FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM MAY 3, 2018 • THE QUEENS COURIER 25
State will spend
$800K on postwinter
road
repairs to Grand
Central Pkwy.
& Long Island
Expwy. in Queens
BY EMILY DAVENPORT
edavenport@qns.com / @QNS
Portions of the Long Island
Expressway and Grand Central
Parkway in Queens will undergo road
maintenance to repair winter-related
damages, Governor Andrew Cuomo
announced on Monday.
Cuomo said he’s allocating more
than $100 million in funding to
repave and enhance roadways across
the state that were impacted by the
harsh weather this past winter.
Over $800,000 will be allocated for
the following concrete repairs for
roadways and highways in Queens:
• $38,000 for the eastbound side of
Grand Central Parkway from the
New York City Transit Authority
Bridge to the entrance ramp of the
Union Turnpike at Kew Gardens
Interchange
• $38,000 for the westbound side
of Grand Central Parkway from
the entrance ramp of the Union
Turnpike to the New York City
Transit Authority Bridge at Kew
Gardens Interchange
• $324,000 for the eastbound side of
Nassau Expressway from Crossbay
Boulevard to Farmers Boulevard
• $213,000 for the eastbound Long
Island Expressway from Maurice
Avenue to Grand Central Parkway,
including the service road from
74th Street to Junction Boulevard
• $213,000 for the westbound Long
Island Expressway from Grand
Central Parkway to Maurice
Avenue, including the service road
from 98th Street to 74th Street
Th e projects will take place this
summer and fall and will fi nish by
the end of 2018.
“Th ese investments are critical
to our transportation system and
essential for community growth
and regional economic competitiveness,”
Cuomo said. “By infusing
more than $100 million in state
funds to revitalize our roads, we are
enhancing the quality of life for all
New Yorkers while ensuring every
traveler remains safe throughout the
Empire State.”
Th e State Budget originally had
$65 million in Extreme Weather
Recovery funds for locally owned
roadways. Th e added $100 million,
which is supported through
the New York State Department
of Transportation’s fi ve-year capital
plan, will support the renewal of
state-owned roadways.
Whitestone man leads eff ort to rehab local baseball fi elds
BY SUZANNE MONTEVERDI
smonteverdi@qns.com / @smont76
In his fi rst visit to the Fort Totten
Park ballfi elds in about three decades,
Whitestone native Bobby Gellert was surprised
to fi nd the lush green spaces he
remembered from his childhood in a state
of decay.
But, among the disrepair, he saw a sign
of hope: a baseball.
“Everything happens for a reason, I
believe,” he told Th e Courier.
Gellert, founder and owner of
Whitestone-based brokerage fi rm Shares
of New York, decided this year to take on
a number of “passion projects,” seeking
to eff ect change in his local communities.
Th ough he now lives in Chappaqua with
his family, he decided to start with his former
hometown in Queens.
Remembering growing up playing
on the neighborhood’s ballfi elds for the
DAC Athletic Club, Gellert sought out
the organization in February. He met
current executive director John Zullo,
who explained that baseball participation
in northeast Queens has been in steady
decline.
“I explained to him that baseball as he
knew it back in the ’80s no longer existed,”
Zullo said. “So we kind of pivoted
from just working to help DAC baseball
to basically revitalizing baseball in this
community.”
“Baseball has been a passion of mine
for my entire life,” Gellert said. “I didn’t
know that the local baseball leagues had
deteriorated to the point that they have.”
During their conversation, Gellert and
Zullo identifi ed a place to start: the ballfi
elds. Two fi elds at Fort Totten were in
poor condition — one currently unusable
— and one at Little Bay Park needed
attention, the director said.
“Our hope is by having nice, safe, playable
fi elds for our kids to play on, that it
would rejuvenate the interest in the sport
itself,” Zullo said. “Th ey can get that feeling
that they’re playing the sport at a
higher level.”
One of the Fort Totten fi elds were rehabilitated
at the end of April. Zullo coordinated
with a fi eld maintenance company,
Th ree Guys Maintenance, and Gellert,
through Shares of New York, donated the
necessary funds.
Renovations at Little Bay Park will take
place mid-May. Th e second Fort Totten
fi eld, which is in the worst condition of
the three, will take the largest funding
commitment.
“Zullo and I are talking about other
fi elds and other facilities we can get
involved with to really do the things that
are necessary to bring baseball — the way
that we know it, the way that it should be
— back to Queens,” he said.
Gellert intends to form “Fields of New
York,” a nonprofi t organization through
which he and his company will raise funds
to further his mission to revive baseball in
the local community. He hopes to take
his mission up to Westchester — and
beyond.
As for the baseball found at Fort Totten
Park, he looks to use it for a ceremonial
fi rst pitch at each of the baseball fi elds
he sees rehabilitated. He keeps it close
to remind him of his mission: to see a
renewed love for America’s pastime here
in Queens.
“It doesn’t have to happen tomorrow or
next year,” Gellert said. “If it happens in
my lifetime, that is fantastic.”
Senator calls on MTA Bus Company president
for extension of Q102 bus service in Astoria
BY JENNA BAGCAL
jbagcal@qns.com
Senator Michael Gianaris called for the
Metropolitan Transit Authority to extend
bus service on 31st Avenue in Astoria, to
compensate for a rash of subway closures
in the area.
On April 25, the senator wrote to the
president of the MTA Bus Company,
Darryl Irick, to request that he extend the
Q102 service from 30th Avenue down
to 20th Avenue. Currently, north-south
bus routes run from 20th Avenue to
Queens Plaza along Steinway Street and
21st Street. However, there are areas in
between these routes that are in need of
bus service.
“Our community has been waiting for
an accessible station on the N/W line
for decades, and the news about Astoria
Boulevard was a long time coming,”
Gianaris wrote in his letter to Irick. “Still,
the MTA is not doing nearly enough to
cushion the blow that will come with
the extended station closure during construction.
Given the hardship faced by
local businesses and residents, the least
the MTA can do is mitigate the enduring
damage by increasing bus service to
off set the negative eff ects of all this construction.”
Since September 2017, the 30th Avenue
and 36th Avenue N/W subway lines have
been undergoing an eight-month-long
overhaul, which creates a growing need
for buses in Astoria. Gianaris said his
“repeated requests” for shuttle bus service
in the aff ected areas have been denied. He
is now looking for a more “permanent”
solution to the issue.
“Th e Q102 currently turns west on 30th
Avenue and proceeds to Astoria Houses –
a vital service that should continue uninterrupted
while an added spur extends
the route to 20th Avenue. Other bus
lines throughout Queens follow a similar
approach, including the Q15 and
Q15a, which have a divergent route to
provide more service to more residents
throughout Whitestone. Th is request is
not unique; it is simply fair,” the senator
said.
Th e MTA Bus Company said that they
“added service to the Q102 line to help
riders during the current station closures”
and have plans to review the senator’s letter
soon.
Th e company added that New York
City Transit President Andy Byford
proposed a comprehensive bus plan to
revamp the “entire public bus system and
deliver world-class service with immediate
and long-term improvements.” Some
of the proposed changes to the bus system
include a complete redesigned bus
network, speeding up boarding by using
all doors and improving customer service
and experience.
Photo via nysenate.gov
Senator Michael Gianaris calls for extension of
Q102 bus service
Photo by Suzanne Monteverdi/The Courier
Gellert stands on the pitcher’s mound at Little Bay Park in Whitestone
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