City Rolls Out Blacktop Carpet For Film Shoot In Richmond Hill

Impunity City

In light of the insulting neglect towards the auto shops at Willets Point, here is unadulterated proof of how Bill de Blasio's Department of Transportation prioritizes road improvements for promotional and ceremonial events and film shoots over the needs of the taxpaying citizens from a post I wrote last November. And Liberty Avenue past 122 st. is still in horrid, dilapidated and hazardous condition.

As it was written:

 A week before Halloween, an encouraging sight sprung forth to auto owners and cyclists. The decade long dilapidation of Liberty Avenue beginning at Lefferts Boulevard was about to get repaved with fresh tar and asphalt. Being a cyclist myself, it was elating to finally look forward to a smooth path and finally see the cracks and crevices produced by many winters, persistent double and triple parking and K and illegal U-turns by overtly aggressive drivers remediated.




What’s frustrating about this is that a while back the D.O.T. milled and repaved the entirety of Liberty under the elevated train from Rockaway Blvd to the last stop at Lefferts Blvd but they decided for some damn reason not to stretch out the repaving 15 blocks east to the Van Wyck Expressway to at least make it look compatible as well as prevent the road from suffering from further degradation.

But in yet another case of diminishing returns of half-ass efforts from your city, it turned out that they only repaved 2 fucking blocks.

 Even more frustrating and fucking maddening is that the long overdue road repair was permitted and possibly inspired and demanded to make way for a film shoot.

 

Brooklyn CB is fighting back against illegal curb cuts

From Brooklyn Daily:

The mayor must step in to force city agencies to crack down on selfish Bensonhurst homeowners who take away already-scarce street parking spots by illegally cutting their curbs and paving their front lawns into driveways, according to the neighborhood’s district manager.

“The [Buildings] violations are all bark, no bite,” said Marnee Elias-Pavia.

Pavia sent Hizzoner Community Board 11’s recommendations for how agencies should punish offending homeowners in an April 18 letter after board members unanimously adopted the resolution to do so at its April 12 general meeting. In the letter, Pavia outlined the decades-old problem and its environmental impact — made worse by the fact that the Federal Emergency Management Agency classified some affected areas as particularly susceptible to flooding, which the proliferation of concrete and lack of grass promotes, she wrote.

“Our topography creates a bowl effect and prevents tidal and storm water absorption,” she wrote. “We must address the lack of absorption created by the removal of front yards in the northern portion of the district to increase absorption and resiliency.”

CB11 demands that the buildings agency make inspecting and even re-inspecting properties with alleged illegal curb cuts and driveways a higher priority — especially for flood zones — and to notify the community board when properties receive violations for illegal curb cuts or driveways. The letter also wants the city to improve inter-agency communication by having the Department of Buildings coordinate with agencies in charge of roads, parks and environmental concerns.

“There needs to be a sharing of information [among the agencies] — there’s an environmental impact, so the Department of Buildings should be sharing with the Parks Department,

Pavia also wrote that the city should increase and enforce fines for violations, push homeowners to use permeable pavements on legitimate driveways to help drain stormwater, and require homeowners to fix curb-cut violations before selling their properties — among other suggestions.

When it rains, it floods in Bayside

From NBC:

Residents in Bayside, Queens, says paving crews did such a poor job resurfacing roads that it now regularly floods when it rains. Roseanne Colletti reports.

Evolution of a Queens street corner

147th Street and Delaware Avenue, Flushing

NY Post. City Demands Landlord Pay.

"Amazing isn't it, the inconsistency and selectivity by this mayoral agency in pursuing who damages and harms public street trees, who gets fined for those damages and the "special groups" like developers here in Queens that astonishingly get away with their nefarious tree damaging behavior without any noticeable summonsing or jail time - even when New York's Greenest have been alerted about it." - anonymous

Illegal driveways continue to get built

From the NY Post:

Brazen Brooklyn residents are selfishly paving illegal driveways on their front lawns and creating unauthorized curb cuts — eliminating scarce parking spots.

“Most of them I’ve seen go from a lawn to a driveway overnight,” fumed Michael Buhse, 55, who lives on 79th Street between 19th and 20th avenues in Bensonhurst, where the problem is especially bad.

Buhse says he sometimes gets home from work at 1 a.m. and has to drive around for 30 minutes or more to find an open parking space.

Some homeowners cut the curb themselves, but most just drive over the short curbs onto freshly paved-over lawns — and then pitch a fit when anyone parks at the curb and blocks them in.

Worse still, the NYPD has no record of which driveways are legitimate.

So if a motorist parks at a curb and blocks an illegal driveway and the homeowner calls the cops, officers will ticket the car and force the driver to fight it in court, NYPD sources told The Post.

Woodhaven's paving problem

From CBS 2:

Officials said the main reason paving over your yard is banned is so residential areas have green space.

Residents said another reason for the zoning change is so there would be proper drainage after a rain fall — preventing water from flowing from a driveway into the street.

