Saturday, May 2, 2015

Bayside malls may finally be fixed

From the Queens Chronicle:

After being in financial purgatory for four years, the iconic medians and malls that make up Bayside Hills may finally be repaired.

“There are craters and all kinds of crazy looking things along the malls,” said Bayside Hills Civic Association President Michael Feiner during the group’s meeting on Tuesday night. “We’ve been lucky that Joe Black from the Parks Department put some wood chips in recently to fill in those holes, but the problems that were there years ago are still there and still worsening.”

The area’s former councilman, Dan Halloran, allocated $50,000 in 2011 for the Department of Transportation to make repairs. However, according to Feiner, the DOT and the Parks Department are debating over which agency is responsible for the malls and the original allocation is not enough to significantly rehabilitate the area.

But now, Borough President Melinda Katz is stepping in. According to Barry Grodenchik, director of community boards, and Budget Director Richard Lee, Katz has agreed to allocate $450,000 to the project.

“Ounce for ounce, Bayside Hills probably has more malls than any other area in Queens,” Grodenchik said. “The borough president has heard your complaints and she wants to make these malls as beautiful as they once were. She really wants to turn this area into something special.”

In addition, state Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside) allocated $275,000 last year for renovations at Capt. Dermody Triangle, located at 48th Avenue and 216th Street in Bayside Hills. The green space, named after the abolitionist William Dermody, is in need of repairs to its sidewalk, lawn and monument.

“If you notice, we have some money over here and some over there,” Feiner said. “It just seems like there isn’t a lot of communications going on between our elected officials.”

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

What about the malls along Union Turnpike, Woodhaven Blvd, and Queens Blvd? They have been deteriorating for decades !

Jerry Rotondi said...

Typical of NYC...not knowing which agency is responsible for what. In the interim the malls remain a mess.
Where is the current city council member? What is he doing about this? Is he missing in action as usual?

Anonymous said...

LOL! You mean Paulie Vallone? Maybe he's at St. Andrews or his kids soccer game. Sock it to me baby. You voted for this puss wad. Hey goombah. Where are you?
Lunch at Verdi's maybe? He's always out to lunch.

Anonymous said...

Malls ? We now call them bioswales and who will maintain them in the future?

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