Queensbridge better bike lane path will be delayed longer

 

AMNY

The overhaul of the Ed Koch-Queensboro Bridge’s tight pedestrian and bike lanes is being held up because city transportation officials are worried about causing congestion amid an ongoing rehabilitation of the span’s upper-level roadway.

The Department of Transportation will start work by year end to redesign the shared path on the bridge’s outer roadways, but the agency won’t complete the project until they finish replacing the upper deck of the 119-year-old span in late 2022.

DOT Commissioner Hank Gutman told reporters during Mayor Bill de Blasio’s daily press briefing on Tuesday that the new lanes would open as soon as early 2022.

“We’re committed to getting Queensboro Bridge done,” Gutman said. “The construction is proceeding and we will get as far as the weather permits us this year before winter weather slows us down, but we’re looking to have it done early next year.”

DOT’s press office later followed up to say their boss “misspoke” and that, while the agency will begin work this year and provide an updated schedule in the spring, officials want to wrap up the roadwork above first.

“Work will start this year, but the commissioner misspoke – it will not be complete in early 2022, due to the work that must be completed on the road decks. We will provide an updated completion date once work recommences in the spring,” said spokesman Scott Gastel in an email.

Gastel did not detail what kind of work will start in the coming weeks or when exactly it would begin. 

 

The D.O.T. and Dept. Of City Planning suddenly cares about community input on open restaurants program

 

 Gothamist

Nearly 12,000 restaurants have taken part to date in the city's Open Restaurants program, the spinoff initiative from the Open Streets program which allows restaurants and bars to use street space for outdoor dining structures. While most New Yorkers seem to have embraced the changes to our urban landscape with open arms—one survey found that two-thirds of New Yorkers think the city “was right to close its streets to cars and open them to pedestrians and restaurants”—many believe there is still plenty of room for improvement. And with Open Streets and its various offshoots set to become permanent parts of the NYC landscape, the city is working on just that.

The Department of City Planning (DCP) and Department of Transportation (DOT) announced this week that they are launching a public engagement process to improve the designs and rules regarding permanent outdoor dining setups.

“Open Restaurants not only helped save New York’s world-renowned restaurant industry, it also showed how we can dynamically reimagine our streetscape,” said DOT Commissioner Hank Gutman. “Developing design guidelines will ensure that this emergency program can be transformed into a permanent part of our city, anchoring restaurants in our communities so that this program continues to flourish.”

While Open Restaurants was enacted under emergency executive order by Mayor Bill de Blasio in 2020 in the midst of the pandemic—the mayor has said that the program has helped save around 100,000 jobs—the city and legislature are now engaging with the more complicated task of making it permanent. That includes a zoning text amendment which many restaurateurs are in favor of (it's currently in public review) that would remove geographic restrictions of where sidewalk cafes can be located.

Where the public's input will come in is in trying to determine how to best "integrate these new setups into the complex environment of NYC streets," as the DOT put it. That input will come via in-person and remote roundtables over the next six months—the schedule of those events will be listed on the DOT webpage and on NYC Engage—culminating in the release of new design guidelines by Spring 2022.

Isn't it nice that asshole Hank Gutman and the D.O.T. and those asshole city planners are deigning, deferring and abdicating their responsibilities to the citizens to fix the mess they made with their shithead policy making without thinking of the ramifications of them. Like a commentator said the other day about how these are supposed to be for the benefit of people's health even though you're still eating on the gutter. 

Meanwhile, residents and even lawmakers are demanding to shed the sheds.

Queens doesn't want no stinkin' restaurant sheds

 

Queens Eagle 

The Queens Borough Board voted Monday night against the city’s plan to permanently expand outdoor dining throughout the five boroughs.

With 13 voting against and 6 voting in favor, the City Councilmembers and Community Board chairpersons on the borough’s advisory board overwhelmingly said the city’s plan to permanently allow sidewalk cafes wasn’t fleshed out enough to get their OK.

The board, which issues advisory opinions, said that it wasn’t keen on voting to allow the Department of City Planning and the Department of Transportation to implement the program before the details of the program have been codified.

“We appreciate what the text amendment is trying to do, pretty much we could agree with it, our issue really revolves around the fact that the text amendment is coming fist, before we have a fleshed out program from DOT,” said Betty Bratton, the chair of Community Board 10. We’re opening the door to do something before we have an understanding of what we're going to do.”

“We don’t need to give permission for something to happen, before we know what the permission is going to allow,” Bratton added. “Otherwise...we’re buying a pig in a poke.”

