Monday, September 28, 2015

Bayside LIRR plaza not being maintained

From the Times Ledger:

The small traffic island in front of the Bayside Long Island Rail Road station on 41st Avenue has a history of neglect.

This summer the shrubs planted around the half-circle plaza became overgrown with weeds. What used to be grass alongside the paved pathway is now only a few patches of dirt littered with trash, cigarette butts and empty beer bottles.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the state agency that oversees LIRR, said the plaza is under the jurisdiction of the city Department of Transportation.

The half circle is on MTA property, but at least part of the plaza is zoned as city property, lined with streets and sidewalks, according to the city Open Accessible Space Information System.

The DOT said it does not have the equipment to take care of green space and is only responsible for paving in park space and plazas.

This was also discovered by Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside), who expressed concerns about safety at the site, calling upon the DOT to repave the cement paths on the traffic island.

In response to the lack of responsibility taken for the small plaza at the Bayside train station, Avella said he is in the process of finalizing a $50,000 grant to be awarded to the Bayside Village BID to take on maintenance at the site.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I attended a SoT "info session" on how to apply for consideration of a pedestrian plaza. . . The application must have a sponsoring community group (an LDC, e.g.) which agrees to take over maintenance and insurance. So how did this situation come about?

Anonymous said...

It is called passing the buck. It is no ones responsibility the plaza should take care of itself.

Anonymous said...

Anon1 - This traffic island (not a plaza) has been there as long as I can remember. And I'm pretty sure it predates the Bloomberg era DoT pedestrian plaza program.

AFAIK there is only pedestrian plaza east of the Flushing River - in Douglaston.

It likely was built without an understanding about maintenance.