President’s Message
This month's Civic meeting will be held on Thursday, September 24th at 7 PM at the VFW Hall. Come down and get caught up on what is going on in your neighborhood!
By all accounts it was a great summer, weather wise, with barely any rain in August and plenty of blue sky. Hopefully we will also have a great Fall!!
Build it Back Program - The program instituted a number of major changes at City agencies to allow the design and permit process to move quicker. The zoning amendment change, which allows our old Broad Channel homes that don't comply with zoning maps to now be grandfathered in, was a big game changer and was the fastest zoning change ever instituted in the City's history. In addition, DOT street map issues have been resolved with a waiver for those rebuilding or elevating. Finally the SBA loan issue, where you applied for the loan and were approved but did not take the loan, is now no longer being counted as a benefit against the applicant. Tishman Construction has now been brought on and the program's capacity will be greatly increased with the addition of this very large construction firm. Rudy Giuliani, Deputy Director for the program, will be on hand to discuss the changes and to take questions. I want to thank Dan Brown and Borough President Melinda Katz for the monthly Task Force meetings that they have been holding. These meetings and oversight have been the single biggest reason for the many changes that have been brought to the program as well as a sense of accountability to our neighborhoods for progress!!
Phase II - Street Raising Meeting - Representatives from NYC DOT and NYC DDC will put forth a presentation on Phase II of the street raising project in Broad Channel. Phase II involves the design and construction of the street raising plan for West 14th thru west 19th Roads. All residents of those blocks are urged to attend to have an opportunity to listen and have input on this plan as it moves forward.
Bike lanes --The Civic has received many complaints from parents about the state of the bike lanes in Broad Channel. Many areas in town see the markings totally disappear and bikers find themselves in the first lane of traffic with no protection from cars. I want to thankAssemblyman Phil Goldfeder’s office for working with DOT to resolve this concern and to have DOT repaint these lines. As of this writing they have begun to repaint the lines and have committed to ensuring that they are fully repainted throughout the entire town.
American Ballfield parking lot has been a flooded mess every time it rains for the last decade. Numerous attempts to have it addressed have been unsuccessful with part of the problem being the overlapping jurisdictions, with DEP, DOT and NYC Parks all owning part of it. I am happy to report that it seems the Civic, working with the BCAC, have developed a possible remedy which should be in place shortly. The contractor who is performing the street raising project will use a portion of the parking lot, the southeast corner, and in return will pave the pot holes and install a drain and pump system to address the flooding. Initial tests show that it will ensure the entire lot is drained after a rain event. The agreement requires that the town have access at all times to the main parking lot, on the west side near the fields, that the work be completed before they are allowed to use the lot and that all of their construction vehicles avoid using 20th Road so as not to impact residents on that block. Councilman Ulrich’s and Borough President Melinda Katz were instrumental in pushing the agencies to agree to this after we initially hit major road blocks. Hopefully we will finally have the flooding issue resolved and can access the fields regardless of recent weather events.
Quote of the Month - It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried.-----------Winston Churchill
Respectfully submitted,
Dan Mundy Jr.
This month's Civic meeting will be held on Thursday, September 24th at 7 PM at the VFW Hall. Come down and get caught up on what is going on in your neighborhood!
By all accounts it was a great summer, weather wise, with barely any rain in August and plenty of blue sky. Hopefully we will also have a great Fall!!
Build it Back Program - The program instituted a number of major changes at City agencies to allow the design and permit process to move quicker. The zoning amendment change, which allows our old Broad Channel homes that don't comply with zoning maps to now be grandfathered in, was a big game changer and was the fastest zoning change ever instituted in the City's history. In addition, DOT street map issues have been resolved with a waiver for those rebuilding or elevating. Finally the SBA loan issue, where you applied for the loan and were approved but did not take the loan, is now no longer being counted as a benefit against the applicant. Tishman Construction has now been brought on and the program's capacity will be greatly increased with the addition of this very large construction firm. Rudy Giuliani, Deputy Director for the program, will be on hand to discuss the changes and to take questions. I want to thank Dan Brown and Borough President Melinda Katz for the monthly Task Force meetings that they have been holding. These meetings and oversight have been the single biggest reason for the many changes that have been brought to the program as well as a sense of accountability to our neighborhoods for progress!!
Phase II - Street Raising Meeting - Representatives from NYC DOT and NYC DDC will put forth a presentation on Phase II of the street raising project in Broad Channel. Phase II involves the design and construction of the street raising plan for West 14th thru west 19th Roads. All residents of those blocks are urged to attend to have an opportunity to listen and have input on this plan as it moves forward.
Bike lanes --The Civic has received many complaints from parents about the state of the bike lanes in Broad Channel. Many areas in town see the markings totally disappear and bikers find themselves in the first lane of traffic with no protection from cars. I want to thankAssemblyman Phil Goldfeder’s office for working with DOT to resolve this concern and to have DOT repaint these lines. As of this writing they have begun to repaint the lines and have committed to ensuring that they are fully repainted throughout the entire town.
American Ballfield parking lot has been a flooded mess every time it rains for the last decade. Numerous attempts to have it addressed have been unsuccessful with part of the problem being the overlapping jurisdictions, with DEP, DOT and NYC Parks all owning part of it. I am happy to report that it seems the Civic, working with the BCAC, have developed a possible remedy which should be in place shortly. The contractor who is performing the street raising project will use a portion of the parking lot, the southeast corner, and in return will pave the pot holes and install a drain and pump system to address the flooding. Initial tests show that it will ensure the entire lot is drained after a rain event. The agreement requires that the town have access at all times to the main parking lot, on the west side near the fields, that the work be completed before they are allowed to use the lot and that all of their construction vehicles avoid using 20th Road so as not to impact residents on that block. Councilman Ulrich’s and Borough President Melinda Katz were instrumental in pushing the agencies to agree to this after we initially hit major road blocks. Hopefully we will finally have the flooding issue resolved and can access the fields regardless of recent weather events.
Quote of the Month - It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried.-----------Winston Churchill
Respectfully submitted,
Dan Mundy Jr.
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