FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM JANUARY 16, 2020 • THE QUEENS COURIER 17
Queens residents can speak out on bus network redesign
BY MARK HALLUM
mhallum@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Th e MTA is opening the potential
fl oodgates of public feedback to further
• Thursday, Jan. 16, 4-7 p.m. (Beach 54 St)
• Tuesday, Jan. 21, 6-8 p.m. (Greater Ridgewood Youth Council, 59-03 Summerfi eld St., Ridgewood)
• Wednesday, Jan. 22, 6-8 p.m. (Queens Flushing Library, 41-17 Main St., Flushing)
• Thursday, Jan. 23, 6:30-8:30 p.m. (SUNY Queens Educational Opportunity Center, 158-29 Archer Ave.,
Jamaica)
• Tuesday, Jan. 28, 6-8 p.m. (Queens Borough Hall, 120-55 Queens Blvd., Kew Gardens)
• Wednesday, Jan. 29, 6-8 p.m. (J.H.S. 202 Robert H. Goddard, 138-30 Lafayette St., Ozone Park)
• Thursday, Jan. 30, 6-8 p.m. (Langston Hughes Library and Cultural Center, 100-01 Northern Blvd., Corona)
• Tuesday, Feb. 4, 6-8 p.m. (Jacob Riis Settlement, 10-25 41st Ave., Long Island City)
• Wednesday, Feb. 5, 6:30-8:30 p.m. (RISE/Rockaway Waterfront Alliance, 58-03 Rockaway Beach Blvd., Far
Rockaway)
• Thursday, Feb. 6, 7-8:30 p.m. (Rockaway YMCA, 207 Beach 73rd St., Arverne)
Center for the Women of New York welcomes new president and CEO
BY JENNA BAGCAL
jbagcal@qns.com
@jenna_bagcal
Th e Center for the Women of New York
(CWNY) appointed a Bayside resident to
head the organization following the passing
of its founder last month.
Th e organization’s board of directors
named Victoria Pilotti, Ed.D, as president
and CEO, eff ective immediately.
Pilotti succeeds founder Ann Jawin, who
led CWNY from 1987 until her death on
Dec. 31, 2019.
“We are determined to continue and
build upon Ann Jawin’s legacy of making
the world safer and more equitable
for women,” said Dr. Pilotti. “We are
overjoyed to welcome Ann Jawin’s granddaughter,
Alixandra Jawin, to the board of
trustees of CWNY.”
Under Pilotti’s leadership, the center
will continue to provide women with
services including career counseling,
legal assistance, fi nancial
literacy and job training.
Additionally, CWNY
will also spearhead new
initiatives in order to
bring the organization’s
programs to
more women
across the city and
New York state.
“From the center’s offi ce in Borough
Hall, together with the newly opened
Fort Totten location, we are thrilled to
begin this new decade with aggressive
plans to grow the organization
and the number of
women we can reach,” said
former Assemblywoman
and CWNY Trustee Ann-
Margaret Carrozza.
Founded in 1987, the
center aims to illuminate
women’s issues
in society while also
establishing a resource
for women to fi ght
for issues including pay
equity, reproductive rights
and the elimination of
sex traffi cking. In early
December, Jawin’s
dream for a facility in Fort Totten were
realized as she and the community celebrated
the grand opening of the new location
at 207 Totten Ave.
“Congratulations to Dr. Victoria Pilotti
on her appointment as president and CEO
of the Center for the Women of New York,”
said Assemblyman Edward Braunstein. “I
am confi dent that Dr. Pilotti will ensure that
Ann Jawin’s remarkable vision for CWNY is
achieved by expanding the vital services it
provides to women throughout New York
state, including career training, legal counseling,
assisting domestic violence victims,
and maintaining a living museum dedicated
to women’s rights in Fort Totten.”
For more information or membership
inquiries, visit cwny.org or contact Dr.
Pilotti at 718-793-0672 or at centerwny@
yahoo.com. Learn more about the organization
at cwny.org or on Facebook.
Photo courtesy of the
Center for the Women
of New York
CWNY named Dr.
Victoria Pilotti
its new president
and CEO
improve the Queens Bus Network
Redesign aft er the initial release – while
welcomed – came with plenty of criticism.
Two new dates have been added to
the calendar of public workshops and
outreach campaigns that will ultimately
guide the agency in modernizing the
anachronistic layout of bus routes and
wait times in the county.
“Th e Queens bus redesign is a oncein
a-lifetime opportunity to completely
redraw the bus network in ways we
know will work better for everyone and
for our customers to have a say in what
bus service will look like in Queens,”
Byford said in a Sunday announcement.
“Queens customers know how important
buses are and how they can be used
to serve the neighborhoods better, which
is why we absolutely need our customers’
help reimagining how public transit
serves Queens.”
But activists sounded off with one main
criticism: headway between buses would
still mean lengthy wait times such as on
the Q60 bus along Queens Boulevard,
between Manhattan and Jamaica.
“Th ere is lots to unpack and while I see
some good changes and ideas some of
this is rubbish. For instance the Q60, will
retain awful headway times – 15 minutes
during the day add 20 minutes on weekends
is an invitation to people to use a car
(their own or Uber),” said Peter Beadle,
an attorney in Forest Hills.
Transit advocate and LaGuardia
Community College professor Joby Jacob
said the plan was an improvement, but
overall the MTA missed out on some
perceived opportunities and will rely on
the city Department of Transportation
to make many of the improvements possible.
According to the MTA, Queens’ bus
routes go back to the days of the trolley
and private bus companies that used
to serve residents around the turn of the
century. Th e spoke-and-wheel designs of
routes sprawling to and from the hubs of
Flushing, Jamaica and Long Island City
“severely” limit the mobility of modern
commuters, the authority said.
Outreach will take place in stations listed
above where commuters will be invited
to learn about the redesign and attend
workshops, also listed above.
/cwny.org
link
/WWW.QNS.COM
/cwny.org
link
/yahoo.com
link
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