No bike lane bliss for Blissville

NY Post 

Businesses in one of the last-standing industrial corners of Long Island City say they can only take so much gentrification — and that a planned new bike lane has put them over the edge.

Local industries argue that the cyclist carve-out in the trendy Queens neighborhood will be dangerous for their truck drivers — not to mention the bikers.

“Not every street is safe for a bike lane. You wouldn’t put a bike lane down the middle of the LIE. It’s just not safe. And this is similar,” argued Matthew Dienstag, co-owner of the local LeNoble Lumber.

 But the city — which touts on its transportation Web site that nearly 1 million New Yorkers regularly ride bikes — is plowing ahead with plans to connect the Pulaski and Kosciuszko bridges for bikers.

The connection will come by way of Borden, Starr and Review avenues — a dangerous sector of Blissville infamous for its big-truck congestion.

“It’s like, ‘This is what we’re doing, we don’t give a s–t.’ Excuse my French,” griped Michael Diamond of J&S Supply Corp, a 75-year-old insulation and roofing distributor company, to The Post, referring to the city’s stance.

J&S Supply is one of the dozens of warehouse businesses, as well as a city Sanitation Department waste management facility, that contribute to the heavy stream of truck and forklift traffic traveling in and out of the corridor.

Massive box trucks already swerve across both lanes of traffic to enter and exit their warehouses, a tricky maneuver made even more difficult by the overcrowded streets’ chronic double-parking problem.

Local civic associations and the community board requested the bike lane as a solution to the safety issues.

With space allotted for parking on both sides of the road, just about 22 feet would be left for moving traffic — a significant slice that business owners say they cannot give up.

“There probably will be more truck accidents than there are now,’’ Dienstag argued. “When you have a tractor-trailer pulling into any one of these buildings there to put to back in or to pull out, they’re almost hitting those cars afterwards.”

The business owners said cyclists would be in danger, too.

In a span of one hour Friday morning, The Post observed four cyclists pedal down Review Avenue, including one who opted for the sidewalk path rather than the busy street.

“There’s a lot of trucks, so it’s better this way. No one’s around,” said Richard Derba of Maspeth, Queens, who cycles to Greenpoint along the Review Avenue sidewalk twice a week.

When asked if the incoming bike lane would be beneficial, Derba said it wouldn’t make a difference to him because the vehicular traffic would still be too heavy for his comfort.

The DOT argument to justify inducement of bike lanes would be a little more credible if their data for cycling wasn't two years old. But like the man said, they don't give a shit.

 

Drive, we said

AMNY  

More people are driving cars in New York City than ever before, based on toll data from the MTA and Port Authority — a remarkable feat as the city prepares to implement congestion pricing in the hopes of dissuading motorists from getting behind the wheel in favor of mass transit.

Over 335 million vehicles were recorded crossing the MTA’s nine bridges and tunnels in 2023, which include the Whitestone, Throgs Neck, Cross-Bay, and Verrazzano-Narrows Bridges and the Brooklyn-Battery and Queens-Midtown Tunnels, among others. That’s a 1.3% increase over the previous record in 2019, when 330.7 million crossings were made, and the most ever seen in 87 years of data collection.

In 1937 — the first year that the MTA Bridges & Tunnels’ predecessor, the Triborough Bridge & Tunnel Authority, was in operation — the bridges saw only 18.5 million crossings. Back then, the TBTA had only three bridges in its portfolio: the Triborough Bridge, the Henry Hudson Bridge, and the Marine Parkway Bridge.

The Port Authority, meanwhile, has this year seen the highest number of vehicle crossings on its six spans — including the George Washington Bridge, Holland and Lincoln Tunnels, and the Bayonne and Goethals Bridges and Outerbridge Crossing connecting Staten Island and New Jersey — since at least 2011. Through October, the latest month that data is available, the Port Authority had recorded just over 102 million crossings.

In its 2024 budget proposal, the Port Authority projected its bridges and tunnels would see 122 million crossings next year.

New York City’s Department of Transportation could not immediately provide numbers for its bridges throughout the city, which include major spans like the Brooklyn, Manhattan, Williamsburg, and Queensboro Bridges and hundreds of short crossings all over the five boroughs. Unlike the MTA and Port Authority, the DOT does not collect tolls.

However, DOT did record that the number of vehicles registered in the city grew more than 10% between 2010 and 2021, according to the agency’s Streets Plan update earlier this year. The numbers for 2022 will be published in early 2024.

 

Amazon truck culture dominates public streets for people

 

 

 NY Post

It’s the “law” of the concrete jungle.

