LIRR Proposing to End Essential Link from Kew Gardens to Forest Hills

Over this past summer, the Long Island Railroad & the Metropolitan Transit Authority, announced that the LIRR East Coast Corridor, with service to the new Madison Station Platform at Grand Central Terminal, will commence by the end of this year - winter 2022.

Initially this was great news and that which LIRR commuters have been awaiting to hear for two decades. Unfortunately for us, with the release of the LIRR's proposed new train schedules for service, we now see that the LIRR-MTA is actually taking away vital service between Kew Gardens and Forest Hills.

 

 

 

 

 

Click here to view the draft LIRR schedule for Kew Gardens and Forest Hills, which eliminates all train stops between the two, in either direction! Thus one would no longer be able to take the train at Kew Gardens and get off at Forest Hills, and vice versa. However, this two-minute ride provides a CRITICAL LINK between our two communities which MUST BE MAINTAINED.

The MTA & LIRR want to hear from communities how they feel about the new schedule. This is our chance to tell them!

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO COMMENT AND LET THE LIRR-MTA KNOW THAT SERVICE BETWEEN KEW GARDENS & FOREST HILLS IS ESSENTIAL TO US AND MUST BE RETURNED TO THE SCHEDULE.

IN DETAIL HERE'S WHY:

1. This link between the two stations enables Kew Gardens residents, especially the elderly, young families and the differently abled, to reach quickly and easily healthcare facilities and businesses unavailable in Kew Gardens.

Forest Hills is the hub for many medical facilities, especially ones that are UNAVAILABLE in Kew Gardens, e.g, specialized medical offices, medical labs, radiology services, hospital, clinics etc. In addition, the Kew Gardens community both needs and supports the many Forest Hills small businesses which have no counterpart in Kew Gardens. 

                                                                                               

2.  Given the new alternate Manhattan destinations, i.e., Penn Station and Grand Central, the destination link between Kew Gardens & Forest Hills helps to move traffic. For example, if you miss the KG train to the Eastside, you may be able to switch at Forest Hills for their next train to the East side, etc. and arrive in good time.      

 

3.  Such links between stations/communities continue to exist on many, if not all other LIRR lines - just not for Kew Gardens. Moreover, those using LIRR to access those local stations even have a special reduced fare, while Kew Gardens riders pay the full fare (as much as $6.50) to just Forest Hills, the same as if they were going to Manhattan or the Hamptons.  In just one example, the two-minute ride between Manhasset and Plandome LIRR stations, remains on the new schedule, costs seniors and the disabled $1.50, regular-fare payers also pay just a small percent of the final destination fare to and from Manhattan.

 

The link between Kew Gardens and Forest Hills is critical to our community, and now especially with the stifling of Queens Blvd for local motorist and public buses with under utilized bike lanes, the underground Subway stations in constant disarray - the massive jail structure and all the chaotic traffic it will bring, looming heavy - it is essential that the LIRR link between our two, interdependent neighborhood eco-systems, must be maintained.

Thank you.

Sylvia Hack

Construction site dirt mountain a hell on earth for Forest Hills residents

PIX 11 News 

 Residents of a Queens co-op building told PIX11 News it’s a neverending battle against dirt and dust. The culprit — a massive mound of dirt located on an ongoing construction site.

After six years, they said they’ve had enough.

“I want my life back,” resident Collette Smith said. “My neighbors deserve their lives back. Enough is enough.”

The construction vehicles at the site, located near the Van Wyck and Grand Central parkways, kick up debris in the yard, which causes dust to travel into nearby apartments. The residue is found on multiple surfaces throughout their homes.

“I don’t need to be breathing this stuff,” Connie Hemingway said. “I want to extend my life, not shorten it.”

Hangry Assassin gets sprung on bail and his wife got busted for gun possession on the same day

 

 Queens Post

A Briarwood man who allegedly gunned down a food delivery worker in Forest Hills in late April has been released on bail.

Glenn Hirsch, 51, appeared in court in Kew Gardens Monday and a judge set bail at $500,000. He has been charged for the shooting death of Zhiwen Yan, 45, and will now remain free while awaiting trial.

