| COMET: Communities of Maspeth & Elmhurst Together |
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DOT truck proposal riles Maspeth residents, Ridgewood Ledger
It's a positive project & doesn't cost a lot so 'it's a win-win,' says pol, Daily News DOT presents Maspeth Bypass Proposal, Forum West DOT Maspeth Bypass plan called 'good start', Queens Chronicle Greg Mocker visited the site of the proposed Maspeth depot and talked to a local resident and to Council Member Van Bramer about it.
An article from the February 17th edition of The Brooklyn Paper reveals that the City of New York and the MTA are working on a deal to move a bus depot from Greenpoint to a piece of city-owned property in West Maspeth (Block: 2575, Lot: 26) in order to clear the way for the building of a waterfront park. An article from the February 24th edition of the Forum West states that the depot is to be a lot for Access-A-Ride vehicles.
Unfortunately, we were notified of this plan by reading it in the newspapers. The council members in the area were not contacted and neither was the community board. Maspeth already has a brand new MTA bus depot on Grand Avenue and an Access-A-Ride lot on Maurice Avenue. We do not want more traffic coming through the area. Brooklyn wants a park and that's understandable but they shouldn't be dumping their problems on Maspeth. And if there's vacant city-owned property in the vicinity, then perhaps the city should investigate swapping or selling it in an effort to obtain a park for Maspeth, not Greenpoint. Residents have been advocating for a park at the former site of St. Saviour’s Church for 5 years now and have suggested a land swap to keep costs low. The city has rejected that idea for us, yet has no problem doing that for Brooklyn. This site is highly contaminated and needs to be remediated before facilities are constructed there. Which means that taxpayers will be forced to shell out millions to build a depot AFTER they spend big bucks to clean up the muck. Aren’t both the City of New York and the MTA broke? On top of that, Maspeth gets to take on the burden of yet more pollution and traffic and for no other reason than because Brooklyn wants a waterfront park. Who is Council Member Steve Levin of Greenpoint to negotiate what is built on this side of the Creek? We ask that our elected officials intervene on behalf of their Maspeth constituents and tell the MTA to keep its Brooklyn vehicles in Brooklyn. And they have. See below: |
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August 2024
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