Rogue parking company reimagines and colonizes the curbs

 

South ozone Park 152nd Ave from 129th street to 124th street all streets affected by this long-term parking lot company parking customers vehicles out side of their lots onto the street. 

 ARB parking lot located 128–20 152nd Avenue. park AC, which has since changed its name to Apex JFK parking. ARB parking lot was exposed by CBS News in June 2023 and February 2024 they are operating these lots without licenses however, even with the news exposing them. it still continues every time there is a holiday and during the summer months.

 And when these lots run out of room inside they flood the streets with customers vehicles they will even park them blocks away. They don’t care. if you look at there reviews on Google, you will see nothing but negativity on these two parking lots who are both affiliated with one another 

 Another problem with these parking lot companies they speed through the streets here recklessly with their company van not even paying attention looking at their phones they blow stop signs and speed through a school zone.

 It seems to be falling on deaf ears, no matter who you complain to. Nothing is being done.

What happened to the DOT's curb enthusiasm and passion against parked vehicles? Or is that only in areas where the urbanism lobbyists and their owners and donors live?

The cops call it criminal mischief in Ozone Park too

 

 

 QNS

Sam Esposito, the former president of the Ozone Park Residents Block Association, has been arrested for allegedly ripping off out-of-state license plates from multiple cars, according to authorities.

Police from the 102nd Precinct arrested Esposito on Saturday, July 20, following a reported incident earlier in the week on Sunday, July 14, New York Court records show. 

The complainant, Prakash Raghunauth, is one of the owners of the family-owned auto repair shop Ramesh and Son, located at 86-09 101st Ave. in Ozone Park. The repair shop has been criticized for having cars parked on the street outside, taking up parking spaces.

Raghunath said he reported the incident to the police after obtaining video footage from two nearby businesses of Esposito stealing the plates. The video appears to show Esposito ripping off license plates from the front of his shop and in front of a nearby gas station on Rockaway Boulevard this month.

Video footage obtained by QNS from the auto shop owner shows what appears to be Esposito in a silver van pulling up to cars parked near the shop and ripping off their license plates on multiple occasions.

Esposito has a long history of trying to get parked vehicles that are in derelict condition or unregistered off the streets of Ozone Park. He has been outspoken on the issue at both civic group meetings and on social media. 

The OZPK civic leader, who admitted to QNS that he ripped off the plates, said he was only doing his civic duty and will continue to have cars towed from the area, regardless of any setbacks. He took the plates since vehicles without them are more likely to be towed.

Overall, he said he is not worried about the situation. 

“People aren’t going to bully me to stop doing the work that I do,” Esposito said, adding earlier that thousands of illegal, derelict and unregistered cars are in Ozone Park alone.

 

The Department Of Transportation Alternatives have stolen parking spaces from people and privatized them

 

DOT twitter 

Today we announced the expansion of our citywide carshare program. This 5-year pilot (really, aren't pilot programs usually a few months?) has proven to reduce greenhouse gas emissions & personal car ownership. Our ambitious goal for 2023 is to add several hundred more spaces by working with Zipcar, Getaround and TruqIt

DOT Figurehead Commissioner and private car owner and public parking space user Ydanis Rodriguez: “Convenient access to carshare frees New Yorkers from the burden of car ownership – while helping to fight climate change. Thanks to Mayor Adam’s support, we will build on the successes of our pilot program while supporting efficient use of space at the curb.” 

 

 Over the next two weeks, we will install signage for 80 new, dedicated curbside parking spaces for carshare service. Spaces will be installed in Brooklyn and the Bronx starting today, with site installations in Queens taking place next week. 

 

 

Le bike lane resistance

Rockawave 

Merchants on Beach 20th Street in Far Rockaway continue to face headaches with the new raised-bike lane on their street, creating a tripping hazard and making their day to day ability to function their business far more difficult.

According to several business owners and observed by Wave reporters, cars park on the bike lane, which the businesses owners say bike riders don’t use anyway. When cars park on either side of the street it creates a bottleneck, creating more traffic. Also, many businesses on the block do not have loading docks, and with people parking on the bike lane, they have nowhere to handle deliveries. 

“This is dangerous,” said Jose Santana, owner of Unisex by Santana Salon on Beach 20th. Santana recently spoke at the September Community Board 14 meeting, and has helped draft a letter to the Department of Transportation, signed by most of the merchants on the strip. 

Businesses say that since the bike lane was constructed in July, they have seen few bike riders actually utilize it.   

“There’s no bicycles,” said Ming Liu, owner of Sunny’s, a mix Hibachi and Mexican restaurant. “This is 20th Street, there’s so many cars…A lot of people park on the bike lane,” he said. 

Like other owners, Liu called the raised-lane “dangerous” and that he’s seen people fall down. 

Odali Rodriguez, owner of Green Village Meat Market, has experienced this first hand. 

