A tale of two curb bills

  

NY Post

City Council members Tuesday overwhelmingly approved a slew of measures designed to reduce traffic chaos caused by trucks delivering goods purchased online.

One of the moves aims to siphon off dedicated curb space for the likes of Amazon and UPS.

The legislation requires the city Department of Transportation to institute loading-only parking spots in each neighborhood and develop “micro-distribution centers.” The distribution centers would serve to transfer parcels from large trucks to smaller transit vehicles such as cargo e-bikes.

The DOT will have to install five dedicated loading zones per neighborhood per year for a total of 1,500 over three years, according to the legislation.

“We have to recognize the dynamics of our streets and how things have changed, especially when it comes to how people receive their goods — which is mostly through packages and so forth,” said Council Member Antonio Reynoso (D-Brooklyn), the bill’s sponsor.

A few days later...

Electeds move to block Maspeth depot

Maspeth Doesn't Need Another Depot!

***MEDIA ALERT***
CITY & MTA IN A RUSH TO DUMP DEPOT IN MASPETH

Council Members Van Bramer, Crowley, Assemblywoman Markey and Local Elected Officials unite with Concerned Residents to Speak out against the Proposed Location

On Friday, March 4th Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer, Council Member Elizabeth Crowley and Assemblywoman Marge Markey will stand with local elected officials and concerned residents to speak out against the city and MTA’s proposed Bus Depot site in Maspeth. The proposed site on 49th Street and Galasso Place would be the third MTA depot in an area that is already saturated with commercial traffic. The rush job in selecting Maspeth as a potential site has raised concerns about the secretive process that gave no notice to the community or to local elected officials. Council Members Van Bramer and Crowley and Assemblywoman Markey are going to unite with local elected officials and residents to protest against the proposed location.

WHO: City Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer; City Council Member Elizabeth Crowley;
Assemblywoman Marge Markey; Local Elected Officials; and concerned residents.

WHAT: Protest City & MTA’s rush job to dump another bus depot in Maspeth
WHEN: Friday, March 4th 2:30PM
WHERE: Corner of 49th Street and Galasso Place

Where are the local electeds on this one?

From the Forum West:

A fight by residents in Greenpoint, Brooklyn to push the MTA out of the community could have a negative outcome for Maspeth.

The Brooklyn Paper reported last week that political rivals Councilman Steve Levin (D- Greenpoint) and Greenpoint district leader Lincoln Restler were both pressuring the MTA to abandon its Access-a-Ride depot at 65 Commercial Street. In 2005, the city agreed to build parkland at the site, but in the following six years, the MTA has yet to obtain a new property to store Access-a-Ride vehicles.

Now, the MTA is considering a site in Maspeth to relocate the Acess-a-Ride depot. According to MTA spokesman Aaron Donovan, the proposed site is on the east side of 49th Street, between 56th Road and Galasso Place.

“We’re working with the Mayor’s Office, which has agreed to make the site ready for use as a depot,” Donovan said in an e-mail.

For a community that already feels overburdened by commercial traffic, the proposed site is worrisome.

Maspeth, like Greenpoint, has been fighting for more public parkland. Residents have fought an ongoing battle to convert the former St. Saviour’s property into a park. The community also deals with constant traffic congestion.

The Cross Harbor Freight Program could create more truck traffic in that area if the proposal goes through, and the expansion of Waste Management’s Review Avenue site will bring more garbage trucks through the neighborhood. The MTA also already has an Access-a-Ride depot on Maurice Avenue.

“As far as I’m concerned, if Brooklyn wants to create a park at Access-a-Ride’s present location, then an alternate site should be found in Brooklyn,” Daraio said.

Agreed. Brooklyn dumping on Queens. You gotta love it.

Unfortunately, the local electeds were not quoted in this article. Is anyone surprised? Well, this will be a very expensive relocation considering that the site requires remediation before anything can be put there. That's why it's been vacant for years.

MTA contract terminations mean massive layoffs

From Crains:

The city's paratransit bus schedules are being disrupted with the closing of two companies that provide transportation for disabled passengers. Starting this month and continuing through year's end, Maspeth, Queens-based Atlantic Paratrans of NYC Inc. will steadily lay off all of its 610 employees, and Progress Transit Inc. of Mill Basin, Brooklyn, will do the same with its 244 workers.

Both firms filed Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification forms with the state, and each cited the loss of a contract with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority as the reason.

The MTA says it terminated the contracts for financial reasons.

