Donovan Richards Great White YIMBY Hope

 

 

This is Brandon Zwagerman, a gay resident of Ridgewood and new member of Community Board 5. He's a bike zealot and a big fan of Citibike and wants the failing bike share to usurp more parking spaces in the district. Donnie Richards appointed, make that anointed this guy to the board over a civic leader who also lives in Ridgewood and who is also gay and has been a resident longer.

But there are obvious reasons Donnie Rich is enamored with this gentrifier, Zwagerman also has done some meddling in Soho and East New York to lobby for more overdevelopment of luxury and incremental affordable housing, so he's all a part of that "city of yes" doctrine to approve rezonings while undermining community voices against them. He also donated money to multiple fauxgressive elected officials who are notoriously agency captured by "advocacy" lobbyists for the anti-car and YIMBY luxury public housing agenda, which includes the most notorious one of all, Juan Ardila, assuring his ascendance to his assembly seat and who is currently under investigation for two sexual assaults on women he took advantage of while they were intoxicated. 

MTA B13 reroute makes a transit desert on purpose

 

 QNS

A Glendale resident voiced her concern about the MTA’s proposed Brooklyn Bus Redesign that would impact the B13 route that runs through Queens during last week’s Community Board 5 (CB 5) meeting at Christ the King High School in Middle Village.

During the meeting, a letter from Glendale resident Deloris Bachmann was read in which she stated that the proposed changes along the B13 line would make it harder for her and other senior citizens who use that line to go anywhere. 

“This is a hardship for the many senior citizens and handicapped people who live in my neighborhood, not to mention an inconvenience in bad weather,” Bachmann said in the letter. “Without reliable bus service, how will be able to shop, visit doctors, go to Wyckoff Heights [Medical Center], visit friends, go to church or the library?”

The MTA revealed their Brooklyn Bus Network Redesign back in December that proposed the B13 reroute to the Ridgewood Reservoir and Cypress Avenue, which would eliminate stops along Cooper Avenue, Fresh Road Pond Road and Gates Avenue. 

“Queens is already a transit desert — why create another?” Bachmann said in her letter. “This plan may look good on paper, but the MTA has not considered the welfare of those who live along that line.”

CB 5 has reached out to the MTA in the past regarding the MTA Brooklyn Bus Network Redesign and getting reliable bus service to the Ridgewood Reservoir. In their letter to the MTA, CB 5 stated that the residents will be negatively affected by the proposed changes.

“The currently proposed B13 Bus route change is very likely to negatively affect bus riders in parts of Ridgewood and Glendale, Queens, who would, if the plan is adopted, lose helpful transit links to areas north and south of where they live,” the letter read.

CB 5 District Manager Gary Giordano told QNS that MTA needs to find a solution that would benefit both parties.

“They gotta find a way,” Giordano said.

The Department of Transportation Alternatives gets excoriated for Ridgewood Reservoir bus route that eliminates more essential bus routes

 QNS

Following the December 2022 release of the MTA Brooklyn Bus Network Redesign proposal, which would eliminate several stops in Ridgewood on the B38 and B13 lines, Queens Community Board 5 (CB5) is drafting a letter to the Department of Transportation (DOT) to voice their opposition to the changes. The bus redesign plan and letter were discussed at Wednesday’s CB 5 transportation and public transit meeting, held at 61-23 Myrtle Ave.

According to the MTA, their bus redesign proposal for the B38 would eliminate service to Stanhope Street, Woodward Avenue, Starr Street, Metropolitan Avenue and Grandview Avenue. Meanwhile, their proposal for the B13 would travel through the Ridgewood Reservoir and Cypress Avenue.

“A good number of people in that portion of Ridgewood along the 38 used that bus in that area, including students from Grover  Cleveland High School,” said Gary Giordano, district manager of CB 5.

Along with Grover Cleveland High School, other important stops in Ridgewood will be cut off in the MTA bus redesign proposal.

