Cross Bay Bridge Toll Resident Rebate is Back Again......and Other Good News

The newly passed New York State budget provides a funding mechanism for the reinstatement of the Cross Bay Bridge Toll Resident Rebate.

Governor Cuomo's 2012-2013 State Budget budget includes funding that allows the state to pay the MTA for costs associated with reimbursement of E-Z Pass tolls paid by residents of Broad Channel and the Rockaway Peninsula for travel over the Cross Bay Veterans Memorial Bridge.

Assemblyman Phillip Goldfeder (D-Rockaway/23rd A.D.) secured the inclusion of the Residency Rebate for the Cross Bay Bridge into the final budget via legislation which requires the state to
pay the MTA for costs associated with promoting access to employment through reimbursements for

E-ZPass tolls paid by residents of Broad Channel and the Rockaway Peninsula that travel over the Cross Bay Veterans Memorial Bridge.

Keep in mnd that this is not a permanent solution to the Cross Bay Bridge Toll issue.  It is a temporary, single year, budget fix that expires with the 2012-2013 budget. 

If a permament fix to this issue is not found and this funding mechanism is not included in the 2013-2014 budget, the toll will return.

Other Good News....

The state budget passed this week contains an item that's sure to please everyone: The elimination of the state sales tax on clothing items under $110, starting Sunday, April 1st.

Combined with the already-in-place exemption from city taxes, shoppers can buy clothing under $110 tax-free. Taxes only come into play when an item costs more than $110. To be sure, you can buy five $100 items and still be tax free. The limit only applies to individual items.

In the fiscal year ending today (Saturday, March 31st) the state tax exemption applied only to items under $55.

Participatory Budgeting Vote....Make sure Broad Channel is Heard!

Residents of Rockaway and Broad Channel can finally let their elected officials know exactly what they would do with $1 million of government spending.

They are hitting the polls this week and voting on a number of capital projects as part of a citywide initiative on “participatory budgeting.”

Over the past few months, people from Rockaway and Broad Channel gathered for several neighborhood assemblies to suggest and select projects for the ballot. The projects vary from year-round heated bathrooms on the Rockaway boardwalk to a library vending machine in Breezy Point and technology upgrades at several local schools.

Several of the proposed projects involve Broad Channel's 17th Road Park, P.S. 47 and our Vounteer Fire Department.

All residents of Broad Channel, 18 years of age or older, may vote in this process.

Voting will take place at the St. Virgilius Community Center Saturday, March 31st, between the hours of 3:00 pm and 7:00 pm.  Those projects receiving the most votes will get funded.

A sample project ballot can be found here.

The results will be announced this Monday, April 2, 2012.

FYI (March 21st Meeting with DOT and RBA Group Re: Flood Mitigation Project)

Below is a PDF file of the Power Point Presentation afforded the residents of West 11th, 12th and 13th Roads on the evening of March 21st by the DOT and the RBA Group.

120321 Community Presentation

Peninsula Hospital Closing - Again....

Peninsula Hospital’s recovery efforts have flatlined and the hospital will be closing, officials confirmed Monday.

The troubled Far Rockaway facility had flunked a state inspection of its lab last month, forcing ambulances to be diverted and most patient care to be suspended.

Peninsula was months — not weeks — away from reopening the lab, according to bankruptcy documents filed by trustee Lori Lapin Jones on Monday.

The state Department of Health “determined that substantial additional time, effort and expense would be required before the laboratory would be eligible for re-certification,” Jones wrote to the bankruptcy court.

With insufficient money to keep the hospital afloat for that length of time, Jones wrote that closure was necessary.

“The Trustee will now turn to determining the most efficient and responsible manner in which to wind down the affairs of the Hospital,” she wrote.

Jones could not be reached for comment.

Peninsula had conducted two rounds of layoffs recently, with more than 350 workers getting the axe. Peninsula Hospital had been operating for 104 years and had over 170 hospital beds.

Officials with the state Department of Health confirmed the closure plans.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/peninsula-hospital-closing-long-stay-critical-condition-article-1.1051129#ixzz1qJbSuVCf

"Friend in Need" Benefit

Broad Channel is a small community where those of us who live there protect ourselves with our neighbors and friends rather than fences.  It has come to our attention that one of our friends now needs our help.

