New all-way stop sign installed in Dutch Kills
BY MAX PARROTT
Standing cattycorner to
local watering hole called
Dutch Kills Centraal, Dutch
Kills Civic Association leader
George Stamatiades praised
the installation of a stop sign
that has been in the works
for three civic association
presidencies. “At least 15
years,” Stamatiades said.
The local community
leader gathered last
week with Senate Deputy
Leader Michael Gianaris,
Councilman Jimmy Van
Bramer, Department of
Transportation (DOT)
representatives and local
business owners to officially
inaugurate a new all-way
stop at the intersection of
39th Avenue and 29th Street.
Gianaris, who began
advocating on the change in
2013, said that regulations
slowed the process down, but
DOT made clear that over the
years they did install some
traffic calming measures
including some bike parking.
“Dutch Kills has been
changing rapidly and our
infrastructure has not kept up.
Improving pedestrian safety
will keep our neighbors safe
in this growing community
Senate Deputy Leader Michael Gianaris, Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer, Department of Transportation
(DOT) representatives, civic leaders and local business owners joined to officially inaugurate a new
all-way stop at the intersection of 39th Avenue and 29th Street. Max Parrott/QNS
and I am glad DOT heard our
pleas,” said Gianaris.
DOT Borough
Commissioner Nicole Garcia
said that after continued
advocacy on the part of
the politicians and local
organizers like Stamatiades
and Dominic Stiller, who
owns the gastropub on the
corner, they performed the
traffic study and re-evaluated
the intersection
“We actually had our
engineers out here and both
the Senator and Council
Member are very familiar–
they really took us task
about like, ‘Make sure you’re
inspectors are out there see
what every day constituents
are experiencing,”
said Garcia.
In the background of the
event, a familiar dynamic
between local transit activists
and business advocates
played out. While both Stiller
and Stamatiades encouraged
the DOT to continue looking
at traffic measures, for the
neighborhood, their ideas
were in complete opposition.
Advocating for increased
parking for local businesses,
Stamatiades urged the DOT
to get rid of the bike racks,
which he blames for a recent
collision at the intersection.
Stiller, an outspoken
opponent of free street
parking, wants to continue
increasing pedestrian safety
measures by installing
curb extensions in the
intersection. He actually
gives bikers who are
members of prominent bike
and transit advocacy group
Transportation Alternatives
in front of his restaurant
and discount.
“It’s so cheap and easy to
put in,” said Stiller, speaking
of the curb extensions. “This
is a progressive change. It
really would help.”
Reach reporter Max
Parrott by email at mparrott@
schnepsmedia.com or by
phone at (718) 260-2507.
Environmentalist says Maspeth Amazon will increase truck traffic
BY BILL PARRY
Nothing happens along
Newtown Creek without Mitch
Waxman knowing about it
first, so he was not surprised to
see Crain’s report that Amazon
was eyeing an industrial
property in Maspeth for a new
distribution facility.
As the historian for the
Newtown Creek Alliance,
Waxman walks along the
Queens and Brooklyn shores
and updates his Newtown
Pentacle website with the
daily chronicles of western
Queens as it transforms under
over-development.
He posted photos of his
discovery on his website July
24, nearly a week before the
Crain’s report.
“I was on my way to a
meeting when I came across
heavy demolition going on over
on Grand Avenue,” Waxman
said. “I noticed the old Cascades
Containerboard factory was
being torn down by crews from
Breeze Demolition so I started
asking questions.”
Waxman learned that 54-
15, 55-15 and 56-19 Grand Ave.
were recently acquired by a
California-based company
called LBA Realty for $72
million. The deal involves
a partnership with another
realty company, RXR, to build
a four-story warehouse large
that would be ideal for the
“last mile” of logistics of an
e-commerce company.
“Yeah it’s only four stories
tall but that thing is going to
be massive, massive, massive,”
Waxman said. “It’s going to
be large enough that heavy
trucks will be able to drive
around inside the facility, so
that the first floor would have
to be at least 30 feet tall. As
an environmentalist with the
Newtown Creek Alliance this
set off all kinds of alarm bells
Amazon is eyeing a huge space in the shadows of the new K-Bridge
in Maspeth setting off alarm bells in one environmentalists head.
Courtesy of Mitch Waxman/Newtown Pentacle
with me. This will be a gigantic
magnification of truck traffic
in residential areas that are
already very sensitive to heavy
truck traffic.”
QNS reached out to Amazon
and is awaiting a response.
Amazon scuttled its plan to
build to build an HQ2 campus
in Long Island City, and create
more than 25,000 high-paying
jobs, in February.
Now the e-commerce
giant is reportedly scouting a
million square feet of space in
Brooklyn’s Industry City for
a new storage and shipping
facility in Sunset Park.
Amazon may be looking to
lease the entire Lord & Taylor
building in Midtown, according
to Crain’s.
Waxman, an Astoria resident
and member of Community
Board 1, is concerned about
what is happening in Maspeth.
“This sort of footprint tells
me we’re looking at well over
a hundred heavy trucks a day
as well as additional delivery
vans,” Waxman said. “It’s like
you’re throwing the whole
Green New Deal right out the
window with that type of truck
traffic clogging Maspeth’s
residential streets as they
make their way from the Long
Island Expressway. This part
of industrial Maspeth has
a rail spur and it runs right
along the back of this property
with a direct connection to
JFK International Airport.
Instead, we just keep building
more and more infrastructure
for trucks.”
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