Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Bus protest in Whitestone

From the Daily News:

A protest in Queens trapped one city bus for an hour Sunday as doomsday service cuts left riders and straphangers reeling all over town.

Whitestone residents are steamed the Q15A, a new alternate route of the Q15 bus meant to pick up riders stranded by the elimination of the Q14, has been routed down a residential stretch of 10th Ave. they say is too narrow.

"It's a safety issue," said Kevin Leibowitz, 46, an electrician. "A fire truck, usually the first response for a heart attack, how are they gonna get by?"

Dozens of angry neighbors joined former City Councilman Tony Avella (D-Queens) to stand in front of one of the Q15A buses, stopping it cold.

"We don't want you here, go away," one local resident shouted at the driver.

The protesters moved aside after a few minutes, but by then their prediction had come true: The bus faced a vehicle going the other way and the street was too narrow for the vehicles to pass each other.

Plumber Greg Sahakian was behind the wheel of the black Chevrolet pickup truck blocking the bus. Sympathetic to his protesting neighbors, Sahakian refused to back up and let the bus through.

"We're just trying to keep our neighborhood the way it's supposed to be," Sahakian said. "He's not gonna move, and where am I gonna go?"

A near-hour-long standoff ensued. The three passengers on the bus eventually abandoned it.

Cops arrived and briefly cuffed Sahakian, to boos and jeers from protesters, then let him go without a ticket after he backed his truck out of the way.


Meanwhile, a guy in Brooklyn is taking advantage of the MTA's misfortunes.

32 comments:

Anonymous said...

Narrow street route are nothing new in my neck of Queens, but only if necessary as in my case. I am sure the route in Whitestone was created in a big hurry without thought of the residences affected by these big, dirty and noisy buses.

Anonymous said...

Meanwhile, residents clog their streets everyday with their cars....

Anonymous said...

...And trucks for Kinray and the shopping center by 154th Street.

Detective McNutty said...

@Anonymous2

Do you even understand the mass transit situation in Queens? Sure it is way too easy to buy and own a car but in Queens mass transit never met the residents needs. Most of the borough is serviced by buses. The service cuts won't decrease our dependence on the car. A journey which might take a couple hours by bus would only take an hour or thirty minutes by car.

The subway service is not any better, this isn't Manhattan or Brooklyn where the major thoroughfares also have a subway line. Even the Bronx has a subway line that runs along every major avenue.

Why is the Mayor so concerned about the the speed of bus travel in Manhattan? Yet in Queens bus service is cut and routes changed. If the mayor was really worried about car ownership he would strengthen mass transit instead of weakening it. There is a reason why people would rather sit in horrible traffic instead of an even worse Queens MTA commute.

georgetheatheist said...

See? I keep tellin' yas. It's the beginning of the end.

www.nra.org

Detective McNutty said...

Capt Atheism may be right. With the right mix, a riot isn't too far from a simple protest. Will Queens be the new Watts?

Anonymous said...

nra.org


:P

georgetheatheist said...

Hey, when the middle class - the bourgeoisie! - take to the streets, you know something is cooking.

(Aside to the above poster:

Can't you get it straight? Italian Girl, Primadonna, now Queens Teacher?

"La donna e mobile
Qual piuma al vento"

Be like me: The Rock of Gibraltar - constant, steadfast, and unswerving)

Anonymous said...

Where is Halloran now? Too Busy chasing down rogue traffic cops to care.

Did the Community Board know about this?

Hey where is Whitestone Taxpayers on this issue?

Hey Malba Gardens civic you up to the challenge?

Someone needs to stop these idiot, our neighborhood is being ruined and no one gives a shit....

Babs said...

nra. org

:-|

Anonymous said...

Told you I'd be changing it often.
:)

You're definitely constant. A constant nudge.

georgetheatheist said...

Erratum.

"Noodge"

Anonymous said...

You see.



Nudge.

Anonymous said...

Great job guys!

If I had known - I would have been there neighbors - along with some other Whitestoners. . . .

Anonymous said...

Thank God for Tony Avella.

Padavan is off naming stuff after himself and fighting with people.

I cant wait till we get rid of the old phony baloney.

a freakin draft dodger who has never served a day that Padavan.

