Hmmm, would that make this a “phlog?”

Not much color - foliage or otherwise - to photograph this week. Most pics here are simply confirmations of the new stores popping up around the area, plus some intriguing bits of scenery around the nabe.

Halloween fun in front of Renegade salon. I hope your haircut doesn’t come out scary!

Pink Tree in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month

The Tap Room (the old “Cafe Moda”) - open for business, just in time for football!

Overheard: “That’s cool, but I can live without one more sports bar in my life.”

Site of new Fro-Yo competitor, OKO (where ColdStone Creamery used to be.)

Dollar Chic on chic Austin Street. Gimme LotLess anytime…

“This has nothing to do with the bailout! Really.” - TD Waterhouse buys Commerce Bank

New and improved Broadway Bakery on 71 Road! Still great coffee and cleaner equipment!

коли под наемThe new GameStop location on QB and 63rd Road, next to gas station, north side.

Menorah on top of T-Bone diner. Was this ALWAYS there, and I just never noticed it?

You know me, I’m always looking for a bargain and a good cause!

During the whole month of October, Transportation Alternatives is offering all Queens residents a special discount on membership, only $20!  (Minimum single membership is regularly $30.  ) In addition to the TA magazine Reclaim, new TA Queens Members also receive a limited edition “I bike Queens” t-shirt.  It’s easy to sign up, just go to https://transalt.org/support/join/queens. By increasing increasing membership in Queens, TA will improve its ability to advocate for transit, pedestrian and cycling improvements in our fair borough.

Since I’m still sidelined with the fractured foot, I feel so out of the loop! I’m very glad to encourage others to get on their bikes and get out and walk in Queens, especially in the crisp, brisk fall season. Enjoy!

Personal Ad

Seeking local sweetheart who is into long walks into the sunset, good health and giving to charity. Must be kind to their mother.

If this describes you, join the Queens Boulevard walk for the American Cancer Society’s “Making Strides Against Breast Cancer” fundraiser, Sunday, October 19, 2008.

And while you’re at it, sign up yourself or a loved one for an automated mammogram reminder!

“Secretive and rich, a little scary
Queens Boulevard, tempting boulevard
Waiting there to swallow the unwary”

The Transportation Alternatives press conference on improving safety and creating a bike lane on Queens Boulevard, held Sunday, July 27, was short, sharp and to the point: there is no reason why Queens Boulevard must remain an infamous “Boulevard of Death.” I’d say at about 40 people, including City Council Member James Gennaro, came to support the Rahman family and TransAlt. And I wasn’t the only one who raised an eyebrow or nodded knowingly during the two small but screeching near-misses between cars that occurred during the event.

Asif Rahman’s ghost bike

The press conference took place at the spot where Asif Rahman was run over by a truck in February of this year. This area is directly across the boulevard from The Queens Place mall and the popular Georgia Diner, an area that is in great need of better accommodations for pedestrians and cyclists. You can watch an excellent short video of the press conference, and hear excerpts from Asif’s mother and sister. Note the sign for Forest Hills to the left of the microphones!!

Photo: Forest City

The event got widespread local coverage on The Daily News, amNY, metro, Fox5News and  NBC. I’ve also been following the whole bike lane issue the last couple of months in the local blogosphere and in the neighborhood papers, and I’ve noticed some consistent themes in the comments.

1. People who ride bicycles on NYC streets, especially those who actually use QB, are thrilled and excited.
2. People who know victims of car accidents (pedestrians, cyclists and other drivers) praise efforts to make major thoroughfares safer and calmer.
3. Nearly all the other comments say, “why bother? It’s only going to cost money, cause more accidents and not solve the problem. As long as bicyclists and pedestrians continue to ignore traffic rules and the right of way of cars, they’ll continue to be killed. The victims were too old, too slow or too foolish.”

The resignation, absolute certainty of failure, and blaming of the victim is so classic New York, it could have been written by a Norman Mailer. I once read that New Yorkers are experts at presenting opinion as fact, and it shows. The comment about bike lanes being the cause of more accidents really takes the cake. I’d like to see that data!