Hirsch’s attorney Michael Horn argues that his client is innocent and that the police have nabbed the wrong person.

Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Holder set strict guidelines as a condition of Hirsch’s release, which includes monitoring by an ankle bracelet and limitations as to where he can go outside of his apartment.

Hirsch is accused of fatally shooting Yan at around 9:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 30. Yan was shot in the chest while on his scooter making deliveries for the Great Wall Chinese restaurant located at 104-37 Queens Blvd.

Fox News 

Dorothy Hirsch, the 62-year-old wife of the man accused of gunning down a New York City Chinese food deliveryman amid an ongoing dispute with the restaurant over duck sauce, was arrested on Monday after police found eight guns and more than 200 rounds of ammunition hidden in her Queens apartment, according to a report. 

Police arrested the woman and charged her with gun possession after NYPD conducted a search warrant at her 84th Road apartment where she maintains a separate residence from her husband, New York Daily News reported. Her bail was initially set for $150,000. 

Records show NYPD recovered a loaded 9mm semi-automatic with a clip containing nine rounds and a .38 caliber revolver containing 10 rounds from a box in a back closet. 

Authorities discovered a second 9mm and a .45 caliber revolver in a bag in the same closet, according to police, while a .38 caliber revolver, a .357 caliber revolver, a 9mm pistol, and a .25 caliber pistol were located in a black zippered pouch, which also contained the rest of the recovered ammunition. 

Dorothy Hirsch’s lawyer, Mark Bederow, said that the woman — a registered nurse with no prior arrests — is "adamant" about her innocence and has refused to be used "as a pawn" in the case regarding her husband.

 

NYPD catches hangry homicidal maniac

NY Daily News

An unhinged customer who feuded for months with a Queens Chinese restaurant about not getting enough duck sauce with his order has been arrested for the April shooting death of the eatery’s beloved longtime deliveryman, cops said Thursday.

Glenn Hirsch, 51, was arrested at his home Wednesday night and charged with murder and gun possession for the April 30 killing of Zhiwen Yan, 45.

The victim was riding his scooter near 108th St. and 67th Drive in Forest Hills when he was shot in the chest. A witness told cops the driver a of a Lexus SUV sped off from the scene.

Yan worked for more than a decade at Great Wall, a Nothern Boulevard restaurant whose manager, Kai Yang, 53, told police of a problem customer who drove the same type of vehicle.

Police quickly focused on Hirsch and eventually developed enough evidence to charge him.

Hirsch was taken into custody without incident, an NYPD spokesman said.

“Zhiwen Yan was a beloved member of his Queens community whose tragic murder in April was heartbreaking,” NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell tweeted early Thursday. “@NYPDDetectives never relented in their investigation — and have now arrested 51-year-old Glenn Hirsch. He’s been charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon.”

 

For the soldiers who fought and died for this country and our freedoms

Biking to work on Queens Boulevard

It was bike to work day Friday so I thought I would see if other riders would be making the trek on the longest bike lane in Queens. Considering how perfect the weather was, very little decided to participate. Which is how it is every day on this route.

Another cold blooded murder in Forest Hills

NY Post

A hard-working Chinese food delivery man was shot and killed while on the clock in Queens Saturday night — and now cops are probing whether the gunman is a disgruntled customer who had “multiple disputes” with the restaurant over his orders, sources told The Post.

Zhiwen Yan, 45, was on his scooter and making a delivery near 108th Street and 67th Drive in Forest Hills around 9:30 p.m. when he was blasted once in the chest and mortally wounded, police said on Sunday.

Sources said cops are now eying a 50-year-old customer who has an ongoing beef with staff at Great Wall on Queens Boulevard, allegedly menacing them with a gun in January and twice vandalizing their vehicles.

One witness told police the angry customer drove off from the Forest Hills restaurant in an older model Lexus RX3 SUV after one encounter — the same type of vehicle spotted fleeing the scene of Saturday’s shooting, the sources said.

