Commentary on happenings relating to greater Sunnyside-Woodside-LIC from the unconcealed POV of the writers. Agree or disagree? Send comments to SmallTownComment@ gmail.com Volume 2, Number 1
Tuesday, January 29, 2019
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NYC’s Education Debacle Part II:
What? Wall Street Journal writer pens Op Ed for Small Town Confidential Queens Streets for All, representing a majority of local residents, was relieved to see wider reports of protests against the “Road Diet. Whoopi Goldberg on ABC spoke
One Quick but Probably Impossible Partial Overnight Fix
(See page 5.)
Amazon Can Be Stopped
frankly to Mayor de Blasio before millions. The Boston Globe ran an editorial. NBC and Fox News covered Manhattanites complaining about blockages in the East Village. The Wall Street Journal ran “Vision Zero, a ‘Road Diet’ Fad, Is Proving to Be Deadly,” by Christopher D. LeGras. We are honored that expert and author LeGras has written a brief editorial for STC! (See back page.)
Our Big Red Schoolhouse
(See pages 6, 7 )
Michael Mirisola gamely shows brick picks.
The Big Psych Out
(See pages 2,3 )
Hardware Lands a Home & Shipping News Better Line Hardware, formerly of 45th Street, one of the six stores which burned down on December 13, reopens at 43-24 Greenpoint Avenue at the corner. Owner Roy Ramlall was the first of the owners to find a location. His store is a favorite of building owners, supers, and residents, with hard-to-find items in smaller quantities than say, Home Depot. All welcome him and his team back! Shipping News is good! Tony Tang reports that the UPS Store also lost in the fire is coming back. First, the store will “pop up “ at 45-18 Queens Blvd., next to Alpha Donuts, near his former location, in April, or sooner, if all goes well. Then, the plan is to move to their new permanent location on 45-08 46th Street, next to Pets Unlimited. We know his friend, Luke Adams, who used to own Don-Bar Travel next door, and who is named on the street sign above, would approve. Tony was aptly named “Luke Adams Sunnysider of the Year in 2018.“ All in town are grateful to landlord Chris Winchester who generously gave something to Tony that is scarce as hen’s teeth these days, a 10-year lease! Tony Tang, is at left in photo, and at right, Tom Mei, long time staffer.◆
Tuesday, January 29, 2019
SMALL TOWN CONFIDENTIAL
Amazon Can Be Stopped.
Page 2
Nathan Bliss of the NYC Economic Development Corporation, an arm of the city, speaking on behalf of NYC and Amazon agreement.
The Big Psych Out Op Ed by Patricia Dorfman
The establishment has the money and power for the largest game in NYC history, the takeover of Western Queens by an international corporate juggernaut, replacing the business, social, physical and political landscape, but the score is still zero to zero. The Amazon charm offensive started right after the first signs of opposition. The Amazon survey showing wide support was conducted before those most affected understood the magnitude of change and displacement. The company hired for the survey makes mistakes; they predicted Hillary Clinton to win as president by a landslide. Amazon’s three slick mailings so far, and community outreach means they need our buy-in. They want the power and the land, but they want us to like it.
