4 The Courier sun • march 5, 2015 for breaking news visit www.couriersun.com CB 5 committees pan Cross Harbor Tunnel plans BY ROBERT POZARYCKI [email protected]/@robbpoz Building a Cross Harbor Tunnel would shift the tri-state area’s traffic problems into Brooklyn and Queens, members of the Community Board 5 (CB 5) Transportation and Public Transit committees declared during a meeting on the night of Feb. 24 in Glendale. Panelists panned options in the Port Authority’s Cross Harbor Freight Program that call for a train tunnel or a combined train/truck tube through the harbor between rail yards in New Jersey and Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. The options include increased activity on the Long Island Rail Road’s Bay Ridge line and the connecting Fresh Pond Rail Yard in Glendale — the only freight rail terminal linking geographic Long Island and the rest of the country. Though the Port Authority claims the tunnel plans would help reduce tractor-trailer traffic on its existing Hudson River and harbor crossings, CB 5 Chairperson Vincent Arcuri charged, the proposal wouldn’t remedy congestion, but rather move it elsewhere in the city. According to Arcuri, the tunnel plans included the creation or expansion of intermodal shipping facilities COUNCILMAN GIVES $500K TECHNOLOGY GRANT TO SOUTHEAST QUEENS SCHOOLS BY SALVATORE LICATA [email protected]/@Sal_Licata1 Upgrading technology in schools has become a top priority for Councilman Donovan Richards, who says there is a technology gap for children of color. To help close this gap he has allocated over $500,000 to four schools in southeast Queens. Richards has named the funding the Nelson Mandela Technology Grant in tribute to the late South African leader for all that he accomplished to break down racial barriers through his teachings and his opposition to the apartheid government in his homeland. “There is a technology gap when it comes to people of color,” said Richards. “I want to try to close that gap in my district so we don’t have this virtual apartheid that is going on.” Richards presented the check to students from all four schools, which were P.S. 195, P.S. 270, P.S.138 and P.S. 156, at P.S. 270 on March 3. The grant came as part of his discretionary funding that he uses for public schools in his district. All of these schools are located in southeast Queens and the money will be used to upgrade the technology in each by adding some computers, iPads and SMART Boards where necessary. “Nelson Mandela famously said education is the most powerful weapon which you can use for change,” Richards said to the students in attendance. “I want to ensure that you guys have just as much access to technology as other communities and am committed to taking money out of my budget to better technology and ensure that you start moving in the right direction.” As a thank you to Richards, children from each school stood in front of the crowd and said a few words about why learning technology is so important. They said that students are at a disadvantage if they do not have technology and that it makes their learning more fun when they can access the Internet as part of their lessons. “Technology is a must if we are going to move onto middle school and high school,” said one student from P.S. 195, after saying that not every classroom in the school has a SMART Board. “Technology makes concepts fun and easy to grasp. Now we will be able to move onto our future.” THE COURIER/Photo by Salvatore Licata and warehouses near the Fresh Pond Rail Yard as well as Maspeth and East New York. At these sites, goods would be loaded and off-loaded between train cars and small trucks. Citing analysis performed by the Glendale-based Civics United for Railroad and Environmental Solutions (CURES), Arcuri said, the tunnels would effectively add hundreds of truck trips each day onto local streets. “By taking the largest tractor-trailers off the road and putting their cargo on the trains, they’re adding thousands of smaller trucks to our area,” he said. “We need to come up with a comprehensive argument against this current plan.” John Maier, Public Transit Committee co-chair, echoed those sentiments, noting that much of the tunnel program’s concepts are based in “theory.” Municipal waste and construction and demolition debris from the city and Nassau and Suffolk counties make up the bulk of all local freight rail shipments. Other goods, he noted, are largely shipped by truck. “The tunnel would do more to alleviate traffic outside of New York City than within it,” Maier said. “It’s not creating a lot of jobs because a lot of shipping is automated. It’s not a lot of yard jobs. It’s not a lot of anything, really. It would only reduce 6 percent of traffic on the Hudson River crossings while adding much more than 6 percent of traffic to East New York and Maspeth.” Jean Tanler of the Maspeth Industrial Business Association stated that companies in the neighborhood’s Industrial Business Zone (IBZ) expressed similar concerns about a Cross Harbor Tunnel, but also pressed for easier shipping methods to reduce costs and travel time. “There’s definitely demand,” she said. “It would save companies a lot of money to shave off a day of transit, either by rail or by barge.” Local logistics also make a Cross Harbor Tunnel plan unfeasible, according to CB 5 District Manager Gary Giordano. The plans indicate a tunnel would bring between 16 and 21 trains through the area each day — and current freight rail facilities are already overwhelmed with traffic. “Right there, it’s physically impossible to pull that off unless the trains just rolled through at all hours of the day,” Giordano said. Arcuri concluded that “the current plan is unacceptable” and that the board needed to present a resolution not only dismissing the Cross Harbor Tunnel, but also advocating for increased barge shipments and container float operations across the harbor. The chairperson said a resolution will be developed and considered at the committees’ next meeting on March 24. Meanwhile, Queens residents had the opportunity to speak out on the Cross Harbor program during a public hearing on March 3 from 4 to 8 p.m. at Queens Borough Hall in Kew Gardens.
SC03052015
To see the actual publication please follow the link above