“I tripped, I was going across the street and I tripped,” he told The Wave. “It’s very dangerous, I’ve seen incidents, including myself.” 

Rodriguez is one of the few stores on the block with a loading dock in the back, so he is more worried about the danger of tripping. 

“When you walk there you think everything is flat, there’s no indication that it’s not flat,” he said. 

Other merchants agree that the bike lane is dangerous, Seon Maynard who owns a West Indian Market says he has seen at least ten people trip. 

“They should be suing the city,” he said. 

Some owners have received $115 tickets for loitering while loading goods, like Enrique Perez from Valencia Cakes & Flowers. 

“We should be able to load and unload, we shouldn’t be getting a ticket if we take too long,” Perez said. “It’s hard for us because people are parking there,” he said. 

PIX News 

 Speeding, traffic jams and dangerous crossings are all the problems one street in Queens is causing neighbors.

Rego Park’s 62nd Drive is identified as a “high crash corridor“ by the New York Department of Transportation (DOT). More than a dozen people have been seriously hurt on the road over the last five years.

The DOT’s solution was to add a bike lane on the side, with parking in the center. Unfortunately, neighbors say it came with new problems.

“My main concern is people’s health,” neighbor Arsen Gurgov said.

Gurgov has lived on 62nd Drive in Rego Park for the past 25 years. He says the new bike lane and parking configuration have made things worse than ever.

“My son was having an allergic reaction and I called for an ambulance. It took them too long to get here because they were stuck in a jam,“ he said.

Speeding in the Rego Park area is also still a big problem. A very big problem.

Year to date, police have written more than 3.5 times as many speeding tickets as they did in the same time last year; 1,577 speeding tickets compared to just 434 the previous year.

Moving violations are also up 40%.

A DOT spokesman says they presented the idea about the bike lane to the community board a year ago as a way to fix the dangers.

“These bike lanes improve safety for all road users, providing much-needed traffic calming while adding important protected bike lane connections between Queens Boulevard and Flushing Meadows Park,” spokesman Vincent Barone said.

Rego Park neighbors disagree with the DOT. Nearly 100 of them have signed a petition to have the bike lane and center parking adjusted or removed altogether.

“It’s either or,” Gurgov said. “They either get rid of the side parking, or they get rid of the bike lane. You can’t have both. It’s too narrow of a street.”

Vincent Barone is a bike zealot idiot. These two stories confirm that the DOT is forcing bike lanes on communities to drive them crazy and they are being weaponized as tools for gentrification.

The Department Of Transportation Alternatives are attempting to usurp parking spaces from residents in Far Rockaway

 

 

MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: 718-945-9550

Pheffer Amato Joins Community Opposition To Seagirt Blvd. Project 

 

South Queens, NY - Assemblywoman Stacey Pheffer Amato (D-South Queens) met with school administrators and parents to discuss the hazards of the potential Seagirt Boulevard redesign. The city-based project has garnered extreme pushback from local and non-local residents and has been openly opposed by Assemblywoman Pheffer Amato.

During dismissal the other week, the Assemblywoman saw firsthand how this project would cause an extreme backlog and increase traffic up and down the whole boulevard. “I acknowledge the need for safety measures, as that is something we all wish to see. However, any changes to Seagirt Boulevard cannot come at the price of accessibility or safety of the students from numerous schools who traverse the boulevard on a daily basis, yet alone hinder motorists in and around the community in their daily lives,” said Assemblywoman Stacey Pheffer Amato.

Assemblywoman Pheffer Amato, along with parents and community members have expressed disappointment and opposition to this project because of the lack of outreach and the expected problems the redesign would cause. The removal of a vehicle lane, yet alone over 60 parking spots, will cause an inevitable increase in traffic disruptions and mass congestion which would negatively impact the community on an enormous level.

The Assemblywoman referred to the plan as “nuts” and insisted that the NYC Department of Transportation must “go back to the drawing board and create a plan that reflects the will of the community” as the project was moved ahead without community support. 

Good to see an elected official call out the nimrods that are in charge of the DOT. While not mentioning her name, "Nutty" Nicole Garcia is trying to do over here what she's doing with inducing citibike docks on street curbs to steal parking spaces in Robert Holden's district instead of on ample sidewalk space. The entire DOT needs an enema starting with Adams moron buddy Ydanis Rodriguez, who can't even ride a citibike more than one block to do an ad encouraging more cycling.  

The DOT Commissioner couldn't even ride one extra block to do an ad about biking in NYC. What a farce.

You know this guy hopped into a big taxpayer funded SUV after one of his aides docked that @CitibikeNYC. https://t.co/4pa6qSwXLL pic.twitter.com/socQrLoD2y

— JQ LLC (@ImpunityCity) September 20, 2022

Guerilla parked car vandalism wave hits LIC

 Queens Post

An office worker in Long Island City got a big surprise earlier this month when he discovered that the windshield of his brand-new Tesla had been smashed by a raging vandal with a large wooden sign.