Hello

For those of you who do not already know there is a Friend in Need Benefit for

Charlie Ott's twin brother Jimmy Ott who is battling liver cancer. The benefit takes place

Saturday  March 31st.  7PM

@ the American Legion Hall, Broad Channel.

 Please help our friends during this very hard time.

Thank you for your support.

Marylou 

Bridge Lifts Extended on Marine Parkway Bridge

Notification by N.Y.C. issued 03/24/12 at 12:07 PM. Due to a   restoration project in Jamaica Bay, multiple, daily bridge lifts of the Marine   Parkway-Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge that began January 26th will be extended   through April. The lifts will take place around-the-clock and require full   closure of the bridge to traffic. It takes roughly 15 minutes to raise and   lower the bridge. Motorists are advised to use Cross Bay Veterans Memorial   Bridge as an alternate route.

Flood Mitigation Project Update

On Wednesday evening (March 21st) representatives from West 11th, 12th and 13th Roads met with DOT Queens Borough Commissioner Maura McCarthy and Mr. Joseph Menzer from the design firm The RBA Group to discuss the issue of parking as it pertains to the "shared space" street design for those streets.
The issue of parking has arisen as a result of three (3) separate factors:

1.  The existent narrow width of our streets,

2.  Federal Regulations, specifically the American with Disabilities Act (ADA).

and,

3.  Regulations set by the American Association of State Highway and

Transportation Officials (AASHTO).

When initially proposed by DOT and The RBA Group, the "shared space" street design concept or "woonerf" was described to us as a residential street design having a seamless plane of undifferentiated material, where pedestrian and traffic mingle, removing the traditional segregation of motor vehicles, pedestrians and other road users. Conventional road priority management systems and devices such as curbs, lines, sidewalks, signs and signals are replaced with an integrated, people-oriented understanding of public space, such that walking, cycling, shopping and driving cars become integrated activities.

Unfortunately,  our pervasive risk-management climate, as well as federal accessibility guidelines, stymied efforts to incorporate all the elements associated with the shared-space model.

The first  challenge to arise with this project was the ADA [Americans with Disabilities Act].  You cannot build a true woonerf given the criteria of the federal government on safety and accessibility. 

Thus, ADA regulations requiring separation between car-free and car-accessible zones required a major concession: a dedicated disabled pedestrian pathway for each street with tactile warning strips (the initial design called for bollards but was changed at the request of the community) for the visually impaired had to be added.  Although this runs absolutely contrary to the true "woonerf" shared space concept of having a seamless plane of undifferentiated material, federal regulations require it. 

The inclusion of this dedicated pedestrian pathway reduced the already constrained street space available for the planned "shared space" street.

Consequently, yet another problem arose in that the total width of the proposed “Shared Space” street, minus that footage allocated for the A.D.A. required walkway on the north side of W12th Road as well as that footage to be used for parking, utility poles, fire hydrants and resident access on the south side of the street would not leave sufficient footage for unimpeded two way vehicle traffic on the street according to regulations set forth by the American Association of State Highway and

Transportation Officials (AASHTO).

AASHTO is a standards setting body which publishes specifications, test protocols and guidelines which are used in highway design and construction throughout the United States. Despite its name, the association represents not only highways but air, rail, water, and public transportation as well.

While AASHTO is not a government body, it does possess quasi-governmental powers in the sense that the organizations that supply its members customarily obey most AASHTO decisions.

Unfortunately, pursuant to AASHTO regulations, the remaining shared street space on W12th Road is not sufficient  to allow for two-way traffic, cars travelling on and off the block and, in order to allow city engineers to sign off on this plan, it was initially thought that a regulation allowing parking on only one side of the street would have to be enforced.  If that were to take place, West 12th Road would lose half of our presently available parking spaces and that was deemed unacceptable. 

