FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM MAY 16, 2019 • THE QUEENS COURIER 3
THE BAYSIDE ‘WAR ZONE’
Residents rail against bumpy streets, demand repairs
BY JENNA BAGCAL
jbagcal@qns.com
@jenna_bagcal
Residents are criticizing the poor street
conditions in Bayside, as cars traveling
down local streets run into potholes, large
cracks and uneven roads.
Some like Danielle Chase, blame the
ongoing sewer and water main replacement
for the pothole hell plaguing the
neighborhood.
“Most of the poor street conditions
are due to the never-ending construction
going on. 38th Avenue from the service
road to 217th Street is a warzone,”
Chase told QNS.
The Department of Design and
Construction (DDC) broke ground on the
$62.5 million project in May 2018. Th e
agency aims to replace over seven miles
of new water mains and install new storm
and sanitary sewers, 80 new fi re hydrants
and catch basins in Bayside and Flushing.
In January 2018, QNS reported that
DDC had already completed work in the
following areas in Bayside:
• 216th Street from 39th Avenue to 38th
Avenue;
• 38th Avenue from 216th Street to 207th
Street; and
• 39th Avenue from 215th Street to 216th
Street.
• DDC said that the project is set to be
completed in 2021.
According to nyc.gov, residents can fi le
complaints about potholes, cave-ins, utility
damage and hummocks — roadway
asphalt that has been pushed into a wave
shape — online or by calling 311. But area
resident Arlene Mordjikin said the complaints
have not made a diff erence.
“Bell Boulevard between Horace
Harding Expressway and 48th Avenue
needs to be repaved. I’ve reached out to
311 since 2016 and I’m still waiting,” said
Mordjikian.
Other residents cited 217th Street between
46th and 47th Avenues, 38th Avenue from
214th to 221st Streets and “all of 32nd Avenue
from Francis Lewis to Bell Boulevard” as
areas that desperately need repaving.
Th e Department of Transportation’s
(DOT) “Th e Daily Pothole” blog reported
that citywide, the agency has paved 197.85
lane miles as of May 11 and repaired
116,617 potholes as of May 13.
QNS reached out to DOT and DDC
for comment and is awaiting responses
from both.
Queens school looks to rebound after measles order shutdown
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
rpozarycki@qns.com
@robbpoz
Th e city’s Health Department slammed
the doors Monday on a Kew Gardens
Hills school for non-compliance with
a citywide order aimed at curbing the
ongoing measles outbreak.
On May 9, the Health Department
issued an “Order of the Commissioner”
to Th e Yeshiva of Central Queens at
147-37 70th Rd. mandating that the
administration exclude any unvaccinated
student for 21 days following
a known exposure to measles at the
school.
Upon further investigation, the agency
ordered Th e Yeshiva of Central Queens
closed on May 13 because the staff had
not abided by the May 9 order. Th e
school will be allowed to reopen once
the Health Department “reviews and
approves a submitted corrective action
plan that addresses the lapses in complying
with the order.”
When asked for comment, a school
representative directed QNS to the
school’s attorney, Jonathan Farrell. A
representative of Farrell told QNS on
May 14 that the school hoped to reopen
“as soon as possible.”
Later in the aft ernoon, Farrell released
a statement on the school’s behalf
explaining the situation and that “the
yeshiva is fully cooperating with the
Department of Health’s audit of the
yeshiva’s records.”
“We are not aware of any yeshiva
student being exposed to the measles
virus,” the statement noted. “Rather,
the Department of Health’s audit of the
yeshiva was triggered by a single individual,
who is an outside vendor of
the yeshiva and who was present on
yeshiva’s premises aft er apparently being
exposed to the measles virus. Because
the yeshiva has no concrete evidence
regarding any student being exposed,
the Department of Health’s decision to
temporarily close the yeshiva appears to
be merely precautionary.”
Th e statement goes on to note that the
yeshiva administrators are “already preparing
an action plan to better its compliance
and monitoring mechanisms”
which it will be implementing “no later
than the beginning of the fall 2019
semester regarding its measles vaccination
requirements.”
In April, Mayor Bill de Blasio declared
a public health emergency for the
Williamsburg area, where hundreds of
people came down with the illness.
Eighty percent of the nearly 500 measles
cases citywide have occurred in
Williamsburg, primarily within the large
Orthodox Jewish community. Th e city
has ordered residents in fi ve Brooklyn
ZIP codes encompassing Williamsburg
to get the measles-mumps-rubella
(MMR) vaccine. So far, no such mandatory
vaccine order has been issued for
any part of Queens.
Just two confi rmed measles cases have
been confi rmed in the borough, both of
which were in Flushing. Th ere have been no
new measles cases in Queens since April 29.
For more information on the measles
outbreak, visit nyc.gov/health.
Photo via Getty Images
Photo: Jenna Bagcal/QNS
The torn-up bumpy intersection of Bell Boulevard and 38th Avenue in Bayside
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