Woodside train overpass is crumbling

From CBS 2:

A Queens train overpass is crumbling to pieces and nearby workers and residents worry if something isn’t done to fix it it could cost someone their life.

Take a walk underneath an Amtrak span in Woodside and you might be stunned at what you’ll see. Crumbling concrete. Exposed steel. Holes the size of a child in the pillars that hold it all up.

And that’s not even the worst of it.

“Chunks of cement coming down, raining down off of this bridge. It’s very dangerous,” said Woodside resident John Moutopoulos.

“A lot of people are at risk, vehicles, children, adults,” resident Sehar Kaddough added.

“It’s scary that you never know what’s going to hit you in the head,” resident Eli Monahemi said.

Monahemi said the overpass at Northern Boulevard and Broadway could have killed him.

Progress at Farley, but what about Penn?

From PIX11:

The 106-year-old Farley Post Office Building is across the avenue from the busy transit center. New entrances have opened in the facility that lead to railroads.

A big project has been underway since 2016 and it is scheduled to open in 2020.

The new train hall will feature new platforms and tracks for LIRR and Amtrak and there will be commercial space.

From The Real Deal:

The City Council and James Dolan’s Madison Square Garden Company appear to be headed toward another clash over plans to relocate the iconic sports stadium.

Madison Square Garden is now at the midway point of the 10-year timetable the city laid out in 2013 for the stadium to relocate and make way for a modern Penn Station.

But with five years left on its special operating permit, MSG appears to have taken no significant steps toward what would be a years-long process of acquiring a new site and constructing a new stadium.

“We have not provided any public information” on the matter, MSG spokesperson Kimberly Kerns told The Real Deal.

Stakeholders such as the Regional Plan Association and the Municipal Arts Society that have called for the Garden to move said they have not been informed of any plans to do so. Madison Square Garden has not filed an application with the City Planning Commission to extend its special permit, and sources said the City Council hasn’t been made aware of the stadium’s future plans.

The City Council made it clear five years ago that it expected MSG to be gone by 2023, but a Council spokesperson would not say whether the legislative body expected the Garden to stick to the deadline.

The Penn Station blues

From the Wall Street Journal:

Diverted passengers who face a grueling commute this summer because of rail disruption at New York’s Penn Station deserve discounted tickets on the Long Island Rail Road, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday morning.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Suffolk County board member later suggested such a discount could be up to 15%.

As Mr. Cuomo made his suggestion, during a news conference at Penn Station, the head of the MTA, which owns the LIRR, told a committee of the agency’s board in lower Manhattan that the MTA will withhold regular payments it makes to Amtrak for use of Penn Station and that the MTA will send Amtrak a bill for costs incurred by the disruption.

Amtrak, which owns and operates the Midtown Manhattan terminal, will reduce weekday rush-hour service into and out of the station beginning July 10. The outages are needed so that Amtrak can carry out extensive repair work to rails and switches following two low-speed derailments earlier this year.

From NY1:

City Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer is not mincing words when it comes to his opinion on the MTA's plan for Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) riders this summer.

“I think it is ridiculous,” he said.

This week, the agency announced it would cancel or divert close to three dozen rush hour trains into and out of Penn Station while Amtrak does emergency track work. That means more LIRR trains originating or terminating at stations in Brooklyn and Queens, including Hunterspoint Avenue in Long Island City. Passengers there would then either take a ferry or transfer to the 7 train.

“To take Long Island Rail Road users and divert them to the 7 train is stupid,” Van Bramer said. “We know the service is unreliable as it is.”

From NY1:

A State Senator from Queens says taxing the rich is how to fund repair work at Penn Station.

Senator Michael Gianaris says his bill would require millionaires in New York to pay a three-year temporary state income tax surcharge. It would apply to those living in any county where the MTA operates.

Gianaris says it would generate close to $2 billion dollars for the MTA every year.

Hotel taxes would also see a new $5 fee on top of the already existing tax in the city.

EDC won't give up on Sunnyside Railyards

From the Queens Chronicle:

When the New York City Economic Development Corp. released a feasibility study on building over sections of the Sunnyside Yard railroad facility in February, EDC officials knew they would have a massive public outreach campaign ahead of them.

On Tuesday morning, Nate Bliss, senior vice president at the EDC, was doing just that at a breakfast hosted by the Queens Chamber of Commerce.

The 209-page study lays out the case for erecting apartment buildings, office towers, schools, commercial and open space on platforms that could be constructed above 70 acres of the 180-acre site, which has been a rail yard since 1910.