A problem because although some of the converted driveways aren’t eliminating curbs, they are limiting parking.

Homeowners posted ‘no parking’ signs so people won’t block their illegal driveways.

Fake grass is not a solution

"Another one of those paved-over front lawns. But this one's a bit different. Not sure if the fake grass/Astroturf came before or after the complaint, but the DOB apparently wasn't too pleased with this "remedy."

-Rick

Kew Gardens park to be returned to the people

From DNA Info:

...on Tuesday, the Parks Department said that the DA’s office had vacated the space and that the park would be restored in the coming months, weather permitting, without offering a specific timeline.

The department also said that it is currently working on a plan that will include removing gravel, aerating the soil and planting new seeds.

The DA’s office will be responsible for handling the renovations and footing the bill, the Parks Department said.

It was unclear who gave permission to ECCO III Enterprises, Inc. — which for the past six years has worked on the Interchange project seeking to widen the Van Wyck Expressway — to build the lot.

They'd hold a ribbon cutting for a flea market

Only in Queens do politicians hold press conferences - podium and all - to announce that basic road repairs have been completed. A press statement would have sufficed.

From the Times Ledger

Living in a McMansion's shadow

"This is a photo comparing the size of a typical rebuild with the older homes in Floral Park, NY. If you've never been to Floral Park, Queens, get prepared to see a dumpster on every corner. That's the new status symbol.

Buyers buy little houses with nice-sized yards and cut down old growth trees to stuff oversized houses on the old property. The new houses overshadow the neighboring houses and have little, if any, landscaping. A lot of the times, the trees and grass at the curb are eliminated and the front lawns are paved over to make room for the multiple cars owned by the multiple families living in what used to be one family/one owner houses.

The streets are now crowded with cars and the neighborhood is hotter and noisier due to the loss of noise buffering, cooling trees and bushes in vanishing yards. Rebuilds have less frontage and there's more cement all around. What used to be suburban, is slowly becoming more urban." - anonymous

1,000 miles of roadway to be repaved

From CBS 2:

A new project announcement will affect anyone who drives in New York City. The Department of Transportation unveiled a plan Tuesday to repave 1,000 miles of roadway throughout the boroughs, but it could come with a lot of frustration for commuters.

The more than $1 billion commitment over the next 10 years is aiming to get city streets in better shape, CBS2’s Emily Smith reported. The repaving will happen from the Bronx all the way to Staten Island.

While its welcome news for millions of drivers hitting deep potholes everyday, there will be milling on the streets for up to 20 days at a time. The conditions can make for an uncomfortable, bumpy drive or even road closures.

Queens:
Queens Boulevard from:
Union Turnpike to Hoover Avenue

Hillside Avenue from:
184th Street to 188th Street
Clearview Expressway to Braddock Avenue

Utopia Parkway between:
Horace Harding Expressway & Jewel Avenue

Lefferts Boulevard from:
Kew Gardens Road to Metropolitan Avenue

Kew Gardens Road from:
Lefferts Boulevard to Van Wyck Expressway

E/B S/R Horance Harding Exressway from:
Kissena Boulevard to 164th Street

DOT hesitates to fix beat up road

From the Queens Chronicle:

Esther and Marty Golden won’t have to look at the cracks on 153rd Avenue much longer.

The Department of Transportation, responding to an inquiry about the poor condition of the corridor, said on Tuesday it’s preparing to fix holes along that stretch of road — but stopped short of saying it will receive a total makeover.

“DOT will make pothole repairs as needed and we will review the street to see if resurfacing in the future is warranted for the corridor,” an agency spokeswoman said in an email.

The Goldens, who live in a co-op on 153rd Avenue, told the Queens Chronicle the road has been a safety hazard for the past couple of months.

“I haven’t fallen but I have tripped on it,” Esther Golden, a 35-year resident of the community, said pointing to several cracks and holes along the road.

She said the street has been in bad shape for a few months but the onslaught of ice and snow this winter exaggerated the problem.

DOT damages woman's property while paving

From PIX11:

Like so many other streets in Jamaica, Queens, Foch Boulevard was riddled with potholes and in desperate need of paving. So when the New York City Department of Transportation began working on the street in late April, resident Latisha Wilson was relieved. But, she says, “Something went wrong with one of their trucks and the tar got all over my property, the gates, the sidewalks, the retaining walls.”

Letisha grabbed her cell phone and documented the damage, the wet tar covering the concrete slabs on top of the wall surrounding her yard, tar on the fence, the gate posts, even tar footprints from the workers’ shoes leading up the stairs to Latisha’s home.

“One of the guys came over and apologized, he said he was sorry, that it was an accident,” said Latisha. “He said we’ll clean it up.”

