Progress on Midtown Tunnel and more in Feb. 1940
In conjunction with the
Greater Astoria Historical
Society, TimesLedger
Newspapers presents
noteworthy events in the
borough’s history.
Welcome to February,
1940!
On Feb. 12, engineers
working on the Queens
Midtown Tunnel announced
that the two ventilation
towers were almost finished.
Twenty blowers in the
Long Island City tower of the
$58 million tunnel will pump
a 45-mile-an-hour gale that
will enter the tunnel through
ductwork at the bottom of
the tubes and exit from the
exhaust channel at the top.
Engineers estimated that
with the average auto moving
at about 30 mph, it would
take about three minutes for
a vehicle to pass through the
mile and a quarter tunnel.
Borough President George
Harvey, who led the campaign
to restrict apartment house
construction in Queens,
came out against “too much”
zoning. Harvey went on to
suggest that zoning, in many
instances, was “comparable
with confiscation of
property,” and suggested
that the city Planning
Commission be abolished
because “we used to get along
without them.”
COLUMNS
“Planning is a fine thing
in theory but you just can’t
do it. We can’t have someone
in Manhattan coming over
and saying what to do with
our property in Queens,”
Harvey said. “The old way
was better, when we had
elected officials decide these
zoning problems. A lot of
property in Queens has
actually been confiscated by
this kind of planning.”
The borough president
delivered these nuggets on
urban planning at a hearing
before the Board of Estimate.
The Planning Commission,
which proposed to prohibit
unrestricted apartment
house building in Forest
Hills, aroused the ire of
about 200 homeowners who
jammed the board chambers
during the Feb. 2 meeting.
According to them, their
only hope at protecting their
home investments was to
reverse this zoning change.
Their pleas did not fall on
deaf ears.
Borough president Harvey
not only supported, but also
vowed that the “country-like
suburban atmosphere” in
Queens be preserved.
The borough president
certainly had his hands
full a few days later when
eight inches of snow fell on
Feb. 15.
Across New York, a small
army of 38,000 men (5,500 in
Queens alone) dug the city
out of snow that had drifted
several feet in places. After
dozens of cars stalled out,
the Grand Central Parkway
Extension was closed and cars
were rerouted to Northern
and Astoria Boulevards.
The Bronx-Whitestone
approach between Corona
and Whitestone was also
closed. In Bayside, parts
of Flushing, Jamaica, and
Springfield, the fire alarm
box system collapsed. Falling
wires disrupted telephone and
electric service throughout
Queens. The borough ground
to a halt.
On a lighter note, the
Feb. 3 issue of the Star-
Journal had an account of
John Barrymore, Bayside’s
brief but widely publicized
resident, as he bade adieu
to his suburban retreat at
208-20 215th St. After only
one night in our borough,
he elected to abide in the
Manhattan apartment
of Elaine Baffie, Mrs.
Barrymore (number four).
On the way back to
Manhattan, it seems the bad
boy of the theatre’s royal
family had stopped along
the wayside on the trip down
Northern Boulevard. Rumor
had it he ‘oiled his tonsils’
no less than four times on
the fifteen mile trip from
Bayside to Times Square.
For more information,
contact the Greater Astoria
Historical Society at (718)
278-0700 or visit www.
astorialic.org.
TIMESLEDGER,18 FEB. 15-21, 2019 TIMESLEDGER.COM
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