In time DOT presented us with an option which would allow for parking on both sides of the street by creating passing spaces on both sides of our street.  This would be accomplished by "mirroring" the existent 30 foot "no parking" area adjacent to each of our street fire hydrants (15 feet on both sides of the hydrant) on the opposite side of the street.  This option was presented to us again last evening.

Quite frankly, this option and its accompanying loss of parking spaces on the street opposite a fire hydrant makes no sense as the existing 30 foot "no parking" areas encompassing each fire hydrant provides sufficient and ample "passing space" for vehicles coming upon each other entering or leaving the block.

Yet another problem arose when it was revealed last evening that we may lose even additional parking spaces on both the north and south sides of the street at the entrance to our block when it is reconfigured to allow for sufficient space for traffic entering/exiting the shared space street.  It was suggested that when the fire hydrants are moved to the south side of the street, placement of one 15 feet from the top of the block would provide 30 feet of "no parking" which would prove sufficient for this purpose.

We are keenly aware that by now many of you are becoming frustrated with this issue but please keep in mind that it is not unusual for problems to arise when you are working towards a goal and encounter obstacles along the way, especially when dealing with a municipal bureaucracy.

When West 12th Road set out in this endeavor back in April of 2010, we were looking to achieve three goals:

1.  A marked reduction in the severe tidal flooding being experienced by our block.

2.  No, or very minimal, loss of presently available parking, and, 

3.  An aesthetically pleasing street appearance when work is completed. 

It is only issue #2 above that appears to be problematic at this time.  Commissioner McCarthy stated that she would raise these parking issues with the appropriate city agencies and staff in an effort to resolve them and report back to us as soon as possible.

Hopefully, if Commissioner McCarthy is successful in attaining a palatable resolution to this
problem this project can then quickly move forward.

If,  however, untenable parking losses still continue to be a factor in this matter, in addition to continuing to intensively interact with DOT and the city, we may also have to call upon our elected representatives to step in in order to assist us in resolving this issue.

We will keep you advised.

Women's History Month

Women’s History Month had its origins as a national celebration in 1981 when Congress passed Pub. L. 97-28 which authorized and requested the President to proclaim the week beginning March 7, 1982 as “Women’s History Week." Throughout the next five years, Congress continued to pass joint resolutions designating a week in March as "Women’s History Week." In 1987 after being petitioned by the National Women’s History Project, Congress passed Pub. L. 100-9 which designated the month of March 1987 as “Women’s History Month." Between 1988 and 1994, Congress passed additional resolutions requesting and authorizing the President to proclaim March of each year as Women’s History Month. Since 1995, Presidents Clinton, Bush and Obama have issued a series of annual proclamations designating the month of March as “Women’s History Month.”

Here in Broad Channel we have a long and fine tradition of notable women who, unfortunately,

have left us.  Some were great, some were good and some did what they could, but they are all deserving of a few moments of our time to remember them and what they accomplished

for our small community.

Henrietta Bowden 

Principal "Emeritus" of our (now closed) Saint Virgilus Parish School and a long time steward of the young minds of Broad Channel.

Liz Guarino

Authored the weekly "Broad Channel Bits" column in the WAVE...Editor of the Broad Channel Civic Association's Newsletter...Author of "Images of America - Broad Channel" [Arcadia Press]

Anne Marie Sullivan

Worked long and tirelessly against terrible odds in an effort to convince the Brooklyn Archdiocese 

to keep our Saint Virgilius Parish School open.  Unfortunately the school was ultimately closed but Anne Marie's hard work gave us an additional year that we would have otherwise lost.

Theresa Munson 

Terry's death in the 2001 attack on the World Trade Center brought the terrible reality of our war with terror home to Broad Channel.

These are but a few of our town's notable women and I apologize for not being to mention all of them.

 

Winter's Over!

Winter's over and it's finally Spring again!

Take a few seconds, click here, then sit back and relax as you listen to the smooth voice of Lou Rawls from way back in 1977. 

WOR's John Gambling Interviews Dan Mundy Sr.

Broad Channel's own Dan Mundy, Sr., President of the Jamaica Bay EcoWatchers,  was a guest on WOR Radio's John Gambling Show early yesterday morning to discuss the Port Authority's planned expansion of J.F.K. International Airport.
You can listen to the podcast of Dan's interview with John Gambling here.