The worker, 33, named Mike, had just finished work on June 13 at around 11 p.m. before making the unfortunate discovery after walking a short distance to his Tesla that was parked near Queens Plaza. Instead of getting in the car to zip home, he found the vehicle’s windshield shattered and police surveilling the scene.

The police, according to Mike, had received a report that a man had been throwing a large wooden sign at parked vehicles along the roadway, including at his car that was parked at Queens Plaza North — near the corner Crescent Street.

The police didn’t have a description of the suspect at the time, but security cameras installed in Mike’s Tesla appear to have caught the hooligan in action. Mike’s car has four cameras pointing in different angles that automatically record if a sensor is triggered, he said.

The first video shows a man — wearing jeans, a white T-shirt and a baseball cap on backwards — throw a wooden sign on top of a car parked in front of the Tesla. The sign appears to belong to the Baroness Bar, located on the next block on 41st Avenue.

The suspect then drags the sign off the car, lifts it high above his head and flings it on top of Mike’s car – smashing the windshield. A picture of the damage shows the windshield on the passenger side of the Tesla caved in.

A second video captured by the Tesla shows the suspect then walking eastbound along Queens Plaza North, throwing the sign against other vehicles.

He then walks back toward the Tesla looking enraged.

 Mike, who doesn’t want to make his last name public, said cops told him that five vehicles in total were vandalized that night, including his car and a food truck.

War on cars on Queens Boulevard

 

NY Post 

Dozens of parked cars were left with smashed windows during an overnight seven-block Queens vandalism spree, cops said.

At least one vandal smashed the windows of more than 30 parked, unoccupied vehicles on Queens Boulevard between 51st and 58th streets in Sunnyside either late Wednesday or early Thursday, cops said. 

It’s unclear whether anything was taken from the cars.

Move it or get booted

 

NY Daily News

New York City’s alternate-side parking rules are coming back in full force on July 5, meaning most motorists will once again have to move their cars twice a week for street sweeping.

The announcement from Mayor Adams is a reversal of changes ordered by former Mayor Bill de Blasio in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. That policy — put in place March 17, 2020 — required drivers on most residential streets to move their cars just one day a week instead of twice.

De Blasio’s order was intended to help people stay inside to combat the virus, but has remained in place for more than two years. That’s given car owners an extended break while also allowing the city’s streets to become dirtier.

 It went on for far too long and it largely sidelined the best clean streets tool in our arsenal: the mechanical broom,” city Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch said during a news conference on her first day as head of the department. “The dirty little secret here is that when ASP went to one day a week instead of two in practice it was like having no cleaning on many blocks in the city.”

Adams touted the return to pre-pandemic alternate side rules as part of an effort to “clean up the streets.”

Some streets in the city had alternate-side parking three or more days a week before the pandemic. Officials said those would be restored — and promised $65 tickets to drivers who break the rules.

Sean Bellamy, a car owner who lives in Crown Heights, Brooklyn said more enforcement was a welcome return to normal.

“Most people don’t move for the sweepers now,” said Bellamy, 55, a contractor. “The streets are way dirtier now than they used to be. I move my car, but other people don’t.”

 

Brooklyn BP and Council Crony Restler want to disqualify residents who drive cars from living in affordable housing.

Brooklyn Paper 

Borough President Antonio Reynoso and northern Brooklyn Councilmember Lincoln Restler are demanding an end to minimum parking requirements for new construction in transit-rich areas. 

When a developer seeks a rezoning to build taller developments, they’re often forced to build off-street parking — which is designed to reduce the impact that new construction has on parking in the neighborhood. 

But now, the group of electeds signed a petition letter calling on the Department of City Planning (DCP) to fully waive parking constraints for all residential developers of any rezoning projects in public transit-rich areas.

The representatives aim to disincentivize people living in areas with access to subways and buses from using and buying cars, with the intention to reduce carbon emissions and improve the “borough’s urban fabric” — all while providing developers with the option to redirect space toward construction of more affordable housing, said Restler in an exclusive to the Brooklyn paper.

“The accessory parking in buildings on key mixed-use corridors like Fourth Avenue, Flatbush Avenue, and Fulton Street disrupt our borough’s urban fabric, making our City less affordable, less walkable, and incentivizes car ownership,” read the electeds’ letter to the DCP. “The last place we need developers to build accessory parking is in areas with substantial access to public transportation. We need to reduce car ownership in our city, and requiring new parking within close proximity to public transit has the opposite effect.”

Restler pointed to one 28-unit rising project just outside the Bedford subway station, which includes 14 required parking spots on the ground level — saying that, in addition to other problems, such requirements often make the construction “drab, dark, and lifeless.” 

“Because below-grade parking is so expensive to construct, many developments across the city do so on the ground-floor, leading to drab, dark, lifeless streets rather than dynamic ground floor retail and community facility spaces that generate jobs and fulfill critical neighborhood’s needs,” said a statement from Restler on Monday.

