Bayside cyclist thinks Alley Pond bike lane is stupid

From QNS:

Longtime Bayside resident Helina Cheung, an avid cyclist and runner, said she and neighbors are left befuddled by a bike lane project recently installed in the neighborhood.

“When my husband and I saw the project, we said, ‘This project doesn’t make sense at all,'” Cheung told QNS while onsite.

The project along the Alley Pond Park edge, between Northern Boulevard and Springfield Boulevard, was installed by the city’s Department of Transportation (DOT) this past winter. It is one part of a larger safety project presented by the DOT to Community Board 11 in June 2017.

Community board members voted unanimously in favor of the Alley Pond segment of the project, while support for the Northern Boulevard segment, which has faced community scrutiny, has since been revoked. In March, QNS spoke with a local property owner who claimed the project causes “mass confusion” for drivers and pedestrians.

The Alley Pond safety project flipped the existing bike and parking lanes at the location and installed a four-foot protective buffer between the two. The bike lane is now situated closest to the park’s edge and cars are to park in a “floating parking lane.” A lane for moving traffic is situated next to the floating parking lane.

According to Cheung, many cars drive in the floating parking lane or bike lanes, creating dangerous conditions. A lack of signage and worn paint at the site add to this confusion, she said.

Alley Pond dumpster saga continues

Thanks for the post the other day about the overflowing dumpster at Alley Pond Park.

I would like to report to everyone that maybe the Parks Department got the message, sort of. The problem isn't the overflowing dumpster anymore. Now they just leave the garbage for days in front of the park house. WTF is going on with these guys?

JP

Eyesore at Alley Pond

Hi Crappie, please post this photo and help me get some support for both a garbage corral and a better location for this garbage dumpster at the park. Presently the dumpster is located at 79-20 Winchester Blvd at the entrance to Alley Pond Park. It's the first thing you see when you enter the park. Why would the Parks Department want their garbage dumpster located within feet from the main entrance to the park? This dumpster has been an ongoing issue for years. It's an easy fix. They just have to spend a small amount of our money and build a corral to hide the overflowing garbage can. Thank you.

JP
Bellerose, NY

Not all of Alley Pond Park is treated equally

"The part of the park near Union Turnpike and Winchester Blvd is overrun with weeds and hasn't been cared for in months while the tennis courts are fit for kings." - Linda S., Bellerose

Alley Pond Park hosts science lab

From the NY Times:

Deep in the woods at Alley Pond Park in Queens is a laboratory that looks like something out of a weather fanatic’s wild imagination.

Attached to a lofty oak are a webcam and a wind vane, humidity and temperature sensors, rain gauges and instruments to measure solar radiation. The high-tech tools, which transmit information in real time, are part of the United States Forest Service’s new “smart forest” initiative, in which data is collected from selected woodlands to help scientists manage landscapes in a changing climate.

At 635 acres, Alley Pond Park, at the head of Little Neck Bay, is the first urban forest to be included in the current crop of a half-dozen wired forests across the Northeast. And despite its location in one of the most populous and developed corners of the country, its natural features remain intact, including freshwater and saltwater wetlands, tidal flats, meadows and forests.

The data collection began in 2011, when researchers at Drexel University teamed up with the city’s parks department to study the sylvan nook inside the park, along with two other engineered green spaces in the city designed to capture storm-water runoff. But the Forest Service has now added Alley Pond Park to its Smart Forest Network.

Lindsey E. Rustad, a research ecologist with the Forest Service and co-director of the United States Department of Agriculture’s Northeast Climate Hub, said that scientists had extensive data on pristine wilderness areas, but needed a better grasp of urban forests.

Motor Parkway restoration gains steam

From the Times Ledger:

Hundreds of petitioners have joined forces with a campaign calling for the Motor Parkway bike and pedestrian trail in Bellerose to be upgraded.