Portions of the yard are controlled by Amtrak, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and New Jersey Transit. All work would be done while allowing a fully operational rail yard to continue, and the EDC back in February estimated the cost at between $16 and $19 billion.

But the EDC, with plenty of support from City Hall, believes such a project is doable both from technical and economic aspects, and worth examining further.

“It isn’t often that you can come across 180 acres to develop in New York City,” Bliss said. He said the potential for job growth and economic development are huge.

Based on priorities, such a project could bring 14,000 to 24,000 residential units to the site over time. Bliss said the study accounts for the space and money needed for the schools, roadways and green space that would be required.

The illustrated 209-page report and a 22-page summary can be read or downloaded online at nycedc.com/project/sunnyside-yards.

Hunters Point South still waiting on sign offs

From Crains:

One of the final large-scale projects of the Bloomberg administration is languishing on the Queens waterfront despite its having been approved three and a half years ago. But there are signs that the development may finally be moving forward.

TF Cornerstone was selected in December 2013 to build a 1,197-unit apartment complex as part of the Hunters Point South complex on the Long Island City coast. Such projects typically take two or three years to complete, yet this one's design hasn't been finalized.

Sources with knowledge of the development told Crain's that delays piled up because of the tangle of utility lines and a train tunnel that run beneath the site. The complications of accommodating these subterranean obstacles was not initially apparent and led TF Cornerstone to alter its design of the building last year.

"The plan changed, and it needed to change based on what they discovered underneath the site," City Council Majority Leader Jimmy Van Bramer said at the time.

But changing the blueprints was not enough. Both Amtrak, which owns the rail tunnel running beneath the East River, and the New York Power Authority, which controls underground electrical lines, must also sign off on an agreement covering the building's design and construction to ensure no harm comes to their infrastructure.

Negotiations with Amtrak began more than two years ago, a spokesman for the rail line said, and are ongoing. However, project insiders said that a resolution is nearly at hand and other aspects of the project are now moving forward rapidly, suggesting that the building may get off the ground early next year.

Amtrak tunnel takes developer by surprise

From Crains:

A Manhattan-based developer has reconfigured its planned 1,197-unit Hunters Point South apartment complex after learning an Amtrak tunnel and power lines ran under the city-owned project site, Crain's has learned. As part of the new design, developer TF Cornerstone will include a 600-seat school for the rapidly growing neighborhood on the Queens waterfront.

In 2013, the Bloomberg administration selected the developer and nonprofit partner Selfhelp to build an ODA Architects-designed residential project, including 700 affordable apartments, on part of the Queens peninsula dubbed Hunters Point South.

Nearly two and a half years later, though, blueprints have yet to be finalized. Amtrak and the New York Power Authority have been negotiating with TF Cornerstone since March 2015 to ensure construction doesn't damage the rail tunnel or the power lines.

It is not clear why the underground infrastructure took the developers by surprise, given that plans for the peninsula released in 2008 indicated whoever controlled the site would have to build around multiple easements.

Astoria pols beg to get bridge painted

From DNA Info:

The Hell Gate Bridge turns 100 years old this year — and its age is showing, a group of elected officials say.

Queens politicians are calling on Amtrak to repaint the Hell Gate ahead of its centennial this September, pointing to the "unbecoming appearance" of the bridge's faded and mismatched paint.

"The bridge has not been repainted since the 1990s, and stands today covered in a patchwork of pink, beige, and brown," the officials wrote in a letter sent to Amtrak President Joseph Boardman last week.

The letter — signed by Congressman Joseph Crowley, Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, Assemblywoman Aravella Simotas, State Sen. Michael Gianaris and Councilman Costa Constantinides — describes the Hell Gate as "an iconic piece of Amtrak's infrastructure."

State of City speech: DeBlasio pushing forward with Sunnyside Railyard housing plans

From DNA Info:

The city is planning to develop thousands of units of affordable housing at Sunnyside Yards, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Tuesday.

In his State of the City address, the mayor said the city wants to build 11,250 affordable apartments at the 200-acre rail yard, comparing the proposal to the original mission of housing developments like Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village.

"That's enough housing for over 30,000 hardworking New Yorkers," de Blasio said during his speech. "It will be a game changer."

"Nothing is imminent" at Sunnyside Railyard

From the Sunnyside Post:

The revelation last week that Amtrak is considering developing the Sunnyside Yards caught most people by surprise—including Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer.

Last Thursday, Amtrak’s Chairman Anthony Coscia spoke at a real estate conference and then told reporters that he had been in talks with the de Blasio and Cuomo administrations about developing the Sunnyside Yards, Capital New York reported.