Complete phony who led the overdelopment sprawl and was the father of commercial uses in residential neighborhoods.

That piece of crap.

Anonymous said...

Hey, if they rename the street after Colonel Padavan maybe he would show up.

Cant wait till the feds investigate where excatlt that $20,000,000 went to fix the Fort Totten "Officers Club."

Padavan and a bunch of his cronies sitting there ripping off the taxpayers.

Anonymous said...

where is padavan ?

Oh, I will tell you.

The Fort Totten Officers Club, or the Northeasten Preservation Commission, etc, etc, etc, etc

endless groups that fat ass padavan funneled money to over the years and they aint even open to the public or do anything

Anonymous said...

Padavan? now now, he will write a letter and mail you a copy with another letter telling you he wrote a letter. Then MTA like DOT will respond FOUR YEARS LATER in an open letter. Lots of letters,nothing done. He is teaching his boy Halloran well.
Padavan is a Veteran, just as him. He puts on his Officers uniform and alludes to Veteran status by stating he is a 25 year army veteran . Never stating that he never saw a single day of action.
I am not a Veteran and never played one on TV, I could never have done what those Brave Soldiers did, I admit it and accept it. Padavan needs to do the same. Yet Whitestone Taxpayers Civic loves him, why? good Question, The Armory? who knows, oh most of those guys belog to the Officers club at Fort Totten? Lots of Questions, No answers. THROW THE BUM OUT HELL THROW THE BUMS OUT, ALL OF THEM.

Little Miss Muffet said...

georgetheatheist said...


Be like me: The Rock of Gibraltar - constant, steadfast, and unswerving)

Tuesday, June 29, 2010


--------------------------------------

Hey Georgie. Forget about me?

Anonymous said...

forget about the fact that Padavan never saw a day of action. he never saw anything.

he joined the Army Corps of Engineers at 45 years old, has funneled them member items to build a palace at the Oficers Club at Fort Totten, and they give him some phony promotions over the year and make him a "Colonel."

MOST IMPORTANTLY, he didnt serve when he was eligible to. He instead went and got a masters degree at NYU.

The guy is a DRAFT DODGER.

Anonymous said...

You know,I didn't realize the age factor. You are so right he is a Draft Dodger, shame on him.
Hey Crappy, maybe someone (you) should do a cover story on this disgusting display of misrepresentation from a Public Official and Disrespect for our Troops and Heroes.

Padavan , You hear it? Sound of the real Veterans marching , Can you hear them? to the Polls, Hear the constant March? They are fed up with you riding on their backs, on their loved ones backs, LEFT LEFT LEFT RIGHT LEFT, LEFT........

RETIRE NOW...

georgetheatheist said...

"LEFT LEFT LEFT RIGHT LEFT, LEFT..."

The first 3 lefts. What are you - skipping, hopping?

Anonymous said...

Making a circle, like the way Padavan talks to his constituents, in circles. Sorry if I didn't make it obvious.

Career Politician and Fraud.

Anonymous said...

was not sen.chuckie shumar's wife commissioner of the D.O.T.?
Was not John Liu ,former flushing CM. a member of the D.O.T. committee on the city council?

i believe they were democrats, and probably still are.

whose army did they march for. progressive/marxists?

Anonymous said...

Notice how few cuts were made in the minority areas of the city.But the MTA cuts express bus service,which probably has a zero fare evasion rate! Wake up white people!

Anonymous said...

Frank Padavan didnt serve a day in the military from age 1 to age 45.

He didnt volunteer when the country needed him.

Instead, he went to get a degree in engineering at NYU and avoided service. A 100 percent draft dodger.

And what is worse, he didnt join the volunteer Army Corps of Engineers ("stationed" at Fort Totten, in Bayside), until 2 years AFTER he became a NYS Senator.

He was an engineer for twenty years, but never volunteered to join the Army Corps of Engineers. But once he was a politician, and he knew that they wouldnt send him to Katrina or other disasters, THEN the great Colonel Padavan joined the Army. At the age of 45.

