for breaking news visit www.qns.com NOVEMBER 12, 2015 • times 3 CB5 takes official stand against Cross Harbor Tunnel BY ANTHONY GIUDICE agiudice@ridgewoodtimes.com @A_GiudiceReport The Cross Harbor Tunnel proposal should be nixed once and for all, Community Board 5 (CB 5) members said during its meeting on Nov. 4 at Christ the King Regional High School in Middle Village. CB 5 unanimously adopted a recommendation from its Transportation Committee against the freight tunnel alternative in the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s (PANYNJ) Cross Harbor Freight Program (CHFP). The full board requested that the PANYNJ refuse to consider the rail tunnel; the committee charged that such a tunnel below New York Harbor connecting freight lines in Brooklyn and New Jersey would add unnecessary burdens to the communities already dealing with increased rail activity at the Fresh Pond Railyard in Glendale. “Committee members again discussed the fact that our communities have been overwhelmed by the amount of freight currently being transported by rail, since all freight transported by rail to and from Long Island (Queens, Brooklyn, Nassau and Suffolk) has to come through and be sorted at the Fresh Pond Railyard,” the recommendation stated. “Because of daytime rail track usage constraints throughout the rest of the Long Island Rail Road system, the great majority of freight rail operations in our communities occur from late in the evening until the early morning hours.” The recommendation also points out that a rail tunnel would only decrease truck activity on the eastbound Hudson River and harbor crossings by an estimated 2.5 percent. It was also noted that PANYNJ should focus more on fixing and updating the locomotives already in use. “There is another part of this whole improving the movement of goods across New York Harbor, is float barges going from Jersey City to Brooklyn,” said Gary Giordano, district manager of CB 5. “We have not opposed that, but the idea of putting all this freight on rail with only one rail line for all of Long Island … it’s unreasonable to think that that one freight rail line could handle anywhere near the amount of freight that they are talking about.” BY ANTHONY GIUDICE agiudice@ridgewoodtimes.com @A_GiudiceReport One man’s vision and hard work has helped transform a community eyesore into a beautiful garden. George Negoescu, a Ridgewood resident, took it upon himself to clean up the often dirty and unkempt corner at Shaler Avenue and Cypress Hills Street and plant flowers for everyone in the community to enjoy. The site, which sits just outside a freight train underpass, is near a parking area for the 104th Precinct but also attracted illegal dumpers and litter. Negoescu saw much more potential for the area. “It was an abandoned area, a garbage collection area with unsanitary conditions,” Negoescu said. “So I paved the soil and made it part of the sidewalk. It is a hotspot for our neighborhood. It is along the path to Stop & Shop, which gets heavy use, and it is a link between Glendale and Ridgewood.” To begin his project, Negoescu first had to remove all the rubbish from the dirt hill. His next step was to get rid of all the plants that were previously at the site. “To do this I needed to pull up all the wild flowers and weeds and trees,” Negoescu explained. “Then I gave shape to the hill which wasn’t suitable to plant on in the condition it was in.” This is not the first work Negoescu has done in this area. Seven years ago he took it upon himself to plant a row of willow trees further down Shaler Avenue. “I cleaned it up and decided to fix up the area because it bothered me that this was in my neighborhood, so I decided to do something. I wanted to bring color and form to this crowded area.” After the cleanup and formation of the hill, Negoescu began planting flowers with the help of Harry Muller, another Ridgewood resident with more than 50 years of landscaping experience. “I helped George with the appropriate plant selection and the best aesthetic arrangement of the plants considering the terrain,” Muller said. “We are hoping to put in woodchips, mulch and we’re going to put in seasonal plants for the winter season.” Since starting this project six weeks ago, Negoescu has spent nearly $1,500 of his own money, but says he has been more than repaid from the ample gratitude he receives from passersby when they see him working on the garden. He has also already seen a decrease in trash and litter being dumped in the area. “The community has donated tools and over 200 plant bulbs already,” Negoescu said. “I invited community members or organizations to help donate more flowers or labor to help maintain the area. And I hope this will encourage similar beautification projects in the neighborhood.” RIDGEWOOD TIMES/Photos by Anthony Giudice George Negoescu standing beside the garden he created on the corner of Shaler Avenue and Cypress Hills Street in Ridgewood. RIDGEWOOD TIMES/Photo by Anthony Giudice Community Board 5 voted to recommend not using the Cross Harbor rail tunnel plan as an option for the Cross Harbor Freight Program. Ridgewood resident creates garden on street corner
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