaning
the developers won’t have to undergo
a public land use review, according to
a CUFFH press release.
Moreover, the supermarket would
have to be closed for up to two years
during construction, Fennell said, and
the community relies on it heavily.
“They could fi le permits and break
ground next week and they don’t have
to tell anybody,” Fennell said. “The
Food Bazaar is really a staple of the
community. It provides fresh food in
an area where fully accessible and large
grocery stores are few and far between.”
The activists were also joined by
Councilman Antonio Reynoso, Community
Board 4 Chair Robert Camacho
and representatives from the offi ces
of Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez,
Assemblywoman Maritza Davila and
Public Advocate Letitia James.
Reynoso, who has been fighting
back against aff ordable housing and
gentrifi cation issues since he took offi
ce in 2014, emphasized the need for
the members of his community to be
treated fairly by developers.
“We have to make sure we have a
balance in these communities, that
we are preserving the nature and
character and people who helped
build this, while also being inviting
to new people, to new residents — we
are not against that,” Reynoso said.
As a longtime Bushwick resident,
Camacho added that the community
will not accept developments that
segregate neighborhoods and drive
other longtime residents out.
“Our young kids can’t grow where
they were born and raised,” Camacho
said. “These unscrupulous developers
are doing this to our community.
Latinos and Blacks are being pushed
further and further away … We want
to continue living in Bushwick and
keep the melting pot that we had.”
The Ridgewood/Bushwick border
has been a hot spot for housing
developments in recent years. On
the adjacent block to the south of the
proposed tower, there is a brand-new
54-unit apartment building at 803 Wyckoff
Ave. Eight blocks further south,
developers have also fi led permits for
a hotel on Summerfi eld Street.
If the latest development comes to
fruition, it would easily be the largest to
date along the transit corridor that surrounds
the Myrtle/Wyckoff Avenues
subway station, and CUFFH referred to it
as “the worst example of a middle fi nger
building in Bushwick” in its press release.
On July 1, CUFFH held a rally at 358
Grove St. — a 14-story luxury apartment
building located four blocks north of the
proposed Wyckoff Ave. tower — to kick
off its “Take Back Bushwick” campaign.
The group held a protest nearly every
day in July at controversial developments
in the neighborhood, concluding
at Wyckoff Ave on July 31.
With the infl ux of new residents
that such a tower could provide, it is
likely to have a huge impact on local
businesses. When reached over the
phone on Aug. 2, Myrtle Avenue Business
Improvement District Director
Ted Renz said that some form of higher
density in or around the transit hub is
okay — referred to as transit oriented
development — but the amount of density
needs further evaluation.
Renz added that while he was aware
that the Mattone Group was looking
into some kind of development, he
could not comment any further until
he sees what is offi cially proposed.
A spokesperson for The Mattone
Group told the Ridgewood Times
that the project is “too preliminary to
speak about.”
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