FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.couriersun.com MARCH 28, 2013 • THE COURIER SUN 19 oped HALL OF SHAME street talk What do you think about the installation of speeding cameras? Incidents of graffi ti have risen. The Courier invites you, our readers, to submit photos of vandalism — or addresses where you see graffi ti — for our “Hall of Shame.” Conversely, if a home or business has “cleaned up their act,” submit them for induction into our “Hall of Fame.” Send all high resolution JPG images (300 DPI) to [email protected] with a location and a contact number. Otherwise, contact us at 38-15 Bell Boulevard, Bayside, NY 11361. Help us take our borough back from the vandals! I think it will be better but it might cause a lot of traffi c which we defi nitely don’t need. Nicole Reider BY ADJANI SHAH I think it’s a great idea. It’s very dangerous being a pedestrian…I have to be very careful. It would be a lot safer. Eleanor Megna I think that’s kind of unethical. They should catch you in the act if you’re doing something wrong. I don’t drive so it wouldn’t affect me. Emily Allen That’s a good thing for security; it’s good for everybody. It means feweraccidents I think because everyone is scared of the cameras. Carlos Sevilla I think it will make people drive more carefully but cause more traffi c and accidents. Alexa Tanney No, I think it’s a silly idea. Over 10miles per hour they will hit you with a $25 ticket; it’s ridiculous. I don’t think it’s fair. Joe Ortega t’s good. It’s safe. There are a bunch of people on the road, they will catch people who run red lights, meaning fewer fatalities. Michael Souza 212 Street and Hillside Avenue I think it’s good because people drive too fast. It’s a good thing to have. If it saves lives and makes the city money, why not? Jimmy Guobis Putting Woodhaven Boulevard on the Fast Track BY COUNCILMEMBER ERIC ULRICH For the past decade, Woodhaven Boulevard has been a traffi c nightmare. The daily commute during the morning and evening rush hours is sluggish at best. Whether you’re in a car or on a bus, the slow and painful crawl up and down Woodhaven Boulevard is sure to make your daily commute even more stressful and time consuming. Since taking offi ce, I have been working with the Department of Transportation to alleviate traffi c congestion along Woodhaven Boulevard and have suggested a number of measures which I believe would make a big difference. Here are just a few: • I am committed to bringing the deployment of Transit Signal Priority (TSP) to this corridor. TSP will improve travel time for all vehicles by optimizing overall traffi c signal coordination, resulting in a 5%-10% decrease in overall travel time. This system can, for instance, hold the green light a little longer to allow buses and cars to proceed through an intersection before the traffi c signal turns red. TSP is already operating in Staten Island, the Bronx, and Manhattan. I am fi ghting to bring it to Queens. • Implementing Select Bus Service (SBS) along the 3.2 mile route would also have a signifi cant impact. This is a bold initiative that would establish a dedicated bus lane for express and local buses only. It would speed up the average commute time for bus riders by 15-20% and prevent the bottlenecking situation that occurs at almost every major intersection along the boulevard. SBS is more commonly referred to as Bus Rapid Transit and already exists on Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn, Hylan Boulevard in Staten Island, First / Second Avenues in Manhattan and Fordham Road in the Bronx. Woodhaven Boulevard is ripe for this proposal and I am looking forward to the day it comes to Queens. • Site specifi c improvements at certain intersections are long overdue. There are turning lanes that need to be widened or extended and others that need to be eliminated altogether. This is a delicate process that will require the advice and consent of the local community. Nevertheless, it is one that must be part of our overall strategy to make Woodhaven Blvd. safer for drivers, mass transit users and pedestrians alike. When done correctly, modifi cations such as these can reduce traffi c related injuries dramatically and help the overall fl ow of traffi c. The DOT has already made some progress by incorporating some of the above-mentioned ideas into the Citywide Congested Corridor study. In fact, data has been collected, traffi c patterns and accident prone locations have been analyzed and several public meetings have been held to discuss possible solutions since the study fi rst started in 2008. Some of these proposals are common sense and easy to implement while others are all but certain to raise controversy. But the fact remains that people have been sitting in traffi c for far too long and Queens is entitled to what every other borough already has. If we’re serious about addressing the traffi c nightmare on Woodhaven Boulevard once and for all, we must take the necessary steps to put this plan into action. Eric Ulrich was elected to the New York City Council in 2009, as the representative for District 32, serving Belle Harbor, Breezy Point, Broad Channel, Hamilton Beach, Howard Beach, Lindenwood, Neponsit, Ozone Park, Rockaway Beach, Rockaway Park, South Ozone Park, South Richmond Hill, and Woodhaven.
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