The D.O.T. used a power washer to try and remove the tar, but Latisha says it made the situation worse. So she called PIX11 to show us what it looked like two weeks after the power washing. Much of the tar was still visible and wet. In addition, the clean-up efforts also damaged the sidewalk. When it became clear this was a much bigger job than could be done with t power washer, the D.O.T. workers told her she would need to file a damaged property claim with the New York City Comptroller’s office.

Are better roads in our future?

From CBS 2:

Sometimes it’s the squeaky wheel that gets the oil, and in this case it’s nearly $250 million dollars’ worth.

CBS2 was the so-called squeaky wheel on behalf of angry New York drivers. And so, after demanding answers week after week, month after month this winter about why the roads are so bad, residents and commuters are hopefully on the highway to driver heaven.

“It’s going to be a big victory for the motorists of New York City,” Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg said. “Actually, I’ll give this mayor credit. This is going to be some of the most miles of resurfacing the city has done in many years.”

CBS2 has learned that the mayor has decided to add a hefty $242 million for road resurfacing to the capital budget, which is funded through borrowing.

What this means to you, the driver, is:
* 1,200 lane miles will be resurfaced starting July 1
* An additional 1,300 lane miles will be resurfaced starting on July 1, 2016

That should make a substantial difference in the quality of your ride throughout the five boroughs.

Same old story in Bayside

Another nasty parking situation in Bayside.

This property has had multiple complaints about a variety of issues.

They got banged for the curb cut back in 2009, but nothing was done about it.

DOB says problem is resolved...but it's not

"Spotted this piece of Queens Crap today while driving in Bayside. Maybe the DOB will shift some building inspectors back to Queens if more people make 311 complaints about all the illegal parking going on in Northern Queens." - anonymous

The owner got banged for this in 2006. And got it "resolved" in 2011.

So much for that.

Avella gets somewhere with DOT

From the Queens Chronicle:

Score two for state Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside) for getting the city Department of Transportation to take action on two problematic locations in Flushing and Little Neck.

The worst of the two is the area around the Flushing Commons construction project at the former municipal parking lot in Downtown Flushing. Avella and others, including the developer, have complained that lack of signage has backed up traffic on 37th and 39th avenues from Union to Main streets and on Union from Roosevelt Avenue to Northern Boulevard.

In addition, there is no pedestrian walkway on part of Union Street, making it dangerous for people who must walk in the street.

Avella has held two press conferences at the site and met with Queens DOT Commissioner Dalila Hall there seeking solutions to the problems.

On Friday, Avella announced that Hall had agreed to amend a stipulation with the developers to require them to provide traffic control agents for the duration of the construction, which is scheduled through 2021.

Hall has also agreed to install a temporary pedestrian walkway on Union Street.

In Little Neck, Hall has OK’d partial resurfacing and repair of Depew Avenue. It is scheduled to be completed in January.

Live from Jamaica: The next hot neighborhood!

From Cleanup Jamaica Queens:

It is so funny when I read the other day, that Jamaica is going to be one of five new "hot" areas come 2015. Funny, because the below quality of life issues that plague this community continue over and over again and Jamaica certainly does not look like the next "hot" neighborhood, especially with the large majority of slobs, bottom of the barrel folks, slumlords, a poor excuse of elected officials and a lack of enforcement on many issues.

Plus, no matter what city agency you talk to the same thing "not enough man-power". This excuse has gotten so fucking old and if NYC was a business, it would have been shut down decades ago. How about enough with the fucking excuses and just enforce the fucking laws on the books. How can you keep cramming more and more people into this city if you 1) do not have the infrastructure to handle it and 2) you say you don't have the 'man power".

Latest Jamaica shit sights:

Street not repaved since 1997

From the Queens Chronicle:

Residents of Hamilton Beach are taking their fight to have a street in the community repaired to the highest level of City Hall.

Roger Gendron, president of the New Hamilton Beach Civic Association, has started a petition asking Mayor de Blasio to direct the Department of Transportation to repave 104th Street, which has been neglected for years.

“We just want to get it leveled,” Gendron said. “That road is our only way in and out of Hamilton Beach.”

The corridor, which runs north and south, was ripped up along with other Hamilton Beach streets in 1997 as part of a city project to place sewer pipelines throughout the area, Gendron said.

Following the completion of the construction later that year, Gendron said, many of the roads were repaired, repaved and maintained by the city, with the exception of 104th Street.

“It hasn’t been touched,” he said.

The condition of the road has been made worse by a construction boon in the area.

Gendron said about six houses have been erected on 104th Street since 2008, which has only exacerbated the problem.

1 down, one to go

From the Daily News:

All traces of a longtime Queens eyesore have been replaced by a smooth, wide sidewalk.

The city has paved over the site of a tattered, shuttered newsstand on the busy corner of Metropolitan Ave. near Fresh Pond Road, which residents and civic leaders have complained about for years.

“Persistence pays off,” said City Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley, who held a press conference at the site to highlight the issue over five years ago.

Wow, congratulations, Liz! It only took you 5 years! I guess she'll need another 5 years in office to demolish the dilapidated former gas station across the street.