Comet Fall 2013 FINAL

7/29/2019 Comet Fall 2013 FINAL

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Communities of Maspeth and Elmhurst Together

Newsletter Fall 2013

Photo by Tom Porembski


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Pg. 2 Fall 2013 COMET

Community Sounds Off About Big Rigs

On Thursday, June 20th, residents gathered on the

triangle at 64th Street/Flushing and Grand Avenues

with whistles to call aenon to quality of life issues

that connue to plague them as a result of huge

tractor trailers using Maspeth as a shortcut rather

than taking the Maspeth Bypass. The Bypass wasimplemented by NYC Department of Transportaon

(NYC DOT) to discourage truckers from using our

neighborhood as a shortcut and to avoid trac

on the LIE and BQE. On June 26th, Assembly

Member Marge Markey met with Queens Borough

Commissioner Dalila Hall of NYC DOT to discuss what

other measures could be taken to deter this acvity.

Photos by Dick Gundlach and Tom Porembski

The Commissioner said the agency was looking

into the possibly of adding more signage or

removing a poron of Grand and Flushing Avenues

as a truck route. She stated that the truck map will

be updated in the upcoming months to reect the

Bypass. Those at the meeng included: Assembly

Member Marge Markey, representaves from

Council Member Crowleys oce, ocers from the

Borough Commanders oce, 104th Precinct and

Comet President Roe Daraio.


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COMET Fall 2013 Pg. 3

http://www.planenoise.com/panj/daPRAbr9/

Airport Noise Complaint Line:

1-800-225-1071

104th Precinct Truck Enforcement Operation

Detecve Thomas Bell, Community Aairs, advised

us that a Truck Enforcement Operaon was recently

conducted in the connes of the Precinct. The

operaon was iniated as a result of a rise in motor

vehicle accidents involving trucks for the period from07/8/13 to 08/04/13.

During that me period there were 36 truck accidents

compared with 18 during the same period last year.

The majority of the accidents involved only minor

property damage. The ocers were instructed to

conduct the Truck Enforcement Operaon throughout

the command focusing on corridors commonly used

by trucks that are not designated as truck routes.

Here are the results of the Truck Operaons:

Summons Enforcement

50 - O Truck Routes; 14 - Bill of Lading (improper or

none); 8 - Unlicensed Operator; 1 Seatbelt; 7 Other.

The total number of summonses issued was 81. There

were ve (5) trucks towed ulizing Department Heavy

Duty Tow.

Hopefully the 104th Precinct will connue with future

enforcement operaons.

How many of you see airplanes ying overhead?

How many of you actually pay aenon to the noise?

Surprisingly, many folks in our area said they have

learned to ignore it and think theres nothing they can

do about it anyway. Thats the problem. We have

become complacent and the thought of ghng backdoesnt even come to mind.

In case you are one of the folks who havent noced,

airplanes can usually be seen and heard ying over west

Maspeth and along Grand Avenue into Elmhurst. Other

mes they can be seen ying over the Maspeth Plateau.

Noise can diminish your quality of life, interfere with

your sleep, raise your blood pressure and can have

major consequences on your overall health. It could

also have an eect on your property values. Who wants

to purchase a home in a loud community?

We need to band together as a community and dosomething about it. Please call the above number or

le a complaint online. Keep ling complaints unl our

voice is heard!

When the leaves start falling, please dont blow them into the street or push them into the

catch basin. Street ooding will occur during a storm if our catch basins are clogged. Wet

leaves can cause a motorist to skid and pedestrians can slip on them. Lets all do our part to

keep our community safe and clean!


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Please Report Problems!!Call 311

Young Governors Fight toSave Vacant Lot

in Elmhurst

Maspeth HS Parking

All non-emergency problems should be reported to

311. They can be reported by phone or online. We

all need to take me to help maintain our community.

Potholes, collapsed catch basins, street light out,

gra, illegal dumping or abandoned cars are just a

few examples that can be reported.

This photo was taken on Fresh Pond Road at Flushing

Avenue by our Treasurer, Mike Fordunski, in late July

and reported to 311. It was probably hit by one of the

hundreds of trucks that plow through our community.

