20 THE QUEENS COURIER • MARCH 29, 2018 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Bayside business raises concerns over intersection & bike lanes
BY SUZANNE MONTEVERDI
smonteverdi@qns.com / @smont76
An active Bayside intersection — located
near a bike lane that has been a subject
of controversy in recent months — is
a danger to pedestrians and drivers alike,
according to a local landlord.
Marlene Mindel, who owns buildings in
the immediate area, has witnessed multiple
collisions and close calls at 223rd
Street and Northern Boulevard over the
years. However, she told Th e Courier, in
recent months, the intersection seems to
have become more dangerous.
One recent incident, in which a car
struck a woman crossing at the intersection,
amplifi ed Mindel’s concerns.
Surveillance footage provided to Th e
Courier by Mindel shows a pedestrian
crossing from one side of Northern
Boulevard to the other when she is struck
by a vehicle turning left from 223rd Street
onto Northern Boulevard, westbound.
Initially, Mendel thought — based
on an eyewitness account she received
— that the victim sustained fatal injuries.
However, an NYPD spokesperson
said the pedestrian, a 47-year-old Staten
Island woman, sustained non-critical
injuries and was taken to an area hospital.
Th e driver does not face any charges.
Marie Sahtila, who works for Mindel,
said the recent collision has made her
more concerned about her safety as a
pedestrian in the area.
“She went up in the air and she fell like
a doll,” Sahtila said while viewing video of
the collision. “I’m afraid to cross the street
and get coff ee. I’d rather cross in the middle
of the street than on the crosswalk.”
Mindel said the city’s Department of
Transportation (DOT) was recently on
site to install a hardened centerline —
Drivers and a cyclist traveling westbound along Northern Boulevard at 223rd Street
pieces of rubber curb and bollards meant
to calm traffi c — in the middle of the
street. Th e bollards have been replaced
multiple times since then, with drivers
damaging and knocking them out of the
base.
“Even if the pedestrian has the light, it
doesn’t matter: Th e drivers are all trying
to beat the light,” she said. “Th ey speed up
and they turn.”
“Th ere’s something about the site of
those bollards; people just can’t see,”
she added. “But the Transportation
Department said, ‘No, we need them. We
did a study.’”
Th e intersection abuts a protected
bike lane — installed by DOT in the
summer of 2017 — which runs along
Northern Boulevard from 223rd Street
Photo by Suzanne Monteverdi/THE COURIER
to Douglaston Parkway in what was
once a lane for vehicle traffi c. Th e project
was spurred by the death of Michael
Schenkman, a 78-year-old cyclist who
was struck by a car in the area and killed
in August 2016.
Mindel said the lane has contributed
to “mass confusion” in the area. Drivers,
pedestrians and cyclists are unsure of
where they are meant to go, she claimed.
Drivers who attempt to exit the Cross
Island Parkway onto Northern Boulevard
are faced with poor visibility and heavy
traffi c — especially during rush hours.
A DOT spokesperson confi rmed that
the city agency recently installed a hardened
centerline on Northern Boulevard
west of 223rd Street in an eff ort to calm
traffi c at the site. Th e agency is also “currently
reviewing the timing of traffi c signals
at the site.”
“DOT and NYPD are aware that a
pedestrian was recently struck on
Northern Boulevard west of 223th Street,”
the spokesperson said. “Th ough this incident
was not related to the bike lane, it
underscores why our eff orts to calm left
turns are so important to the safety of
New Yorkers.”
Th e bike lane project stirred up some
debate in the local community. Some
elected offi cials and Community Board
11 members argued the bike lanes should
instead be built on the existing sidewalk
running along Northern Boulevard.
Local bike advocates spoke out in favor
of the addition, arguing it brought safety
improvements faster than the proposed
project. Others argued the bike lanes were
unnecessary altogether.