Even though there are many businesses around the crossroad of Bedford Ave. and North Seventh Street, it is not confirmed that the new building will have commercial spaces.

Within slightly over 2 square miles, Williamsburg residents have access to the four bus lines and seven subway stations.

“This is an example of an area that doesn’t need more parking, doesn’t need more cars, for sure,” said Reynoso. “So it’s a model development for us to use as a first shot at showing people that parking requirements should not be used here. Also, I think the most important thing is that the parking requirements being removed, allows for more housing to be built. It makes the projects less expensive. It also makes it so that instead of taking down, you can build up, so we got more housing out of this proposal.”

Busway blowback

Queens Chronicle 

Approximately 90 businesses in Downtown Jamaica are struggling with the recent changes in the area. With new development came trucks and with the implementation of busways in Archer and Jamaica avenues, drivers have fewer parking options and receive more traffic tickets.

Leran Ruben, the owner of Beverly Hills Furniture at 149-01 Jamaica Ave., said that he had no problem with the development or the busways at first because the new transit lanes would have a loading spot for trucks being used in the area to prevent street traffic and could potentially increase the number of new consumers in the community.

However, he says, city workers — particularly members of the NYPD Forensics Laboratory at 150-14 Jamaica Ave. — have been abusing their placards by parking in the truck loading area, causing more traffic in Downtown Jamaica and driving away customers who were already struggling with getting around the shopping district.

“This space was put in place so that trucks could unload over here and not double-park to cause traffic,” said Ruben, a third-generation storeowner. “We even have placard vehicles in the bus lane.”

When the Queens Chronicle came to visit Beverly Hills Furniture on Feb. 4, there was a parked vehicle with a placard in front of the store at the truck-loading spot and a row of vehicles in the busway in front of King Manor Museum at 150-03 Jamaica Ave.

“Nobody is going to get ticketed,” said Ruben as a police car drove by. “Nobody cares.”

Straphangers getting off the bus also have to disembark into the street instead of at the curb, according to Ruben.

“Why should a passenger on a bus have to load and be unloaded into the street? It’s unsafe,” said Ruben while pointing to a sign that directed traffic off Jamaica Avenue unless it was a bus or truck. “Why are [city workers] getting special privileges?”

What infuriated Ruben the most was that there was an underutilized six-floor parking lot for the forensics team next to the lab on 150th Street as another placard vehicle was parked in the Q54/Q56 bus stop.

“The crime lab is where the green scaffolding is and this is their parking lot,” said Ruben as he walked to the parking lot. “From my understanding, they have reserved spots for employees. If you are doing shifts, working four days and working 40 hours, the rest of the time your spot is empty. Instead of rotating spots they just park here.”

At the parking lot, one level was empty at approximately 11 a.m. while other levels had either a few available spots or were more than 50 percent empty.

After leaving the parking lot, Ruben motioned toward the corner street across from it where anyone could park, but more placard vehicles, which were partially on the sidewalk, occupied the space.

“There is one street where you are allowed to park,” said Ruben. “It’s still all police vehicles. Is this fair? Everyone has a placard and they are here for hours. If you are a customer, how do you get here? If you come here, you are going to circle the block and be here for 20 minutes.”

Ruben believes there wouldn’t have been a need for a 24/7 busway to reduce traffic in the area if the initial problem of double-parking, which exists partially because of city workers with placards, was taken care of with ticketing in the first place.

Public housing residents emphasize necessity of cars during D.O.T. hearing for new bus lanes

 

Queens Chronicle

The city’s Jan. 12 presentation on plans to put bus lanes on a two-mile stretch of 21st Street in Astoria appeared to change few if any minds.

Residents who have said in the past that the Department of Transportation is going too far for traffic and pedestrian safety upgrades still thought so. Also unmoved were those who think the DOT’s preferred option does not go far enough.

More than 100 people participated in the virtual meeting at one point or another.

And the DOT still is presenting a plan to remove a lane of traffic in each direction between Hoyt Avenue North and Queens Plaza North as its preferred of three options.

The stretch runs from the approaches to the RFK/Triborough Bridge in the north and the Ed Koch-Queensborough Bridge to the south.

The roadway has been tagged as a bus priority corridor by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, as it is served by the Q66, Q69 and Q100 routes. It also is a Vision Zero priority corridor based on the number of fatal and serious accidents in recent years.

Christopher Hrones, director of strategic transit initiatives for the DOT, said the city prefers bus lanes that run between cars parked at the curb and what would be the lone remaining travel lane in each direction. Concrete extensions, known as bus bulbs, at intersection bus stops would shorten the distance that pedestrians would spend in the street while crossing.

Hrones said those changes would have minimal impact on existing parking, as they would mostly keep buses away from the curb.