The Greek Restaurant Shanty Ruin Of Austin Street

Crappy told me about this shanty, apparently the roof couldn't persevere under the primal forces of Mother Nature or maybe Zeus. But like every other decrepit shanty, it still remains taking up valuable parking space, which is what the regulatory captured Department of Transportation Alternatives wants.

 

Fatal Attraction

Forest Hills woman murdered when she got home after night out with friends

 

NY Post

The Forest Hills mom found dead in a hockey duffel bag spent some of her final hours puttering around her yard and enjoying a night out — before video caught a mysterious figure lugging her makeshift casket down the street.

Cops are now trying to piece together how Orsolya Gaal, 51, went from a well-to-do, seemingly typical stay-at-home married mom of two to slay victim.

“It’s a mystery,” an NYPD official told The Post on Sunday. “Now it’s a question of piecing together everything she did that night.”

The source said that during Gaal’s final hours Friday, “She goes out with friends.

“We’re pulling video and receipts from those places,” the source said.

Gaal returned home before midnight and a short time later her killer arrived, another NYPD source said.

 Then] around 4:30 a.m. [Saturday], you see somebody rolling this [duffel bag] down the sidewalk from multiple cameras,’’ the high-ranking NYPD source said.

“[Cops] actually traced it backward from the scene to the house,” the source said, referring to a blood trail from the bag.

“She knew the people she was out with,’’ the source added of the victim. “We’re talking to them. We also have to figure out, did she meet some mysterious stranger along the way?”

Gaal’s body was found with multiple stab wounds in a hockey bag, not unlike the one used by her son, the second law-enforcement source noted.

Detectives have found no sign of a break-in at the house. They believe the suspect knew his victim and stabbed her out of anger, a source said.

Police on Sunday released surveillance footage that showed a person dragging a duffel bag across the sidewalk.

A dead woman got dumped on Metropolitan Avenue

 

NY Daily News

A woman whose body was found by a dog-walker stuffed in a duffle bag on a Queens street Saturday morning may have been killed by a family member in a nearby home, police sources said.

The dog-walker called 911 after making the grim discovery at about 8:10 a.m. on Metropolitan Ave. near Forest Park Drive, which cuts through Forest Park near the Jackie Robinson Parkway.

The woman had no ID on her and was covered in blood, cops said.

Police focused their attention on a home on nearby Juno St. Saturday afternoon, and were looking into the possibility that a male relative killed her and dumped the body, sources said.

One park-goer, who gave his first name, Jonathan, 30, said he was shocked to hear about the woman’s body being found by his normal walking path.

“We walk here on weekends usually. It’s horrifying,” he said.

NBC New York

Homicide investigators on Saturday were at a home in Queens questioning a teenage boy in connection to the discovery of a woman’s body found that morning in a duffel bag dumped near an overpass, police sources told News 4.

The NYPD said a 911 call was made at 8:18 a.m., alerting police to the Forest Hills crime scene on Metropolitan Avenue at the Union Turnpike.

Officers found the bag and discovered a woman’s body inside, according to the NYPD, which initially reported the body inside was dismembered. The circumstances leading to the victim’s death and her identity have not been confirmed by police.

Investigators spent much of the day scouring the crime scene for evidence, some of which led police to a nearby house, according to law enforcement sources. Those officials said a blood trail was discovered between the nearby residence and the location where the body was dumped.

 
 

Pedestrians fears about intersection gets pedestrian response by the D.O.T.

 

QNS

Several residents of the Kew Gardens and Forest Hills communities joined Community Board 9 members on April 14 at Park Lane and Union Turnpike to demand that the Department of Transportation (DOT) make the intersection safer for pedestrians to cross.

According to Community Board 9 District Manager James McClelland, the community submitted a request to the DOT last November asking for either the timing of the traffic lights to be changed or for the installation of a leading pedestrian interval. The latter would give the green light to pedestrians to cross several seconds before parallel traffic, allowing for extra time to make those who are crossing appear more visible to turning drivers. However, the request was struck down by the DOT last March.

McClelland said the DOT denied the request out of fear that it would’ve further backed up traffic. However, several residents doubted that excuse, citing a lack of traffic buildup on Union Turnpike.

