4 THE QUEENS COURIER • JUNE 21, 2018 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Douglaston residents rail against Northern Blvd bike paths
BY SUZANNE MONTEVERDI
smonteverdi@qns.com / @smont76
A group of Douglaston residents continued
a call against a city safety project that
brought a protected bike lane to a main
transit artery in the neighborhood.
On June 16, the Douglaston Civic
Association and northeast Queens locals
marched alongside the protected bike
lane project on Northern Boulevard
from Douglaston Parkway to the Cross
Island Parkway. Th e city’s Department of
Transportation (DOT) implemented the
protected bike lane — which established
a two-way, barrier-protected bike path in
what was once a moving traffi c lane — along
the corridor in summer 2017.
The group advocated in favor of
Community Board 11’s bike lane proposal,
which would expand the existing sidewalk
and create a pathway that would be shared
by pedestrians and bikers. Th e board presented
the plan in September aft er formally
deciding to reverse their initial stamp of
approval in June.
Th e community board proposal was
devised by Bernie Haber, a retired engineer.
Haber, who marched in Saturday’s rally,
said his plan is still the safer choice.
“Th e most important thing is the design
of having the barrier at the Cross Island
Parkway, right in front of the entrance and
two exits. It’s very dangerous,” he said.
“Any highway engineer would never design
something like this. Why this was put that
way, I don’t know.”
“Th e community board and the community
are all in favor of bicycle lanes,”
Haber added. “We’ve establish bicycle lanes
all over in Douglaston and Bayside. We
Photos by Suzanne Monteverdi/The Courier
Locals march along the Northern Boulevard bike lane project in
Bayside and Douglaston
approved them all. Th is one is a bad one.”
Christine Briguglio, who serves on the
civic board, said the group fi nds the project
“terribly unsafe.”
“Th ere’s accidents here all the time,” she
said. “Community Board 11 had proposed
a safer alternative, and the DOT did not
build it.”
Briguglio’s 15-year-old son Evan, an avid
cyclist, says he uses the sidewalk instead of
the lane.
“Th e lane is too dangerous. My mom sees
two crashes a week here … I’ve seen them,”
he said.
“We have an alternative for a
safer bike lane, but they don’t
want to hear us,” said Gar Jung,
a Douglaston resident. “I used
to bike a lot, but I avoid this
lane because of its problems.”
A DOT spokesperson told
Th e Courier the city agency is
standing by the project.
“Th e installation of the twoway
protected bike lane on
the north side of Northern
Boulevard last summer allowed
DOT to immediately deliver
critical safety benefi ts for the
community and all street users,”
the spokesperson said. “Th e
project has brought vital traffi
c calming to this Vision Zero
priority corridor while creating
a safer route for pedestrians
and cyclists traveling between
Bayside and Douglaston.”
Bike advocates who attended
a rally in September echoed
these sentiments. Cyclists there
argued that the city’s plan
implemented much-needed safety changes
more quickly than the board’s proposal.
Advocacy group Transportation
Alternatives also held a group bike ride
in November to celebrate the new addition
while Bayside-based state Senator Tony
Avella continued to rail against the project.
Th e call for safety improvements at
the location was spurred by the death of
78-year-old Michael Schenkman, who was
struck and killed by a car while riding his
bicycle on Northern Boulevard to access
the nearby Joe Michaels Mile bike path in
August 2016.
Cross Bay toll
moves closer to
elimination
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
rpozarycki@qns.com / @robbpoz
Eff orts to forever eliminate the
toll on the Cross Bay Veterans
Memorial Bridge in Queens
moved a step closer toward
becoming a reality on Th ursday.
Th e State Assembly passed
legislation that would ban the
toll on the bridge linking Broad
Channel and the Rockaways for
good. Assemblywoman Stacey
Pheff er Amato, who represents
the area where the bridge is
located, sponsored the legislation,
which now moves on to the
state Senate.
