This photo and story comes courtesy of the Times Newsweekly:

Elected officials vented at a press conference in Maspeth last Friday, Mar. 5, against the continued use of Grand and Flushing avenues as a commercial “through truck route” citing the damaging effects of exposure to diesel fumes to the community.

City Council Member Elizabeth Crowley was joined by Rep. Joseph Crowley, Rep. Anthony Weiner, State Sen. Joseph Addabbo, Assemblywoman Margaret Markey, City Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer and a host of community leaders in decrying the air pollution resulting from trucks that routinely use the connecting roadways to avoid traveling on the Long Island Expressway.

The public servants called on the Department of Transportation to alleviate the burden of vehicle congestion by turning the Grand Avenue-Flushing Avenue thorough- fare into a “local” route as part of a Maspeth Truck Bypass plan that was the brainchild of local civic leaders. The plan is currently the focus of a study being conducted by the DOT.

Council Member Crowley claimed that Queens is the only place where a route terminates at a borough boundary, causing trucks to clog up Maspeth’s primary shopping district.

“Neighborhood residents are thrilled that the study for the Maspeth Bypass Plan is underway,” added Rosemarie Daraio, president of the Communities of Maspeth and Elmhurst Together (COMET) civic association. “COMET is anxious to work with our elected officials and DOT to ensure that the study addresses the community's concerns and that it is completed as quickly as possible. Hopefully NYC DOT will consider installing signage as a preliminary step. We look forward to a safer and more environmentally friendly Grand Avenue.”

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Co-location of a New School, P.S. 873 (24Q873), with I.S. 73 in Q873

I.    Description of the subject and purpose of the proposed item under consideration.

Beginning in the 2010-2011 school year, P.S. 873 (24Q873, “P.S. 873”) a new school that will serve grades K-5, will open in school building Q873 (hereinafter referred to as “Q873”), an annex to school building Q073, located at 70-02 54 Avenue, Queens in Community School District 24 (“District 24”).  P.S. 873 will be a zoned elementary school, and it will open with approximately 50-75 Kindergarten students in 2010-2011. P.S. 873 will phase-in one new grade per year until it grows to its full scale with approximately 270-350 students in grades Kindergarten-5 in 2015-2016. P.S. 873 will be co-located in Q873 with I.S. 73 - The Frank Sansivieri Intermediate School (24Q073, “I.S. 73”), an existing school currently serving grades 6-8.  The 2008-2009 target utilization rate of Q873 was 82%, and its target capacity is 425.

I.S. 73 currently houses its grade 6 students in Q873, and its grade 7 and 8 students are housed in its main building, Q073. The 2008-2009 target utilization rate of Q073 was 86%, and its target capacity is 1,554.  There are no other schools housed in Q073.  The enrollment of I.S. 73 has been steadily decreasing over the past several years. I.S. 73 enrolls students in both 6th and 7th grade, as it has K-5 and K-6 feeder elementary schools. Two of I.S. 73’s feeder elementary schools, P.S. 049 Dorothy Bonawit Kole (24Q049, “P.S. 49”) and P.S. 102 Bayview (24Q102, “P.S. 102”) are currently expanding to K-8, contributing to the decline in I.S. 73’s enrollment. In fact, I.S. 73’s current 7th grade class is much smaller than its current 8th grade class. This year, I.S. 73 will graduate approximately 715 grade 8 students, while grade 7 contains approximately 590 students. Due to the matriculation of this large 8th grade class and I.S. 73’s lower enrollment trends, particularly in the 7th grade, beginning in 2010-2011, there will be space in Q073 for I.S. 73 to begin gradually transferring back some of its 6th grade sections that are currently served at Q873 to Q073 in order to create space in Q873 for P.S. 873. Eventually, all of I.S. 73’s 6th grade sections will be served in the main building.

Based on current enrollment trends, Q873 will have sufficient space for the phase-in of P.S. 873 and for some of I.S. 73’s 6th grade sections; and in the long term, Q873 will have sufficient space for P.S. 873 and Q073 will have sufficient space for I.S. 73 to operate at full organizational capacity. However, as P.S. 873 phases-in at Q873, the Department of Education (“DOE”) will continue to consider the available space in Q873 and in Q073 and will monitor enrollment trends at I.S. 73 to make a determination regarding whether P.S. 873 can remain in Q873 in the long-term. The combined projected enrollment in 2010-2011 for P.S. 873 and I.S. 73 is approximately 1,650, and the combined capacity of Q073 and Q873 is 1,979. At scale, the projected enrollment of I.S. 73 is 1,500-1,550 and the capacity of Q073 is 1,554; the projected enrollment of P.S. 873 is 270-350 and the capacity of Q873 is 425.