The city has been shopping around its text amendment to community boards for several months.

Citywide, 20 boards voted in favor of the text amendment, 23 against, one had no objections and one board, Queens Community Board 14, waived their right to vote.

The amendment would essentially remove geographic restrictions on sidewalk cafes. Currently, sidewalk cafes are only allowed in a few parts of the city.

The expansion would apply to most commercial corridors in Queens and throughout New York City, but how the program would work – barring the fact that DOT would enforce it – has yet to be written.

Community Board 13 voted in favor of the amendment but at Monday’s Borough Board meeting, board chair Bryan Block said his members still have worries.

“We had serious concerns..about enforcement by DOT,” Block said. “We don’t want to stop restaurants...we want to support our restaurants but enforcement is key.”

Block said that his district already doesn’t have all of its quality of life issues addressed in a timely or efficient way, especially when it comes to late night parties.

According to DOT representative Albert Silvestri, the NYPD and Department of Environmental Protection would continue to enforce noise complaints coming from restaurants participating in the new program. However, if a restaurant continues to be the subject of complaints, it would “impact their standing within the program.”

And now a final word, actually another prepared statement full of Transportation Totalitarians talking points from Commissioner Hank Gutman:

 "Open Restaurants not only helped save New York’s world-renowned restaurant industry, it also showed how we can dynamically reimagine our streetscape,” DOT Commissioner Hank Gutman said in a statement. “Developing design guidelines will ensure that this emergency program can be transformed into a permanent part of our city, anchoring restaurants in our communities so that this program continues to flourish.”

 Restaurants are already anchored in communities you dotard. GTFOH 

Residents patience is gone for idiotic bike boulevard

  

Queens Post

A group of residents has launched an online petition in opposition to the DOT’s recent installation of a new bike boulevard on 39th Avenue in Sunnyside.

The online petition, which was launched Saturday, seeks to reverse the DOT’s transformation of many portions of 39th Avenue and Barnett Avenue that have been converted into one-way streets. The DOT began making the changes to the avenues last month in order to create space to put down a protected bicycle lane on 39th Avenue.

The petition has garnered more than 500 signatures since it launched less than 72 hours ago on change.org.

The group that launched the petition, called Queens Streets For All, claims that the new designs are dangerous, confusing and were not thought through. They also say that the community was not properly involved in the process.

Their view is counter to the DOT and bike-safety advocates who say that the new layout makes the streets safer for all road users —whether they be motorists, cyclists or pedestrians. The advocates say the measures reduce the number of motorists using 39th Avenue as a through-street and that the changes help prevent speeding.

However, the petitioners argue that the changes are too complex, unnecessary and have instead made the roads less safe.

They are calling on the DOT to reverse the road changes immediately. The petition is addressed to the Mayor Bill de Blasio, the DOT Commissioner, Queens DOT Commissioner, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer, State Sen. Mike Gianaris, Assemblywoman Cathy Nolan, Community Board 2 and other officials.

“What we have is chaos,” the petition reads. “These short, previously unproblematic and two-way streets are now a mess. Whoever rushed the installation was not focusing on our safety.”

The group claims that the process to approve the plan was “rushed through” via online meetings with little community notice and insufficient input from residents.

The bike boulevard was approved by Community Board 2 in June by a vote of 21-11 during a Zoom board meeting.

34th Avenue Open Street nearly kills a man, twice

Listen to Kenny #ADA #34thAvenue #OpenStreet #disabled #jacksonheights we fight for people like Kenny to be able to get the same quality service everyone else in our neighborhood gets. Having to be dropped off on another place that’s not their home because of OS is not right. pic.twitter.com/8aRzGbZmEL

— 34th Avenue Open Streets Compromise (@34Compromise) September 29, 2021

Hope you're satifisfied Commissioner Gutman and Transportation Alternatives

Positvely 118 Street

Impunity City 

 

This scene is in South Richmond Hill, 118th Street and 103rd Avenue. Back again.

The sinking hole is “repaired”. Just like the other ones on the ave.

 Another great shit job D.O.T Commissioner Gutman, fucking asshole, a bulbous waste of flesh Blaz crony hire who has 0 experience about city road infrastructure and traffic issues, who is using his shyster skill sets in “intellectual property practice” to “re-imagine” city streets.

 

de Blasio's D.O.T. imposing busways in Jamaica that residents do not want

D.O.T Commissioner Gutman: Asshole

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Queens Chronicle

A “Better Buses” busway pilot will continue on schedule in Downtown Jamaica despite backlash from a previous initiative on Merrick Boulevard that was implemented last year and led to a recent modification of bus enforcement times as a result of a petition and complaints from community leaders and elected officials. 

