www.qns.com RIDGEWOOD TIMES OCTOBER 11, 2018 13
DOING MORE TO
BOOST 7 LINE
SERVICE
There are other investments to
improve service on the No. 7 Flushing
subway service ("MTA to boost weekday
7 line service starting next spring,”
The Queens Courier, Sept. 27).
In March 1953, a super express began
operating from Flushing–Main
Street to Times Square in the a.m. rush
hour. This No. 7 stopped at Main Street,
and Willets Point before skipping all
stops to Queensboro Plaza, skipping
the Woodside and Junction Boulevard
express stops. The running time was
cut down to 23 minutes from 25 minutes.
This ended in a few years.
Holiday and Saturday express service
was discontinued in March 1954.
Mid-day express service between
10 a.m. and 3 p.m. was discontinued
in August 1975. It briefly returned
for several years in the 1980s before
ending once again.
Riders have had to endure too many
years of inconvenience as a result of
the MTA NYC Transit investing $774
million in Communication Based Train
Control (CBTC) on the Flushing No. 7
line. With or without CBTC, there are
opportunities to increase capacity and
service by running trains more frequently
mid-day, evenings, overnight
and weekends on the No. 7 line.
Upon implementation of CBTC by
the end of 2018 (which was supposed
to have been completed October 2016),
let's hope mid-day express service
resumes. Investing $774 million in
CBTC will only result in increasing
the number of rush hour trains by 2
from 30 to 32 in each direction.
After that, the MTA NYCT no longer
has any other opportunity for increasing
rush hour capacity on the No. 7 line.
Larry Penner, Great Neck
NO POL SHOULD
IGNORE SENIOR
ISSUES
With over 40 million Americans
caring for older parents, spouses and
other loved ones, why is the issue of
family caregivers not on the campaign
agenda of our local candidates?
The issue should be one of their
priorities as our population ages and
many of our Baby Boomers are reaching
the point where they need help
from family members.
Voters over 50 need to hear from our
candidates on how they will support
unpaid family caregivers if they want
our votes in the coming elections.
But let them know we’re paying
attention.
Be the difference. Vote!
Fay Hill, Springfield Gardens
Editor’s note: The author is AARP lead
volunteer for the Fifth Congressional
District of New York.
FED UP WITH
CONSTRUCTION
PROBLEMS
Editor’s note: The following is an
open letter by the author to Borough
President Melinda Katz.
Recently several corners were renovated
in my neighborhood, in the
area of 203rd Street and 38th Avenue
in Bayside. The construction of these
corners resulted in the construction
company violating clean air acts.
Cutting concrete with dry saws
sends carcinogenic concrete fibers
into the breathing atmosphere. I have
a video showing this which I sent to
your office.
Now, another company is installing
gas mains in the neighborhood. The
gas company is now destroying the
new concrete corners to install their
gas lines.
Is anyone in charge at your office?
Does the government have extra
money one day to install new concrete
corners and two or three months later
another company rips it up.
Oh, I guess you will just raise the
property taxes.
Something is really wrong in
Queens. Is the government asleep at
the switch?
Timothy Collins, Bayside
HOMELESS
PROBLEM CAN’T BE
IGNORED
Mayor de Blasio was recently
confronted by homeless advocate,
Nathylin Flowers Adesegun, while he
was working out at the Prospect Park
Y. She had ask him to provide 30,000
more affordable housing. He responded
by saying, “I'm in the middle of my
workout."
Well I guess his work out was more
important than providing housing for
the homeless.
This is a national problem that
affects many different people from
many walks of life. One group is our
veterans where some suffer from
depression, physical and chemical
dependencies. As a member of the
American Legion and the Knights of
Columbus, I feel more should be done
for our veterans.
As for myself, I can feel their pain. I
am a Navy veteran of the Vietnam era
and over 40 years ago, I found myself
homeless. I had suffer from depression
and even tried to take my own life. But
due to divine intervention, I had gotten
help and due to the kindness of a
stranger named Cyril, I was provided
a place to live off the cold streets of
Hempstead.
There are many today that are not
so lucky and that is most sad. I find
this homeless situation and the lack of
concern by some of our government
officials to be most distressing. I feel
more has to be done.
Frederick R. Bedell Jr., Glen Oaks
Village
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The views expressed in all letters
and comments are not necessarily those
of this newspaper or its staff.
LETTERS AND COMMENTS
This photo from the
Ridgewood Times archives
in the 1970s shows bumperto
bumper traffic along the
Grand Avenue overpass,
looking west above the
Long Island Expressway,
in Maspeth. Look carefully
at the expressway in the
background and you can see
three lanes of traffic moving
in each direction. The LIE was
expanded to four lanes in
each direction during the late
1980s. Send us your historic
photos of Queens by email to
editorial@qns.com (subject:
A Look Back) or mail printed
pictures to A Look Back, The
Queens Courier, 38-15 Bell
Blvd., Bayside, NY 11361. All
mailed pictures will be carefully
returned to you.
A LOOK BACK
Photo courtesy of Ridgewood Times archives
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