Aft er a series of rallies, press conferences
and public gatherings organized
and attended by community members on
all sides of the debate, the outcry quieted
until a Dec. 20 collision was reported
on social media. Law enforcement sources
confi rmed that a 75-year-old male victim
was walking across the Cross Island
Parkway exit ramp at Northern Boulevard
around 10:20 a.m. when he was struck by
a vehicle. He sustained non-life-threatening
injuries.
DOT offi cials have continuously stood
by the protected bike lane project, which
they say provides critical safety benefi ts
to the area.
Northern Boulevard is a designated
Vision Zero Priority Corridor. In January
2017, Mayor de Blasio announced New
York City would make an additional $400
million investment in Vision Zero projects
aft er three successive years of recordlow
traffi c fatalities.
Little Neck & Douglaston will honor MIA Navy pilot at Memorial Day march
Courtesy of the Little Neck Douglaston Memorial Day Parade
Lieutenant Commander Frederick Peter Crosby, who was killed
during the Vietnam War, will be posthumously honored as
grand marshal of the 2018 Little Neck Douglaston Memorial
Day Parade.
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
rpozarycki@qns.com / @robbpoz
Th e 91st Little Neck Douglaston
Memorial Day Parade this May will
pay special tribute to a Navy pilot
who was killed during the Vietnam
War and missing in action for nearly
50 years.
Lieutenant Commander Frederick
Peter Crosby will be recognized as
the parade’s honorary grand marshal.
His daughter, Deborah Crosby,
and other family members will represent
him as leaders of the Little Neck
Douglaston march — regarded as the
largest Memorial Day parade in the
country — on May 28.
According to parade organizers,
Lieutenant Commander Crosby
served with the Light Photographic
Squadron 63 stationed on board the
USS Bon Homme Richard during
the Vietnam War, fl ying reconnaissance
missions over North Vietnam.
On June 1, 1965, Crosby’s unarmed
RF-8 plane was shot down while on a
mission over the North Vietnamese
province of Th anh Hoa.
Th e U.S. Navy declared that he
was missing in action and presumed
dead; Crosby was posthumously
awarded the Distinguished Flying
Cross. It would take the Crosby family
nearly 50 years of endless research
before fi nally being able to fi nd
Lieutenant Commander Crosby and
bring him home.
In October of 2015, a local villager
who witnessed Crosby’s plane
go down directed investigators to a
pond, where human remains were
subsequently found. Th e investigators
also located Crosby’s wedding
ring and persona lighter. Th e remains
were recovered, and through DNA
testing conducted with the help of
his sister, Sharon, forensic scientists
determined that the remains were
Lieutenant Commander Crosby’s.
Crosby was laid to rest last
Memorial Day weekend at Fort
Rosencrans National Cemetery in
San Diego with his children Deborah,
Douglas, Steven and John. His tombstone
also bears the name of his wife,
Mary, who died in 2002.
“We are particularly humbled by
Lieutenant Commander Crosby’s
ultimate sacrifi ce, by all of the fallen
and by all of those who protect
us today and in the past,” said Little
Neck Douglaston Parade Co-chair
Charles W. McBride.
In addition to honoring Crosby,
the parade will also honor members
of the New York State Air National
Guard 106th Rescue Wing, which is
based in Westhampton Beach, Long
Island. Air Force Colonel Michael
W. Bank will represent the wing,
which recently lost four members —
including two active New York City
fi refi ghters with Queens connections
— in a helicopter crash in Iraq.
Th e West Point Marching Band
will be featured among the many participating
bands, and Councilman
Paul Vallone will be recognized as the
parade committee’s Man of the Year.
The Little Neck Douglaston
Memorial Day Parade will take place,
rain or shine, at 2 p.m. on May
28. Marchers will step off from the
corner of Northern Boulevard and
Jayson Avenue in Great Neck, then
head west along Northern Boulevard
to 245th Street in Douglaston.
Visit www.lndmemorialday.org for
further details.
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/www.lndmemorialday.org