“I saw [the announcement],” said Candace Prince-Modeste, the Southeast Queens activist who created a Change.org petition for a modified enforcement period of the bus lane on Merrick Boulevard. “It feels like they’ve moved onto the next project without fully bringing the Merrick one to a resolution. And I don’t believe that enough residents are aware of these proposed changes to the Downtown area.”

The city’s Department of Transportation, however, said it launched a community outreach process with a series of open houses and nearly 20 events with community advisory board to gather feedback on its proposal throughout 2020 and 2021, according to the Sept. 15 announcement. 

Prince-Modeste’s “Demand Rush Hour Only Bus Lanes on Merrick” petition, has 875 signatures out of its target goal of 1,000 as of Sept. 16 and brought enough attention to the Springfield Gardens and surrounding Southeast area of the bus lane that elected officials have chosen not to support similar changes in Downtown Jamaica on Jamaica and Archer avenues and the DOT modified its 24/7 bus lane enforcement, which led to excessive ticketing and lack of foot traffic to small businesses in the area. Instead, there will be a 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. enforcement period. 

“Despite vocal opposition from the Southeast Queens community against the Merrick Boulevard bus lane, the DOT implemented it anyway,” said Councilwoman Adrienne Adams (D-Jamaica) to the Chronicle via email. “The agency has once again ignored the voices of our community, leading to numerous issues and worsening traffic conditions along this busy corridor.”

Adams also feels that the DOT should have addressed problems with poor street lighting, ill-fitted two-way streets in dire need of one-way conversion and washed out or missing street signs throughout City Council District 28 and surrounding districts first. 

“Therefore, I must oppose the new busway pilots on Jamaica Avenue and Archer Avenue,” said Adams. “Until the DOT can truly address our community’s concerns, we stand against this ill-advised pilot program.”

The DOT, however, said that is committed to installing new and improved bus lanes by fall to improve bus speeds for thousands of riders in Southeast Queens. 

“Keeping New Yorkers moving is essential to getting our friends and neighbors back to work as New York City’s recovery continues, and these new busways will speed the commutes of 250,000 daily riders through downtown Jamaica,” said DOT Commissioner Hank Gutman in a prepared statement.

 Queens Chronicle

Drivers who find themselves behind or ahead of the Q4, Q5, Q84, N4 or the N4X buses on Merrick Boulevard between Hillside Avenue and Springfield Boulevard have a 60-day warning period for bus lane violations starting Sept. 21.

The specified bus lanes are a part of Mayor de Blasio’s Better Buses initiative to improve bus speeds by expanding automated camera enforcement, according to the city Department of Transportation.

Initially, the DOT intended on having 24/7 enforcement, but after pushback from the Community Advisory Board and members who live along the Southeast Queens area, the hours were adjusted to 6 a.m. to 7 p.m Monday to Friday, according to the agency. With the activation of bus lane cameras, the mayor’s 30th Better Buses corridor will have signage indicating that the bus lanes are camera-enforced to inform drivers about the program. Since violations will be issued against the vehicle, not the driver, points are not added to motorists’ licenses.

However, a single violation will cost drivers $50 and fines will increase for bus lane violations incurred in a single year to upwards of $250 after a fifth offense, according to the agency. The DOT will work with the NYPD to enforce bus lanes citywide and will add additional camera-enforced routes over time.

”Community residents and I remain up in arms about DOT’s woefully inadequate efforts and blatant disregard for course correction,” said state Sen. Leroy Comrie (D-St. Albans). “DOT’s wrongheaded policy has made it nigh impossible for a full flow of traffic along Merrick Boulevard particularly between Baisley Boulevard and Liberty Avenue where there are illegally long-term parked vehicles stored by auto body and repair shops.”

Comrie said that he understands that the safety of pedestrians, cyclists and motorists are paramount, but he finds the measure to be unnecessarily punitive and that it fails to reimagine public transit granularly.

“Commuters, drivers and anyone trying to travel along the corridor are frustrated at the now lengthy time that it takes to get from one point to the next because of this unwanted restriction,” said Comrie. “Despite the adjustments made after the recently conducted review of the 24/7 Merrick Boulevard bus lane, DOT has still not made a reasonable move to peak hour traffic enforcement as suggested by many local advocates. It is truly unfair to residential drivers to have to suffer through overreaching enforcement when the bad actors are not being regulated consistently.”