He acknowledged that there initially could be traffic backups; and that left turns in many places would be eliminated. Several bus stops would be eliminated in order to speed up each individual bus’ trips. Double-parking by delivery trucks would have to be addressed.

Hrones said that any backups wold eventually thin out over time as people adjusted their behavior, either switching from cars to buses, taking different routes or driving at different times of day.

Many residents were not convinced.

“You can’t have one [traffic] lane on the 21st Street corridor,” said resident Margaret Cooper.

“I have to drive. I can’t take a bike,” said Gloria Maloney. “I know there are people who want everyone to use bicycles, but that is not feasible.”

Maloney also said the elimination of bus stops, particularly near housing projects with a high concentration of senior citizens, would pose a hardship for many.

Department of Transportation continues to frustrate residents with spiteful street redesigns and open streets policy

 

Apparently, the same kids @34_ave were exploiting for their open street propaganda videos are suddenly forgotten now that the weather is colder.

Tear down these gates Gutman @NYC_DOT. https://t.co/UXZAeBlx8W

— This is JQ LLC (@ImpunityCity) November 3, 2021

Jenifer's parking plan controversy gets some clarity, again

 

Assemblywoman Jenifer Rajkumar walked through Woodhaven with the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Queens Commissioner Nicole Garcia last week to discuss adding parking spots to the area, sparking a heated debate about the proposal. 

Rajkumar said that a lack of parking has been a long-standing issue in Woodhaven, claiming some of her constituents even sleep in their cars waiting for a spot.

The proposed initiative would add angled parking on 98th Street between Woodhaven Boulevard and Park Lane South, turn the median striping on the Woodhaven Boulevard Service Road into parking spots and slim down the bus lane on Woodhaven Boulevard to add more spots. Rajkumar also proposed turning a private vacant lot outside of the Forest Park Co-Operative on 98th Street into a parking space.

There has been contention over the proposed parking on 98th Street near the co-op, which is right next to Forest Park. 

The confusion erupted after Rajkumar released a statement saying she would advocate to “convert” the “vacant park space” on the “corner of 98th Street and Park Lane South” into a parking lot. However, the assemblywoman has walked back on that statement, saying she never intended to take away any green space for parking.

That proposal to convert a “vacant park space” is for a gravel lot across the street from Forest Park on 98th Street.

Before the assemblywoman clarified her mistake, people took to Twitter angrily responding to her plan.

“Leave 98th Street and Park Lane South alone,” a Twitter user wrote. “I’m a Woodhaven resident, and I will never support converting public space to parking.”

All of the confusion stemming from the original statement even resulted in a protest outside of Rajkumar’s Woodhaven office on Sunday, Sept. 5. 

Rajkumar’s chief of staff clarified that statement and said none of her proposals include taking over any green spaces. 

“To be abundantly clear, Rajkumar never at any time proposed a parking lot inside Forest Park,” said Rajkumar’s chief of staff Vjola Isufaj. “Facts matter. That kind of outrageous sensationalism based on wrong facts and lies may be fun on Twitter, but it’s not truthful and isn’t helping anyone in our district.”

 

 

 

 

Queens Chronicle

Assemblywoman Jenifer Rajkumar needs to learn to admit when she’s wrong and just move on. Instead, she’s led us and her constituents down a rabbit hole of confusion this week, one so weird and in denial of reality that seeing Alice in Wonderland joining a tea party at the Forest Park Co-op in Woodhaven would not be the strangest thing.

As with so much in Queens, the root of the problem is parking. Rajkumar, to her credit, wants to get more for residents of the co-op. She’s proposed, for one thing, some diagonal parking on 98th Street where it runs through the complex just north of Park Lane South. If there’s room, that’d be great. But she also proposed, bizarrely, creating parking in “the vacant park space at the corner of 98th and Park Lane South.”

The “vacant park space” at that corner is a part of Forest Park designated as Forever Wild by the city Parks Department. It must remain so, for the benefit of all (think drainage in a storm!). It’s also on a hill, next to an old railroad. Turning any of it into parking would be an engineering nightmare, if not impossible.

When this was pointed out to Rajkumar — and when a mix of environmentalists and her political opponents protested — her office went silent. Then, as the Chronicle pressed the issue, things got weird. A staffer claimed Rajkumar had never proposed parking at that corner. But she did, in writing, on the internet, in public. Eventually the assemblywoman sent us an email her office previously had sent the Department of Transportation claiming that she “never at any time supported such a plan.” Really? She proposed it.

Then the office shifted to claiming that she really had been talking about a “vacant plot of gravel,” with the assemblywoman herself explaining that it was not at 98th and Park Lane South but on 98th off Park Lane South. She’s apparently talking about an asphalt (not gravel) seating area in the co-op complex. It doesn’t look like it would fit many cars, but if that’s what the residents there want, OK; it’s not precious parkland. (But,but trees...-JQ)

Meanwhile, Rajkumar denies any mistakes at all, telling us that “all of the releases and plans that I have sent out were perfectly correct.” Nope. Why claim something so obviously false? Just admit the error. Otherwise it’s tea time with Alice at the co-ops.

