COMET President Roe Daraio, Treasurer Mike Fordunski, Christina Wilkinson and Steve Garza marched in the Maspeth Memorial Day Parade on Sunday, May 30th carrying the COMET banner.  Above are photos taken during the parade.  The after party was held at the Elks Lodge 878 on Queens Blvd.

COMET will be marching in this year's Maspeth Memorial Day Parade.  We'd love to have  you join us.  Please contact us if you can march with us.  If you can't, then please come out as a spectator to honor all those lost in the fight for our freedom.

This is to advise you of MTA New York City Transit’s proposal to implement limited-stop service during weekdays along its Q58 bus route.

The Q58 provides local bus service from the Ridgewood Intermodal Terminal at the Myrtle-Wyckoff Avenue subway station to Main Street and 41st Road in Downtown Flushing.  It uses a number of streets between those two points, including Palmetto Street, Fresh Pond Road, Grand Avenue, Broadway, Corona Avenue, 108th Street, the Long Island Expressway Service Road, and College Point Boulevard.  The Q58 provides access to subway stations on the Canarsie, Myrtle Avenue, Queens Boulevard, and Flushing lines, commercial districts in Ridgewood, Elmhurst, Corona, and Flushing, public and private schools, Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, the New York Hall of Science, the Queens Zoo, the Queens Museum of Art, Kissena Corridor Park, and the Queens Botanical Gardens.  Numerous connections to other bus lines are provided along the length of the Q58.

Q58 ridership has significantly increased due to the introduction of the MetroCard and the transfer policies and fare discounts that have come with it.  The Q58 has approximately 28,000 weekday customers, making it the second-busiest bus route in the Borough of Queens.

The Q58 has the key characteristics needed to implement limited-stop service:

·    The current headway of the Q58 is between three to six minutes during morning and evening peak hour periods.

·    A high percentage of customers are concentrated at major stops along the route.

·    Traffic congestion along the route leads to delays, slowing travel time and reducing reliability.  The implementation of limited-stop service can mitigate these delays by reducing the cumulative delays due to frequent stops on a long bus route.

 

NYC Transit proposes to operate limited-stop service on alternating trips of the Q58 during the following time periods:

A list of the locations that limited-stop trips on the Q58 will stop and a diagram showing the route of the bus at are attached.  The stops were selected based on a relatively high volume of boarding and alighting customers.  These stops include transfer points to another bus or subway route or high volume traffic generators. 

The implementation of limited-stop Q58 service is scheduled for Fall 2010.  This proposal will be presented to the NYC Transit Committee of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board for information purposes at a meeting scheduled for 10:30 a.m. on Monday, May 24, 2010.  The meeting will take place in the fifth floor board room of the MTA Headquarters, 347 Madison Avenue in Manhattan.  Interested parties are invited to comment on this proposal during the public session at the start of the meeting.  Those wishing to speak must register between 10:15 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.

Please contact me at 646-252-2653 if you have any questions concerning this proposal.

 
    Joe
Joseph B. RaskinAssistant Director
Government and Community Relations
MTA New York City Transit
2 Broadway     Room D17.110
New York, NY  10004
Phone: 646-252-2653     Fax: 646-252-2662
joseph.raskin@nyct.com

PO Bell met with the roadmaster of CSX today to discuss the huge pile of trash on the railroad's right-of-way adjacent to Stop & Shop's loading entrance.  There are big problems and we're going to have to push the railroad to get it cleaned up.  I am listing some facts to the best of my knowledge that were relayed to me and other info:

    * No one lives on the site so we're not talking about dislodging anyone.  Supposedly the person who built this lives with his mother.
    * CSX knew about the trash here but we suspect they didn't know how much there actually was.  They knew about the fire but what is troubling they didn't take any measure to remove it last year when the fire occurred.  Most likely there was less trash there last year. 
    * The trash isn't up against their right-of-way and we suspect they don't consider it a priority - much like the other railroad properties that run through our area.
    * The roadmaster stated that he has to complete a report, send it to Florida and they'll have to hire a private contractor.  This will take time.
    * The roadmaster said they did not erect the fence - it must have been Stop & Shop.  He said they do not want fences on their property. (This is disturbing because without fencing a child could wonder on their property.)
    * In order to access the trash, it is likely they'll have to remove the fence and get to the site via Stop & Shop's delivery entrance and possibly use a crane to get to the debris.  This will be a problem because the driveway is private property.
    * COMET reached out to Assembly Member Markey's office and her Chief of Staff stated that it will be made a priority.
    * It was also alluded to that if this happens again they won't be back to clean it up again.

This is the story so far and I'll continue with the updates as they come in.  In the meantime, if you see something, say something before things get out of control!!

Willets Point United, a group of landowners dedicated to eradicating eminent domain abuse, stopped by our last COMET meeting.  Their representative, Richard Lipsky, is familiar to Maspeth as he worked with small businesses there against the Grand Avenue shopping mall many years ago.  Lipsky explained that the City has applied to the NYS Department of Transportation for approval of highway ramps at the juncture of the Whitestone and Van Wyck Expressways, which will snarl traffic throughout Queens.  COMET unanimously (with one abstention) voted to support the group's efforts to get the eminent domain laws in NY changed to be more fair to land owners and to call for an independent review of the traffic caused by these ramps.

You may sign the group's petition and learn more about the traffic project by visiting trafficnightmare.org

May 8th - 2-4 PM

66-85 73rd Pl.
(718) 497-1630

The staffer in charge of the office will be Mike Brasty
All are cordially invited to attend. 

Concern has been expressed by residents about a large number of boxes fashioned into a shelter by a homeless person behind Stop and Shop on Grand Avenue.  The structure is near the railroad tracks, is unsafe and a fire hazard.  The inhabitant of this structure also has placed several crosses on the ground, giving the illusion of graves.  COMET suggests you do not enter the alley alongside to attempt to view this scene.  It can safely be viewed from the roof parking lot of the store if curiosity gets the better of you.  Deputy Inspector Green of the 104th Precinct has assured COMET that the situation will be dealt with this week. 

Four years after its construction and 2 years after the first building complaint for illegal occupancy, the infamous "Garage House" of Mazeau Street (57-40 Mazeau Street) has been forcibly vacated by the NYC Department of Buildings.   This was a garage that was converted into a home without permits.   Lately, the property had not only been inhabited, but the front yard was being used to store commercial vehicles in violation of the zoning code.

We commend the Department of Buildings for taking action, but what took you guys so long?

The following is excerpted from the Queens Ledger:

C.O.M.E.T. (Citizens of Maspeth and Elmhurst Together) President Roe Daraio never paid any attention to the commuter vans that operate throughout Queens until several members of her civic group made complaints about double-parked vans on residential streets in Maspeth and passengers that littered while they waited to be picked up. Suddenly, she started noticing the vans everywhere.

She decided to look into the commuter van routes, but was unable to find that information, so she made a FOIL (Freedom Of Information Law) request from the city. She received a packet of maps clearly indicating the geographic zone in which each van authority is allowed to operate. Information for Transxpress and J&HE, the van authorities that Daraio has received the most complaints about, was not included.

However, Daraio maintains that the commuter van issue never went before Community Board 5, a detail confirmed by CB5 District Manager Gary Giordano, who has held the post for 20 years.

According to Giordano, TLC-regulated vehicles are required to come before the board with base station applications and renewals, but he said that the protocol for commuter vans is unclear as the board has never been presented with an application or renewal for commuter van authorities.

Daraio said, “The lack of enforcement by TLC in our area is basically giving the green light to commuter van companies to operate outside of their authorized zones.”

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