From the Staten Island Advance:
Staten Islanders have taken to spelling the word "pothole" with the letter D: Disgraceful, disgusting, deplorable and, lately, downright dangerous.
Ten-year-old Gina Blazewicz of Great Kills was hospitalized for two days with a concussion last month after she tripped in a pothole on Linton Place while playing basketball. She fell backward and hit her head, said her father, Rich, and was spitting up blood after the fall.
And this is just one of the pothole complaints flowing steadily into the Advance since the newspaper started the campaign for smoother roads.
Stacey Hotinski's son also took a tumble after tripping on loose asphalt on Levit Avenue in Graniteville, where new pedestrian ramps were installed over a year ago, but the pavement was left to crumble.
Sal Conti of Eltingville said he's never seen roads so bad in all his 37 years on Staten Island. Neither has his mother-in-law, a former Islander who came for a visit recently from her home in New Jersey, and asked if bombs had been dropped on Staten Island after seeing the poor condition of the streets here.
Look, fixing potholes is hard work and not sexy. How would you folks like a bike lane instead?
20 comments:
Actually, bicyclists are usually the first to complain about potholes. They are a huge danger to us and form disproportionately within bike lanes. This is because NYC streets are slightly arched to allow rain to flow into gullies and down to sewers. The sloped surfaces tend to crumble more. Also, metal fixtures tend to be off to the sides (manhole covers, sewer grates, etc.) and so water erosion and vibrations grow the small gaps between asphalt and metal ever larger over time.
Of course the wear and tear of vehicles weighing thousands of pounds over any crack will worsen it to a pothole over a relatively short period. Bicycling and walking don't have that kind of effect. So someone opting to bike or walk is actively slowing the development of potholes.
So rather than pretending that bike lanes are somehow replacing traditional infrastructure maintenance, why not enlist biking groups as allies?
Exactly. If Crapper was smart, she'd try to get cyclists on her side. We'll see...
Crapper, you're a woman? I always though you were a neuter. Where's the beef?
How do you get bikers on your side when they advocate for overdevelopment along the waterfront and put developer decals on their kayaks?
The DOT is responsible for pothole repair. They are not living up to their responsibility.
Janette: Spend less time installing bike lanes that only a tiny fraction of the population uses and more time fixing the roads that everyone uses.
Yes all those biking kayaks that are all the rage now a days. Murder on the gears though.
The biker that asked the question owns a kayak.
hey if one biker has a kayak with decals, they must all have kayaks with decals. and if one biker has supported some sort of waterfront developer, they must all have supported waterfront developers. after all, everyone is the same here in NYC.
Unfortunately, that's what's behind the "bike movement" here in Queens.
For Christ sakes, you had TAQC advocating for its members to testify about bike lanes at the Willets Point eminent domain hearing.
How do you get bikers on your side when they advocate for overdevelopment along the waterfront and put developer decals on their kayaks?First of all, you're talking about a small minority of cyclists when you use that description.
Secondly, this is your website so it's your job to figure out these PR problems. You just make it harder on yourself when you insist on offending one group of Queens (or NYC) residents after another. In fact it seems that offending, not coalition-building, is all you're interested in.
As I've stated before, I'm here for the overdevelopment postings. I generally side with the Crapper on those. The partisan politics I'm a little less interested in. And then on the bike issue - when you lump all cyclists together as being pro-developer - you lose me. The more things you line yourself up AGAINST, the more you're going to turn off your audience... all except the compulsive naysayers, that is.
Have fun.
Once again, thank you Erik for being a voice of reason. Even if you are the tool of some vast Bolshevik-Masonic-Bilderbergian-Zionist-Homosexual-Biker conspiracy.
The story, to be sure, is terrible. We all have similar, if less bloody, stories to tell about our encounters with crumbling infrastructure. Me, an occasional biker, I’ve come to dread Metropolitan Avenue, parts of which are practically an off-roading experience. (And filthy to boot - I recently lost a new derailleur there to a particularly aggressive piece of street trash.) BUT we have to remember that these are just anecdotes. There are thousands and thousands of miles of roads in the five boroughs. If the Snapple cap is to be believed if you laid them end to end they’d stretch to Japan. So the question is what’s the OVERALL state of repair of the whole system. And how does that compare now to any other time in the past? I don’t have those numbers in front of me but if anyone does they would be interesting to see.
