8 NOVEMBER 1, 2018 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Penelope Ave.
sewer project
is restarted
BY MARK HALLUM
MHALLUM@CNGLOCAL.COM
The city Department of
Design and Construction
(DDC) was rocking and
rolling on the Penelope Avenue
sewer project on schedule Monday,
as promised at a Community
Board 5 meeting earlier in
October.
Councilman Robert Holden
said his offi ce is keeping a close
eye on the project aft er lead in
the soil stalled construction
on the Middle Village sewer
installations for months and resulted
in damage to surrounding
homes.
“Now that we know the project
is officially underway, I
will make sure to stay on top of
DDC and the contractor going
forward,” Holden said. “The
residents directly aff ected by
this project have suff ered too
much, and there can be no more
setbacks.”
Holden has also introduced
legislation to require city agencies
to report discoveries of
contaminants to the local council
member, community boards,
civic associations and school
districts claiming the DDC did
not inform anyone of the lead
found in the project.
The project – which spans
from Gray Street between 66th
Drive and Juniper Valley Road,
and at the intersection of 77th
Street and 66th Road – was originally
set to cost $22 million but
required an additional $8 million
to fi nish aft er remediations
for the lead were made.
DDC representative Jeff
Margolies told CB5 the project
would pick up again on Oct. 29
and should be fi nished by the
end of 2019.
Lead in soil has minimal effects
on the health of residents,
according to Margolies.
City Comptroller Scott Stringer
held a news conference in early
September in which he toured
74th Street where damage to
homes was most profound and
found massive cracks forming
on patios, soiling breaking away
from the concrete foundations of
houses, curbs that were sinking
into the ground and stoops that
were separating from structures.
Metropolitan Avenue Bridge work nearing end
BY MARK HALLUM
MHALLUM@CNGLOCAL.COM
Over the last several years, the
overpass carrying Metropolitan
Avenue and Fresh Pond
Road on the Ridgewood/Middle Village
border has been reduced to one
lane in each direction as work crews
labor to rebuild the overpass over a
year since it July 2017 projected completion
date.
But the end of the major project is
fi nally in sight. Crews will remove
the jersey barriers on the bridge
spanning the Long Island Rail Road’s
Montauk branch on or about Oct. 27,
a city Department of Transportation
offi cial said at the Community Board
5 Transportation and Public Transit
Committees meeting on Tuesday night.
Even so, that does not mean Metropolitan
Avenue will go back to business
as usual right away. According
to the DOT, the bridge will remain
in its current configuration with
orange barrels guiding drivers while
construction crews continue under
an updated completion deadline of
Thanksgiving.
“The resident engineer on the project
who reported that the concrete jersey
barriers are going to be removed on
Saturday so that they can do the joint
work under those barriers,” the DOT
offi cial said. “And then it sounds like
they’re going to try and have the road
re-opened, those barrels removed by
the second week of November. So we’re
shooting for having this wrapped up
before the end of Thanksgiving ... the
last thing is that there’s still going to
be intermittent punch-list items, so
there may still be required periods of
The Metropolitan Avenue-Fresh Pond Road overpass as seen on Oct. 28.
closure while they knock out whatever
items remain.”
The project was originally stalled
by a contractor who defaulted on the
work and DOT spent some months
re-opening the bid to fi nd a new company
to fi nish the job. Joannene Kidder,
the executive director of community
aff airs for DOT, once called it “one of
the toughest bridge projects” the area
has seen in a very long time.
Mugrose Construction, the first
contractor, was scheduled to begin
the rebuild in July 2016, but there
were bumps in the road concerning
the design and completion was pushed
back further.
The stalled project had taken its toll
on the surrounding businesses on the
Ridgewood/Middle Village border, as
Photo: Robert Pozarycki/RIDGEWOOD TIMES
the nearby Tropical Restaurant saw a
steep decline in patronage which used
to see customers waiting outside for
a table.
Tropical owner Steven Vinas said
back in February that the Ecuadorian
eatery — which has been there for
more than 13 years — was desolate,
and the Valentine’s Day dinner rush
was a bust.
“I started seeing the business like
a cancer, killing you slowly,” Vinas
told QNS in February, adding that he
feared the business would not survive
90 days.
It did, however, and in June Beaver
Concrete Construction Company Inc.
was awarded a bid to complete the
task of getting the intersection back
on track.
Lancman speaks to Ridgewood Democrats
Photo courtesy of the Ridgewood Democratic Club
City Councilman Rory Lancman stopped by the Ridgewood Democratic Club’s Oct. 26 to speak with
members about criminal justice reform and his campaign to become Queens’ next district attorney.
Shown from left to right are Alison Cummings, RDC co-president; Gerard Tate, board member, RDC;
Gerard Marsicano, treasurer, RDC; Councilman Lancman; David Aglialoro, Democratic District Leader 37B;
Stacey Eliuk; and David Renz, RDC co-president.
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