8 OCTOBER 3, 2019 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
DOT surveys Maspeth’s Grand Street Bridge
BY MARK HALLUM
MHALLUM@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@QNS
Traffic is expected to flow free
and clear – or as much as can be expected
over the Grand Street Bridge
– throughout the week as the city Department
of Transportation (DOT)
does a topographic survey prior to
replacing the structure still almost
a decade in the offing.
DOT released an advisory to community
boards, in this case CB5, to
alert residents that the mapping
effort would be underway for the
next week.
Last the southwestern Queens
community heard, the completion
date for the new span of bridge was
projected for 2017, which had one
attendee at the CB5 transportation
committee meeting asking, “Is it
gonna stand up that long?”
At almost 115 years old, the Grand
Street Bridge has not rotated to
allow vessels to pass underneath
since before Superstorm Sandy
which wiped out a critical electrical
components.
The design phase is not even
scheduled to begin until 2021, but
in the topographical survey will
look into options for expanding the
roadway, according to DOT, which
is notoriously narrow for drivers
crossing the boundary in either direction
from Brooklyn or Queens.
“It is an example of how cooperative
one can be that people can stop
and let another vehicle go by. I wish
Two trucks cross Newtown Creek via the Grand Street Bridge. Residents and businesses alike have a long history
of complaining about the bridge’s narrow width and dilapadated structure.
Photo by Alejandra O’Connell-Domenech
other drivers on other roads and
bridges were as considerate these
drivers are. We need more consideration
on our roads and bridges,”
Giordano told QNS in January.
Boats traveling underneath
the bridge face similar space constraints;
at low tide they face the
peril of bottoming out, and at high
tide they have to meet a clearance of
nine feet.
A request for proposals to contractors
last year illustrated the decrepit
state of the electrical components,
the fenders which can clearly be seen
as rotting away and the structural
state of the bridge is not up to task
for its current workload. Contractors
will be required to provide a
replacement with a minimum 75-
year lifespan.
DOT did not immediately respond
to an inquiry of whether the project
has an updated completion time.
Schneps Media acquires AM New York from Newsday Media Group
BY JAMES T. MADORE
NEWSDAY
SPECIAL TO SCHNEPS MEDIA
Newsday Media Group is selling
amNewYork, its free commuter
newspaper in New York
City, to Schneps Media, effective Oct.
11, officials announced Wednesday.
The price was not disclosed.
Schneps executives said they will
expand amNewYork through events
programming and broadcasting.
Launched in 2003, amNewYork is
Manhattan’s highest daily circulation
newspaper and has almost 1
million unique visitors to its website
each month.
Newsday publisher Debby Krenek
said: “amNewYork has become an
important part of daily life in the
city … We are confident that this
tradition of serving New Yorkers
will continue with Schneps Media,
whose strong commitment to local
media makes them the ideal new
publisher of amNewYork.”
Schneps owns 33 newspapers, 28
magazines and specialty publications
and 20 websites, produces
numerous podcasts and hosts 50 annual
events. Among its publications
are Queens Courier, TimesLedger,
The Brooklyn Paper, The Villager,
Long Island Press and the Spanishlanguage
paper Noticia Long Island.
“Moving forward Newsday Media
Group will fully focus on serving
Long Islanders with news, information
and experiences as we continue
to expand our multimedia products
and platforms, and fulfill our mission
of being the primary source of
powerful local journalism as ‘Your
Eye on LI,’ ” Krenek said.
Last month, Newsday moved into
a new multimillion-dollar headquarters
in Melville that will feature a
television studio and auditorium
capable of streaming live events on
newsday.com.
Schneps president and publisher
Victoria Schneps said: “We are delighted
to add amNewYork to our
media company. We thank Newsday
for this opportunity to carry on
the commitment of amNewYork to
deliver the best and most important
local news stories.”
Schneps started her company in
the mid-1980s with a weekly paper
published from the living room of
her Bayside, Queens, home.
Her son Joshua Schneps, the
company’s CEO and co-publisher,
said, “We look forward to enhancing
amNewYork’s brand through our
expertise in multiplatform media,
including print, digital, events, social
media and broadcasting.”
/newsday.com
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