Also, why should we believe that if bike lanes were not being created more potholes would be fixed? Do we have any hard numbers relating to the rate of pothole repair now as compared to previous years? Bike lanes are relatively new; people have been complaining about potholes for years and years. Until and unless I see some hard evidence linking the creation of the one to the neglect of the other I’m going to be very skeptical that there are any links between the two at all.
Now it seems to me that we should demand BOTH – roads in good repair benefit both drivers and bikers and a good system of bike lanes encourages the use of bikes – which helps reduce traffic and crowding on the subways and buses.
One further thing, and this is a bit nit-picky, but if you’re riffing on Shakespeare, Crappy, it’s “wherefore art thou” not “where for.” And “wherefore” doesn’t mean “where” it mean “why”. Juliet wasn’t asking where Romeo was she was asking why he was Romeo, or, more specifically, a Montague. “Where for art thou, Janette,” doesn’t mean anything and the thing that it comes closest to meaning doesn’t make sense. Rawk on.
Well then it goes along perfectly with your entire comment. Actually, I am asking Janette why she is DOT commissioner when she should be president of TA.
"Sal Conti of Eltingville said he's never seen roads so bad in all his 37 years on Staten Island. Neither has his mother-in-law, a former Islander who came for a visit recently from her home in New Jersey, and asked if bombs had been dropped on Staten Island after seeing the poor condition of the streets here."
Someone who has lived there for 37 years should know what's "normal" as far as potholes go and what's not. That's good enough for me.
Queens Crapper : I am asking Janette why she is DOT commissioner when she should be president of TA.
Except "wherefore art thou, Janette," would mean "why are you Janette?" not "why are you DOT commissioner?" Nice try. But whatevs, as the kids would say.
Queens Crapper: Someone who has lived there for 37 years should know what's "normal" as far as potholes go and what's not. That's good enough for me.
Maybe, in his local neighborhood or on the roads he travels regularly. (Although I'd still like to see documentary evidence. Because as we all know everything was always better in the good old days.) How many miles of roads is that? Maybe the roads he travels aren't as good as they used to be. Fine, they should be repaired. But that says nothing about the state of the system as a whole. Maybe this man is all over Staten Island and the other boroughs all the time and is intimatly familiar with tens of thousands of miles of roads. Or maybe he's not. Without a bit more information we can't really say anything more than that one pothole needs to be filled. We certainly can't draw any conclusions about the overall state of the entire road system from this ONE case. And to imply that upkeep on roads is being neglected in favor of creation of bike lanes - well, that's much too large a leap for you to make with the data you've presented and, frankly, sounds less like a logical conclusion than a fit of bellyaching.
"And this is just one of the pothole complaints flowing steadily into the Advance since the newspaper started the campaign for smoother roads."
They interviewed people from several neighborhoods and they all say the same thing. And as for the hard data - let's remember that this is the same DOT who denies there are potholes at Willets Point.
They interviewed people from several neighborhoods and they all say the same thing. And as for the hard data - let's remember that this is the same DOT who denies there are potholes at Willets Point.At any rate, if you've pissed off cyclists you've somehow gained... what???
Use your Crappy brain to do more than incense.
Queens Crapper: They interviewed people from several neighborhoods and they all say the same thing.
Yes, a truly painstaking, methodical study, that. Clearly indisputable and admitting of only your conclusion.
Well, if you want to find out about crime in an area, would you trust the people who live in an area or COMPSTAT statistics which are known to be false because the cops advise people not to file reports?
I wonder what the cyclists gain by pissing off their entire neighborhoods?
Part 1:
If a newspaper makes a campaign of an issue, they will find anecdotes and they will generate a feedback loop. Bloomberg was rightly criticized for using that method. Speaking of Bloomberg, I find it doubtful that he'd neglect that Republican base. Staten Island is credited with swinging elections for Republican mayors in the past.
Staten Island is the least dense, most automobile dependent borough. The real question should be, "Why are we all subsidizing all of the long, lazy suburban stretches of road for people who are typically wealthier than other New Yorkers?"