Amazon delivery drivers who cause traffic chaos when they commandeer huge stretches of Big Apple streets are getting more brazen, with one claiming that cops gave them license to do so.

“The [NYPD] … said it’s OK to double park here,” said driver Shawn Evans from a frenzied “mobile distribution hub” — a euphemism for the mammoth trucks that double and triple park while workers scurry to unload their contents onto cluttered streets and sidewalks.

Evans said he had been unloading at his location along Columbus Avenue on the Upper West Side for more than three hours with a truck containing “1,500 … 1,600” items.

“The NYPD does not allow Amazon delivery vehicles to double park or violate any parking regulations,” a department spokesman countered. “If these vehicles are observed in violation, a summons is issued.”

Evan’s truck was not an outlier. The Post found at least four Amazon delivery trucks hogging up sections of Columbus this week. Some Amazon employees confirmed they had been double-parked for hours.

Many of the the trucks are surrounded by what appear to be city traffic cones — but actually belong to Amazon, multiple delivery men said.

The problem is not unique to the Upper West Side. With its ultra high-density high-rises, the Upper East Side is also uniquely susceptible to Amazon delivery jams. Last November the City Council passed a bill aimed at curbing the issue by introducing loading-only parking spots in affected neighborhoods — but so far results have been limited.

“It is like Whac-A-Mole,” said Manhattan Councilwoman Gale Brewer, adding that trucks would move from one location after a complaint to another. The veteran lawmaker says she has gotten at least 20 constituent complaints about the issue this year.

“It’s an endless challenge,” she said.

The Department of Transportation has legalized riding on the sidewalk

 

 A bike zealot discovered this in Astoria when he went to complain to his fellow bike zealots on the twitter about this big rig parked in the two way bike lane. Apparently, Commissioner Ydanis decided it was good idea for cyclists, ebikers and even unlicensed moped riders to endanger bus commuters lives by giving them more convenience and ensuring their commutes don't get briefly disrupted, instead of putting a yield sign here so non-biking people can get on and off the bus safely (or maybe former dopey interim Commissioner Gutman or even that lady before her, who knows how long it's been there.)

 

 

Daily News cheerleading congestion pricing

From the Daily News:

Far from curing the congestion crisis on our roads, COVID made matters worse, prompting lots of commuters to get off the commuter rails, subways and buses and into their cars.

The way to solve this problem is also the way to generate $1 billion in new, sustainable, annual funding for public transit that is the region’s lifeblood: charge vehicles when they travel into Manhattan’s central business district.

Okay let's break this down for the News since they don't seem to understand what went on here. More vehicles are congesting Manhattan roads because:

1) Cuomo led us to believe that the NYC subways and buses were COVID superspreaders.
2) The subways are full of maniacs that came from prisons where doors were flung open due to COVID. Hell, even on the street you aren't safe.
3) People were told to isolate and are getting more deliveries at home.
4) The City decided that road space should be geared toward bikes and not trucks so that transplants don't have to ride the subway.

What we have here is the government mindfucking the public so they can turn around and walletfuck them when the public reacts as expected. And the media is cheering them on from the sidelines.

All congestion pricing will do is make the goods the average joe (DN readers) buys more expensive. Instead, institute a Transit Tax on new skyscrapers which lead to more congestion. Problem solved.

Argh! United Towing & Collision illegal parking

 

Illegal Parking  -  Commercial Overnight Parking

United Towing and Collision 23-34 42 STREET, QUEENS (ASTORIA), NY, 11105 QUEENS

This business parks their damaged cars and trucks all over the neighborhood, creating an eyesore and taking up parking for the residents. There are feral cats living under some of the cars in the streets too.

They must be in cahoots with the police because the police do nothing. We have bene complaining for years to no avail. Come and take a look around the area and you will see their crappy cars and trucks everywhere. This is a quiet tree lined, grassy neighborhood and these cars parked all over really bring down the look of the area.

 For Example:

Abandoned MTA plow on 23^rd Road near Sound Street.

Minivan with PA Dealer plates (J78 463J) on 23^rd Road, there almost a year.

Winnebago van with VT plates (see photo below), parked there for almost a year.

Cars parked on Astoria Blvd North and across 42^nd Street (see photo below).

 

Signed, Irritated in Astoria.

Anarchy on the Belt Parkway

Impunity City

 The location of this is on 124th and South Conduit Blvd in South Ozone Park and it’s a remote residential area north of the JFK airport. Barely any pedestrian or even bike commuting goes here. The actual exit ramp for 130 st. is about a few blocks east.