The campaign was started by Joby Jacob and Jana Suchtova, two Queens residents who say they use the historic path regularly but are unhappy with its abrupt end once it reaches Winchester Boulevard and Union Turnpike. Instead of continuing along the street, the Motor Parkway stops and those traveling on bike or foot must walk along the boulevard with no sidewalk or road shoulder to protect them from the cars.

The original parkway, built in the early 1900s, was a private road that stretched from Fresh Meadows out to Suffolk County. The city Parks Department maintains the 2.5-mile portion of the parkway in Alley Pond and Cunningham parks.

For bicyclists who ride eastbound on the section between Horace Harding and Winchester boulevards, the lack of road beyond Union Turnpike creates a safety issue, Jacob said.

As of the beginning of the month, more than 250 have signed an online petition agreeing with him.

Jacob said he has been in contact with City Councilman Mark Weprin (D-Oakland Gardens) and state Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside), because all the roads and properties that would be involved in any changes are owned by either the city or the state. Though no suggestions are set in stone, Avella said he was in favor of the idea and would support Jacob and Suchtova along the way.

“The idea is great. We just need to make sure there aren’t any structures in line that could present a problem” said Avella. “I think it’s doable and we’ll see where it goes.”

Jacob said he is not necessarily asking for a pedestrian bridge to be built across Winchester Boulevard, but the idea could be revisited later if sufficient funds could be raised. For now, he said the only costs he anticipates being involved with the project are to move the Creedmoor building’s fence, put down the sidewalk and plant some shrubs.

Insecticide spraying this week in Queens

To control mosquitoes, the Health Department will apply larvicide by helicopter to marsh and other non-residential areas of Staten Island, the Bronx and Queens on Monday, June 11, Tuesday, June 12 and Wednesday, June 13; between the hours of 6 a.m. and 7 p.m. weather permitting. In case of bad weather, application will be delayed until Tuesday, June 12, Wednesday, June 13 and Thursday, June 14 during the same hours. While three days are allotted for this activity, the application may be completed in less time. The areas to be treated appear below. These are marshy, natural areas, which are common breeding grounds for mosquitoes. Due to their size and inaccessibility by ground vehicles, these areas will be treated with larvicide from a low-flying helicopter.

Arson at Alley Pond

From Bayside Patch:

The playground inside Alley Pond Park has been torched in an apparent act of arson.

The recreation area located at the corner of Springfield Blvd. and 79th Ave. in Oakland Gardens looks to have been set ablaze overnight, on Tuesday or the wee hours of Wednesday morning.

The playground was closed after the fire, as equipment, an the ground surrounding where it stood, has been scorched, according to Councilman Mark Weprin, D-Oakland Gardens.

The Dept. of Parks and Recreation is investigating.

Lots of ponds

Click photo for story - it's a 2 pager!

DEP restores marsh at Alley Pond

From the Daily News:

FOR THE first time in decades, egrets and horseshoe crabs have been spotted in the northern section of Alley Pond Park.

The 16-acre spot, once clogged with construction debris and invasive plants, has been restored to its natural wetland state under a $20 million project recently completed by the city Department of Environmental Protection.

The dense field of trees and shrubs at the northeast corner of Northern Blvd. and the Cross Island Parkway was cleared to make way for a rolling meadow of wildflowers and a large tidal pool filled with ducks and birds.

The city took on the project as part of a larger plan to battle flooding woes in the area. A combined sewer overflow tank is being installed in the park to help catch stormwater runoff.

Since a portion of the wetlands was being disturbed for that project, the DEP agreed to restore the adjacent piece of park.

Crews started excavating the site and eventually removed 7,500 cubic yards of construction debris that had been used to fill the ground over the years.

Buildings existed on the land in the 1920s and 1930s, but were razed over time. Nature took over, filling the field with poplars, mulberry and black locust trees as well as phragmites.

And while it may have appeared to be a pristine field of green, the invasive plants were actually choking the land, blocking the tidal flow and discouraging wildlife.

