Only buses on Main Street to Flushing

  

Queens Chronicle

Seven months later, the Main Street busway project will finally move forward.

State Supreme Court Justice Kevin Kerrigan struck down a lawsuit by the Flushing Chinese Business Association Jan. 5 that claimed prohibition of street travel for passenger cars and lack of road parking will deter shoppers who drive into the neighborhood, resulting in a dramatic drop in Flushing business. Kerrigan was unconvinced there was evidence that the 0.3-mile stretch of priority bus travel would slow commercial activity.

“How efficacious the Busway plan will be or what precisely its impact will be upon the community, if any, is presently unknown,” Kerrigan wrote before denying the Article 78 proceeding. The judge suggested that opponents address their displeasure with their elected officials instead.

The Rider’s Alliance happily and immediately shared the news Tuesday afternoon, stating, “Today’s decision is a huge victory for 150,000 bus riders across Queens and the Bronx. Citywide, judges have now ruled decisively that when riders win well-deserved priority on busy streets, opponents can’t sue and get their way. Just as Trump and his supporters can’t overturn the vote, neither can courts ‘invade the province’ of transportation policymakers on behalf of a few rich NIMBYs.”

Downtown Flushing is more chaotic than ever

From NBC:

Downtown Flushing — already teeming with people and vehicles on sidewalks and streets — has become all the more chaotic amid simultaneous work on sidewalks and a sinkhole.

Two major construction projects are happening in the vicinity of Main Street and Kissena Boulevard. Nearly two dozen bus lines roll through the bustling area.

The city is making emergency sewer repairs to fix the sinkhole. The DEP showed up last week, and with no notice, brought a backhoe and jackhammer to fix the mess. The result: absolute gridlock.

Flushing Councilman Peter Koo said he called the commissioner of the city’s Department of Environmental Protection. That call, and others, convinced the DEP to switch gears within 24 hours. Now the repair work is being done overnight when streets are less busy.

Amid the effort to fix the sinkhole, crews are working on widening the area’s sidewalks. The result has been a dizzying mishmash of bodies, vehicles, signs, detours and construction cones.

Main Street fire was massive

From CBS 2:

Crews remain on the scene Thursday of a massive fire in Queens that destroyed more than a dozen businesses and disrupted subway service.

Flames and thick black smoke from the 4-alarm fire rose above Roosevelt Avenue Wednesday afternoon as the blaze spread.

Major construction coming to Main Street

From DNA Info:

The city is launching a nearly $8 million project to widen bustling Main Street, one of the busiest pedestrian corridors in the five boroughs, officials said.

The roadway will also be resurfaced and rebuilt, and manholes, fire hydrants, sewers and water mains will be replaced — the first overhaul in two decades, according to officials.

During the construction project — which begins Monday, July 25, and will last approximately a year — the community will experience inconveniences and changes, Councilman Peter Koo warned.

But the major revamp will have more long-term benefits to everyone, including adding as much as 8 feet of space on some sidewalks, he said.

Redbird may fly in a better location

DNA Info suggests 5 better places for the redbird tourism center than borough hall:

Long Island City, JFK, LaGuardia, Times Square and the Flushing Library

Briarwood subway entrance finally reopened

From DNA Info:

A new entrance to the Briarwood-Van Wyck F train station finally opened Monday morning, more than a year after it was initially scheduled to be completed — but access was still limited because of ongoing construction.

Local residents, who for the past four years had to use another entrance across the Van Wyck Expressway, welcomed the long overdue completion of the project.

The new entrance, next to the Briarwood branch of the Queens Library and near Archbishop Molloy High School, was built by the state Department of Transportation as part of the $265 million Kew Gardens Interchange project, which started in 2010, and aims to widen the Van Wyck Expressway.

The DOT said that the reopening of the Briarwood subway entrance, on the corner of Main Street and Queens Boulevard, was delayed because workers came across a number of unexpected obstacles. Last year, they found lead paint in the existing tunnel and had to remove it. The cold winter last year also delayed getting materials and construction equipment.

Currently, residents can access the new entrance from Main Street only and the entrance is still surrounded by a construction area.

Access to the entrance from Queens Boulevard should be available next fall after an overpass is reconstructed.

Flushing is not a sight for sore eyes

"Squalor, grit and graffiti: What a great first impression of Flushing!" - The Flushing Phantom

Something really needs to be done about Main Street

Photos courtesy of the Flushing Phantom

Main Street LIRR station has seen cleaner days

This has been the setting of the Main street LIRR station for years now.

No garbage can in sight. And now, the fence had been torn down separating the stairway and building.

This is beyond gross.

And yet, nothing will be done about this except an elevator that will never come and when it does, will be nothing more than another trash can and public toilet.

Thank you.

Saddened in Flushing

Derelict vehicle can't get any attention

"I am writing in regards to a green Ford Taurus near Mobil Gas at 67-20 Main Street (between the gas station and the cemetery). This smashed up car has been parked in the same spot for over two years and never moves! I have called 311 several times and the response after the police go there is always "tires chalked" or "car is registered". Per NYC traffic rules 4-08(m)9, parking a vehicle in excess of seven days is prohibited. Still it is never towed.