“I think we are all concerned [about these statements],” Van Bramer said over the weekend. “I am also very concerned that any conversation would have taken place without the involvement of me or the community.”

However, he said, no one knows exactly what has been discussed at this time. “I have requested a meeting with Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen [who was involved in the Amtrak discussions] and others in senior positions in the administration.”

A spokesman for the mayor told Capital New York that building on the yards could fit in to the city’s ambitious affordable housing plan—which calls for construction of 80,000 affordable units over the next decade—but cautioned nothing is imminent.

Van Bramer be damned, DeBlasio & Amtrak want Sunnyside yard developed

From Capital New York:

Amtrak is considering developing Sunnyside Yards in Queens as part of a nationwide evaluation of its real estate portfolio and could turn to investors as early as next spring to find partners willing to explore potential uses for those properties, the company’s chairman, Anthony Coscia, said Thursday.

Executives have been in talks with the de Blasio and Cuomo administrations about the site, Coscia told reporters at a global real estate conference at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in Manhattan. Coscia mentioned the plans during a panel discussion moderated by former deputy mayor Dan Doctoroff.

The Sunnyside Yards is one the largest undeveloped parcels in New York City and holds virtually limitless potential to developers willing to build a platform above the tracks. Planners have long dreamed about what could be built on the property, which remains an active rail yard used by several train companies.

It was unclear on Thursday exactly what Amtrak would pursue, whether it would sell or lease the development rights or how involved it would remain in any project undertaken on the site. There are additional development sites the company is discussing in Chicago, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, D.C.

“We’ve completed an analysis of what we think we’re going to need for the operating business,” Coscia said after the panel at the Urban Land Institute’s fall conference. “Obviously, it doesn’t make any sense for us to sell real estate that we’re going to need to run the railroad. So, we’ve pretty much completed that and what we’re doing between now and March is trying to determine—after subtracting those needs—what sort of developable real estate sites we have that are available that we can monetize.”

Sunnyside, he said, is the perfect example of the type of site on which Amtrak believes it can make a considerable amount of money. There have been conversations about the site between Amtrak executives and Mayor Bill de Blasio, deputy mayor Alicia Glen and chief of staff Laura Santucci, Coscia said.

A spokesman for the mayor said building on the yards could fit in to the city’s ambitious affordable housing plan—which calls for construction of 80,000 affordable units over the next decade—but cautioned nothing is imminent.

Expensive trains scrapped

From the Daily News:

The state announced that it has sold four sets of rusting trains to scrap dealers — an embarrassing end for a once-grand plan to create high-speed rail service between Manhattan and Albany.

The sale of the trains and spare parts netted a mere $420,000, a far cry from the tens of millions of dollars taxpayers sank into the doomed project.

The trains were among seven retired Turboliners former Gov. George Pataki’s administration acquired from Amtrak in 1998.

Each of the trains consisted of two engines and three passenger cars — and were supposed to be refurbished for high-speed use.

But after spending $70 million on the project, the state could only get three of the seven to run — and then only sporadically.

They were plagued with problems, from fires to poor air conditioning.
By 2002 the project was halted and Amtrak towed the three barely working trains to a rail yard in Delaware.

The remaining four have been rusting away in a rail yard outside of Schenectady, costing taxpayers $150,000 a year just in storage costs.

In June, a frustrated Gov. Cuomo announced the state would finally rid itself of the trains, even auctioning them off for scrap if necessary.

And that’s exactly what happened.

$300M for Sunnyside Railyard

From the Times Ledger:

The federal government has handed out $2 billion with nearly $300 million designated to clear the way for high-speed Amtrak trains through a switching bottleneck in Sunnyside.

U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-Astoria) hailed the announcement. She said the Harold Interlocking, the busiest rail switching center in North America with 783 trains passing through daily, “is a bottleneck that has bedeviled New York train passengers for years.”

The facility, in the Sunnyside Yard in Maloney’s congressional district, has delayed movement of Amtrak, the Long Island Rail Road and New Jersey Transit.

The project will provide separate tracks to bypass Harold Interlocking, allowing Amtrak trains a faster route through New York City.

“This project is shovel-ready,” Maloney said.

Amtrak cutting older trees in order to plant new ones

From the Queens Chronicle:

Woodside residents are happy to see new greenery after Amtrak recently made good on its promise to replace trees it felled along tracks in the area last spring as part of a maintenance program.

The federal railroad company began planting new trees in the area about two weeks ago, starting on 50th Street and ending just beyond 28th Avenue.Another shipment of trees is due, and the company will continue planting where it left off, according to community members.

To accommodate the new trees and shrubs, Amtrak will be cutting a few remaining trees on 31st Avenue and 57th Street and on 28th Avenue and 56th Place.