“Well, with the B38, it serves a high school, a pretty large public park and two cemeteries, and the route goes up and down the hill, which a lot of people aren’t gonna be able to walk,” said Christina Wilkinson of the Juniper Park Civic Association.

Wilkerson also stated that eliminating service to Liberty Park along the B13 would be unfair to residents living in the area.

“Well, first of all, removing an entire bus line from Liberty Park, they’re also removing part of the Q39, which goes to Liberty Park so that that whole neighborhood won’t have any bus service, it seems like,” Wilkinson said. “I don’t think that’s fair. I think residents should have bus service in that area.”

She also said that adding a bus stop at the Ridgewood Reservoir would be difficult because of the speed bumps on the road.

“It’s going to be difficult to place a bus stop there, and it’s gonna be difficult to place a bus line along that route because it has speed bumps and the roads are restricted to passenger cars only,” Wilkinson said.

Homeless man prefers freezing elements and cold concrete than warmer but more dangerous city shelter

 

Queens Chronicle

A homeless man underneath the train tracks at Myrtle Avenue and Fresh Pond Road in Glendale, only a block from the Community Board 5 office, has been refusing help for weeks, area leaders say.

Myrtle Avenue Business Improvement District Executive Director Ted Renz called his presence there “an ongoing issue.”

Community members say the man, Pawel, has refused help.

The Rev. Mike Lopez of All Saints Church said the city has done some cleanups of the man’s belongings but that area residents continue to bring him food, money, coats and blankets.

“I think it comes out of a good place from people who don’t want to see him get hurt,” Lopez told the Chronicle Tuesday. “He’s a rather charming gentleman if you’ve ever had the opportunity to deal with him.”

But the residents might be hurting more than helping.

“Our hope is to bring them indoors. As long as they’re being supported with their needs it makes it much harder to bring them off the street,” Lopez said of homeless people, though he acknowledged telling residents not to help “is almost impossible.”

Lopez has known the man for five years. Lopez said Pawel, who is in his mid-40s, was a working member of the community, a carpenter by trade, who became homeless three years ago.

Lopez said Pawel has family but declined to discuss that any further.

“He knows his rights,” Lopez said. “He knows he can’t be forced away.”

Accepting outreach efforts is voluntary. In accordance with the state Mental Hygiene Law, street homeless New Yorkers cannot be involuntarily removed from the streets unless they pose a danger to themselves or others.

A spokesperson for the city’s Department of Homeless Services said nonprofit service provider Breaking Ground canvasses the area more than 20 times a week and actively engages 24 verified homeless individuals encountered on the streets in an effort to offer them services and get them indoors.

“As the weather gets colder, our outreach teams continue to be out across the five boroughs, implementing best practices, latest health guidance and Code Blue protocols whenever appropriate, as they engage unsheltered New Yorkers and encourage them to accept services,” DHS said.

Councilman Bob Holden (D-Middle Village) told the Chronicle he visited Pawel with his chief of staff, Daniel Kurzyna. Holden said he stayed back as Kurzyna, who speaks Polish, approached him.

“We don’t want to gang up on him,” Holden said. “Dan said he looked white as a sheet.”

The lawmaker wants to see the city invoke Kendra’s Law, which allows courts to order certain individuals with serious mental illness to stay in treatment for up to a year.

“I didn’t examine him but it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that if this man would rather live under the trestle than be in a warm room then he can’t make rational decisions,” Holden said, adding, “Obviously it’s the wrong decision to pick being outside in 20 degree weather.”

But Lopez said Pawel has had bad experiences in shelters.

“They feel that it’s safer to be on the street and they wanted to be connected locally to their communities and I think that’s one of the reasons he stays,” Lopez said.

The reverend believes the city needs to improve its shelter system.

“Can you imagine choosing to live on the streets of New York City in January over a shelter because it’s unsafe?” Lopez said.

CB 5 Chairman Vinny Arcuri said Pawel told him “he’s just waiting to die.”