The co-location of P.S. 873 in Q873 addresses the need to relieve elementary school overcrowding in District 24.

II.    Information regarding where the full text of the proposed item may be obtained.

The Educational Impact Statement can be found on the Department of Education’s Web site:

http://schools.nyc.gov/AboutUs/leadership/PEP/publicnotice/April_Vote

III.  Submission of public comment.

Written comments can be sent to D24Proposals@schools.nyc.gov.
Oral comments can be left at 718-935-4198.

IV.      The name, office, address, email and telephone number of the city district representative, knowledgeable on the item under consideration, from whom information may be obtained concerning the item.

Name: Natalie Ondiak
Office: Office of Portfolio Planning
Address: 52 Chambers St
Email: Portfolio@schools.nyc.gov
Phone: 212-374-3482

V.        Date, time and place of joint public hearing for this proposal.   

April 14, 2010 at 6:30pm
70-02 54th Avenue, Queens

There will be no question and answer period. Questions about the proposal can be directed as indicated in section IV above.

Speaker sign-up will begin 30 minutes before the hearing and will close 15 minutes after the start.

VI.       Date, time and place of the PEP meeting at which the Board will vote on the proposed item.

April 20, 2010
6:00pm
Health Building
125 Worth Street, Manhattan

The MTA is running a huge deficit and is planning on making the following cutbacks which would affect our area.
The M train would be eliminated, and The V train would replace the M line between Metropolitan Avenue and Essex Street. The V would then continue its current route thru midtown Manhattan and then back to Queens ending at 71st—Continental Avenue. If you need to go to the Bowery, Canal Street , Chambers Street, Fulton Street, or Broad Street stops you will now have to transfer at Myrtle and Broadway, Marcy Ave., or Essex Street for the J or Z line. If you work in downtown Brooklyn you will need to transfer to the 4 ,5 or F train. The plan is for seven trains per hour during rush hour on the new V line which is comparable to the current service.

In addition to the M change, the G line will no longer run between Forest Hills and LIC.

Maspeth residents who live on 66th Street were granted a reprieve from their disorderly and sometimes violent neighbor who was arrested for assault and incarcerated since November 2010. COMET, who has been following this situation closely with the assistance of Anthony Como, Esq., who offers guidance to us on legal matters, was notified that the 25-year old male’s case was dismissed and subse-quently released in mid-February. As you can see from the photo, this individual let his property deteriorate and this has continually irked the residents who take pride in maintaining their block.

Picture from ‘The Forum’ Dec. 10, 2009 edition

Maspeth Assemblywoman Margaret Markey joined local elected officials (Council Member Elizabeth Crowley, Council Member James Van Bramer, Congress Member Joseph Crowley, Congress Member Anthony Weiner and State Senator Joseph Addabbo) and civic leaders (Juniper Park Civic Association, Maspeth Chamber of Commerce and COMET) at an outdoor press conference on Friday, March 5 in calling upon the city to reduce the number of big trucks that cut through the heart of Maspeth on their way to other boroughs.  

She said, "Everybody knows that big trucks don't belong on local shopping streets.  They kill retail business, they create hazardous conditions for pedestrians, and they pollute the air.  It is important to do anything possible - as soon as possible - to reduce truck traffic on Grand Avenue." 

 Assemblywoman Markey said that getting big trucks off this street has been the community's goal for more than a decade.  "Frank Principe and Community Board 5 developed a Maspeth Bypass Plan a decade ago to reduce dangerous truck traffic through the heart of the community.  However, we don't need to wait for relief if this 'Local Route' designation can be made now and enforced."  

Assemblywoman Markey said that while the designation will help, "Signs are not enough.  We also need vigorous enforcement.  It's up to the Police to catch truckers who violate the ban and make sure they are fined."  

She said a bill in the Assembly she is sponsoring this year will permit the City to place cameras at key intersections - like Grand Avenue and 69th Street - and make it possible for the police to track down owners and operators and fine them when they break the law.  

"In these tough economic times, it is important that we do everything we can to help neighborhood businesses survive.  Getting trucks off this street now will make a difference to Maspeth and I join with my colleagues in asking the Department of Transportation to support the request we are making - and enforce it," she added.