Then, as he rose in the ranks of the Senate under Joe Bruno and funneled member items to the Fort Totten Office Club (over $20,000,000) in the last 20 years, somehow, he also simultaneously "rose" to the rank of Colonel.

Of course, Frank doesnt tell any stories about going to Katrina, or to other disasters in the US, which is what the civilian Corps of Engineers does. Because he never has done anything.

No, Padavan sat on his ass, funneled money to his country club, I mean Officers Club, and then parades every Veterans Day with his uniform.

Go look it up. The guy is a complete phony.

Anonymous said...

This is from Padavans bio directly. Read it carefully and you will see how artfully this draft dodger has been tricking people for 30 years. BTW, the 411the Engineer Brigade is located in New Windsor, New York. Upstate, on the way when he drives to Albany. No where does it say he did this stuff after he was 45, and couldnt therefore ever be assigned to a theatre of war. He doesnt say that he took these assinine courses, while we were paying him to be our State Senator. It doesnt say that he never volunteered or enlisted when he was a young man, cause he is a coward and a phony, who spits on heroes who make this country great.

"Attaining the rank of Colonel, Senator Padavan's 30-year career in the Army Corps of Engineers included serving as commanding officer of the 411th Engineer Brigade and chief of staff, 77th ARCOM, headquarters for New York State's Army Reserve. He is a graduate of the U.S. Army Command General and Staff College and completed the Defense Strategy Course."

Anonymous said...

as this post has been turned into a n.y.c.politicians military service record by some commenters, i suggest that to be fair and equal all local politicians military records be exposed.

c.schumer,weiner,bloomberg,lui,halloran,addabbo,koo,,ulrich,ackerman,hevesi,behar,weprin's,staviskey family,
carroza,

which local pols. are now in jail.what political party elected these jailbirds.why are we paying their double and triple pensions,when they stole from us.

are you in denial,your votes did this to the rest of us.

that is why the buses ,along with most public services will be cut. no private sector tax revenue(10 to 17% obama unemployment) does away with public sector services. it is named "unsustainable"

get used to it and remember which crook you voted for last election. you koolaide drinkers will sip again.
hopefully some will get the message.

see Greece and learn.

JONT1446 said...

Great Job Tony Avella

Anonymous said...

Look, this is not about the military record of all public officials.

Frank Padavan, dresses in full military uniform, with medals and epulettes, and walks down the Little Neck Veterans Day parade, saluting actual veterans who fought Nazis, and were in Korea and in the jungles of Vietnam, like they are some kind of kin.

When he joined the weekend reserves at 45, but you didnt even have to show up one weekend a month. The Army Corps of Engineers, except for thos who are fulltime and CAN be called to duty, is compromised of civilian engineers, who are there to help in America. The fulltime guys go abroad.

Padavan hasnt done either and he shows up with his uniform calling himself Colonel Padavan. To actual veterans. Old Irish, German and Italian guys who saw their friends and family blown to smithereens in war.

And they think Padavan is one of them. How would they know ?

A special kinda evil should befall someone who would do something like that.

No one should ever have anything good to say about such an unpatriotic coward like him.

Anonymous said...

Thi si shwta Padavan had to say about his "service" in the Daily News. Notice the artful baloney he pushes:

Padavan, who lives in Jamaica Estates, has a 30-year career as a reserve officer with the Army Corps of Engineers, holding the rank of colonel and serving as commanding officer of the 411th Engineering Brigade.

"I hate to be prosaic about it, but I consider it a patriotic duty," Padavan said.

Anonymous said...

Ok, so this has gone the way of exposeing a fraud who leeches onto the best our Country has to offer. A coward who could never do what these Old Timers did and still do, they are being Duped and need to be made aware. Unfortunately they probably do not blog, so may never see this stuff. Padavan is an embarassment and a fraud who needs to be exposed. Ah Frank, you may have started out with Morals and Ideals, no one will ever know. You are now a disgusting Fraud and a Leech, Shame on you Senator, Shame on you. GOD BLESS AMERICA, GOD BLESS OUR VETERANS, GOD BLESS OUR FREEDOMS, AND REMEMBER GOD DOES NOT LIKE UGLY, AND FRANKIE WHAT YOU HAVE DONE IS UGLY.

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