Is the MTA screwing Bay Terrace?

From the Times Ledger:

Riders traveling on the MTA’s Q28 bus from Flushing to Bayside are finding their feet on shaky ground when they arrive at the Bay Terrace shopping center.

For years the owners of the center have allowed the authority’s buses to use its private road, but now they are considering sending the Metropolitan Transportation Authority packing if the city will not pay to repair damages the vehicles are causing to the asphalt.

Cord Meyer Vice President Peter Galletta said he estimates it would cost between $20,000 and $30,000 to install a concrete bus pad, finally putting an end to years of repairing the streets at his own cost. He said he asked the MTA to pay for the bus pad, but the agency told him that the city Department of Transportation was responsible for repairing roads. When he contacted the DOT, he was told it did not fix private roads, Galletta said.

Galletta said he agreed more than 10 years ago to allow the MTA’s buses to turn off of 23rd Avenue onto 213th Place and make a left through the shopping center’s parking lot where they turn onto Bell Boulevard and head back down 23rd Avenue on their return trip to Flushing.

Galletta claims that representatives from the MTA said they would sign an agreement covering some kind of maintenance contract, but that did not happen, and in subsequent years he has written letters complaining about the damages.