Small Town Confidential Editor | Publisher Patricia Dorfman V.P. | Sales Manny Gomez Cell 718-909-4806 V.P. | Writer Berk Koca Contributing Writers Jason Greenberg Christopher D. LeGras Gabriel Nihas Chris Robin Martin Scanlon Advisory Committee Mary Caulfield Toni Dorfman Richard Drake Debbie George Farley Rani Kinane Christopher Whalen 45-06 Queens Blvd. Sunnyside, NY 11104 SmallTownComment@gmail.com ©2019. All Rights Reserved
Despite the shock and awe strategy of a “game over” with the November 13 announcement of the move to LIC, without the usual public review process of a Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP), there are facts. The Amazon agreement so far is “non-binding,” and only a “MOU” (Memorandum of Understanding), and in “its first stage,” said Economic Development Corporation’s (NYEDC) Nathan Bliss said this month. NYCEDC is an agency run to fulfill mayoral goals. Bliss, a planner for the NYCEDC, emphasized he is paid by us and works for us, in his presentation and answers at a public forum on January 16, hosted by Brent O’Leary’s Hunter’s Point Civic Association, which took place at LIC’s New York Irish Center. With Community Boards and City Council left out of the Amazon’s agreement, and the ULURP public hearings skipped, the deal was made without democratic process, and transparency continues to take a hit on this matter of giant civic concern. Despite the steppedup community outreach, a big money, backroom aura continues, with private meetings of the handpicked 45-member
Community Advisory Committee, or CAC. (See list at right.) The press and public are not invited to CAC meetings. Bliss explained that the CAC needs to meet privately so as not to interfere with its work. Politico reported in December that the NYCEDC signed an agreement to give heads up to Amazon before private documents are requested by others – presumably so Amazon can move quickly to block the move in court. Attendees at the January 16 meeting included some Amazon plan backers, and political representatives including Hersh Parekh for Governor Cuomo. But of the approximately 80 in attendence, most were plan foes. Protests included a banner drop disruption from Democratic Socialists who chanted, “Queens is not for sale.” The Queens Housing Working Group and Queens Neighborhoods United staged a walkout of a representative midway. One-audience member said to wide applause that the plan amounted to the “comprehensive gentrification of Queens.” Fine artist Jenny Dubnau said the NYCEDC portraying the plan as positive was “insulting.” Her group, ASAP has vowed not to accept concessions for artists from Amazon to “art wash” the plan. Art washing refers to profits gained by subsidizing artists, with real estate and corporate interest’s success pushing out the low and middle income. The done deal strategy of the Ama-
zon deal team, a “this will be great for all of us, trust us,” combined with a “move along, nothing to see here” is familiar. When rezoning was first “sold” to Community Boards, developers’ proxies said that development was “inevitable,” and “we need to at least get concessions beforehand.” We remember that now, and the loss of small businesses and neighborhoods, and the overdevelopment benefitting real estate interests. Growth can be good, but not growth that destroys its host. We need not make the mistake again. If we back up our representatives who have expressed concern, and demonstrate in enough numbers, the deal will falter. Winning for Amazon also means hearts and minds. Host O’Leary has announced for Jimmy Van Bramer’s seat in City Council. O’Leary opposes the Amazon plan, and he received a few complaints from anti-Amazon activists for inviting EDC’s representatives Eleni Bourinaris-Suarez and Bliss to extol plan virtues. O’Leary’s statement, which includes many of issues raised by those who attended, was: “I believe bad ideas are best combatted by challenging them with facts and reasoning. I think the meeting was extremely effective in educating the NYCEDC on the numerous problems our community has with the Amazon deal, from displacement of residents and small businesses, to the massive tax giveaway, the infrastructure overload, the privatization of public land, Amazon’s
Tuesday, January 29, 2019 work with ICE on anti-immigration policies, horrid working conditions, and anti-union practices to name a few.” Some of us in opposition might favor a large employer coming to LIC, providing jobs and adding to the tax base. Normally, we would applaud those in office who seek prosperity for a region. The Mayor and Governor and all who cheered the idea from the first need not to be attacked. They were doing what municipal leaders do; try to seek jobs and a way to pay for infrastructure. But the deal, when examined, handled as though a military coup behind the scenes, made the deal troubling and brought more scrutiny. There is a problem with Amazon. Amazon is not a regular company. Amazon makes most of their money from handling one third of the world’s data, including the CIA, and the Department of Defense. They host Twitch (Fortnite). As of July, Amazon had garnered 49.1% of US online sales and 5% of all retail sales according to eMarketer. Amazon is in so many fields and industries; it will remove any meaningful autonomy and commuity. It will hand local power, as it has in Seattle. It has already skipped over us by the way the deal was done. While it helps some small businesses dominate, it is on their terms, and then removes their competition. Then often, Amazon will seek to create the same products or services. If you own and are excited about the possible new value of your property, be assured prices are rising even if Amazon changes its mind. If Amazon wants to come to LIC, many other firms will, too. If you are a small business and think you are going to make money, think carefully. Rents will rise, as they have in Seattle, and at the end of a lease, property value will be much higher, making it hard to stay. Newer, richer people can afford the prices; can you start, take on the debt, and run a business making enough for ten times current rent? If you own and plan to stay, consider the inadequate