CBB Resident Rebate Moving Forward....

From today's WAVE:


The reinstatement of the Cross Bay Bridge resident rebate program got one step closer to finalization this week when the proposal was written into the New York State budget.
First, the rebate was introduced into the budget. In order for it to become final it must first be introduced, then written into the budget and ultimately it must be finalized by the Senate, Assembly and Governor.

The potential reinstatement of the resident rebate program means that it will be free for Rockaway and Broad Channel residents to travel across the bridge with an EZ-Pass. Under the proposal the state would provide the necessary funding, to the cash-strapped MTA, in its capital budget to finance the operating costs associated with the bridge. The MTA originally revoked the rebate in 2010. The current plan in place allows the MTA to charge EZ-Pass residents $1.19 for the first two trips across the bridge before subsequent trips become free of charge.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!....................

and, a Happy St. Pat's Day Greeting from the International Space Station...

DDC and RBA Group Staff on W12th Road Today...

Three (3) staff members of the New York City Department of Design and Construction (DDC) were present on West 12th Road late this morning.

They were measuring and recording the width (curb to property line) of individual property sidewalks along the north and south sides of West 12th Road.

I spoke briefly to these individuals and it appeared to me that they were on site solely to gather data regarding the sidewalks as they did not appear to be fully aware of the details of the ongoing street raising/flood mitigation project or the present issue regarding parking that we are dealing with.

Shortly after the DDC staff departed (to West 13th Road), staff from the design firm,  The RBA Group
were present on West 12th Road also taking measurements.

I spoke with Joe Menzer of the RBA Group who stated that it appears that the issue of parking was raised by city agency legal staff and that after he and the DDC staff submit their data to DOT, Commissioner McCarthy will be meeting with the involved city agencies prior to our March 21st meeting with her at the North Channel Yacht Club (6:00 pm) to ascertain if a satisfactory resolution to this issue may be obtained.

Mr. Menzer stressed that although the RBA Group is not involved with the legal discussions regarding this parking issue, his staff has provided DOT with information regarding how other municipalities have dealt with the issue of parking regarding their respective "shared space" street designs.

Previous "Parking Issue" related Posts:

http://w12thrd.blogspot.com/2012/03/flood-mitigation-project-update.html

http://w12thrd.blogspot.com/2012/02/flood-mitigation-project-update-parking.html

Daylight-Savings Starts Tomorrow....

Flood Mitigation Project Update

From this week's Broad Channel Bits column in the WAVE:

Regarding the West 11, 12 and 13 Roads street raising project BC Civic Association President Dan Mundy Jr. mentions, “One issue that arose for the first time…is that of ‘No Parking’ signs on one side of each block. This was never suggested in numerous discussions to date.” The Civic is opposed to any inclusion of this provision in the final project plan.

Additionally, Dan Mundy Jr., President of the Broad Channel Civic Association recently transmitted an email stating:

I had asked Commissioner McCarthy to attend the March 29th civic meeting to allow for us to address the issue of the No Parking Signs as a part of the street reconstruction project. Unfortunately Commissioner Mc Carthy will be away on vacation at that time . I believe that it is imperative that we resolve the issue that has arisen, of the City indicating that they now want to install no parking signs as part of the street rasing project, before these plans are completed. The Commissioner has agreed to meet prior to her going on vacation on March 21st at 6pm at the North Channel Yacht Club.

At this time we are looking for each of the three blocks to have a representative at this meeting who can speak to the impact that these signs will have on their block as well as the blocks position on such signs being a part of the project. If possible could each of the three blocks put something together and ensure they have a representative at the meeting.

Thanks,

Dan Mundy

The West 12th Road Block Association advised both Commissioner McCarthy and the RBA design group of our feelings in this regard previously on February 29, 2012 and will be present at the March 21st meeting with DOT at the North Channel Yacht Club.

A "routine procedure"....

Taking a few days off from the site to have my gall bladder removed.  My surgeon assured me that this is a "routine procedure".

Pete Mahon