8 SEPTEMBER 6, 2018 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Budget hearing
tops Board 5
September
meet
If you have an idea about how
the city should spend funds
in its next budget, then raise
them at the next Community
Board 5 meeting in Middle Village.
As announced by District
Manager Gary Giordano, the
session takes place at 7:30 p.m. on
Wednesday, Sept. 12, in the cafeteria
of Christ the King High School,
located at 68-02 Metropolitan Ave.
The meeting will lead off with
a public hearing regarding the
city’s Capital and Expense Budget
needs for Fiscal Year 2020, as
they relate to the communities of
Ridgewood, Glendale, Maspeth
and Middle Village.
Giordano noted that capital
budget items usually relate to
a construction need, such as
sewers, roadway reconstruction,
physical improvements to public
parks, bridges and other construction.
Expense budget items
pertain to regular city services,
such as police patrol, parks maintenance
staff , sewer maintenance
and fi re safety personnel.
Following the budget hearing,
the board will proceed with its
regular meeting agenda. This includes
the public forum; a review
of liquor license applications
and demolition notices; reports
by Board 5 Chairperson Vincent
Arcuri and Giordano; and committee
reports.
To register to speak in advance
at the public hearing, call Board
5 at 718-366-1834. All speakers at
the public hearing will be limited
to 3 minutes or less.
Design for new Grand St. Bridge set to be ready in 2019
BY ALEJANDRA
O’CONNELL-DOMENECH
EDITORIAL@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
@RIDGEWOODTIMES
Rust covers the faint green metal
of the Grand Street Bridge
which has been the source of
traffi c woes for Queens and Brooklyn
drivers trying to cross the eastern
part of Newtown Creek. Traffi c jams
are common as the bridge cannot accommodate
two lanes of traffi c.
Earlier this week, the Department
of Transportation confirmed at a
transportation services and public
transit service committee meeting
that the designing process for the new
Grand Street Bridge has begun. This
comes 10 years aft er an initial push by
community members and business
owners, frustrated by the constant
traffi c and shoddy patch work, to widen
the bridge.
In June, the DOT released a request
for proposals (RFP) for the demolition,
redesign and reconstruction of the
Grand Street Bridge and the submission
period closed on July 6. According
to the RFP, the DOT wants to replace
the bridge with an entirely new bridge
with a moveable span structure.
The document states that the bridge
has deteriorated and has several
features that no longer meet city standards.
The electrical and mechanical
control systems are obsolete, many
structural members are not adequate
to carry the bridge’s current load and
the fender system has degenerated.
“Usually design takes about a year
then there is going to be construction
for two years aft er that,” said Community
Board 5 District Manager Gary
Giordano, who spoke about the project
at the Aug. 28 Board 5 Transportation
and Public Transit Committees. Community
members should not expect to
see a completed new bridge until 2021.
Giordano said that there were plans
to reconstruct the bridge in 2008 but
due to the economic downturn, renovations
to the Grand Street Bridge
were cut. Funds were used for other
larger bridges such as the Metropolitan
Avenue and Kosciuszko Bridges.
For many, however, changes can not
come soon enough.
“People are waiting for some kind of
catastrophe or something,” said Matt
Jan, 25, a meat packer at one of the many
businesses bordering the bridge who
walks across it almost daily. He worries
about the structural integrity of the
bridge which was built in 1903. “Sometimes
there are accidents around here.”
Jan said that at night traffi c becomes
even worse due to a lack of street lights.
He has witnessed accidents that have
blocked the bridge for long periods
of time.
“I am afraid whenever I need to cross
the bridge,” said a local factory worker
who did not wish to give their name. “I
don’t think I am going to fi t.”
Karen Nieves, the manager of
business expansion or retention at
Evergreen, a nonprofi t that works to
improve economic development in
Brooklyn, said that the city has just
simply done patch work to maintain
the Grand Street Bridge. Community
members have found it akin to putting
a bandage over a large wound.
“With the amount the city spends
on the patch work, they could have
built another bridge,” said Nieves.
Evergreen has worked closely with
businesses like Empire Trade Metal
to write letters to the DOT for a decade.
Trump supporters rally in Maspeth
Showing their support for the
45th president, a group of
Queens residents held a rally
at Maspeth Memorial Park on Sept.
1. Co-organized by Maspeth resident
Karina Moreno and Bayside resident
Thomas Zmich, the rally’s Facebook
page proclaimed that “fi nally we are
going to show our love to President
Trump and support his agenda.”
Among the guest speakers at the
event was Vickie Paladino, a Republican
state senate candidate from
northwest Queens.
Photo by Dean Moses
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