But apparently, those venturous drivers looking to depart from the Belt didn’t want to wait that long…

Keep on obstructin' again; Runway Towing returns and dumps damaged trailers on Conduit Blvd.

 Runway towing at in again in south ozone park. Back in January channel 2 news did a story on this problem about this towing company storing there damaged trailer on south conduit from 124th street to 126th streets.

  




































 About 5 months went by before this tow company started there nonsense again. DOT even put up no standing anytime signs and two new fire hydrants were put at 125th street and yet they still continue to conduct illegal parking problems here.
 

  




































 They also still have no regard for people’s safety putting these trailers on the corner of this busy intersection. you can not see oncoming traffic on south conduit ave.

 The local police pct which is the 106 will not say anything to them because they help them out with tow operations.

  




































So this is a ongoing fight that will never end until unfortunately a bad accident happens. 

So sad.

 

Big rigs hogging Grand Central Parkway service road space is another persistent problem the city avoids

CBS NY

  Trucks are taking over another Queens neighborhood.

CBS2 found around two dozen parked Sunday night in Forest Hills, some idling for hours.
Residents said they are begging the city to help. Reporter Lisa Rozner first reported on the problem two years ago. On Sunday, she went back to speak with residents who said the situation has only gotten worse.

Truck fumes filled the air, but she wasn’t at a truck stop.

It was actually the Grand Central service road spanning several blocks starting at 64th Road. For the last three years, Rafy Yusupov and his neighbors say it’s what they come home to every night — and it’s especially bad on weekends when trucks are left for days.

“Always noise, always smell, traffic,” Yusupov said.

Here's an idea. Since the MTA did a transit ad campaign with Comedy Central and Forest hills resident and Golden Globe winner and viral rap star Awkwafina having her doing station announcements, have the NYPD make the same integrated advertising/public service arrangement with the network and have her order the removal of these pig parking big rigs.

Catch Awkwafina is Nora from Queens premiering on Comedy Central on January 22nd.

 

Keep on Obstructin' 2020, big rigs still being stored on the Conduit in South Ozone Park

South Ozone Park illegally parked trucks; it's happening again...

 

In 2017 and 2018 I wrote into queens crapper about the illegally parked tractor trailers parking in south ozone park on south conduit aves between 125th streets to 127th streets we are now heading into the year 2020 and as you can see the 106 pct is still doing nothing about the illegally parked tractor trailers obstructing drivers views of traffic on south conduit and tractor trailers parking next to residential homes. 

Happy new year. Here is to another year of dealing with this garbage in south ozone park.

Inspector finds no problem where there clearly is one

From the Queens Chronicle:

When Mary Ann Giammarco sees the empty house at 73-36 179 St. in Fresh Meadows, she isn’t happy.

A graffiti-stained commercial truck sits in the driveway, with lumber languishing behind it. A sign on the door urges passersby to stay out.

“The whole property is just an eyesore,” Giammarco told the Chronicle last week. “And the homes around here are beautiful.”

A resident of the same street, she is a member of the Utopia Estates Civic Association and a block captain.

Giammarco penned a letter to the editor about the site that the Chronicle ran last week. It also doubled as an open letter to Councilman Rory Lancman (D-Fresh Meadows), who then reached out to the 107th Precinct, Community Board 8 and the Department of Buildings about the location.

Earlier this month, multiple 311 complaints were issued about the property, leading a DOB inspector to visit it on Aug. 21. But no conditions contrary to the zoning and construction codes were discovered, so no violations were issued.

Plans had been filed last year to gut renovate the single-family house and add a second floor to it. But they were rejected.

The house wasn't looking so bad a few years ago, as you can see in the Google Street View above from 2013. The Chronicle photo shows how fast a property can go downhill without maintenance. How did a DOB inspector not find a problem? The presence of the truck alone is a zoning violation.

Another community fed up with illegally parked trucks

From NBC:

Scores of big rigs have been camped out on a Queens roadway, and residents are crying foul. Erica Byfield reports.

Truck parking legislation sounds nice, but there's no enforcement

From the Queens Chronicle:

The Queens delegation to the City Council wants to ratchet up the economic pressure on commercial truck drivers who illegally park their rigs on the borough’s streets.

Three large trucks, including a pair of 18-wheelers, served as an unwitting backdrop on Springfield Boulevard in Cambria Heights last Friday as Councilman Daneek Miller (D-St. Albans) announced a pair of bills that have been introduced in the Council to try and rein in the big rigs.

The press conference, held one day after the Council passed a bill that significantly increases fines for everything from illegal dumping to throwing trash from a car window, was billed as a quality-of-life statement by Miller, Councilwoman Adrienne Adams (D-Jamaica) and Councilman Costa Constantinides (D-Astoria), chairman of the Committee on the Environment.