SMALL TOWN CONFIDENTIAL
Page 3
Amazon Community Advisory Committee (CAC) Project Plan Co-Chairs Denise Keehan-Smith, Chairperson, CB2 Elizabeth Lusskin, Pres., the LIC Partnership Neighborhood Infrastructure Co-Chairs Robert Basch, Pres., Hunters Point Park Conservancy Melva Miller, Exec. VP, Association for a Better NY Workforce Co-Chairs Gail Mellow, Pres., LaGuardia Community College Bishop Mitchell G. Taylor, CEO & Pres., Urban Upbound Jean Woods-Powell, Principal, Information Technology High School CAC Members Plinio Ayala, Pres. & CEO, Per Scholas Antonios Benetatos, Pres. elect, Dutch Kills Civic Association Kyle Bragg, Secretary-Treasurer, 32BJ SEIU Paul Camilierri, LIC Resident Gianna Cerbone, Owner, Manducatis Restaurant Meghan Cirrito, Board Chair, Gantry Parents Association Claudia Coger, Pres., Astoria Houses Tenant Association Lisa Ann Deller, Land Use Chair, Queens Community Board 2 Paul Finnegan, Exec. Director, New York Irish Center Angie Kamath, Dean for Continuing Ed. & Workforce Development, CUNY Sister Tesa Fitzgerald, Exec. Director, Hour Children Debra-Ellen Glickstein, Exec. Director, NYC Kids RISE Tom Grech, Pres. & CEO, Queens Chamber of Commerce Kenny Greenberg, Neon Artist and CB2 Member Chris Hanway, Exec. Director, Jacob A. Riis Settlement House Jukay Hsu, Founder & CEO, Pursuit Richard Khuzami, Pres., Old Astoria Neighborhood Association Debby King, Former Director,1199 Training Fund Director & LIC resident Sheila Lewandowski, Exec. Director, The Chocolate Factory Theater, CB2 2nd Vice-Chair Reverend Corwin Mason, Community Church of Astoria Annie Cotton Morris, Pres., Woodside Houses Tenant Association Joey Ortiz, Exec. Director, NYC Employment and Training Coalition Tom Paino, Chair, Hunters Point Community Coalition Santos Rodriguez, Director of Community Affairs & Strategic Initiatives, NYC Building Trades Council Julie Samuels, Exec. Director, TechNYC Carlo Scissura, Pres. & CEO of New York Building Congress Seema Shah, Director of Technology and Innovation Initiatives, LaGuardia Community College April Simpson, Pres., Queensbridge Houses Tenant Association Alvarez Symonette, Chief of Staff, Lady M Confections Marie Torniali, Chairperson, Queens CB1 Matthew Troy, Exec. Director of Variety Boys & Girls Club, Queens Andre Ward, Associate VP of Employment Services & Education, The Fortune Society Carol Wilkins, Pres., Ravenswood Houses Tenant Association Tom Wright, Pres. & CEO, Regional Plan Association Frank Wu, Transportation & Safety Committee Chair, Court Square Civic Association Kathryn S. Wylde, Pres. & CEO, Partnership for NYC Judith Zangwill, Exec. Director, Sunnyside Community Services A CUNY student representative
Democratic Socialists of America/Queens Streets for All activists disrupted the meeting with a banner drop, chanting “Queens Is Not for Sale.”
infrastructure we have now, a rocketing cost of living, and living within a sphere where our world revolves around one man and his goals. Property tax rates just shot up; landlords will have to raise rents to pay it. Jeff Bezos is undeniably brilliant. He created a business use for the Internet like no other. He managed to glean costly industrial intelligence free from 238 cities, and can use the data as he wishes. He may have wanted the centers of media, political and international might, NYC and DC, all along, but got them plus inducements. Bliss emphasized that our government was kept in the dark in the process – meaning that Bezos was able to mastermind the biggest deal in NY history without leaks from his own people; impressive but scary. Amazon is effectively getting business over to its platform, and whole cities to do as it wishes – achieved because we don’t want to stop texting long enough to shop. Bezos gives money to good causes. But when will he give a sign as so many other moguls have that the endgame is not just money and power? Why not make business practice changes based on an idealistic view now that it can be afforded? Why not build a smaller facility here? Why not build HQ2 in a place that would transform a region from poverty to riches? Why should we allow the Queens fragile shoreline and inland to be turned into the Amazone, creating so much growth, there is no room for us? This deal is now a non-binding understanding. If Amazon is not wanted by enough vocal people, Bezos will withdraw. If we let Amazon and fans win the game, we lose the whole stadium.◆
Tuesday, January 29, 2019
SMALL TOWN CONFIDENTIAL DENISE KEEHAN-SMITH, CB2 Chairperson, center, bestowed awards to Sunnyside Shines Executive Director at left, and Melissa Orlando, Sunnyside Chamber President, for their leadership during the December fire disaster, that not only helped those in need, but also provided a way for all to unify and to show our support. Faye-Bean reports that second round of checks have gone out!