 

Fiber deprived

 

THE CITY 

Dr. Ida Messana, a Queens internist specializing in geriatric medicine, started experiencing internet, fax and landline phone issues in her Forest Hills office last summer and noticed a concerning side effect.

Many of her elderly patients, who depend on phone calls and faxes, as opposed to emails and texts, stopped coming because they could not reach her.

“We lost dial tone on my fax line, so I couldn’t receive or send any faxes. Imagine my patients waiting for their CAT scans, X-rays, their reports of blood, all different kinds of things,“ she explained.

Turned out her fax machine was working, but the line was out. She also relied on the line for DSL internet service to her office.

While her connectivity problems were resolved five months later, Messana fears future service outages. A Verizon technician told Messana that her phone lines are copper, which the company phased out in favor of fiber optic wires.

Most telecommunications companies these days tout their high-speed fiber optic lines, which send light down thin filaments of glass, but copper wires are still in use for some households.

When those metal wires corrode without proper upkeep, New Yorkers who rely on them are left without service.

Developer brings down AMI qualifications for incremental affordable units in luxury public housing building at Trylon Theater

QNS 

A zoning application for the proposed Trylon development in Forest Hills has been modified to allow deeper affordable housing units so more families can live in the community, according to newly elected City Councilwoman Lynn Schulman.  

After extensive negotiations and discussions with the developer, Trylon LLC., the mixed-use residential development at 98-81 Queens Blvd. will utilize Mandatory Inclusionary Housing (MIH) Option 1, which is more affordable for prospective renters. 

The project will bring approximately 40 housing units to Forest Hills with the majority of these units targeted for households making between $30,000 and $70,000, Schulman said. Under MIH Option 1, developers are required to set aside affordable units for residents earning 60%, 40% and 100% of the AMI.

“According to the NYC Housing Preservation and Development’s ‘Housing New York Open Data,’ only one new construction affordable housing project was located in Queens Community Board 6 during the entire eight years of the de Blasio administration. There are other conditions that were expressed by the community board which are still being explored with Trylon LLC., but the housing agreement is the most significant,” said Schulman, who thanked the community board and Queens Borough President Donovan Richards for their guidance and input in the process, as well as Trylon LLC. for working with the community. 

After public hearings and discussions regarding the demolition of the Tower Diner and Trylon Theatre to make way for the new development on Queens Boulevard, Community Board 6 in November 2021 voted in favor of the project, but with certain conditions.

Remote pedo working

Queens Post

A Forest Hills man has been arrested for repeatedly trafficking a 13-year-old boy to Queens and sexually assaulting him after they met online.

Manuel Moretti, 39, was indicted in Brooklyn federal court Thursday on sex-trafficking charges after he allegedly lured the boy across state lines to his apartment on at least four occasions early last year for sex, according to the criminal complaint.

Moretti, an IT professional who works from home, is also accused of giving the boy a fake adult ID and continuing to contact him for sex after the defendant was interviewed by the FBI in December, prosecutors said.

Following the FBI interview, Moretti also allegedly told the victim to use a blocked telephone number to communicate with him in an apparent attempt to dodge law enforcement, prosecutors said.

“These allegations serve as a reminder of the dangers to our children from online predators and the importance of being aware of whom our children are communicating with online,” U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said.

“Our office is deeply committed to protecting vulnerable victims from sexual exploitation and will vigorously prosecute offenders like Moretti, who allegedly prey on children.”

Moretti met the boy on a social networking site in January 2021 and then arranged for the victim to travel to his Forest Hills apartment for sex on four separate occasions between January 2021 and April 2021, prosecutors said.

During the FBI interview in December, Moretti admitted to meeting the boy and engaging in sexual acts with him, prosecutors said.

Moretti described the boy as “young-looking” to the FBI but denied knowing the victim was 13-years-old, prosecutors said.

The defendant said he knew the victim was attending school and lived at home with his parents. Moretti also said he gave the boy an adult state identification document so that the victim could gain entry to his apartment.

