4 THE QUEENS COURIER • FEBRUARY 14, 2019 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Maloney to MTA: Use MTA funds for Sunnyside hub now
BY MARK HALLUM
mhallum@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Long Island City is tired of waiting for
commuter rail hub in their community,
as residents and lawmakers called on the
Metropolitan Transportation Authority on
Feb. 11 to take advantage of matched federal
Murder probe
after man shot
on Flushing st.
BY JENNA BAGCAL
jbagcal@qns.com
@jenna_bagcal
Detectives are looking for clues and
suspects in the murder of a man who
was shot multiple times on a Flushing
street early on Tuesday morning.
On Feb. 12 around 2:30 a.m., offi cers
from the 109th Precinct responded to
a call about a man who had been shot
in front of a metal works store near
the corner of 131st Street and Fowler
Avenue.
Upon arrival, authorities said, the
offi cers found a 31-year-old man with
multiple gunshot wounds to the head
and body.
EMS units responded to the location
and transported the victim to
NewYork-Presbyterian Queens hospital
where he was pronounced dead.
Police have withheld his identity,
pending family notifi cation.
As Th e Courier went to press on
Wednesday aft ernoon, Feb. 13, no
arrests had been made and the investigation
is ongoing.
Bayside drivers peeved over parking ticket blitz
BY JENNA BAGCAL
jbagcal@qns.com
@jenna_bagcal
“No parking” signs are posted on trees
and telephone poles on 38th Avenue in
Bayside as a $62.5 million sewer and
water main replacement project continues.
But neighborhood residents who park
on 211th Street off 38th Avenue said
that the signs have not always been there
during the “on- and off -street construction”
that has been going on since April
2018. In other instances, residents shared
that some streets had an insuffi cient
amount of signs posted, with car owners
reportedly getting tickets in the vicinity
despite an alleged lack of signage.
Sergio Orellana said that he was parked
on the corner of 211th Street and 38th
Avenue when he got his parking ticket
on Jan. 25. According to the Bayside resident,
he was aware that signs had previously
been posted on multiple wooden
structures around trees within the construction
zone, but observed that they had
been taken down when he got the ticket.
“Th e signs are no longer there,” Orellana
told Th e Courier on Jan. 31. “I also drove
around to see if any of the other streets
were you could previously not park had
the signs and they do not as well. Every
day I pass by the same spot and see other
cars with tickets.”
Orellana provided photos showing
empty spots in areas where “no parking”
signs were previously hung.
Fredric Mushel told QNS that he was
ticketed on Jan. 17 when his car was
parked on 211th Street between 36th and
38th Avenues. According to Mushel, he
later discovered that a “no parking” sign
was posted “about 150 feet from the corner
of 211th Street and 38th Avenue”
aft er he tried to argue his ticket in court.
“Since my ticket, I have taken pictures
of other ‘entrapped’ parked cars on 211th
Street because people cannot see the temporary
posted sign on a 300-foot-long
street,” Mushel said.
In his research, Mushel learned about
a Department of Transportation (DOT)
rule that says “one authorized regulatory
sign anywhere on a block, which is the
area of sidewalk between one intersection
and the next, shall be suffi cient notice of
the restriction(s) in eff ect on that block.”
Mushel argued that some of the signs
could not be seen with the human eye
and people would have to walk up and
down the block in order to see them. He
has since photographed over 30 ticketed
cars in the vicinity of 211th Street and
38th Avenue.
When capital street projects begin, the
Department of Design and Construction
(DDC) gets a traffi c plan approved by
DOT. Th e plan includes parking details
and how many lanes of traffi c have to be
maintained. Once approved, the contractors
working on the project implement
DOT’s plan.
Th e Courier reached out to DDC
and DOT for comment and is awaiting
responses.
funds in order to wrap up East Side
Access and establish a Sunnyside Yards station
once and for all.
Th e MTA once envisioned a transit hub
for Sunnyside Yards where Long Island
Rail Road, New Jersey Transit and Amtrak
could serve customers in Queens, according
to Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney,
who said at a Monday press conference
in Long Island City that federal grants are
available as long as the cash strapped MTA
puts the project in the pipeline.
“Th e tunnels are coming, we need a
stop so Queens residents can access it
and not only get to Long Island but to get
to Manhattan for work,” Maloney said.
“Over 350 developments have come into
this neighborhood. Th ey’re either built,
planned or being planned for the future …
We deserve it no matter what’s happening
in this neighborhood and we need it. If we
don’t build it now it’s not going to happen.”
Maloney claims the MTA has already
allocated up to $77 million for the station,
but the agency says the reason it has not
happened yet is not solely about money.
With Mayor Bill de Blasio and the
Economic Development Corporation planning
to develop over the top of Sunnyside
Yards and East Side Access – an $11 billion
project linking LIRR service from Queens
to Grand Central Terminal through new
East River tunnels – still in the offi ng with
a 2022 completion date the station could be
even farther out of reach.
“As NYCEDC and Amtrak develop a
Master Plan for a potential overbuild of
Sunnyside Yards, the MTA is working
with them to ensure that options for a station
can be pursued without compromising
future LIRR service or operations,” a LIRR
spokesman said.
East Side Access is funded by the MTA’s
fi ve-year capital plan and federal funds,
but if it wants to take advantage of the
grants made available for the station by
Washington, the agency, facing a $1 billion
defi cit by 2021, must use the funds or
lose them.
“Why are we all working together?
Because we love this community. We’re
excited that the rest of the world is getting
excited about this community,” said
Elizabeth Lusskin, the president of the
Long Island City Partnership. “But the
reality is that 20 years ago when they fi rst
agreed to do this station this was all hopes
and dreams. Now it’s beyond even hopes
and dreams – for some people, fears –
but the reality is that this is the chance to
make a visionary step for the future of New
York City.”
An LIRR spokesman also told QNS East
Side Access must be completed before a
station can be built.
Read more at QNS.com.
Photo courtesy of Sergio Orellana
Photo: Mark Hallum/THE COURIER
City Council candidate Brent O’Leary (l.) stood with civic leader Shelia Lewandowsky (c.) and Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (r.) in calling for the MTA
to follow through on building a Sunnyside Yard LIRR stop.
/QNS.com
link
link
/WWW.QNS.COM
link
link
link
link
