WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES NOVEMBER 17, 2016 3 Freight rail operator involved in Maspeth crash shouldn’t get new lease: CB 5 Midville students visit Tenement Museum U.S. History students from Christ the King Regional High School in Middle Village recently took a trip to the Tenement Photo courtesy of Christ the King Regional High School Museum on Orchard Street in Lower Manhattan. There, they had the opportunity to see fi rsthand how immigrants lived in the 19th and 20th centuries. Along with a glimpse of the past, students were off ered insights into current debates about immigration and public health. BY ANTHONY GIUDICE [email protected] /@A_GIUDICEREPORT As the MTA looks into expanding their lease with the Glendale based railroad company New York and Atlantic Railway (NYA), civic groups and community leaders are telling the Transportation Authority to think again. The NYA has been under fi re from the environmental group Civics United for Railroad Environmental Solutions (CURES) for unsafe policies, and was the focus of a Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) safety review following a crash involving one of their trains at a Maspeth crossing in 2015 — the results of which showed a lack of safety regulations. In June, NYA added an additional 10 years onto the 20-year lease it signed with the MTA in 1997 to continue operating on the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) tracks of the former Lower Montauk Line, which runs through Glendale, Ridgewood, Middle Village, Maspeth and other local communities. The extension was able to be automatically renewed without a vote from the MTA board if NYA met certain safety standards. According to the FRA safety review of the freight operators, they have not met many safety standards. Members of Community Board 5’s (CB 5) Transportation and Public Transit committees draft ed a letter to opposing the MTA deny NYA’s lease renewal. “Assembly members Cathy Nolan and Mike Miller have written to the MTA questioning the renewal of this lease agreement,” said Toby Sheppard Bloch, co-chair of the CB 5 Transportation Committee. “There are numerous safety problems with New York and Atlantic with some pretty scary accidents and collisions. And neighbors who live along the rail line have long suff ered quality-of-life problems from uncovered municipal waste, odor and other quality-of-life problems.” The resolution was put to a vote to the full board during CB 5’s monthly meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 9, at Christ the King High School in Middle Village. Thirty-two members approved the resolution, while one voted against it. John Casellini, spokesperson for NYA, said that they are working with the FRA’s safety requests to improve their operations. “We assure local elected offi cials and the neighboring communities they represent that NYA has addressed all recommendations contained within the FRA’s Focused Safety Report,” Casellini told QNS. “In addition, in our quest for continual safety improvement, we are working in close coordination with our partners at the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) to implement further safety protocols and have proactively adopted additional safety measures that go above and beyond those recommended by the FRA. We have provided all FRA-required training and testing for our crews, along with LIRR Rules Compliance, a standard that exceeds those of other short line operations.” File photo/QNS Community Board 5 came out against the MTA’s renewal of New York and Atlantic Railway’s lease. Hit-and-run driver cuff ed for killing Ridgewood man BY ROBERT POZARYCKI RPOZARYCKI@RIDGEWOODTIMES. COM/@ROBBPOZ Four months after a Ridgewood bicyclist was struck and killed on a Brooklyn street, detectives have arrested the driver who ran him down and fl ed the scene thereaft er. Police announced on Tuesday, Nov. 15, the arrest of Williamsburg resident Juan Maldonado, 56, on manslaughter charges for his role in the July 2 incident that claimed the life of Matthew Von Ohlen, 35, who resided on 68th Road in Ridgewood. Von Ohlen was riding his bicycle in a bike lane eastbound along Grand Street between Graham and Manhattan avenues at 2:37 a.m. on July 2 when he was struck by a black Chevrolet Camaro sedan with tinted windows that Maldonado allegedly operated. Aft er striking Von Ohlen, the Camaro did not stop and sped away eastbound on Grand Street; images of the fl eeing vehicle were captured by nearby security cameras just prior to the deadly crash. Paramedics and offi cers from the 90th Precinct found Von Ohlen lying on the street with severe trauma about his body. He was rushed to Bellevue Hospital, where he was pronounced dead a short time later. The investigation led detectives to Maldonado, who placed him under arrest on Tuesday following questioning. Photo via Shutterstock/Inset courtesy of NYPD Police have arrested the alleged driver of a sports car that struck and killed a Ridgewood bicyclist in Brooklyn in July.
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