Ironically, its a truck route sign!

The vacant parcel of land at the corner of Kneeland

Avenue and Manilla Street that had been abandonedfor more than twenty years was full of weeds, vermin

and illegal dumping. The Young Governors, an

Elmhurst-based youth community organizing group,

began cleaning the lot in 2012 with help from the New

Life Development Corporaon, Community Board 4 and

other community groups. Since then, the volunteers

transformed the lot into a thriving community garden

with plots for fruit and vegetable and a compost site.

We have been told that the lot is now in danger of

being sold for development and what was once a much-

needed green space will turn into a building.In August, the Young Governors were joined by

Senator Toby Ann Stavisky, Congresswoman Grace

Meng and Council Member Karen Koslowitz to call for

a delay of the sale of the garden so that community

members have the opportunity to relocate the garden,

which is on private property. Well have to wait to see

what happens.

We were pleased to hear that NYC Department of

Transportaon will be adding an addional 40 feet ofparking on 74th Street at 57th Avenue to allow the

ausc children a safer environment while geng on

and o the school buses. There are approximately

8 to 10 buses that are assigned to this school. We

made this a priority in 2012 because motorists have

a tendency to drive fast along this strip and we dont

want anyone to get hurt.

Photos provided by Young Governors and Greg Lavine


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Trying to address the Quality of life issues in the

Wineld secon of Woodside is not easy and has been

an ongoing task for us. This area is zoned M1-1 which

allows for light manufacturing, auto repair shops and

other businesses. Although 51st Avenue is not a truckroute, it is oenmes congested with huge tractor

trailers aliated with the companies that are located

there. Fumes, vehicles with no license plates and

businesses using the city street to conduct business are

only a few of the problems here.

Our biggest problem has been trying to get dozens

and dozens of livery cabs that usurp much of the

parking in the vicinity of St. Marys o the street to

open up space for parishioners. Some of these vehicles

have broken windows, some are unlicensed and some

are inoperable. The 108th Precinct has been doing

whatever they can to summons these vehicles, but

the soluon really lies with the Taxi and LimousineCommission which can write summonses with much

heavier penales. Unfortunately, the Taxi and Limousine

Commission is limited in manpower and always seems

to have a more serious issue to address. It makes

one wonder why licenses are being given out to taxis,

liveries and commuter vans and theres no one around

to enforce the regulaons on a regular basis. Some of

these vehicles were towed, but the owner soon nds

more liveries to park in their spot.

Several months ago we discovered that the owner

of this livery business began renng a vacant lot on

the residenal side

of 69th Street in

the vicinity of 48th

Avenue. To make

maers worse, they

covered the soil

and concreted this

property which will certainly not help during heavy

rains. This area oods so badly that water lis up the

manhole covers on 69th Street! Our concerns include:

Is it legal to use a residenal lot as a storage facility

for liveries?

Does the fence surrounding the property exceed 6

feet in height?

Is it legal for a building in a residenal zone to post

billboards?

Is the wooden handicapped ramp legal?

Debra Markell Kleinert, District Manger of Community

Board 2, responded to Dick Gundlach, our Vice President

and Community Board 2 member. She gave him thefollowing update:

This property has a Commissioner Order against

them for a failure to comply which in nes totals over

$12,000. In addion,

This property has civil penales against them which

are approximately another $1,500.

Department of Buildings will look to send out another

inspector on a

failure to comply or/

and speak with the

Padlock Unit to see

if they can take the

next step.

We do not know what the violaons were issued for,

but will connue to follow up.

Efforts to Clean Up Wineld Continue


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requests as Capital projects during the upcoming budget

year.

Inspect the steps on both sides of the bridge to determine

if they are up to code. We would also like to see the metal

plates replaced with a soer, skid-resistant material. If

someone were to fall, they might not get as seriously injured

or die! Senator Joseph Addabbos oce reached out to

the Department of Transportaon and asked that they look

at the steps. We were told they were going to make some

repairs, which include replacing some of the metal plates on

the stairs. Thats not what were looking for. Hopefully he

follows up on this.