Knowing the boy was 13, Moretti contacted the boy via Snapchat last month following the FBI interview in order to arrange another meet-up with him, prosecutors said

Revel repulsion

Queens Chronicle 

 The image is a stark one.

Four of the sky-blue Revel scooters that have become ubiquitous on street corners in some sections of Forest Hills were photographed last week, not in the street waiting to be rented by a new rider, but on the other side of the curb, laying on their sides in the grass on a side street just off Union Turnpike.

At least one appeared to be damaged, with its mirror laying a short distance away on the sidewalk. The photo doesn’t indicate whether, the damage was incidental to the vehicles being moved by someone looking for parking or done with extreme prejudice.

The scooters began appearing in Forest Hills back in the spring. Unlike Citi Bike vehicles that are taken from and returned to specific docking bays, the scooters, under a city-approved program, can be left on the street for the next renter to pick up and drop off when finished.

While they must adhere to all city parking and traffic rules, they have not always sat well with some Forest Hills residents, who have complained about abuses on both fronts.

The apparently damaged scooters even came to the attention and social media accounts of Tom Verni, a retired NYPD detective who now works as a crime and law enforcement consultant for media outlets. He also is a former resident of Forest Hills and Kew Gardens. Verni, too, said the photo appears to show that at least one of the scooters was damaged.

“They’ve been springing up like dandelions all over the place,” Verni said. “With Citi Bikes, you have stations that take up a quarter-block, half a block. The Revels people leave them just anywhere. It’s becoming a nuisance.”

Verni said he has seen the scooters parked illegally; parked in front of driveways; and parked between cars, often leaving them inadequate space to pull out without physically moving the scooters. He has also seen them parked at curbs on alternate-side-of-the-street parking days when street sweepers must detour around them.

“All true. Those are the calls we’ve been getting,” said Frank Gulluscio, district manager of Community Board 6. Gulluscio said Revel officials did speak before CB 6 before the program kicked off, but that was it.

“It’s not like we had a say,” he said. “The city had already approved it.”

Bad motor scooter

  

NY Post

Not so fast.

New York City scooter scofflaws flaunted road rules just feet from an NYPD press conference about cracking down on the two-wheelers Thursday — but officers dragged their feet on ticketing them.

Several drivers on e-scooters were seen blowing through red lights — some with fake license plates or none at all — near the intersection of Yellowstone and Queens boulevards in Forest Hills, where the NYPD and the DOT held a joint press conference about beefing up enforcement in the name of safe streets.

As DOT assistant chief Kim Wiley-Schwartz spoke at a podium next to several police officers, a Chinese food delivery guy driving an e-scooter with a fake New York state license plate zipped by — just 8 feet from the press conference, video shot by the Post shows.

“It’s a national trend but people have gotten into poor driving behavior with more speeding and reckless driving,” Kim Wiley-Schwartz, DOT Assistant Commissioner Chief of Transportation —  said as the rule breaker on wheels rolls up.

The sighting prompted a Post reporter to point out the well-timed sighting, saying, “That’s a fake plate!”

But police took no action — and Wiley-Schwartz plowed through her speech without acknowledging the illegal driver.

The same scooter jerk was later spotted whizzing through a red light — and within 10 minutes, six more scooter drivers were seen without plates near the intersection. Three of them were seen zooming the wrong way down bike lanes and two were spotted running red lights.

Gov. Cuomo is about to lift pandemic restrictions on restaurants

  

Patch

 A long-awaited plan to reopen indoor dining in New York City could be served later this week, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said.

The New York City-only ban on indoor dining amid coronavirus fears has created difficulties for its restaurant industry, Cuomo acknowledged on Wednesday.

He said he'll be talking with local officials and restaurant leaders about potentially reopening and what percent capacity.

"We'll have an announcement by the end of the week but we're looking at going back to the 25 percent… would be the question and how and when you do that," he said.

The coming reopening plan came as welcome news to Andrew Rigie, executive director for the NYC Hospitality Alliance, a restaurant industry group that has pushed for bringing back indoor dining.

Rigie, in a statement, argued that limited occupancy indoor dining has been a "minor factor" for spreading the coronavirus. Instead, the full shutdown has permanently shuttered thousands of bars and restaurants and put more than 140,000 New Yorkers out of work, he said.