CORRECTIONS, CLARIFICATIONS, JOKES
• A little birdie said the now-shuttered South Pole is not going to be a high rise, but staying the same height and becoming an Olive Garden. • A local reports that National Liquidators will become a Rite Aid.
• This vintage matchbook appeared last month and was not an ad, but an illustration for “Glory Days,” a story about softball back in the day. The coach worked at a topless bar near 52nd, and the matches featured the most famous one of that era. Oldtimers tell scandalous tales about Lucky Lounge, to be told in the fullness of time. Scanlon’s new tale of local lore will appear next issue. • Proofreaders try but “Typo Fests” do occur. • Joke: What did the snowman ask the other snowman?… Do you smell carrots?
Page 4
Races Begin: Sunnyside Real Estate Broker Dorothy Morehead, sixth from left, held a fundraiser for Liz Crowley, fifth from left. Crowley was the first woman elected in Queens 30th District to City Council, serving 2009-2017. Crowley has thrown her hat into the ring for Queens Borough President. Current President Melinda Katz is running for departing DA Richard Brown seat, as races heat up in Queens.
Planning from Pratt Institute’s Graduate School of Architecture, and a B.A. magna cum laude in Restoration and Preservation from SUNY Fashion Institute of Design. Historic preservation work includes landmarks Radio City Music Hall, Empire Theatre, and St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Crowley is a member of District Council 9 International Union of Painters and Allied Trades.
Small Town Confidential espouses no political afFundraisers allow candidates not only to raise money, but to filiations, and we will not to get their views known and find endorse candidates until out what voters seek in a candi- immediately before an elecdate. This lively event attracted tion, based on issues, not even a Republican and a Demo- party. But if space allows, cratic Socialist. we will be glad to share such neighborhood events Wikipedia, in addition to career of note.◆ details, reveals that Crowley has an M.S.in City/Regional researched and most importantly, to the point.” Frances Kraemer, Woodside “…The centrist bullshit you pushed while children are dying in concentration camps was bad enough in there but you stuck this rag in my door and so I’m telling you what I think of it…” Name Withheld, Sunnyside
• Turkiyem Market at 46-41 Skillman Ave. is expanding soon into 4629, the former beauty salon. • As anyone who loves their hamburgers or even tastier lamb burgers knows, the venerable Ottomanelli has consolidated their successful butcher and dining businesses into one location in 60-15 Woodside Ave in Woodside. • At corner of 49th St. and Skillman, P.J. Horgan’s gleaming wood pub opened food service. This steak was
“Where is next issue! I love it!” Beatriz Garcia, LIC
delicious, and we recommend the cod cakes.
“I enjoy Small Town Confidential.” Anne Walsh, Sunnyside
• If you were wondering what the wood barriers and plastic mesh protecting trees was, Martine Niddam asked workers and was told it was Fios setting up shop.
“I recently came across a copy of Small Town Confidential…and I was blown away. Congrats on a great addition to our community. I was thoroughly engrossed in…every op-ed, comment, joke and photo. Everything I read was current, well-
“Thank you for your paper! Please keep delivering it. Enjoyed the opinion pieces and stories.“ Marci Brennan, Sunnyside (We may edit for length. We will withhold name if you request, or at our discretion, if we can verify its source.)
Tuesday, January 29, 2019
SMALL TOWN CONFIDENTIAL This second segment addresses something contributing to the overall problem that is not the fault of the curriculum or the city. The inattentiveness and apathy of a large chunk of NYC’s student population cannot be explained away only by a flawed public school system.
NYC’s Education Debacle Part II: One Quick but Probably Impossible Partial Overnight Fix
by Gabriel Nihas (pen name) I appreciate the response to the previous article I wrote about the problems with our archaic New York City public school education. In sum, I stated that students are not learning information most will need. The issues plaguing the system are like the proverbial 800-lb gorilla in the room; we all know it’s there but continue to pretend that it doesn’t exist. As teachers, we don’t want to lose our jobs or rock the boat, so we shut up about it and continue doing our jobs. Meanwhile, parents have to trust that the city knows what it is doing, since so much attention and money is devoted to education. In fact, it is one of the most political-charged topics out there. The reality is a lot of fluff with not enough substance.