And, by the way, have you noticed that folks who post anti-bike comments, who rail against reckless, foolish and lawless pedestrians and cyclists, usually have screen names like “Ninety5rpm” or “race-car-driver?” Here’s a tip, Dale Earnhardt, Jr.: those screen names aren’t exactly helping your cause. Next time, try posting as “ITurnSignals” or “Never-pass-on-the-right,” and I’ll take you a little more seriously.

The press conference

Transportation Alternative’s Deputy Director Noah Budnick (below) introduced the campaign to make Queens Boulevard a “complete street” - meaning a street with “human-friendly signal timing, bike lanes…streets that are sensitive to the needs of all road users.” Despite a welcome reduction in fatalities in recent years, approximately 100 bicyclists and pedestrians are struck on QB each year.

Asif’s mother, Lizi, and sister, Moumita, spoke very movingly. They described Asif’s love of bicycling, poetry and community involvement.  Before the crash, they had never really taken a look at Queens Boulevard. Once they saw the crash site and the rest of QB, they were astounded that no bicycle safety measures exist on the road. The historical lack of concern for bike safety on QB is shocking, and the pedestrian safety measures made in 2001 should not be the end of improvements. How many more people need to die on Queens Boulevard before changes are made, they asked.

    
Councilmember James F. Gennaro (D) (Fresh Meadows) represents the area where the Rahmans live, and has joined them every step of the way in this endeavor. He held up his bike helmet (see below) and said that he wears one whenever he bikes, but a helmet will do nothing to save you when you’re run over by a truck. As Lizi Rahman affirmed later, when her son’s body was found, “Asif’s head and face didn’t have a scratch,” painting a horrifying and sad image of what must have happened.

Councilmember Gennaro’s staff distributed a letter he wrote to the Bloomberg Administration, co-signed by Council Members John Liu and Eric Gioia, calling for a improved safety and a bicycle lane on Queens Boulevard.

Gennaro also echoed what others have said - Let’s face it. Cyclists will continue to use Queens Bouelvard. Bicyclists use QB for the same reasons cars do: it is the most direct way to get into Manhattan. Especially with current gas prices, popular concern about the environment, and improved bike lanes throughout the rest of the city, the number of recreational and commuter cyclists in Queens will only increase. Yet, despite it’s infamous moniker of “The Boulevard of Death”, Queens Boulevard was not included whatsoever in the Mayor’s 2006 3-year, 200-mile plan for safer bicycling in NYC

Queens Boulevard is, at some areas, twelve lanes wide, and is treated by many drivers as a highway. Similar thoroughfares in other boroughs (such as Eastern Parkway) have been improved and beautified. Ocean Parkway in Brooklyn has had a separated, protected off-street biking and walking lane since 1894. Even the Grand Concourse in the Bronx - possibly the second most dangerous road of its kind in NYC -  enjoyed years of car-free Sundays until 1996, and revived in 2006.

Ocean Parkway, arial view (www.nycbikemaps.com)

Ocean Parkway (www.nycbikemaps.com)

Shouldn’t a modern, cosmopolitan society in 2008 be motivated to make changes to a street called “The Boulevard of Death?”

“Queens Boulevard, ruthless boulevard
Destination for the stony-hearted
Queens Boulevard, lethal boulevard
Everyone’s forgotten how they started
Here on Queens Boulevard!”

Pardon my taking license with another Broadway musical, but I couldn’t resist.

(apologies to Andrew Lloyd Webber, Don Black and Christopher Hampton.)

Back in high school, a friend of mine observed that, in NYC, the price of a plain slice of pizza is usually the same price as one subway fare. Interestingly, this has held true for over two decades. Has this equilibrium been thrown out of whack by the new subway fares!?