Operated by MTA Bridges
and Tunnels, the Cross Bay
Bridge is the only crossing in
New York City in which drivers
must pay a toll to travel from
one part of the same borough
to another. Even though Broad
Channel and Rockaway residents
are eligible for discounted
tolls through EZPass, for years,
local residents and community
leaders have said the toll serves
no meaningful purpose for the
area.
“I made a pledge before taking
offi ce that I would work to eliminate
the Cross Bay Memorial
Bridge toll,” Amato said in a
June 14 statement. “Today, I
had a thrilling win and a great
step forward for our community.
As I have stated countless
times: Th e toll has outlived its
original stated purpose of paying
for the bridge, and has absolutely
no stated current purpose
other than supplementing the
MTA’s budget on the backs of
hard-working New Yorkers.”
Assemblyman Mike Miller,
whose district is based in nearby
Woodhaven, co-sponsored
Amato’s legislation and was
equally pleased to see it clear
one legislative hurdle.
Th e Senate version of the bill
is sponsored by state Senator
Joe Addabbo, whose district
includes Broad Channel and the
Rockaways.
“Th is is the most unfair toll,
I would argue, in the entire
state,” Addabbo said on June
15. “Knowing the MTA’s fi scal
responsibilities and obligations
and their status, I know that you
don’t balance the MTA budget,
which is billions of dollars, on
the couple of million it gets from
the Cross Bay Bridge toll.”
As this paper went to press
on Wednesday aft ernoon, June
20, it was unclear whether the
bill would get a vote in the State
Senate before the legislative session
ended that same day.
Cops warn about mail theft rash in Bayside & Flushing
BY SUZANNE MONTEVERDI
smonteverdi@qns.com / @smont76
Police are stepping up crime prevention
eff orts as another spate of mail fi shing
incidents have been reported in locations
throughout Bayside and Flushing.
Checks have been reported stolen and
fraudulently cashed from U.S. Postal
Service (USPS) mailboxes at 188th Street
and 48th Avenue, Bell Boulevard and 35th
Avenue, and 164th Street and Station
Road, in front of the Flushing Post Offi ce,
according to the 111th Precinct. Th e report
comes in the days following “several complaints”
of checks stolen from mailboxes
stationed in front of the Bayside Post
Offi ce, located at 212th Street and 42nd
Avenue.
During mail fi shing incidents, thieves
attach objects dipped in a sticky substance
to fi shing line and drop them into
USPS mailboxes. Envelopes inserted into
the mailbox by local residents then stick
to the object and are easily pulled out by
crooks. Th e crime is usually conducted
during nighttime hours.
Perpetrators then use an acetone wash to
remove the ink from the stolen checks in
order to alter payee and monetary value.
According to a recent update posted to
the precinct’s offi cial Facebook page, police
offi cers are conducting plain clothes surveillance
operations and patrols in marked cars
near mailboxes to help deter criminals.
Th e USPS, at the request of local lawmakers,
recently began installing security
devices on the borough’s USPS mailboxes
to prevent further theft s. Leaders at the
command have met with Postal Inspectors,
who confi rmed that the agency is currently
in the process of installing fortifi ed mailboxes
in other areas of Queens.
Bayside and Flushing residents are being
encouraged to drop off any mail containing
checks, money orders or tax returns
inside of their local post offi ce. Check
Photo by Suzanne Monteverdi/THE COURIER
your account balance frequently to ensure
that there has been no suspicious activity,
police said, and write checks with gel
impact pens, which contain ink that is diffi
cult to erase.
Residents should not to drop their envelopes
into mailboxes that look tampered
with or have missing or worn timestamps
posted on them, authorities noted, and if
you observe an individual tampering with
a mailbox, report it to 911 immediately.
“Use mailboxes off the beaten path or
none at all to lower your risk,” a tweet from
the 111th Precinct reads.
The Bayside Post Offi ce on 212th Street
link
link
link
