8 THE QUEENS COURIER • MARCH 29, 2018 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Sunnyside split on updated Skillman/43rd Aves. bike lane plan
BY ANGELA MATUA
amatua@qns.com / @angelamatua
Th e auditorium at P.S. 150 in Sunnyside
was packed on March 26 for a town hall
meeting hosted by the Department of
Transportation (DOT) to present a street
safety improvement project for Skillman
and 43rd avenues.
Th is the second time the agency presented
a proposal for these corridors, aft er
the initial plan in November was criticized
by Community Board 2 for removing too
many parking spots.
Aft er the death of Gelacio Reyes, 32, of
Corona last April, the DOT received letters
from the community asking that safety
improvements be installed to prevent
this from happening again.
Reyes’ wife, Flor Jimenez, attended the
meeting with their 1-year-old daughter to
implore the city agency to make the corridors
safer for cyclists. Reyes was killed
by a 25-year-old drunk driver as he was
cycling home from his shift as a delivery
man in Manhattan.
“I don’t want more children to be
orphaned as my daughter here. She was
just one month old when her dad died,”
Jimenez said through a translator. “I don’t
want other families to go through this.
What we’re going through is very diffi cult.
Maybe if the drivers would be more conscientious,
maybe this wouldn’t happen.”
Ted Wright, the DOT’s Bicycle
Program Director, presented the new
plan, which includes smaller pedestrian
islands and off set crossings in certain
intersections, which would require less
parking removal.
In total, the new plan would give back
29 to 41 parking spots between both corridors.
While the original proposal removed
158 parking spots, this one would remove
117 to 129.
Th e corridors are a Vision Zero priority
because of the high number of injuries
that occurred there. According to DOT
data, 283 people — 61 pedestrians and
34 cyclists — were injured between 2012
through 2016.
Queens DOT Commissioner Nicole
Garcia said that in sections of the city
where bicycle lanes were implemented,
injuries have decreased and cars have
slowed down.
“Where we implement these bike lanes,
it visually narrows the roadways so it
makes traffi c more predictable, safer and
drivers drive at slower speeds so people
can get across the street,” she said.
Th e DOT also cited the increase of
cyclists using the corridors to get to
Queens Boulevard and the Queensboro
Bridge as a reason for installing the protected
bike lanes. According to the agency,
more than 1,400 cyclists used the existing
bike lanes on the avenues on a weekday
in May 2017.
But the changes didn’t satisfy drivers,
who said they already fi nd it diffi cult to fi nd
Photo by Angela Matua/THE COURIER
parking in the area and argued that local
businesses would be negatively impacted.
Pat Dorfman, the executive director of
the Sunnyside Chamber of Commerce,
said that though she is a cyclist herself,
local business owners said they were worried
about the plan.
“All the small business along 43rd
Avenue, Skillman Avenue, even
42nd Street, 48th Avenue and Queens
Boulevard are frightened that they will
actually go out of business,” she said. “I
would love to have a city with protected
bike lanes. It would be a dream but our
transit is a joke.”
Cycling advocates on the other hand,
spoke about the dangerous conditions
posed by drivers and praised the plan.
Nick Johnson, who lives on 46th Street
and Skillman Avenue, said he believes the
plan will make the neighborhood safer for
his children and will also make his commute
to Manhattan safer.
“Cyclists have kids, too,” he said. “I
have two of them and every morning I
cross 43rd Avenue and cross Skillman
Avenue as I walk them to school. I believe
these improvements are going to make
the neighborhood safer and slow the cars
down and make my children safer.”
He added that he cycles to Midtown
Manhattan because “it is faster, cheaper,
more predictable and a hell of a lot more
fun than the 7 train.”
Alleged gunman arrested for deadly Jackson Hts. shooting
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
According to authorities, Desiderio-
rpozarycki@qns.com / @robbpoz
Sanchez pulled out a black handgun and
shot Flores-Pineda twice in the chest before
Cops nabbed a Bronx man on Monday
fl eeing the scene. Sources familiar with the
who allegedly shot and killed a Jackson
investigation indicated that the two men
Heights man at a neighborhood grocery
were known to each other, but the nature
store last week in what sources said may
of their relationship was not known.
be a gang-related homicide.
Offi cers from the 110th Precinct and
Law enforcement sources said
EMS units rushed to the scene aft er
Gamaliel Desiderio-Sanchez, 28, allegedly
receiving a 911 call about the shooting.
walked into the 5 de Mayo store located
Paramedics rushed Flores-Pineda
at 81-06 Roosevelt Ave. a little before
to Elmhurst Hospital, where he was pronounced
8:15 p.m. on March 22 and approached
dead.
Saferino Flores Pineda, 31.
At this time, police have not established
a motive for the shooting. Authorities
said that detectives are examining a possible
connection to gang activity.
Th rough their investigation, detectives
tracked down Desiderio-Sanchez and
arrested him on the morning of March
26. He’s charged with murder and criminal
possession of a weapon.
Th e investigation is ongoing, police
said.
Court records noted that Desiderio-
Sanchez was ordered held without bail
following his March 26 arraignment; he
must return to court on April 2.
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