Please post this on your site. If you complain as well and you can check back at the location every week and the car will still be there and not towed or moved." - anonymous
According to NYC Finance, this car has 1 outstanding ticket.

Service Request #: C1-1-986004781
Date Submitted: 06/30/14 6:30:21 AM
Request Type: Derelict Vehicle
Details: With License Plate

Your Service Request was closed.

The Police Department responded to the complaint and with the information available observed no evidence of the violation at that time.
___________________________________

UPDATE 7/5:

"I wrote to you about a derelict vehicle near 67-20 main street which you posted for me. The car still hasn't moved. I have called 311 numerous more times on the following
dates and service requests numbers.

6/23/2014
1-1-985132811

6/27/2014
1-1-983739041

6/28/2014
C1-1-985570841

6/29/14
1-1-985931851

7/4/2014
1-1-987765381

7/5/2014
1-1-987943681

As of today, the 107 pct still isn't towing it even though they see it never moves in violation of 4-08(m)9, which prohibits parking a vehicle in excess of seven days."
____________________________________________________________

Main Street a mess

From the Queens Chronicle:

Downtown Flushing is hard enough to navigate with all the buses, people and general congestion, but add to that the poor condition of the streets and it becomes even more than problematic.

Dian Yu, executive director of the Downtown Flushing Business Improvement District, says the numerous potholes and uneven pavement along bumpy Main Street are actually interfering with business. “The conditions discourage people from coming downtown and it doesn’t look good,” Yu said on Monday.

Conditions a couple of weeks ago were so bad that southbound traffic was backed up to Northern Boulevard because cars were trying to avoid the deep crevices, one Chronicle reader reported.

Community Board 7 called the city Department of Transportation last Thursday to report the conditions and on Sunday a crew was out filling in some of the potholes.

But Yu believes the problem goes deeper than that. “I just met with the DOT and particularly pointed out Main Street and 37th Avenue, which is in horrible condition,” he said. “The pothole there looks like a crater.”

Although he said the agency was cooperative, Yu thinks Main Street needs a complete overhaul. “Lots of work needs to be done,” he said. “The road is old and needs a total repavement.”

Yu knows the major problem is financing a major repaving. He said he is working with Councilman Peter Koo (D-Flushing) on trying to secure funding.

Why should it be up to Yu and Koo to find funding? Shouldn't this kind of work be included in the agency's yearly budget?

Church will be pissed on for 6 more months

From the Daily News:

Five city bus routes will be adjusted in downtown Flushing, in response to complaints about the drivers who regularly relieve themselves on the side of St. George’s Episcopal Church.

The changes — to take effect in September though they were announced in January — were barely enough to appease parishioners, who still have to endure three bus stops directly in front of the church entrance along with the prospect of six more urine-stained months.

Main Street elevators get green light

From the Queens Chronicle:

The board of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority on Wednesday gave its Real Estate Department the go-ahead to acquire property that will be essential for the installation of elevators at the Long Island Rail Road’s Flushing-Main Street station.

LIRR spokesman Salvatore Arena said Tuesday that the board’s Finance Committee had voted to recommend the purchase.

The land in question sits at 40-36 Main St., just north of the Main Street trestle. It is occupied by the Ou Jiang City Supermarket.

A planned $8.5 million renovation of the station will include the installation of elevators on both sides of the tracks, which right now are not handicapped-accessible.

While the resolution does include the possibility of taking the land if necessary, a statement issued by the MTA said both its legal and real estate divisions have been in contact with the property owner and the store owner since before a public hearing held last Oct. 28, and that they will work to reach a negotiated price in an effort to avoid eminent domain proceedings.

In response to concerns raised at the hearing by Councilman Peter Koo (D-Flushing), the MTA said its staff will continue working with both owners in an effort “to address their concerns and mitigate impacts as much as is reasonably possible.”

Peeing bus drivers plague St. George's Church

From the Queens Chronicle:

After months of pleas for help, it looks like St. George’s Episcopal Church in Flushing will be getting some assistance soon from the MTA.

The historic church on Main Street has been complaining since last spring that bus drivers, primarily on 38th and 39th avenues, have been urinating on the walls of the facility and leaving garbage from their meals on its sidewalks.

In addition, because of a bus stop in front of the church on Main Street, elderly or physically challenged parishioners are unable to be dropped off there.

The pastor, the Rev. Wilfredo Benitez, wrote to the MTA last May seeking relief from the situation. He noted that since 2002 buses on three sides of the church property have surrounded the parish.

“The bus stops were placed there in total disregard of our needs as a religious institution that has the right to worship unencumbered by government agencies,” Benitez wrote. “Can you imagine something like this in front of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan?”