Though a native of Queens, I briefly lived on Staten Island. Apart from St. George, where I lived, I felt like I was in Nassau or NJ. I tend to stay to urban parts of NYC. I love LIC and I love downtown Flushing -- and I love the downtown Flushing of today more than the downtown Flushing of my 1970s childhood.
As for the Staten Island roads themselves, I wonder about their history. Staten Island is the most recently developed borough. Perhaps the city was complacent because they were until now in relatively less need of regular upkeep, being newer?
As for the Crapper's personal attack on me. Queens West was happening before I moved in. Citilights went up only a year after my arrival. There are protesters and there are creators. We need both. My attitude is that if the LIC Community Boathouse is going to be a selling point for those luxury apartments (and believe me, it is) then they really should sponsor them. Rockrose residents live right upstairs from our Hunters Point launch on Anable Basin. I want that waterfront to be the site of an integrated, LIVING, maritime culture like none other: Harbor School, World Boatbuilding Museum, public estuary ecology library, wetlands and oyster restoration, historic ships, and more. Not a stale "theme" but a living reality. Developers must be brought on board.
The LIC Community Boathouse hasn't taken any money from elected officials and charges no fees and has no paid memberships. I can't even begin to imagine how I'd be attacked by Crappy if it did!
Donations pay for boats, insurance, and gear. Staff is entirely composed of volunteers. Space is donated by Plaxall Inc., which is a family owned business located in LIC since 1952, and Flushing since 1938. The family in good part still resides in Queens. They'd be fools not to develop their waterfront spaces, and they are wise enough to know their neighborhood and how arts, crafts, bicycling, kayaking, and other free and family-friendly activities will benefit their long-term commitment to the community. They are not "build-and-leave."
The Suna family is also clearly committed to Queens and Silvercup Studios has supported many great arts and environmental projects, ranging from green roofs to Socrates Sculpture Park. They are also vital employers. I will push for green space, public access, an uninterrupted waterfront greenway and promenade, and sustainable design (and they are paying top dollar for world-renowned architects). But savaging them for not building squat boxes, or expecting them to not build at all, doesn't seem productive for the community.
You also fail to mention what the boathouse has achieved with the few thousand dollars we've raised. And remember, I think our peak funding was about $10,000 one year. (All we need to push along is between $5000 and $10000 annually. If we move into building, those capital costs will be much greater.)
Part 2:
At the height of summer, when water temperatures are safe, three times a week we provide free kayaking and canoeing -- Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday. Hallets Cove has a clean beach for the first time in anyone's lifetime. We are the most active people on the Newtown Creek, introducing hundreds of people to it over the past four years. We draw media attention to the need to restore the creek. We also brought people to the LIC waterfront who would never have enjoyed it, and got them on the water! Beats a sitting park.
I'm especially proud that, because we are free and our volunteers are community minded, we have had special programs for underserved communities, not to mention the thousands of lower income kids on the waterfront. With all the rants about luxury housing on the waterfront, let's remember that the Astoria, Ravenswood, and Queensbridge Houses are full of kids who need healthy activities.
We help raise funds for the American Cancer Society and other causes. We cleaned up South Brother Island for the American Littoral Society and Audubon Society. We're a founding member of Green Shores NYC, a group that's working with others to bring developers to the table to talk about their plans while also ensuring the our string of waterfront parks are improved through that development. A greenway also improved parks by ending their isolation.
Also, by being a dynamic volunteer group, we have served as a node for other community work and growth. Artists and environmental projects are now sited in the same parcels because of us. And our volunteers have become "go-to" people for Hour Children and other important community services.
And remember, all of this is done without charging fees, becoming a private club, taking tax dollars (you can quibble about tax deductions), and without taking funds from officials.
As for the kayaker/bicyclist you're attacking, I've sunk thousands of dollars in cash and labor hours into this. It's been very, very tough on me. But it's been worth it. Our new chairman, Ted Gruber, is now undertaking great sacrifices of his own for these community goods, as is a roster of dedicated volunteers.
And now back to getting apple trees into gardens and schools (http://www.newtownpippin.org), because I'm a total sell out for the evil nontoxic garment cleaning cabal.
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