8 DECEMBER 14, 2017 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
City must give back parking spots lost to bus lanes: pols
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
RPOZARYCKI@QNS.COM / @ROBBPOZ
The city found room on Cross Bay
and Woodhaven Boulevards for
bus lanes to accommodate Select
Bus Service (SBS) — but two local lawmakers
say it came at a big price to
drivers and business owners.
Last month, the city Department
of Transportation (DOT) and MTA
launched SBS on the Q52 and Q53 lines
along the corridor between Elmhurst
and the Rockaways. It came after
months of construction, and protests
from local residents who believed the
SBS would cause more problems than
it would solve.
Nearly a month later, state Senator
Joseph Addabbo said on Friday,
businesses on the boulevards are
suff ering from the loss of parking
spaces because of the dedicated bus
lanes and larger bus stops created to
accommodate the longer articulated
buses now running on the Q52 and
Q53 routes.
“This directly impacts the economic
health of our community and the local
companies that are the foundation of
our local business areas,” he said in
a statement. “If customers can’t get to
these stores owing to an elimination of
parking, they will certainly decide to
take their business elsewhere — therefore
placing our stores in jeopardy.”
To that end, Addabbo and his
colleague, Assemblyman Mike
Miller, have introduced bills in their
respective houses that would require
A Q53 Select Bus Service vehicle operating on Queens Boulevard in
Elmhurst.
New York City to provide alternative
parking spaces that would be eliminated
by the creation of SBS routes “or
other municipal capital projects.” The
legislation would also mandate that
the city hold public hearings to gather
community input on replacing lost
parking spots and consider potential
alternative parking areas.
“In addition to the potentially disastrous
eff ect of SBS on local businesses,
I am also seeing greater vehicular congestion
and am concerned for the safety
of pedestrians waiting on medians
between traffi c lanes,” Addabbo said.
“We need to continue urging the city to
better address all of these vital issues.
When it comes to parking availability,
Photo via Wikimedia Commons
the de Blasio administration must be
made to understand the need to give
back what it takes away.”
Despite the concerns about SBS on
Cross Bay and Woodhaven Boulevards,
the city plans to expand SBS elsewhere
over the next decade. In October,
Mayor Bill de Blasio announced “Bus
Forward,” a proposal to bring SBS to 21
additional areas in the fi ve boroughs
— including eight in Queens.
Miller said the legislation, if passed
and signed into law by Governor Andrew
Cuomo, would “ensure that any
future endeavors by New York City
which aff ects parking will require the
city to replace these spots at a suitable
location in the same community.”
Nolan to DOT:
Fix bridge now!
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
RPOZARYCKI@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
/ @ROBBPOZ
“Our communities deserve
better and need answers
now.”
That’s the message Assemblywoman
Catherine Nolan sent to
the city’s Department of Transportation
(DOT) aft er seeing the QNS/
Ridgewood Times report about the
slow progress made on the reconstruction
of the bridge carrying
Metropolitan Avenue and Fresh
Pond Road over the Long Island
Rail Road Montauk branch on the
Ridgewood/Middle Village border.
In a Dec. 5 letter to DOT Commissioner
Polly Trottenberg, Nolan cited
our story in noting that the project
“has been severely delayed” and that
the contractor will likely not reach its
“January 2018 deadline to complete
the first phase of the project.”
Scheduled originally to start
in July 2016, the reconstruction
project was delayed six months
over various issues. It fi nally got
underway in January, cutting traffi
c lanes on Metropolitan Avenue
and Fresh Pond Road in half to one
lane in each direction.
Work was slowed again in the
summer as Metropolitan Avenue
was temporarily restored to two
lanes in each direction as the nearby
M line was closed for two whole
months for reconstruction. Since
Labor Day, Community Board 5
District Manager Gary Giordano
told QNS in our most recent report,
there’s been little discernible
progress made on the top side of the
bridge.
Nolan urged Trottenberg to
conduct an immediate review of the
project and advised that the agency
that “if the contractor Mugrose
Construction cannot complete the
work, then … another RFP request for
proposals” should “go out to choose
a more qualified company that can
actually do the work that they say
they can do.”
She noted that the surrounding
community has dealt with “severe
traffi c issues and a signifi cant loss
of revenue for the local businesses”
since the project started, and that
the current situation is “simply
unacceptable.”
“The community accepted that this
project needed to get done; however,
the expectation would be that it would
get done on time,” Nolan wrote. “The
initial six-month delay, combined with
the missed deadline for the first phase
of the project, makes it even harder
for our communities to accept that
their quality of life is being respected.”
Meet de Blasio at Glendale town hall on Monday night
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
RPOZARYCKI@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
@ROBBPOZ
Mayor Bill de Blasio is heading
to Glendale for a town
hall meeting on Dec. 18.
Hizzoner and outgoing Councilwoman
Elizabeth Crowley will hold
court at P.S./I.S. 113, located at 78-23
87th St., on Monday night at 7 p.m.
The meeting is open to all residents
of the 30th City Council District —
which covers Ridgewood, Glendale,
Maspeth, Middle Village and portions
of Woodhaven and Woodside
— but space is limited.
At town hall meetings, the mayor
typically brings with him ranking
members of various city agencies
and speaks about matters concerning
the community. He also fi elds
questions from the audience. De
Blasio has held quite a few town hall
meetings in Queens since Election
Day, including stops in Queens Village,
Flushing and the Rockaways.
Mayor Bill de Blasio at a recent town hall meeting he held with
Councilman Eric Ulrich in the Rockaways.
Those interested in attending
Monday night’s town hall with
de Blasio must RSVP by no later
than 5 p.m. on Sunday, Dec.
17. To reserve your seat, email
Photo via Mayoral Photography Unit
queenstownhall@cityhall.nyc.gov
or call 212-788-4282.
Queens Borough President Melinda
Katz and Community Board 5 are
event co-sponsors.