Cute analogy, but all those charlatans still showed up and held a fake protest in front of the abandoned Rockaway Rail Line train station. And despite the "forever wild" designation, it's been a transit graveyard for 60 years. It's also not parkland. Plus Rajkumar's chief of staff sent a post clarifying the parking proposal. These actorvists chose to be confused.

You know Alice could have decided not to follow the bunny. But then there wouldn't be a story...

DSA protests Rajkumar's non-existent plan to destroy Forest Park

Queens friends, this is TOMORROW! Join AD38 comrades outside her office at noon tomorrow to protest Rajkumar’s plan to use “vacant park space” (????) for a parking lot in Forest Park. pic.twitter.com/Z3ccCM8SV2

— katelin says homes aren't commodities (she/they) (@loud_socialist) September 4, 2021

Oh my! What's this about? The assembly member wants to bulldoze part of Forest Park for a parking lot?! Really?

Hmmm. Sounds a bit suspect. I mean it would require a ULURP, change to the City Map, environmental review, etc, etc, none of which an assembly member would have any control over. And that photo is of a gate that is not inside Forest Park. This is a bit of a mess. So where did the SJWs get the idea that trees would be chopped in Forest Park?

I will be meeting Monday morning with Queens DOT Commissioner Nicole Garcia on the lack of parking in Woodhaven. I have developed a plan to open more parking spaces. I look forward to a productive meeting with the Commissioner.👇 pic.twitter.com/CJuII1wsNB

— Jenifer Rajkumar (@JeniferRajkumar) August 28, 2021

In Jen's original press release, she says she wants to "convert to parking the vacant park space at 98th Street and Park Lane South." So rather than asking for clarification on what space she was referring to, the woke went straight to cancel mode, started a nasty Twitter campaign and organized a protest. The assembly woman's office responded thusly:

Now there's nothing more delicious than a politician being caught in their own lies, but it doesn't appear that is the case here, just a matter of miscommunication/misinterpretation, something that could have been cleared up with a quick phone call. Because, indeed, there is a gravel lot or "unused park space" in this location:

If the Co-Op wants to convert its unused "park" space to parking, who the hell cares? DSA does because 1) Cars are "evil." 2) This isn't about protecting Forest Park. They stupidly ran a poet against Mike Miller and Jen won instead. Now they want her out and by any means necessary. Hence the fake "save the park" protest on Labor Day weekend. They're mostly white people from outside the district and they are organizing a hate campaign against a woman of color who beat out a white man. Not a good look!

These urbanish "comrades" should be glad that those trees might end up as wood for all those curb shanties that make it harder to park those evil cars they hate so much-JQ LLC

We rallied to protect the park from being converted into a parking lot. 📷: @aaronnarraph pic.twitter.com/E99d0S1ICC

— Maud Newton (@maudnewton) September 5, 2021

Headline: "White people with nothing better to do on Labor Day weekend protest make believe paving of Forest Park at a location that isn't Forest Park" (It's the Rockaway rail line.)

Jackson Heights residents are feuding with "friends" lobby over the city's "gold standard" open street

 

Is there anybody out there?

Queens Post

Two separate groups of Jackson Heights residents are ramping up efforts to see their different visions for 34th Avenue become reality.

While one is advocating for 34th Avenue to be transformed into a permanent park, the other is seeking to reduce current restrictions on vehicle traffic.

About 1.3 miles of 34th Avenue – as well as other streets throughout the city – are part of the city’s Open Streets program, which closes roadways to through traffic for pedestrian and cyclist use.

In April, the City Council passed legislation to make the Open Streets program permanent, which the mayor signed into law May 13.

On 34th Avenue, traffic is now restricted – from 69th Street to 78th Street and from 78th to Junction Boulevard from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m. The setup, however, allows vehicles to use north- and south-bound streets that cross 34th Avenue.

The city’s Department of Transportation (DOT) called 34th Avenue the “gold standard” of the Open Streets program in a news release announcing that it had installed its 1,000th bike rack last week.

The racks were being put in the roadway on 34th Avenue and at 81st Street. Other bike parking has also been set up on the Open Street at 69th Street and 77th Street at Travers Park, a spokesperson for the agency said.

But the bike racks highlighted a divergence in residents’ opinions about the Open Street and traffic on the roadway. Some residents are advocating for the Open Street to be shorter and say that it is detrimental to those who drive—including delivery workers.

In a statement, the DOT said, “We will continue to gather feedback that we will consider as we develop design proposals for the future of the corridor.” The agency said it plans to present its findings to the community in June.

Some Jackson Heights residents want the city to take the pedestrian and cyclist thoroughfare a step further – and are advocating for 34th Avenue to be made into a permanent park.

