Apologies to Lionel Bart, but I received this flier from Police Officers and higher-ranked brass outside the 71st Street-Continental subway station a few days ago.

Makes sense: over the past few months, we’ve heard more and more stories about petty crimes happening in the area. Have you?

лаптоп

Here’s an instructional video to inform you about pickpocketing.

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?

Say, I don’t know if I mentioned this, but I cracked a bone in my foot a month ago, the first week in August. For those of you who are in the medical profession or who like watching “Mystery Diagnosis,” I have the Jones fracture of the Fifth Metatarsal in my left foot. So, if you’ve ever wanted to know my “secret identity,” I’m the one in the area under 50, hobbling around with a funny shoe and cane that I decorated with stickers and day-glo tape.

But, this is not going to keep me down, sisters and brothers! That’s why I’m volunteering tomorrow, Sunday, at the Astoria Park rest stop New York Century Ride, from 8 AM to 1 PM. Come say hi! I’ll be the one not standing.

A photo I took at Astoria Park at the May 2008 Five Boro Bike tour

Map from the Parks Dept.

Believe me, as a recreational cyclist in our fair city, I’ve noticed how stunningly beautiful the weather has been this August. Wow. Hardly any rain or  humidity and NO heat waves! Oh, the agony of de feet!!

I found this photo on Flickr, and that’s exactly how I feel!

So enjoy our “August in Spetember” weather this week and maybe I’ll see you tomorrow!

If you’d like to participate in the Willets Point hearing, here are the details:

City Planning Commission
Wednesday August 13th
*NYU *Tishman Auditorium in Vanderbilt Hall
(south side of Washington Square South (West 4th Street), just east of
MacDougal Street).

The hearing should begin about 12 noon and each speaker will have 3 minutes

More information here:
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/subcats/cpc_notice.shtml

“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.)

I got this from TAQC Chair Mike Heffron the other day and I’ve been lax in my duty to post it. I know that ForestHills72 already posted it, but I’ve been under the weather this week and sleeping a lot. Summertime illnesses are giant bummers!! Stay healthy, everyone, especially on the Big QB!

Transportation Alternatives along with CM Jim Gennaro’s office will be having a press conference to kick off our campaign for a Safer Queens Blvd. Here’s the info:

WHEN: Sunday 7/27 12pm
WHERE: Queens Blvd and 55th Rd at Asif Rahman’s Ghost Bike
WHY: To make Queens Blvd safer for pedestrians and cyclists

CM Jim Gennaro will be there, hopefully some other electeds too. We will be calling for a physically separated bike lane and pedestrian improvements along the length of Queens Blvd. Ped improvements include, but are not limited to, increasing pedestrian crossing times or even leading pedestrian intervals (LPI), mid block crossing and reducing turning conflicts between cars and people. I want to stress, this is not just for a bike lane, pedestrians still are struck with frequency along Queens Blvd and they need our help too.

Queens Blvd doesn’t actually run through Gennaro’s district but Asif Rahman, the young man who was struck and killed along Queens Blvd, was one of his constituents. He is responding to pleas from Lizi Rahman, Asif’s mother, to do something about Queens Blvd. And after all, this is not some little street in one neighborhood, this is Queens Blvd. Changes here will effect everyone in Queens for the better, whether or not it runs through ones neighborhood.

What we want more than anything is for people to come out to the press conference and start the campaign strong. The whole thing shouldn’t be more than an hour. I think it’s fair to say that it’s because of blogs like yours that this ball has gotten rolling so quickly. A small mention was made about revisiting Queens Blvd and that spark very quickly turned into a fire.

…otherwise known as The ‘E’ Train!!

August 3, 12008 - UPDATE:

As discussed in the forum, the local news media picked up the “HOT” story (couldn’t resist) of lousy a/c on the E train. The E train is at the bottom of the ice bucket, according to this cool chart from The Daily News, and the only line that didn’t break the 90% pass rate.

Photo: Newsday

Only 83% of the E train cars were 78 F degrees or cooler, and if you think that’s not SO bad, consider how warm a threshold 78F is. Who’s idea was that, some skinny people with no body fat like Ashley and Mary-Kate? I bet if the threshold were set at a more comfortable level, such as 73F, many more cars would fail.