During the restoration process, workers made an important discovery - water bubbling up through the soil.

City officials hope to open up the site to the public in a few years, after the plants, grass and trees have time to establish themselves and grow.

But osprey, hawks and kestrels have already flocked to the area, along with the egrets and crabs, to make nests and take advantage of the fish-rich tidal pool.

Rehabilitated owl released at Alley Pond

From the Queens Courier:

The Alley Pond Environmental Center has an extra pair of wings in its skies, thanks to the caring work provided by one Queens- and Nassau- based veterinary center.

An adult female screech owl was found by police officers on Friday, January 22, lying on the street on Union Turnpike. They immediately brought her in to the Central Veterinary Associates’ (CVA) 24-hour hospital in Valley Stream. She was thought to have been hit by a car on the turnpike.

Dr. John Charos, who works for the CVA, which has an office on Bell Boulevard in Bayside as well as others throughout the borough, admitted the bird for care and monitored her rehabilitation. Dr. Karina Salvo looked after the daily treatment of the bird, as well as the CVA’s various other veterinarians.

“The owl was brought in a state of shock with head trauma,” said Charos. “Its right eye was closed and there was swelling to the right side of its head.”

Charos immediately treated the owl for shock. He and Salvo then kept the bird on injectable antibiotics to help heal her wounds, and had her tube fed three to four times a day until her soft tissue trauma had healed and she was able to eat on her own.

During her stay, they also gave her a name - Athena.

Fully healed and after a long goodbye, Athena was released in the Alley Pond Environmental Center, near where she was found, on the morning of Tuesday, February 9. Charos is an active board member with the environmental center, which he called “a little known gem of our city parks system,” and arranged for the release, which took place in front of five classes of kindergarten students.

APEC to expand

From the Queens Chronicle:

Alley Pond Environmental Center is about to get a $7 million makeover.

The popular nature center at 228-06 Northern Blvd. in Douglaston has been bursting at the seams for years, but there is little room to expand because of the adjacent park and marshes. “You can’t double the footprint without encroaching into the park,” said Irene Scheid, APEC executive director. “We can’t go to two floors because we would need an expensive elevator and because of the marshland,” which couldn’t take the extra weight.

Instead the city, which operates the nature center, has decided to install six modular units that will be connected to the existing building via a walkway. The APEC facility — which originated as an outdoor furniture store — will be gutted, redesigned and have a new floor and walls installed.

“We will make it as green as possible,” Scheid said. “We hope the work will start next August.”

More than $5.5 million has been allocated by area elected officials including state Sen. Frank Padavan (R-Bellerose), Borough President Helen Marshall, Assemblyman Mark Weprin (D-Little Neck), Councilman Tony Avella (D-Bayside) and the entire Queens City Council delegation. The rest has come from a three-year fundraising effort.

The reason why the project is costing so much money is due to the marshlands. The city has to put out a contract for soil tests and borings for the modular units, according to Scheid, and that it’s currently “in a holding pattern.”

The city wants to ensure that the modulars don’t sink and are firmly grounded before their installation. Scheid said the units will add 5,000 square feet of additional space.

Crime up in Queens parks

From the NY Post:

Crime is up in 20 of the city's biggest parks over the last year, including three in Queens, according to NYPD data.

The number of major crimes counted in the 20 big parks rose by 8 percent, to 197, from July 2008 to June 2009, the records show.

Grand larceny -- theft of property worth more than $1,000 -- was the top crime, occurring 101 times. Robbery came in second, with 43 incidents.

Three of the largest increases in crime occurred in Queens.

The total number of crimes in Cunningham Park skyrocketed to 29 from July 2008 to June 2009. It had only one in the preceding year.

Cops say the number of crimes in the park fell to zero after an arrest in July linked to car break-ins.

During the same period, the number of crimes in the 255-acre Flushing Meadows Corona Park spiked 31 percent, to 64, and crimes in Alley Pond Park about doubled, to 17.