As an English and Social Studies teacher, I’ve noticed firsthand that the ability of students to read and comprehend dense reading material has dwindled considerably since my youth. A student who reads in his or her spare time is becoming a rarity. Not that reading is the only method to achieve greater knowledge, but if a child does not have the ability to concentrate in a focused manner on any one thing, as one must do to read, work on a unit of learning, or solve a problem, there is little chance the child will be able to absorb any material of importance. One giant roadblock in the NYC school system is the same larger problem gripping the world – that is none other than the stranglehold that digital devices have on us all. But to watch the phenomenon’s effect in children, who know no other way of life, is particularly disheartening. We cannot blame students or even say that the trend is inherently wrong. Kids are only following the conditioning by our society. Who could say at this point that we adults are good role models? And we note that now information or answers that used to take days to discover is now available in less than a second. So much is good about this new world, but so much is a waste of our lives.
Digital devices have trapped us in I predict that as we lose more teachers, echo chambers of our own making, word will get out in the coming years. where we’re barraged with oftencontradictory information overload If we do not start with small steps – sound bytes, Twitter ranting rabbit now, the system will become just a place to park our children for 12 years, holes, and other perils of social media. We may confuse truth with falsehood a lot of which will be wasted time in and not even realize it! The rites of their lives. It is not just political correctness causing the problem nor is it passage of our youth are now online. Covert groups, bullying, flirting, the caliber of students. vernacular, exhibitionism, shopping,
social mores, rebellion, meeting and conversing with fellow human beings, all take place out of sight. And if no adult is able to demonstrate how to put down a device, or demonstrate contemplative thinking and reading or any kind of sustained focus offline, there is no way that young people will be able to set boundaries between the trivial and the important. Our attention spans have been shot to hell, and our children are following in our footsteps. Could any of us have concentrated on our own educations if such gadgets were thrown at us when we were young? No piece of legislation or action at the political level can solve this. There is no turning back the clock. This is the reality we now live in, and we must deal with the consequences as they come. I would suggest, however, that digital free days every week might be a start. Are parents going to be able to set that example? Will we feel safe if we cannot reach our children, or summon help instantly? Can most jobs be done for a day without a digital device? Professor and distinguished writer, Cal Newport, in his book, Deep Work, makes the case that the new global economy will increasingly become a place where only a select few will truly thrive. And the measure of success are the capacity to engage in exactly what the title describes: the ability to work on a single hard task for a long period of time. In other words, deep work requires “… distraction-free concentration that push your cognitive capabilities to their limit. These efforts create new value, improve your skill, and are hard to replicate.” Are our schools and colleges fostering this highly important skill? No. But before we can address that gap, there is a larger fish we need to fry. I wholeheartedly believe that the K-12 + College model of education must be completely done away with. Rather than trying to change people, which we cannot, we need to dump
Page 5 a system that is no longer working in parallel with the new world that is emerging right before our very eyes. This system has been in place since the late 1800s and accelerated even further during the Cold War era. Those who would like to read more details on the origins and evolution of the public education system can look into the works of John Taylor Gatto, who has suggestions for better learning. Gatto, a former decorated teacher, gave it up in protest, and is thought by many to be extreme. Gatto, however, did not have to contend with a digital world and the moment-to-moment distraction of the cellular phone every student now possesses. Why am I proposing getting rid of the current system, so seemingly radical? Because it’s common sense. It is baffling that such an old, outdated system is not coming under more scrutiny by the larger public. Education should be an empowering process in which individuals take charge of their own mind and their own destiny. College students of today do not have the maturity or the insight of their predecessors from 20 or 30 years ago. By bringing down our standards and pampering students, we have forced colleges to turn themselves into extensions of high school. Instead of a place where a student has to make a giant leap of more focus and discipline, college teachers say that students expect the same pretense we see in our high schools, where young people are being treated like spoiled children rather than responsible individuals growing into adulthood. It is a shame that we keep children in a system that keeps them enclosed from the realities of the world from the age of four (it used to be five) all the way to the age of 22. What a waste! A word to describe this is insanity. Many of the skills required for many professions could all be learned without the overbearing structures of this institutionalized school system. However, what could replace the current model that we have? My suggestion, as an answer to that, I leave to next time◆
Tuesday, January 29, 2019
SMALL TOWN CONFIDENTIAL
Page 6
Our Big Red Schoolhouse by Patricia Dorfman
Few of those opposed to the school at the outset, or onboard only if the original design and the remaining building were Some note the railroad noise will be loud. On the bright preserved, are pleased with the final design side, the noise will be mitigated for those who live immediby the NYC School Construction Authority ately south of the new, taller school. (SCA), or the location of the new 720-seat middle school, grades 5, 6, 7, 8, scheduled to open by 2022 at 38-04 48th St., at the SW corner of Barnett Avenue in Sunnyside. Complete with brick and roof samples, the design was presented by the SCA’s Director of External Affairs Michael Mirisola and SCA architect John Dias at the public meeting of Community Board 2 (CB2) on January 3, at Sunnyside Community Services. Construction is not to start until 2020, beginning with the 39th/Middleburg Avenue Continued, next page
Workers have already started drilling the cement for the foundation for a new wall to be at right of this original wall. The buiding was finished in 1931. The wall above serves as the back of their garden for residents.