The group – Friends of 34th Avenue Linear Park – created a petition for their proposal, which as of Wednesday had received about 1,600 signatures, said volunteer Josefina Bahamondes.

“The benefits that the linear park can bring into the neighborhood are immense,” she said. Bahamondes, who is an early childhood teacher, explained that if 34th Avenue became a park it would allow kids more space to play, which would help their development.

However, the avenue already has reduced vehicle access, according to another group of residents.

The group, called 34Compromise, said in a statement that the Open Street has made it more difficult for drivers, including delivery drivers dropping off homebound seniors, and has increased noise on the avenue.

“There are so many people and residents of the avenue that are not ok with the avenue as it is right now,” said Paola Peguero, a volunteer with the 34Compromise group. She also said she wished the bike racks on 81st Street had been installed on the sidewalk – instead of taking away two parking spaces.

The group started its own petition, which had more than 800 signatures as of Thursday morning.

The petition describes several adjustments that they believe “could make the situation better for everyone.”

 Grande iced coffee drinking cell phone addicts seem to like it.

 

Restaurant shanties usurps nearly 9,000 curb spaces meant for cars

 

 NY Post

They have an appetite for obstruction!

Restaurants have gobbled up around 8,550 publicly-owned curbside parking spots for their outdoor seating set-ups since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to city data.

Since last June, City Hall and the Department of Transportation have let eateries build the dining areas in the now-former spots outside their storefronts. At the time, indoor eating was restricted amid the pandemic, though Mayor de Blasio has declared that the program will be permanent and year-round.

Around 11,500 restaurants joined the program, of which about 5,700 have chosen to set up shop along the curb. That adds up to “roughly” 8,550 spots transformed — out of around 3 million total parking spots across the five boroughs, City Hall spokesman Mitch Schwartz said.

For the operators of TRU Astoria cafe on Ditmars Boulevard, the extra space was well worth the trade-off — as business has “more than doubled” since installing dining tables along the sidewalk and curb.

“Thank god we adjusted. The extended patio. The outdoor seating. Being able to use the street. It strengthened our brand,” said Yanni Stathakis, 48, operations director for Astoria Hospitality Group, which owns the eatery.

“People in all five boroughs are now coming to Astoria to eat here at Ditmars. It was good the city did this.”

But just across the road, Sal Barretta of Alba’s Pizza said the program has taken a bite out of his business.

“My customers are telling me they aren’t coming here because they can’t find parking,” said Barretta, who opted not to set up dining tables in the roadbed because he figured there was plenty of space inside.

“The sheds, I did not do it. Maybe I should have,” Baretta said. “But we don’t need to be on the street. We have 101 seats inside. These sheds, really dangerous. It’s a huge liability. It’s dirty. It’s dangerous. You’re breathing in all the exhaust from the cars.”

Baretta said the restaurant next door to his closed months ago — but its outdoor dining set-up continues to clog up potential parking spots.

“The place next door, six months out of business. Still these three parking spots are closed because he left these out in the street,” Baretta said. “It makes no sense, but with this mayor — there’s no enforcement, no oversight. I don’t know what they hell he’s doing.”

Developer funded group proposes to build public plazas under Queensboro bridge underpasses

 

LIC Post

A plan to transform a gritty area under the Queensboro Bridge ramps into a vibrant public space is starting to take shape–with an architect considering designs that would include a basketball court, a dog run and a large seating area.

The plan, called the “Long Island City Ramps” project, would cost $5.5 million and involves revitalizing 50,000 square feet of underutilized space beneath the road ramps that lead to the Queensboro Bridge in Court Square.

The area that is set to be revamped includes a 17,000 square foot site along Dutch Kills Street which is currently being used by a DOT contractor for roadside parking.

The second area is a 33,000 square foot adjacent space that is being used by the NYPD School Safety division as a parking lot. Unlike the Dutch Kills Street space, much of this space is not covered by a ramp and will provide a large open area with plenty of sunlight.

The two ramps converge above Jackson Avenue.

Ridgewood bike spite racks

"Last fall, Citibike expanded into Ridgewood.

I walked around Ridgewood this weekend and was struck at how few bikes were in the newish CitiBike racks in the hood.

At first glance, it looks like the program is quite popular in the neighborhood as there's hardly a bike to be found.

But upon further discussion with neighbors, the truth came out. "They put the racks in last year but never stocked them with bikes." "They took away parking spots for this but didn't supply any bikes." "Why did they do this? Anyone here who wants to ride a bike already owns one."