"We're happy that Governor Cuomo heard the voice of New York City's decimated restaurant industry and we look forward to working towards a plan that hopefully reopens indoor dining soon," he said. "As the Governor acknowledged, it's paramount these decisions are based on data. And, because New York City has lower infection and hospitalization rates than nearly all counties in the rest of the state where indoor dining is open at 50% occupancy, our city's restaurants must be treated equitably and reopened safely."

 

Queens Patch 

 

 Color-coded coronavirus cluster "zones" will disappear across the state, after a drop in COVID-19 cases following the post-holiday spike, but Forest Hills will still be subject to yellow-zone restrictions.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Wednesday he would eliminate nearly all of New York State's COVID-19 cluster zones and their associated restrictions. Among the five zones not included: the yellow zone that covers a swath of Western and Central Queens.

Yellow "precautionary" zones are the third tier of Cuomo's cluster action initiative to tackle local coronavirus spikes, with orange zones bearing even tighter restrictions and red zones drawing the most severe measures.

Under the "yellow zone" designation, restaurants may offer indoor and outdoor dining with a maximum of four people per table, gatherings of up to 25 people are allowed and houses of worship can operate at 50-percent capacity. Schools must conduct 20-percent weekly testing of in-person students and faculty.

 

 

 

 

Shanda! That's a lot of shekels for synagogue property

 

Queens Post 

 The Forest Hills Jewish Center is on the market for $50 million.

The 106-06 Queens Blvd. property has been listed with Manhattan-based B6 Real Estate Advisors and is being marketed as “a prime block front development site located in the heart of Forest Hills.”

The property has hit the market about a year after the synagogue scrapped plans to redevelop the site itself.

The synagogue, along with a real estate firm, initially planned to demolish the property and build a 10-story mixed use building that would include space for the center. However, the plans were shelved after the center had a disagreement with the developer.

Deborah Gregor, the executive director of the center, said the synagogue reached out to the B6 Real Estate about two weeks ago to have the property listed. She did not disclose why the center chose to sell the property, as opposed to develop the site itself.

The center, which houses a synagogue, classrooms and other services, encompasses the entire block front on the east side of 69th Road between Queens Boulevard and Austin Street. Much of the site consists of a four-story building.

The congregation was founded in 1931 on Kessel Street, and moved into its current building in the late 1940s. The synagogue can seat 1,200 to 1,300 congregants and the center serves about 500 families.

The property is situated within a C4-5X, FH (R7X equivalent) zoning district as well as a Qualified Opportunity Zone.

Con Ed telling Midwest Queens residents to stand the heat.

Con Edison

Con Edison is asking customers in certain neighborhoods in Queens to conserve energy while company crews repair equipment. Con Edison has also reduced voltage by 8 percent in the area as a precaution to protect equipment and maintain service as crews make repairs.

The area is bounded by the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and 51st Avenue on the north, the Jackie Robinson Parkway on the south, Queens Boulevard on the east, and the Brooklyn borough line on the west.

The area includes 116,300 customers in the neighborhoods of Glendale, Forest Hills, Forest Hills Gardens, and Middle Village. Con Edison has asked customers in the area not to use energy-intensive appliances such as washers, dryers, microwaves and, if not needed for health or medical reasons, air conditioners, until the equipment problems are resolved.

Customers can report outages and check service restoration status at  
www.conEd.com/reportoutage, or with our mobile app for iOS or Android devices, or by calling 1-800-75-CONED (1-800-752-6633). When calling, customers should report whether their neighbors also have lost power. Customers who report outages will receive updates with their estimated restoration times as they become available.

Customers can follow Con Edison on Twitter or like us on Facebook for general outage updates, safety tips and storm preparation information.

The equipment problems in these neighborhoods have no effect on the rest of the Con Edison system.

Con Edison will provide updates to affected customers directly and through the media as the situation warrants. The company is in communication with New York City Emergency Management.


 Excuse me, but can't other "certain neighborhoods" conserve some energy too?