2 times • SEPTEMBER 22, 2016 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.qns.com Work starts on Ridgewood pedestrian plan BY ANTHONY GIUDICE [email protected] @A_GiudiceReport This month marks the start of a safer era at the deadly Myrtle/ Wyckoff Avenues intersection on the Ridgewood/Bushwick border. The Department of Transportation (DOT) announced that on Wednesday, Sept. 21, it would start to install the longawaited pedestrian plaza project at the six-legged intersection at Myrtle Avenue, Wyckoff Avenue and Palmetto Street. Installation is expected to be completed and the plaza will be fully operational by Saturday, Oct. 1, according to DOT. The area has been marked by the DOT as a priority intersection and is ranked in the top five intersections for pedestrian fatalities in the city, with three deaths since 2009. One of those killed at the intersection was Ella Bandes, whose parents pleaded with Community Board 5 (CB 5) earlier this year to vote in support of DOT’s pedestrian plaza plan to make the intersection safer, which they did with a unanimous vote. According to DOT, the new plaza will: - close Wyckoff Avenue between Gates and Myrtle avenues and create a pedestrian plaza; - convert Wyckoff Avenue between Myrtle Avenue and Madison Street to one-way southbound; - adjust signal timing to give pedestrians more time to cross and to give more green time to Myrtle Avenue and Palmetto Street; - expand existing gravel curb extensions at intersection; and - install new crosswalks across Wyckoff Avenue at Madison Street. By closing off this section of Wyckoff Avenue, DOT aims to create a true transportation hub between the L/M train station and the Ridgewood bus terminal, both heavily trafficked areas. Come out and celebrate Glendale Kiwanis Community Day BY ANTHONY GIUDICE [email protected] @A_GiudiceReport The Kiwanis Club of Glendale is bringing an afternoon of fun, games and excitement to the community this weekend during their Community Day event at Dry Harbor Playground. For more than 30 years, Glendale Kiwanis has been providing children, families and residents with a day to celebrate the Glendale community with their neighbors, and on Saturday, Sept. 24, the tradition continues. From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Dry Harbor Playground, located at 80-01 Myrtle Ave., there will be festive music, fun games, awesome prizes, lucky raffles, face painting and more for everyone who comes down to celebrate Glendale. During the more than three decades that the Glendale Kiwanis has been hosting their Community Day celebration, the venue has shifted across Glendale. “It was first held in the bandshell parking lot in Forest Park,” said Bob Kueber, lieutenant governor of Queens West Kiwanis and a longtime Glendale Kiwanian. “It later moved to Dry Harbor Playground in Glendale, then to the Shops at Atlas Park. This year, we are going back to Dry Harbor Playground.” Many community organizations also come out to provide residents of Glendale with important community information. Although participants vary from year to year, past organizations have included the NYPD 104th Precinct Community Affairs Office; FDNY; Wyckoff Heights Medical Center; Coldwell Banker Kueber Realty; State Farm Pat Cawley Agency; New York Blood Bank; Sherman Council #5103 Knights of Columbus; Glendale United Methodist Church; East Coast Cars Association; Music by Joe Fuoco; and more. The chairmen for this year’s event are Glendale Kiwanis past presidents Joe Aiello and Bob Kueber. M.V. Funeral home repaid for veterans’ services BY ANTHONY GIUDICE [email protected] @A_GiudiceReport The owner of the funeral home in Middle Village that provides no-cost funerals for veterans with no next of kin got help from a local government official to recuperate some of the funds spent on these services. Beginning in 2008, Anthony Martino, owner of the Hess-Miller Funeral Home located at 64-19 Metropolitan Ave., has provided funerals at no cost for 150 indigent veterans. Martino provides full military honors for each funeral including a color guard, American flag and a coffin. He also arranges for a local florist to donate red, white and blue ribbons and flowers for each indigent veteran. Previously, Martino received some reimbursement from New York City’s Department of Social Services, but said that the city’s rules changed, so he started submitting his claims to the VA. Since June 2015, Martino has submitted 21 claims to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in an effort to get back some of the money that he personally paid out of pocket for the services. All of those claims were denied and put under appeal. Martino then contacted Congresswoman Grace Meng’s office, who intervened with the VA, urging the agency to take another look his claims. As a result, all 21 of Martino’s claims have been approved. So far the funeral home owner has received checks for 20 of the claims, totaling $12,040. One claim remains pending. He spends $1,345 for each veteran’s funeral and receives approximately half in reimbursement. “Anthony Martino has provided an honorable service to indigent veterans and we thank him for his thoughtful contributions,” Meng said. “I was troubled to learn that his efforts to receive reimbursements for some of the costs got stuck in the federal bureaucracy, but pleased that we were able to help arrange for his claims to be approved. I thank the VA for being responsive to my request for his generous efforts.” Photo courtesy of Department of Transportation Big changes are coming this month to the dangerous intersection at Myrtle/Wyckoff avenues. Photo courtesy of Glendale Kiwanis
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