Their location on Friday, at the intersection with 121st Avenue, was no accident.

“There are a few trucks here now, but come here after 4 p.m., especially on Friday and the weekend,” he said, “you could have 20 trucks parked along this road. And they keep the motors running because they’re in the cabs and then need air conditioning in the summer and heat in the winter.”

Not to mention the taking of on-street parking, and, Adams said, the danger of having to walk on sidewalks behind large trucks, largely obscured from view, giving cover to potential muggers and attackers.

Intro. 1011, the Commercial Truck Abuse Reduction Act, would cut the time that a tractor-trailer combination, truck or semi trailer can be parked in half, to 90 minutes from the existing limit of three hours.

Intro. 1011 would increase the fine for a first offense from $250 to $400; and subsequent violations in the next six months from $500 to $800.

Municipal vehicles causing havoc

Illegal truck lot was very bad neighbor

From the Times Ledger:

From December 2017 to March 2018 there were several complaints made to the city Department of Buildings regarding illegal commercial vehicle storage.

Hollingworth said he and neighbors, who are mostly elderly, did not know who to turn to. He said they felt hopeless when 311 was not taking action. Hollingworth contacted Times Ledger on March 14 where he was directed to DOB and City Councilman Peter Koo (D-Flushing) for further assistance. Two days later on March 16 DOB inspected the lot and issued violations for illegal commercial use of the property in a residential area. The violations had a cure date of April 25 or a date by which the property owner was compelled to correct the violating conditions. DOB’s padlock unit also sent a warning letter to the property owner April 17 directing him to cease illegal use of the lot.

Neighbors speculate that Frank Camisi loaned the lot to Arnoldo and told him if he cleaned the lot out for him, he would be able to park his trucks there for free or at a low rate.

On April 22 neighbors said the the truckers were gone from the lot, but debris remained that reminded them of their misery.

Police promise an intervention

From the Forum:

The commanding officer of the 106th Precinct this week told The Forum that his officers will soon meet with the owners/operators of the tractor trailers that seem to clog up both North and South Conduit avenues in South Ozone Park.

“We are aware of the situation and have visited the location,” Capt. Brian Bohannon said on Tuesday. “The trailers are moved frequently. We will sit down with management to discuss these issues.”

Residents have raised concerns about the problem in the past, noting the danger posed by the presence of detached trailers at busy intersections along both thoroughfares.

DOT tries to fix Austin Street

From Forest Hills Post:

The Department of Transportation (DOT) plans to combat congestion along Austin Street by adding truck loading zones, tweaking parking regulations and adding new crosswalks.

Representatives from the DOT presented the proposed changes before Community Board 6 Wednesday evening and said the plan would combat congestion caused by trucks double parking, pedestrians crossing mid-block and limited parking availability.

The plan targets Austin Street between 69th Road and 72nd Road. (click for DOT plan)

The DOT said that it plans to tackle the double-parking problem by creating nine 60-foot long loading zones that would take up to 27 parking spaces over the course of the day along Austin and adjacent streets.

Trailer trash in South Ozone Park

"Here are some of the problems people are dealing with in South Ozone Park. If you have driven on South Conduit and North Conduit Aves you have probably passed these tractor trailers parked illegally taking up lanes at these busy intersections and yet they continue to be a daily nuisance in this area. People have gone to community board meetings, to the 106 police precinct regarding this problem only to be told by the community board members, and officers at the 106 that we should just learn to get used to it because they will never go away. People have also been told that it could take months or years for them to conduct a heavy tow operation. It is not right how these owners of about 5-10 trucks have no regard for people’s safety and how police do nothing. Here are some pictures. Now tell me how drivers can see oncoming traffic with these trucks illegally parked here.

Detached trailer parked on north conduit next to speed way gas station located at 129-03 both conduit Ave

Here’s another detached trailer parked on south conduit and 126th street

Here is a dumpster trailer parked on south conduit and 127th street. There are no standing signs posted as you can see in the picture below the one way sign.

Here is a video driving up the 150th Ave ramp from South Conduit.

- Anonymous

Junked cars litter South Ozone Park

"Can you get this on your site. Business called runway towing in south ozone park. They are parking all there junked cars. Trucks and company tow trucks on residential street and sidewalks. For years it’s been like this. These trucks are here 24/7 and never move. Numerous 311 complaints and nothing has ever been done. This is a daily nuances here. The business is located 124-20 south conduit Ave.Here are some pictures." - anonymous