Ask the Department of Transportaon to determine

whether or not the lighng on the bridge is adequate.

We need our electedocials to put pressure on

the Long Island Railroad

to cut down the weeds

that are overtaking the

handrails and growing

along the sides of the

dead-end on a regular

basis for pedestrian safety.

Lastly, we need the Department of Sanitaon,

Department of Transportaon or the Long Island Railroad

to shovel and salt the bridge during inclement weather. Itsunbelievable that residents must take on this task!

We will connue to follow up on this concern and perhaps

we will have some good news in the future.

Tragedy Strikes at Elmhurst Footbridge

Several months ago we menoned in our newsleer that

a young female on her way to college classes was sexually

assaulted on the footbridge at 55th Avenue between Haspel

and 85th Streets in Elmhurst at 11:00 am. The perpetrator

was never caught. More recently, one of our members told

us that a 65-year old man fell down the stairs to his death at

about 10:00 pm one evening in early August.

Although this footbridge is

in the middle of a residenal

neighborhood, the fronts of the

homes dont actually face it. The

85th Street side of the bridge is

quite desolate and pedestrians

heading to the bridge from the

Haspel Street side need to walkdown a short dead-end street that

is full of weeds and illegal dumping.

This footbridge is the best alternave for folks who are

heading to and from the subway or for children heading

to our local schools. The only other alternave to the

footbridge would be to take a very circuitous route down

57th Avenue under the overpass or head several long blocks

to Grand Avenue.

Not surprisingly, the Long Island Railroad pays lile

aenon to this property. The handrails became overgrown

with weeds and vines during the summer and the steps havedeteriorated through the years. The metal plates on the

steep steps become slippery when wet, snowy or icy. Folks

say that residents shovel the steps when it snows because

Sanitaon doesnt like to do it.

We reached out to our local elected ocials and asked if

they could help us with the following issues. If the responsible

agencies cannot recfy the situaon because of budget

constraints, we asked if they would consider subming ourPhotos by Shirley Warren


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Quality of Life

Mazeau Street Trafc

In case you thought only Maspeth residents have to contend with truck trac, it happens in the Wineld

secon of Woodside as well. Our Vice President Dick Gundlach has his job cut out for him trying to address the

quality of life issues that aect homeowners in the area. Here is Dicks descripon of life on, and in the vicinity

of, 51st Avenue on a typical workday.

51st Avenue has always been a nightmare with double-parked trucks, oen with hi-los loading in the street.

Some block the intersecon and impede trac and others extend into the avenue from loading docks blocking

one-half of the avenue.

Now, adding to the problem, large tractor-trailers are backing into the Thai Market on 72nd Street tying up theintersecon, while trying to maneuver from the middle of 51st Avenue into the market located on 72 Street. This

maneuver oen takes more than ve minutes adding to polluon and horn-honking. Unfortunately, since police

are not in the area when this happens, the problem connues.

The top photo shows the tractor-trailer nally backing up into the market. The blue tractor-trailer is double

parked on 51st Ave. almost into the intersecon. All too oen trucks, usually double parked, extend into the

intersecon and restrict the view of trac turning right onto 51 Ave. from 72nd St.

At 7:12 a.m. on August 20th, Mazeau Street residents spoeda large commercial vehicle exit the block of the nursing home

and make an illegal le turn onto Grand Avenue from Mazeau

Street. Trac and trucks connue to be a major quality of life

for us in Maspeth. Photo by Linda DAquaro

Meetings are held at the Bethzatha Church of God, 85-20 57th Avenue, Elmhurst. Parking available.

Monday, October 7th, 7:00 pm

Monday, November 4th, 7:00 pm

Monday, December 2nd, 7:00 pm

Michael Fordunski, Dick Gundach, Christina Wilkinson, Richie Polgar, Shirley Warren,

Roe Daraio, Tom Porembski and Maspeth Press

COMET MEETINGS

Newsletter Committee:


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Communities of Maspeth and Elmhurst Together

Newsletter Fall 2013

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Comet Fall 2013 FINAL