Another Issue Affecting Our Neighborhood That Needs Immediate Attention

Dear Editor:

Once again, an issue impacting our neighborhood and quality of life is moving forward without the consent or input of our community, and we must address it before it’s too late.

Recently, near 73rd Avenue and Main Street, the city placed several paint outlines typically used for road projects and traffic modification, and constructed a double-sided curb extension near Haym Salomon Square. Curb extensions, also known as bulb-outs, are intended to slow down cars and provide pedestrians with more room to cross. Usually, these are added at the end of a block to slow traffic (though sometimes at both ends), but the one near Wasserman is at the beginning of the block only. When installed only at the beginning, studies show this setup increases, rather than reduces, accident risks. However, this pales in comparison to the issues represented by the new paint outlines.

At the corner of Wasserman on 72nd Drive (the same block where Hashevaynu is located), the paint shows that the city plans to eliminate parking in front of Wasserman. The painted lines mark a massive widening of an already broad sidewalk. This expansion not only removes parking but also includes a new narrow crosswalk from Haym Salomon Square to the Wasserman corner. This would force delivery trucks that turn down 72nd Drive from Main Street, such as for Wasserman, to park on Main Street, which, combined with the new configuration, would effectively make Main Street one lane whenever trucks are present. This will be a nightmare during morning rush hour.

This setup poses serious safety concerns: A large ambulance or fire truck would struggle to turn onto 72nd Drive from Main Street, requiring a multi-point turn and extra response time. Large SUVs would also have difficulty, with a high risk of vehicles mounting the curb. It’s not a matter of if an accident or pedestrian injury will happen – it’s a matter of when and how often. This effectively chokes off access to a portion of Vleigh Place from Main Street and severely restricts traffic turning onto 72nd Drive.

The city is also creating a chokepoint at the other end of 73rd Avenue, where 73rd Avenue, Main Street, and Vleigh Place intersect. The new outlines will eliminate the angled turn, forcing cars to turn onto Vleigh from the middle lane via a narrow, sharp turn – barely wide enough for a sedan, let alone an SUV. This will entirely prevent ambulances or fire trucks from using this route, meaning they’ll have to find alternative routes, turning down Main Street at later points. Additionally, this will worsen pedestrian safety on this sharp turn and create gridlock on Main Street as drivers look for alternate routes.

These paint markings only appear when the city is adding concrete or metal barriers to alter street layouts, so it’s likely this project includes such measures. However, I haven’t been able to find official records of this project, which raises more concerns. If someone can locate these records, we need to know when it was approved. It’s evident that this was planned without regard to local traffic patterns, pedestrian flow, or emergency response needs. This is a potential disaster in the making.

As with other projects I have written about, these legally required Community Board approval with public hearings held to approve these changes. These announcements are mandated to appear in public channels. However, there’s no record of such a hearing in print or on social media. Was this project authorized without consulting our Community Board, which would be a violation, or did the Board fail to fulfill its notification obligations? Given the history and knowing who some of the Community Board members in our neighborhood are, I suspect the city bypassed our Community Board. We need our elected officials to investigate this and get to the bottom of the matter.

But first, let’s raise our voices in opposition to these new traffic changes. With Election Day approaching, we have a unique opportunity to urge state and federal officials to address this issue. While they may claim this is a local matter beyond their control, that’s not true. These officials can press government agencies with the power of their office, and because these agencies rely on state and federal funding, our representatives have leverage.

A final, minor point concerns the recently repaved section of Main Street between Jewel Ave and 73rd Avenue. The painted lines by the parking area are solid, like those used for bus lanes rather than the dotted lines usually designating parking spaces. In the past, our community fought against bus lanes in this area. We need to know if this was an error or if the DOT is bypassing our community to implement bus lanes.

It’s time to make our voices heard! Stand up for our community and reach out to our elected officials. We need answers about these projects, and we need action about them!

Contact:

Councilmember Jim Gennaro: (718) 217-4969

Assemblyman Sam Berger (Kew Gardens Hills): (718) 969-1508

State Senator Leroy Comrie: (718) 765-6359

Congresswoman Grace Meng: (718) 358-6364

Queens Borough President Donovan Richards: (718) 286-3000

Let’s protect our neighborhood. Make your voice heard!

 Dovid Hirsch


 

Dear Editor:

I think it’s interesting that Rabbi Schonfeld began his plea to vote for former President Trump with a quote from former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates from 2014, about how wrong he thinks President Biden had been about foreign policy. After all, this is what Gates wrote about Trump a year ago: “Trump’s disdain for US allies, his fondness for authoritarian leaders, his willingness to sow doubt about the United States’ commitment to its NATO allies, and his generally erratic behavior undermined US credibility and respect across the globe.” Even more recently, he praised Biden for how he has handled Ukraine. While he has declined to make an endorsement, you sure get the sense of where he comes out on foreign policy in this election.

I also respectfully disagree with going after Vice President Harris for her answers on the economy when basically every study has shown that Trump’s proposed policies would increase inflation and have a generally negative effect on the economy, while Harris’ proposals would do more to help everyday Americans. Whenever Trump is asked about this, he doesn’t even attempt to make a rebuttal, but just insists that he is right and anyone who disagrees with him is wrong. I similarly question making a closing pitch by going after the Harris/Walz ticket for having a “word salad” and lying problem, when the other person in the race is Donald Trump. But to each his own. We’ll see how it plays out.

 Regards,
Yaakov Ribner


 

Annoying Things

Dear Editor:

What is to one person a treasure trove is to another an annoyance. Leftovers to the housewife (an annoying term) is a blessing after having cooked 18 meals. (I’m not counting Erev Yom Kippur.) However, to the rest of the family, it’s “leftover chicken, again?”

As if anyone cares, here are some of the things that annoy me: Standing on line to pay for an item you plan on purchasing is fine. However, when the cashier asks you to donate some money to a worthy charity, or open up the 20th credit card account that you don’t need, or spend money on the 50th bag in your house is annoying. When you decline to give to the charity, you get the judgmental look, and when you refuse to open up another credit card account, you get a wild and crazy look. What? You don’t want to save ten percent on your $19.99 purchase?

Another annoyance is “Sell by___” on milk or cole slaw or any other perishable item. Does this mean on midnight of the appointed day the milk turns sour and the fruit goes bad? Yes! Despite every caution implemented, like taking the milk out, pouring it into your coffee, closing it tightly, and running the five feet back to your fridge to put it back on its shelf, the milk still “knows” to go bad by the assigned date.

I must end this letter now, since, thanks to Congress and the farmers, I must change all the clocks in the house. It’s amazing how many clocks one owns in a small, attached home. Despite the relative ease with which I accomplish this task, I’m annoyed by the fact that I still can’t change the clock in my car. Oh, well, I guess I can always wait until March 9 to solve that annoying problem.

 Debbie Horowitz