Tuesday, January 29, 2019 Continued from previous page
wall, delayed a year to factor in community input, but workers were seen in the building last week. The original 30-person advisory committee of local volunteers, many of them distressed “stakeholders,” in urban speak, was formed by Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer to address their historical and practical concerns. The committee met four times over the summer. The meetings, not open to the public, were reportedly “robust,” the adjective used these days to express discussions from contentious to verbal brawls. We found no meeting veterans willing to go on the record by name with complaints. But complaints they cited were the initial redesign of the awardwinning Sunnyside Community Garage, was “minimal use of the lot” resulting in a building “too high for the neighborhood.” Another stumbling block in the redesign of the building finished in 1931 and designed in 1927 by architect Clarence S. Stein (credited with Sunnyside Gardens design are Stein, Henry Wright, Frederick L. Ackerman and Marjorie Sewell Cautley), was no salvaging of the original structure except a wall behind 39th/Middleburg
Courtesy Sunnyside Preservation Alliance
Page 7
SMALL TOWN CONFIDENTIAL Avenue houses. That complaint went unaddressed, due to safety reasons, according to SCA, and the wall will get a new wall adjacent to it. Most of those originally opposed, either as historical preservationists or neighbors, are still distressed. But there was no brouhaha during the CB2 presentation, and only a few pointed questions. Committee members do not seem as interested as others do about the recreation of the original tower, lost long ago to a fire, to be used for maintenance storage. The building will be five stories, fewer than feared by many and occupy more of the lot. But one detractor complained privately that the floors are high floors, so it is still going to “loom over” Sunnyside Gardens. But some attendees admired the efforts made. “I like the different roof heights,” said one. The lowest roof will be the one closest to private homes; the designer’s attempt to not overwhelm the adjacent community. Most seem pleased that the building would be red brick, even though there would be two colors of brick, and neither color will be either the original or current color. No locals are looking forward to the added congestion, traffic and parking problems to come or the general loss of tranquility of the
Photo: Manny Gomez
neighboring community. The location, in an area with little space, took on many retail uses, including black car firms, Paradise Café and Billiards, a nightclub and a gymnasium, had become a location in the past ten years that captured the attention of a kindergarten entrepreneur and an arts group. Those plans derailed due to expense. The building was sold on January 19, 2018 for $12,750,000, a song in this market, to the SCA by Shore Family Real Estate, a Queens family with properties. The space was one of four locations suggested by former regime of Community Board 2. Sports Authority on Northern Blvd. was often suggested as a better location but was not available to buy at the time, SCA reported. One not privy to design battles commented that they were “relieved” the structure will be a school, and not a towering glass-faced residence or office building which “look cheap” and are springing up on Queens Boulevard. “The committee did a good job” fighting for changes and it looks “better than I expected.” Local parents who fought in passionate fashion for the school with substantial support from all elected
officials are very happy their children might be able to attend the school if the opening date is kept. Many residents feel that with the explosive growth of the population here, any new school in District 30 is a plus. During his January 3 presentation, Knowedgeable Michael Mirisola bore the expression of one used to the heated struggles present in every new school construction process, having to move forward without consensus, but none-the-less moving forward. Changes in our limited real estate, prized these days as precious beyond measure to developers, in an area of strong minded residents, on a project which benefits the younger demographic at the expense of older residents and nearby owners, was destined to be a walk on the wild side. We can bet lobbying for a school name will be heated. Complaints are doubtless en route about construction dust and noise, lack of parking, congestion, and when open, noise, and more foot traffic and students roaming the streets and yards. But our something old, something new, and all-red school, is now a done deal. All concerned, pro or con, are to be thanked for their many hours of effort.•
Rendering: School Construction Authority
Left, the original Sunnyside Community Garage, not part of the landmark status of 2008 with the rest of Sunnyside Gardens, but in the National Registry of Historic Places. Building architect Clarence Stein received the Gold Metal for Lifetime Achievemen from the American Society of Architects. Middle photo is the buiding today. At right is the final design, disappointing historians. To be structurally safe, the buildng will be demolished except for a wall between the buildiing and the Gardens houses, shown on previous page. SAC designers sought to keep some of the original look, with brick construction, slim vertical windows, and recreating the original tower.