Barely. It’s holding steady, but it’s not looking good for pizza lovers. At the Queens Central Labs, I conducted an incredibly in-depth, scientific phone survey of pizza places in Kew Gardens, Rego Park and Forest Hills and found that a plain slice is still being sold at most establishments for $2.00. Out of 11 pizza joints surveyed, six still offer the “subway rate”, while five have broken the conventionally accepted price barrier, up to 50 cents more!

Last week I once again dealt with the topic of nothing ever happening in Forest Hills and Rego Park–nothing criminal, I mean, except for the occasional bank-robbery spree. Now it turns out that nothing ever happens in Kew Gardens, either. According to the Chron, the 102nd Precinct–that’s KG, Richmond Hill, Woodhaven and northern Ozone Park to you and me–had a paltry one murder in 2007, down from 10 in the previous year. Other sorts of crime weren’t down as much, but they were still down. So feel free to wave a bunch of money around in KG, too.

My favorite detail in the story: Queens is the “safest of the … boroughs,” except it’s not, because Staten Island is the safest borough. Man, if you think Queens gets the short shrift all the time, thank your lucky stars you don’t live anywhere you can only reach by ferry.

The city’s annual school report cards are out, and though The New York Times’ spin is how surprisingly tough the grades were, here in Queens, things went a little more smoothly. PS 101 (in the Gardens) and PS 196 (on the parkway) got A’s, just like you expected. But which one is better? The graders are nice enough to settle the great elementary-school debate: Grand Central Parkway’s A is based on a score of 78.88, while School in the Gardens slides by with a 76.91. Eat that, Gardens!

The widely loathed Russell Sage Junior High got a C, whereas the not so widely loathed Forest Hills High made out with a B. Here’s one surprise: If you can, send your surly adolescent to Halsey Junior High, up by NOVO 64, instead of Sage. It scored a solid B.

Other area schools and how they scored after the jump.

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You may have read about the constant, 24/7 noise stemming from LIRR track work on the forums — if you haven’t experienced it yourself. Passing trains are blaring their horns at all hours, disturbing the sleep and sanity of people who live near the tracks from Kew Gardens all the way to Woodside. But did you know there’s actually something you can do about it? The Train Noise Abatement Association wants you to join up and help stop the insanity. Ah, I know what you’re going to say: “High-minded civic organizations like that can’t do anything.” But this one actually quieted the noise in similar situations in Montauk and my old stomping grounds (if you can call hiding out in the high-school-newspaper office during lunch “stomping”) of Cedarhurst.

If you’ve had enough, e-mail Jack Mevorach at jack@mevorach.com and tell ‘im I sent you.

A few days ago, I unilaterally declared that Central Queens would never be graced by one of Virgin Mobile’s snarky “You Rule” ads that have been popping up in fashionable neighborhoods around the city and proceeded to create my own for Forest Hills.

But shockingly, I spoke too soon! On a spring photography walk through eastern Forest Hills and western Kew Gardens this afternoon, I spotted the specimen at right, appropriately on a bus shelter directly in front of Borough Hall. Full text after the jump.

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Rodney Dangerfield (1921-2004) was the best bad comic of all time. Born Jacob Cohen on Long Island, when he was 10, he moved to an apartment above the current location of Austin’s Ale House on Austin Street in Kew Gardens and stayed through high school. After a journeyman career, he did something incredible: In the 1980s, just as stand-up comedy was in transition from Henny Youngman-style setup/punchline gags to a more free-flowing, cerebral form, Rodney experienced a career renaissance by taking the same old, dying style every other comic was rejecting and running with it. It’s hard to imagine anyone else pulling this off, but Rodney could because his hacky jokes were brilliantly crafted and delivered. Many people don’t know that in addition to being a beloved performer, Rodney was also a sort of patron saint of the New York comedy scene, developing many successful comics at his Upper East Side club, Dangerfield’s, which he opened in 1969. It’s still there.

In the interest of originality, I will not even mention Rodney’s most famous line and instead tell you that I always preferred his frequent interjections of, “I tell ya!”