"The integration of fixed-route bus service for some paratransit trips, the expansion of the use of car services and taxis, and the increase in objectivity in eligibility determinations will reduce the need to have so many private transportation firms under contract," according to an MTA statement released Wednesday evening. "The more highly-priced carriers were selected for contract termination."

Access-a-Ride kinda dangerous

From the NY Post:

Access-A-Ride drivers are menaces to other motorists and to their own elderly or disabled passengers, according to stats that show a soaring number of complaints filed by riders since 2008.

Complaints against the drivers -- all of whom are employed by MTA contractors that are collectively paid more than $1 billion a year -- jumped 23 percent from 2008 to 2009, according to transit documents reviewed by The Post.

There were 5,062 complaints filed last year, compared with 4,128 the year before, and figures show there's been a 10 percent jump for the first three months of 2010.

The most harrowing statistics involve the growing number of complaints about van operators playing the radio or talking on a cellphone while driving -- up from 132 in 2008 to 168 in 2009. Reckless-driving complaints soared from 745 to 1,046.

An MTA spokesperson said, "We actually show a decline in the ratio of complaints to increased service."

Photo from SI Live

Access-A-Ride office is bedbugging out

From the Daily News:

The Queens office of a contractor for NYC Transit is still infested with bedbugs less than three months after the agency tried to exterminate the tiny pests, workers say.

NYC Transit hired exterminators in November to steam clean parts of the facility, remove cubicle panels and office chairs that bug-sniffing dogs found to be overrun with the insects, and fumigated the furniture off site.

But some experts said the extermination effort was inadequate.

Waiting a week to begin killing the bedbugs after canines tracked their location was a major flaw, said Timothy Wong, a pest control technical director at M&M Environmental.

"It must be treated 24 to 48 hours after the dogs come in," he said, "especially with a commercial premises like this where there's heavy traffic, a lot of electrical equipment and no control of the environment."

The combination of steam cleaning, fumigation and the use of Cryonite - a gas that freezes the pests to death - can make for a hefty bill as well, Wong said.

"Something like this can be taken care of," he said. "But it can't be shoehorned into a budget."

Access-A-Ride helps granny go gambling

From the Daily News:

Next stop for the cash-strapped NYC Transit: the casino.

The agency's budget-busting Access-A-Ride van and car service doesn't just take disabled passengers to the doctor's office, pharmacy or local supermarket.

Access-A-Ride regularly takes passengers from their door to the Empire City Casino at Yonkers Raceway to play the ponies or the 5,300 slot machines, the Daily News has learned.

The casino and raceway is a popular location. It ranks 17th among the 30 most-requested destinations for Access-A-Ride users. The vast majority are medical facilities, but the list also includes the Staten Island Mall and Kennedy Airport.

Access-A-Ride ridership and costs have been skyrocketing for years, and transit officials are looking to streamline operations to help close an MTA-wide budget gap of nearly $400 million dollars.

Still, NYC Transit can't simply refuse to provide trips requested by registered users, spokesman Deirdre Parker said.

"The law is clear; we can't prioritize trips and we do not ask what your purpose is," Parker said. "It's just like the bus and subway. We don't ask where you're going on the bus or subway. It's public transportation."

Approximately 50% of trips are medical-related, Parker said. About 20% are social. The rest fall into four categories: shopping/errands; school; work, or "other."

Bedbugs invade Access-A-Ride

From the Daily News:

Dozens of irate workers rallied outside a city contractor's office building in Long Island City Wednesday, demanding that management fumigate their workplace after a year-long bedbug infestation.

The bugs have been found in the offices for Access-A-Ride dispatchers on Northern Blvd. since the summer of 2008, but management ignored the problem until a pest-sniffing dog confirmed the cubicles were overrun with the insects, workers charged.

Examining Access-A-Ride

From Fox 5:

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is in a desperate financial situation, but there is one service the agency is required to provide that costs close to half a billion dollars a year.

And even though the cost keeps rising, Fox 5 found out that because of the sensitive nature of the expensive program, it is not easy to look into potential abuse and waste.

Access-A-Ride is a well-intended federally mandated program that New York City Transit, part of the cash-strapped MTA, has to provide. The cost is enormous. It's estimated that the Access-A-Ride program in the New York area will cost more than $451 million in 2009. The passenger pays the normal $2.25 subway and bus fare, but each trip costs about $66. The public picks up most of the tab.

But the big grey area with Access-A-Ride is exactly who qualifies for it. First of all, it has nothing to do with money. You can be a billionaire. You could be broke. As long as you qualify, you wind up with a ride for $2.25.