61 • TIMES, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014 Snow Removal, Cab Issues Talk Of Board 6 -CONTINUED FROM PG. 8- Activists Claim Pan Am Shelter Riddled With Problems -CONTINUED FROM PG. 6- SShhoopp LLooccaallllyy!! SSuuppppoorrtt YYoouurr NNeeiigghhbboorrhhoooodd MMeerrcchhaannttss!! “effective Jan. 1, 2015 drivers who do run red lights will begin to receive summonses,” Johnson said. Soon livery cabs within the area will be fitted with GPS equipment to track cab drivers and have that information sent to the TLC. This will help identify specific cabs and where they were during certain times to help with consumer complaints. Transportation Committee Board 6 stated the Department of Transportation (DOT) will implement a rule banning drivers from making left turns onto Queens Boulevard from Yellowstone Boulevard due to safety hazards, according to the CB 6 Transportation Committee Report, submitted by committee member John Dereszewski. Now new problems have occurred with backed up traffic since vehicles that need to access Queens Boulevard have to do so in a more indirect manner. The Transportation Committee has requested the DOT make more changes to that congested intersection. The first proposed item in the report is to improve and expand signage. Adding new signs will inform drivers of alternate routes to access Queens Boulevard. With more signs, traffic will lighten as drivers will have clear instructions on how to get where they need to go. The transportation committee also suggested adding new traffic lights at the Yellowstone Boulevard and 69th Road intersection, as well as at the Queens Boulevard and 69th Road intersection in their report. These lights can help regulate traffic flow for these two high density areas. A vote needs to be held to approve sending these requests to the DOT since not all members of the board were present for the meeting due to the inclement weather. Board 6 meetings are normally held on the second Wednesday of each month at 80-02 Kew Gardens Road, Suite 202 at 7:30 p.m. The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday Jan. 14, 2015. 104th Precinct Blotter Kew Gardens Main Project Complete In this 2012 photo, workers are pictured digging a trench on a Kew Gardens street as part of the recently completed water main replacement project through the neighborhood. These include bedbugs in one unit, peeling lead paint in another, piles of full garbage bags left near a children’s play area and no available heat or hot water throughout the structure. “It is an outrage to take an abandoned hotel, warehouse homeless families inside it, ignore shocking city code and HPD violations, waste an exorbitant amount of taxpayer dollars in the process and then award a $42 million contract to a questionable-at-best organization, making the entire situation permanent,” said Avella, who currently chairs the State Senate’s Social Services Committee. Moreover, he noted, between four and five people live in each unit at the former hotel. The units also lack working kitchens and were not upgraded to provide as much before June; Avella noted this constitutes a violation of the city’s Administrative Code. “The whole point of the public review process is to make sure that the community has a say in what’s going on in their neighborhood and to make sure that the proposed facility is appropriate and will serve the community’s needs,” added Jennifer Chu of Elmhurst United. “Through this review process, we would have discovered that the Pan Am hotel does not even meet the city requirements for family shelters because it doesn’t have cooking facilities.” Chu added that the permanent contract does not include any plans to construct kitchens in each unit. She also noted that former DHS Assistant Commissioner Lisa Black, while speaking at a May 22 public hearing on a proposed homeless shelter in Glendale, dismissed the Pan American as inappropriate for a shelter; the remark came about two weeks before homeless residents were first brought there. “The city and its mayor and elected officials, such as the borough president, must be held accountable for this fiasco,” said Newtown Civic Association Treasurer Robert Valdes-Clausell, “the violation of state law, the violation of the rights of homeless families to adequate real housing—and this charade that makes no economic sense to the taxpayers of this city and residents of this state.” Beyond the conditions at the Pan American, Avella took issue with Samaritan Village, which State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli charged earlier this year may have misappropriated up to $1 million in state funds through unauthorized bonus, personal trips unrelated to regular business and other improper expenses. “If Samaritan Village is blatantly breaking the law in public view, what is going on behind closed doors?” asked John Schaffer, another Elmhurst United member. “The true emergency is at DHS. With this broken system, it is not hard to see why each year, with or without a crisis, the homeless problem gets kicked down the road and real solutions are not found.” * * * A DHS spokesperson told the New York Daily News last Friday that the agency has “worked swiftly with our provider to respond to all concerns in the building.” for assault, by P.O. Ostrowskatuznik. (Beat 3) Eyan Edwards, at Norman Street and Wyckoff Avenue, for driving with a suspended license, by P.O. Thompson. The 104th Precinct, located at 64-02 Catalpa Ave. in Ridgewood, can be reached by phone at 1-718-386-3004. To report an emergency or a crime in progress, call 911 immediately. Quality of life matters, such as noise or a blocked driveway, should be reported to 311. -CONTINUED FROM PG. 11- between large trunk water mains and household service lines. Crews also installed 61 new manholes and 90 new fire hydrants. Approximately 2.7 lane miles of new asphalt was placed on roads where underground work was completed. According to the DEP, the city invested more than $380 million over the last decade toward improving water distribution across Queens. Similar amounts have been secured in future years to further improve the borough’s water system. -CONTINUED FROM PG. 14-
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