Broad Channel Mourns One of its Own....Jimmy Ott - RIP

How long after you are gone will ripples remain as evidence that you were cast into the pool of life?
The ripples of Jimmys life will stir the pool of his family, friends and neighbors until their pool is empty.

Change in Bus Serice - Q21 replaced by Q52

Effective at midnight tonight, the Q21 will be cut back to Howard Beach and terminate at 164th Avenue and Cross Bay Boulevard in Howard Beach. The Q21 Limited will become an entirely new bus line – the Q52 – and will run all day from Arverne to Queens Center Mall making limited stops with the Q53, the current Rockaway Park-Woodside limited route.

The Q52 will start in Arverne and terminate at Queens Center Mall.

No changes will be made to the Q53 which will continue to start its run on B116th Street terminate at the Woodside LIRR station.

 

From Today's WAVE....

From June 29, 2012 edition of The Wave....

BC Community Still Needs Natural Gas

In a push to help provide Broad Channel families with an affordable natural gas supply, Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder wrote a letter to New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, asking him to subsidize a National Grid project in Broad Channel that would bring a gas line into the community without placing an additional financial burden on families.

“Broad Channel is the only community in the five boroughs that is forced to heat its homes with propane cylinders, which can be very expensive, and at times, inefficient,” Goldfeder said. “If the city can help by providing tax relief for this important project, residents would be happy to do their part. The area deserves a gas line that’s not a financial burden to its residents.”

The families and business that call Broad Channel home have been asking National Grid for a number of years to supply the community with a natural gas line, noted Goldfeder. Recently, the Public Service Commission overturned a Petition for Relief requested by National Grid that would excuse them from building the line; however, the Public Service Commission did not require that National Grid cover the cost. It was recommended that residents should pay to build and maintain the line and suggested that New York City may help by providing a tax credit to residents.

“The residents of Broad Channel appreciate the support of Assemblyman Goldfeder in our fight to bring clean, economical natural gas to our island community,” said Dan Mundy Jr., president of the Broad Channel Civic Association. “As the only occupied island in the ecologically sensitive Gateway National Park area it would seem only common sense that our residents have access to this cleaner fuel at a time when the mayor has made the environment a key component of his legacy. We look forward to working with Assemblyman Goldfeder to finding a funding solution that would allow our residents the same access to gas that is available to every other neighborhood in this city.”

“While the construction of this line is a significant benefit to Broad Channel families, it would cost the community millions of dollars that these families simply don’t have,” the Assemblyman said. “If the city does not help fund the project, the burden will fall on more than 950 homeowners and 50 businesses to pick up the pieces. We cannot let that happen. I am asking the city of New York to take action and help provide an affordable and economical gas supply line to the Broad Channel community.”

Sad But Not Surprising - Medical Waste (Syringes) on B116th Street

 

Army Corps of Engineers on W12thRd.....

The RBA Group accompanied staff from the Army Corps of Engineers on a tour of the bay ends of West 11th, 12th and 13th Roads earlier today regarding the permit process for the construction of new, end of street, bulkheads.

As you know, the construction of the new, end of street, bulkheads will comprise the initial part of this project and work on street raising will be scheduled to commence once the bulkhads are in place.

It appears that the process is moving along without any serious impediments and we should see construction starting sometime next spring or summer after the bid process and contract awards are completed.

Banding Barn Owls in Jamaica Bay Wildlife Preserve

Transit of Venus across the Sun takes place this evening.....

Venus will pass across the face of the Sun for the second and last time in this century. For observers in our area the transit will start at around 6:00 pm this evening but the Sun will set around 8:pm while the transit is still in progress.

Right now it appears that our area will have clouds and showers obstructing views of the transit but you can still watch it live as NASA  will have a live webcam broadcast of this event from Hawaii.   You can view this live webcam broadcast by clicking here starting at 5:45 p.m. this evening. 

The next Venus transit will be in 2117. That is 105 years from now. It's unlikely that anyone reading this today will still exist then.

Think about that for a second.......the next time the orbits of Earth and Venus align just so to create a transit, the world will be entirely populated by an entirely unborn generation. That essential point about time is really what makes this transit worth a moment of your own.

Broad Channel Memorial Day 2012