8 OCTOBER 24, 2019 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Transit advocates blame City Hall for
endless Queens Blvd. bike lane fi asco
Activists slammed the de Blasio administration and the city Department of Transportation. Photo: Mark Hallum/QNS
BY MARK HALLUM
MHALLUM@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@QNS
Call it “500 Days of Bummer” for
Queens bike enthusiasts.
That’s how long it’s been since advocates
were promised a protected
bike lane along Queens Boulevard
between Yellowstone Boulevard and
Union Turnpike in Forest Hills that
has yet to be even started.
On Sunday, activists gathered along
the roadway once dubbed the “Boulevard
of Death” because of its dubious
safety record to slam the de Blasio
administration and the city Department
of Transportation for ignoring
their requests.
Peter Beadle, an activist who
sits as second vice chair of Queens
Community Board 6, said that while
the community does not have concrete
evidence that the project will not move
forward at some point, the city blowing
its own deadline almost by years
is circumstantial enough.
“The mayor was very clear that they
were going to go forward — he said
they were going to go forward, DOT
said they had to go forward — for the
imperative of saving lives, and they’re
absolutely right,” Beadle said. “And
then something happened.”
CB6 voted against Phase Four of the
Queens Boulevard plan, despite the
fact that it voted in favor of the other
three phases.
However, approval from the advisory
body was not required by the city
to move the plan forward as CB6 can
only vote in an advisory capacity.
Some have even speculated that
the Forest Hills bike lane was nixed
as a result of alleged horse trading between
de Blasio and local Councilman
Karen Koslowitz for a vote in favor of
borough-based jails at City Hall.
Beadle, however, is not convinced
Koslowitz would make such a concerted
eff ort to halt the bike lane.
“It’s just weird to see safety as a
mayoral priority just fl ip so suddenly
… that’s unacceptable,” Yehuda Pollack
added.
Back in May 2017, de Blasio and
DOT announced that the existing
bike lanes on Queens Boulevard had
brought the number of deaths down
to zero in the years prior.
With the same announcement, the
administration said residents of Rego
Park and Forest Hills would enjoy
the same protections as residents in
previously redesigned stretches.
Koslowitz issued a statement accepting
the bike lanes into the community
she represents.
“This latest DOT plan, with its pedestrian
and bike safety improvements,
will continue the transformation of
this major thoroughfare from the
‘Boulevard of Death’ to the ‘Boulevard
of Life,’” Koslowitz said.
All the redesigns on Queens Boulevard
were estimated to cost only $4
million. An amount of $255 million
had already been committed to all
three phases, according to a press
release from the mayor’s offi ce in
2017.
Neither the DOT nor the de Blasio
administration responded to a request
or comment prior to publication.
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