And there you have it. Anything to make life more inconvenient for drivers, eh Polly?" - Anonymous


This post by New York Gentrification Watch (which focused on Citibike's expansion into yet to gentrified mostly Black neighborhoods in Brooklyn, they do still exist) last summer predicted and now confirms this spiteful disservice to the citizens of Ridgewood. This should qualify as a land use issue.- JQ LLC

 Last week on Curbed, via the NY Daily News, it was reported that a nonprofit, New York Communities for Change, commissioned a study to look at how well Citi Bike was serving NYC residents. Conducted by the Urban Politics and Research Governance Group and called “Bridging the Boroughs,” it came to the totally shocking, unseen and far out of left field conclusion that Citi Bike is being used exclusively by a young white affluent demographic

 Initially, my reaction to the Bridging the Boroughs study was, “No DUH. Of course.” But a few minutes into reading about it, alarm bells immediately started going off. Here’s why:

That Citi Bike is exclusively catering to a demographic that doesn’t include the poor and people of color shouldn’t have been a surprise to anybody. It’s so obvious that I can’t even believe people would waste time creating a study based around this very obvious fact. After all, this is who that service is for–tech-oriented, upper middle class white millennial-age transplants who have the money and the time to waste on what’s essentially a luxury.

Why is Citi Bike a luxury? Because no one needs it to commute by bike in NYC. They just…well, don’t. Wanna commute? No problem. Go to a bike store, a Sears, a Target, a local NYC bargain basement, Craigslist or a thrift shop. Pick any one of a number of bikes available. Take it home. Then take it out whenever you need to go somewhere. If you don’t have the space to store a bike, then get a folding bike.

Easy peasy, right? That’s what I did. That’s what hundreds of thousands of people around NYC did and continue to do. Did we need a Citi Bike to start bike commuting? No.

 But you see, here’s the thing–some people don’t want to get into bike commuting the “easy peasy” way. For one, to go out and buy a mass-produced bike like any Tom, Dick or Harry would make you like everyone else. If you’re a privileged snot from a particular demographic, you can’t do that because you’re not like everyone else. Your bike has to be niche. It has to come in a unique design and color and be associated with something distinctive that sets it apart from the bikes that everyone else is using.

Furthermore, it’s simply too mundane, “lo-tech” and old-fashioned to grab a mass-market bike and roll it out the door like every other human being. Gadgetry must be involved, as well as a highfalutin way of acquiring and using said bike. This is so your ride acquires a level of sophistication and coolness that makes you superior to the dumb, older, unsophisticated masses who aren’t smart or cool enough to use a bike that requires a smartphone. If you have to spend more money than necessary on a service to get this experience, all the better. That only makes it worth paying more money for, because this turns it into a luxury that most can’t afford.

It was people like this for whom Citi Bike was created, people who have the disposable income–and the waste of time–to use a system in which they have to jump through hoops to commute by bike. Urban planners, Big Development and their political cronies know this. It’s why Citi Bike was rolled out in the first place. Contrary to everyone’s assertions that it was about making bike riding more accessible to New Yorkers, Citi Bike seems to me to have been a cynical strategy to alert certain affluent demographics on the west coast and perhaps in Europe that NYC was now “up to their standards” and worth moving to.

City council passes law to curb placard abuse

NY Post

City Council members overwhelmingly backed Council Speaker Corey Johnson’s plan to rein in widespread abuse of city-issued parking permits, approving all nine of his bills he put forward to crack down on placard abuse.

“Placard abuse is corruption,” Johnson told reporters ahead of the Council’s Tuesday vote. “We’ve tolerated it for years as one of those unchangeable facts in New York City, but those days are hopefully over.”

The package of bills would up the fine for illegal placard use — a rampant practice among city employees — from $250 to $500. It would require city employees to apply for placards and explain why they should be granted the permit.

The NYPD would also be required to conduct 50 targeted placard enforcement sweeps each week under the supervision of the city’s Department of Investigation.

Furthermore, city police would be tasked with maintaining an electronic database of all placards in circulation and tracking progress towards eliminating improper use of city parking permits.

Critics frequently complain the NYPD fails to crack down on placard abuse since cops are frequently spotted misusing them, but Johnson told reporters DOI’s involvement ensures NYPD will take the issue seriously.

“We wanted an outside check,” Johnson said. “Traffic enforcement agents who are supposed to be writing the summonses and tickets … don’t always do it because they are afraid of policing the police.”

Looks like someone missed a sweep on Queens Blvd on the night of the new legislation. Speaking of outside checks, how about compensating George the Atheist for his recent expose'.

 

NYPD fraternity group parks their cars on the sidewalk adjacent to bike lane.

George The Atheist


Who:  The Columbia Association of the NYPD.
Where:  In Elmhurst on the Queens Boulevard south service road between the new Georgia Diner and Grand Avenue.
When:  Tuesday evening, November 26, 2019.
What:  Columbia Association police membership needs convenient and difficult to find on-street parking.
Why:  It seems that this membership has parking privileges that the rest of the citizenry does not.  

If the Queens Boulevard bike lanes are kept clear, as seen in these photos, why can't all drivers then park on the sidewalk like these off-duty cops?



No standing, unless you're privileged