I ride the E train everyday to the World Trade Center, and it bewilders me to see groups of tourists - both foreign and domestic, native-English-speaking and those learning a few phrases - sitting in hot cars. If I walk through one, I even tell people, “It’s very hot in here. The a/c is broken. You can move to a cooler car, you know.” And they just look at me like I’m just wishing them a good morning. I know that the London Underground does not have a/c, but that doesn’t mean you have to suffer like back home

********************************

Just as I was about to start this entry, QC Forum participant nycdude posted this form-letter response from the MTA:

07/22/2008 10:23 AM This is in response to your recent e-mail message to MTA New York City Transit regarding the cooling system on our subway cars.

We regret any unpleasant conditions you have encountered in the subway. Our subway cars are designed so that the air conditioning comes on automatically when the temperature of the car exceeds 71 degrees Fahrenheit, and the heat comes on when the temperature drops below 54 degrees Fahrenheit. Unfortunately, an air conditioning or heating unit may sometimes malfunction during the course of a train’s run. Our maintenance personnel will continue their routine inspection of all climate control systems to ensure that they are functioning properly.

In the future, should you have further transit-related concerns, we will need a car number or employee badge number so that we can investigate the problem and take the appropriate measures as warranted. You may contact Customer Services at (718) 330-3322, open from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., weekdays, to report this information.

We take the concerns of our customers seriously and thank you for bringing this matter to our attention.

La Wanda C. Green
Associate Transit Customer Service Specialist II

Thank you, nycdude, for posting that.

Now, my questions for QC readers are:

1. Who among us is going to write down or memorize the car numbers of the E trains with broken a/c systems? I’m actually not being rhetorical. Let’s keep a log!
2. When I’m stuck in a hot car on the E train, I try to open at least two windows to get some air circulation. Invariably, someone will snap at me, saying, “You’re only making it worse!!!”

When subways cars didn’t have a/c (uh…my grandparents told me about it…), the ceiling fans were on and the windows were open. Even during the 1980s, when a/c was standard but usually broken (my parents told me about that…), people would gladly open car windows. That’s how you knew a car was hot when it pulled into the station.

So, dear readers, what do you think? Is a subway car with no a/c but a couple of open windows worse than a completely sealed car with no a/c, in the hopes you’re containing that one last pint of formerly cold air?

This is just a reminder that the Transportation Alternatives Queens Committee (TAQC)  will be holding its monthly meeting this evening at 6:30 PM at the Greater Astoria Historical Society, 35-20 Broadway, on the 4th floor of the Thomas M. Quinn & Sons Memorials and Funeral Home. Easy to get to from both the Steinway Street stop on the R, V lines and the Broadway stop on the N, W lines.

If you’re interested in bicycling around our great borough, and representin’ central Queens, this is the committe for you.

Thanks to comrade blogger, Forest Hills 72, for inquiring about the TA Queens Committee’s mission. Read the comments page to learn more about the inner workings and goals of the TAQC, and read my Forest Hills-Park Slope round-trip biking route.

There will be a packed agenda and lots to discuss, and lots of ways to get involved.  I also look forward to getting everyone’s opinion on a variety of topics. 

Transportation Alternatives Queens Committee advocates on behalf of cyclists, pedestrians, and mass transit users, in Queens.  They meet the 2nd Monday each month (unless otherwise noted) at the Greater Astoria Historical Society from 6:30p-8p.  All are welcome to join.

7

No scheduled weekend service changes.

E

No scheduled weekend service changes.

F

No scheduled weekend service changes.

R

No scheduled weekend service changes.

This information is being provided to you as part of MTA New York City Transit’s e-mail notification program.

One day, you’re the lead-off story, next day you’re yesterday’s news.

Last week we were coming home late in the evening and saw the newstand guys cleaning everything up, and we thought they were just going on vacation or something. Guess not.

The curious thing about it is that the newstand was left open and abandoned like so for at least 3 days.

The guys who ran the newstand always seemed to have a great rapport with their regulars every morning. They always seemed to have steady business during commuting hours, even with a supermarket, candy store and subway-based newstand within spitting distance. One of the more comforting phenomena of NYC is the ability of a newstand and a candy-and-newspaper store to co-exist and thrive right next to each other.

To the Queens Boulevard and 71st Road Newstand Guys: I wish you all the best! May you always have many customers, sell lots of candy, and sell winning lottery tickets wherever you are!