At a Community Board 7 district cabinet meeting on Friday at the Queens Botanical Garden in Flushing, MTA spokesman Joe Raskin, said relief is on the way, although he would not go into specifics.

“We have come up with a plan to take the buses away from the church on the side streets,” Raskin said. “The bus operators’ behavior is intolerable to us and the church.”

Downtown Flushing in olden times

The following photos come from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.


136-50 Roosevelt Avenue, near Main Street. Old Central Bus Terminal building, three-stories, 330 feet long, faces west. 1942

Roosevelt Avenue. [Row of shops.] 1951

136-20 to 30 Roosevelt Avenue. [Row of shops.] 1942

Roosevelt Avenue. Looking N.W. along north side at N.W. corner of Roosevelt Avenue and Union Street. 1951

Roosevelt Avenue. Looking S.W. along south side, at S.W. corner of Roosevelt Avenue and Union Street. 1951

Roosevelt Avenue. Looking S.E. at Main Street. 1951

Roosevelt Avenue. Looking S.E. from L.I.R.R. platform at corner of Kissena Road and 41st Avenue, also shows park in front of library. 1951

136-21 Roosevelt Avenue. Consolidated Edison Building, view looking N.E. from near corner of Main Street along Roosevelt Avenue. 1951

136-31 Roosevelt Avenue. Stores. 1951

39-01 Main Street. [Row of shops.] 1944

Be on the lookout for a masturbator

From the Times Ledger:

Cops are looking for a man who allegedly masturbated on the No. 7 train last month.

A 64-year-old woman observed the man’s alleged lewd behavior just before noon May 13 on a Queens-bound train, according to the NYPD.

It was unclear at what point the woman became privy to the actions of the suspect, described as 5 feet 9 inches tall,weighing 160 pounds and in his early 30s, but he got off the train at the Main Street stop.

Police released an image of the man.

Awaiting the plan to declutter Downtown Flushing

Councilman Koo and CB7, the sidewalks of Downtown Flushing are still impassable.


Illegal vendors contribute clutter making them dangerously congested.


Sometimes people are forced to walk in the street.


Livery cabs clogging up northeast Roosevelt and Main in Flushing.


What do you intend to do about it? - The Flushing Phantom

Downtown Flushing's pop-up shanty businesses

Take a look at the following photos and ask yourself if it looks like legitimate business is being conducted here.

Does the City actually issue permits to businesses being run out of plywood shanties?

Is it ok to dump your wares on the sidewalk and create obstructions?

Perhaps too busy of a location for this to be safe.

Is this a vending shed or a scaffold?

Koo notices that Downtown Flushing has an issue

From the Daily News:

Navigating the sidewalks of downtown Flushing is a bit of an art form as pedestrians weave and dodge around merchandise that spills out of storefronts, vending tables and lines of commuters waiting for the bus.

City Councilman Peter Koo thinks that needs to change.

Koo (D-Flushing) is asking the city to crack down on the vendors — legal and illegal — who have turned Main St. into an obstacle course.

“I walk this street every day,” said Koo, who said he has received complaints about the vendors since he was first elected to office in 2009. “The sidewalks are very narrow. You can’t walk.”

Koo said he is even mulling legislative action that would ban vendors along Main St., similar to the restrictions that exist along Austin St. in Forest Hills.

The downtown Flushing area is both a transit hub and a shopping center, home to several bus lines as well as the Long Island Rail Road and the No. 7 subway.

That makes it a prime location for vendors and merchants.

Koo said some shop owners are frustrated by vendors who take away business while others add to the problem by renting out space in front of their stores.

Bayside has a vendor problem as well.

Grease problem in Flushing

From the Queens Chronicle:

Flushing stinks. A potent sour, fishy, and greasy stench lingers in the air, which residents and visitors say is unique to Flushing.

The problem is most acute along Flushing’s Main Street, between 41st and Sanford avenues, according to Marilyn Bitterman, district manager of Community Board 7. There are at least two supermarkets, a couple of grocery shops, and a dozen eateries on the short 750-feet stretch.

“Flushing soup” is what some residents call this yellowish, gooey accumulation in potholes, resembling bowls of broth on the streets. Pedestrians avoid them like the plague. But when the streets get crowded, as they always do, there’s no hiding.

Residents blame the supermarket and restaurant owners for disposing their garbage improperly and possibly breaking the law.

All liquid should be filtered through a “grease interceptor,” where wastewater flows down the sewers, while oil and grease are separated, collected and recycled by a private contractor that comes once a week, said Fon Mooi Chin, owner of Malay restaurant.

The eatery changes its $1,100 interceptor every five years, and its filter every two years, according to Chin.

To avoid having to service the interceptors, some restaurants simply stop using them. But discharging grease directly into city sewers violates Sewer Use Regulations, which carries a fine of up to $10,000.

Department of Environmental Protection figures show that from 2008 to 2011, approximately 400 notices of violation for the maintenance of grease interceptors were issued every year citywide.

This can't be. According to our comptroller, Asians don't dump grease in sewers.