Tuesday, January 29, 2019
‘Road Diets’ Impede First Responders by Literally Blocking Traffic Lanes Opinion by Christopher D. LeGras Despite the promises of policymakers and activists, nationally Vision Zero has been at best a mixed bag and at worst a public safety menace. Nowhere is that more true than in Queens, where residents have taken to shooting videos (https://
www.facebook.com/QueensStreetsforAll/ videos/332287607333142/) of emergency vehicles stuck ((https://www. facebook.com/QueensStreetsforAll/ videos/1167554476753840/) in road
diet gridlock. They’re distressingly identical to video I captured on a road dieted stretch of Venice Boulevard in L.A.’s Mar Vista neighborhood. Mayor de Blasio boasts that traffic deaths in New York decreased from 299 in 2014, the year the city
QueensStreets.net Queens Streets for All on Facebook #QueensStreetsforAll on Twitter QueensStreetsforAll@gmai.com 718-909-4806
SMALL TOWN CONFIDENTIAL launched Vision Zero, to 200 last year. That’s something we all can celebrate, though pedestrian deaths did tick up between 2017 and 2018. However, the decrease has come at the cost of increased emergency response times throughout the boroughs. That’s because “road diets” and other Vision Zero traffic calming measures impede first responders by literally blocking traffic lanes. We will never know, for example, how many heart attack or stroke victims responders haven’t reached in time.
with-bike-lanes-bcfd-makes-a-home-movie/)
for example, a fire department crew shot a video demonstrating how ladders could no longer reach higher floors. We certainly should support any measures that make our streets safer. Unfortunately, as I detail in my recent column (https://www.wsj.com/articles/
vision-zero-a-road-diet-fad-is-proving-to-bedeadly-11547853472?) for the Wall Street
Journal, Vision Zero isn’t doing that.”◆
Christopher D. LeGras is an author and attorney based in Los Angeles. We hope to persuade him to participate in a podcast on this topic.
Moreover, while traffic deaths are down, overall accidents, including injury accidents, are up according to NYPD data. Accidents were up by more than 11%, from 205,486 in 2014 to 228,229 last year. Injury accidents shot up by 18% in that period. In other words, Vision Zero seems not so much to have reduced traffic deaths but moved them around. What’s more, reconfigured roads can make it difficult if not impossible for larger emergency apparatus such as tower ladders to stage. In Baltimore (baltimorefishbowl.com/stories/asked-fordemonstrable-progress-on-fire-code-issue-
Page 8 Is the Road Diet Against the Law? LeGras has noted: “The fire code specifically was amended in 2012 to require that the fire marshal approve all traffic calming measures,” adding: (“Fire apparatus access road” [below] means any throughway emergency vehicles may use to travel from station to scene, e.g., virtually any street in the city.)” https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/fdny/ downloads/
NEW YORK CITY ADMINISTRATIVE CODE 2014 NEW YORK CITY FIRE CODE:
At this June 15, 2018 meeting with Queens Streets for All and our Councilmember: FDNY Lt. James P. Duff (now Chief) warned “delays in response time” might “cost lives,” due to turning space and inability to reach upper floors. The same issues were also expressed by the FDNY at Community Board 2 public meetings in 2018.◆
“503.2.5 Obstruction. Fire apparatus access roads shall not be obstructed in any manner that impedes vehicular access, except for lawful parking and speed bumps.”