Our federal stimulus money at work!

If you go to Astoria, bring a hardhat...

From Queens Gazette:

City Councilmember Peter F. Vallone Jr. is calling on Amtrak to immediately implement protective measures during the repair of its train tracks on the Hell Gate Bridge after a growing number of complaints from Astoria residents that debris and rocks falling from the bridge’s roadway have shattered windshields and damaged parked cars.

Amtrak began work last August, prompting a series of complaints from residents who observed falling rocks and damage on cars parked on Shore Boulevard near Ditmars Boulevard and the surrounding streets from 19th Street to Crescent Street. Vallone personally observed two cars with broken windshields parked under the bridge along with a large patch of rocks covering parts of Shore Boulevard.

“People enjoying a beautiful weekend in Astoria Park shouldn’t be unknowingly risking their lives walking under the Hell Gate,” Vallone said. “For this to be happening a second time after I warned them the last time borders on criminal negligence.”

Vallone is demanding the installation of netting around the bridge along with personnel on the local streets while the bridge is repaired.

Amtrak to start tree planting

From the Times Ledger:

Amtrak will soon begin planting hundreds of trees along the tracks in western Queens following its decision last spring to clear trees in Woodside near the Astoria border.

Residents near Boulevard Gardens, at 51st Street and 32nd Avenue close to the border of Astoria and Woodside, were livid in May after they found out that Amtrak had removed hundreds of trees along its tracks.

For many residents, the trees provided the only shield from noise caused by trains moving along the tracks, said state Assemblyman Michael Gianaris (D-Astoria).

Gianaris said Amtrak will plant as many as 600 trees and shrubs along its tracks in Woodside at a total cost of $460,000, the assemblyman said. The railroad will also add 12,000 feet of standard fencing along the tracks and 100 feet of ornamental fencing.

A spokesman for Gianaris said the project would likely be done by October. The railroad has hired a landscape horticulturist to assist in the project.

Amtrak will maintain the trees for one year.

“They promised to replant trees, but then kept cutting them anyway,” Gianaris said. “The community was up in arms. So, it’s encouraging they said they will replant the trees. But I’ll believe it when I see it.”

That's an interesting way to phrase it, Mike. Most elected officials would vow to make sure that Amtrak keeps their promise, not say they'll 'believe it when they see it'. This is the caliber of representation we have in the western end of the borough. And soon he'll be bringing this enthusiasm to a higher level in Albany!

Seeking federal funds for local projects

From the Daily News:

The wish list for federal funding of local and state construction projects includes:

- High-speed Amtrak rail lines to Albany from the city and Buffalo.

- The second phase of the Second Ave. subway line linking the Bronx to Brooklyn.

- Completion of the long-planned Moynihan train station as a major transit hub.

- Rapid modernization of the city’s subway system.

- Underground freight tunnel to bring cargo into the region by rail.

- A complete overhaul of the Tappan Zee Bridge.

- Train linking Penn Station directly to JFK, LaGuardia and Newark airports.

- An upgraded air-traffic control system at the three airports, cutting down on delays and increasing capacity.

Woodside trees to be replanted

From the Queens Chronicle:

After tearing down trees along tracks in Woodside this spring, Amtrak announced last Thursday, a $460,000 plan to plant new trees and shrubs and install fencing in the area.

Amtrak has hired a landscape horticulturist to assist in the selection and planting of approximately 600 new trees and shrubs, which the railroad will guarantee and maintain for one year.According to the company, the trees selected will be shorter than the ones removed to prevent damage to the tracks.

In addition to planting trees, Amtrak will reportedly install 1,250 feet of standard fencing and 100 feet of ornamental fencing to prevent access to the tracks. The agency reported it would also remove debris along the tracks. According to Amtrak, some of this work is already underway and the entire project is expected to be completed in October.

Of the company, Assemblyman Mike Gianaris (D-Astoria) said “it sounds like they are at least doing the right thing finally, but I’ll believe it when I see it.”

“They spent money to take the trees down and now they are spending money to put the trees up. That tells you a lot about Amtrak’s efficiency,” Gianaris said.

Amtrak had previously performed maintenance work in the area by removing trees and other vegetation to eliminate the possibility of branches falling into its overhead wire and signal system or onto the adjoining tracks. If a tree or branch were to fall, the agency said it could disrupt train service for thousands of daily passengers.

“This action proves the importance of community involvement, said Councilman Peter Vallone, Jr. (D-Astoria) in a statement. “Our citizens stood up after trees were chopped down in their neighborhood and Amtrak listened. I will continue to work with Amtrak and the residents of Woodside for the duration of the landscaping revitalization plan and any other issues.”

Still, questions remain as to whether Amtrak, which used stimulus funding to pay for the tree removal, may have acted erroneously and wasted taxpayer money.

I'm so happy I got to use that photo one more time!

Amtrak arrests one of their contestants

From the NY Times:

One afternoon, Duane P. Kerzic was arrested by the Amtrak police while taking pictures of a train pulling into Pennsylvania Station. At first, the police asked him to delete the images from his camera, but he refused. He ended up handcuffed to the wall of a holding cell while an officer wrote a ticket for trespassing.

Mr. Kerzic, a semiprofessional photographer, proceeded to describe his detention on his Web site and included images of the summons. He also hired a lawyer to sue.

In due course, Stephen Colbert of “The Colbert Report” arrived to sound the gong. He turned the Kerzic story into a segment called “Nailed ’Em.” It mocked Amtrak without mercy.

“Finally,” Mr. Colbert reported, “Kerzic cracked and revealed the reason he was taking his terrifying photos.”

Mr. Kerzic appeared on the screen.

“The reason I was taking photos of trains is that every year Amtrak has a contest; it’s called ‘Picture Our Train,’ ” he explained.

Soon after the show was broadcast, a strange thing happened. The section of Mr. Kerzic’s Web site that dealt with Amtrak all but vanished. His lawsuit was settled, and as a condition of the deal, he had to remove his writings about the episode. Now his page on Amtrak — at duanek.name/Amtrak/ — contains two words: “No Comment!”

Mr. Kerzic and his lawyer, Gerald Cohen, both said they couldn’t talk about what had become of the Web pages describing the arrest and his commentary about it. Carlos Miller, a photographer and blogger who followed the case, reported that Mr. Kerzic received a “five-figure” settlement.

But how could Amtrak — the national railroad, whose preferred stock is owned by the American public and whose chief executive and board of directors are appointed by the president and confirmed by Congress — require that a Web site criticizing the railroad be shut down as a condition of settling a lawsuit for wrongful arrest?

What qualifications does Amtrak have to function as a censor?

More noise in LIC!

From the Daily News:

A blaring alarm from a building in Long Island City was the source of a weeks-long mystery for some locals.

The shrieking sound from the two-story, windowless structure on Second St. near Borden Ave. - which sources said houses a vent for railroad tracks that lead to Penn Station - sometimes sounds for days at a time, locals said.

And it baffled residents who tried to figure out who was to blame for the noise.

"No one was taking responsibility," said Khalil Hymore, 33, who first tried logging a complaint weeks ago. "It was a lot of run-around."

A sign posted on the front of the building states that the building is the property of the Long Island Rail Road. But when Hymore, who lives in the nearby Citylights high-rise, called the agency, he hit a dead end.

"They'd say it wasn't their building," he said. The agency eventually told him the space was leased to Amtrak.

"When we called Amtrak, the people I spoke to had no knowledge that this building existed," he said. "They said I had to call the MTA."

The structure is, in fact, shared by both the LIRR and Amtrak. Officials at the federal rail company are now investigating the source of the alarm, a spokesman said.

Crowley & Vallone still angry at Amtrak

From the Queens Chronicle:

Local, state and now federal officials have joined the fight to save the once-green area along the Amtrak tracks in Woodside.

Congressman Joe Crowley (D-Queens, Bronx), along with Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Astoria) toured the Boulevard Gardens area along 56th Place between 28th and 30th Avenues this past Friday to see the extent to which Amtrak had cleaned up after cutting down trees without notice this May.

The government owned company cut a lot of the trees surrounding the tracks using part of the $30 million from a federal stimulus package and continues to cut across the Northeast to clear “Amtrak’s right of way,— as described by Amtrak spokesman Cliff Cole.

“It doesn’t excuse using stimulus money to destroy, and now they are using some taxpayers’ money to fix what they destroyed,” Vallone said.

Amtrak said its intent is not to save money in the future by preventing track damage from falling trees but to keep customers safe.

The chopping occurred without any environmental review or survey by Amtrak.

From the Times Ledger:

Crowley emphasized that the safety elements of the project were important, but said the project was done recklessly.

“They didn’t communicate with our office and that’s unacceptable,” Crowley said.

Resident Lorie Bacchieri, 54, said she thought more trees were taken down than needed.

“We understand along the tracks, but the tracks are up there,” she said, referring to the fact that many trees down below the top of the hill where the track runs had been removed. “They’re not going to fall up along the tracks.”

I love that hat and those shorts...