By Bob Harris
A request was made to the city Department of Transportation by a citizen to relocate the traffic control box on 191st Street and Hillside Avenue because it is on the sidewalk adjacent to private property and there is no space to walk or for a carriage or wheelchair to pass. It was decided to have the box relocated or turn it parallel to Hillside Avenue.There was a request to repair 150th Street between 70th Road and 70th Avenue (69-45 150th St.) because cars go into the northbound lane to avoid humps and bumps. This had been reported, circled but not repaired so it was called in again.The MTA has announced plans to close 164 subway station booths (115 part time and 49 full time to help lower the operating deficit. Each booth has an alternative 24-hour seven-day booth in operation. CB 8 passed a resolution by Pat Dolan that these 164 booths should remain open.On another request, the city said owners are responsible for defective raised sidewalks at 80-43 and 80-47 88 Street. CB 8 recommended that there be enforcement. CB 8 notified the community that defective sidewalks, which have violations after inspections, will be repaired by a contractor hired by the city and the owners will be billed. The repairs are being done going westward. Sidewalks at 199th Street were fixed in the fall of 2004 but 188th Street has not been repaired yet.A request to the DOT for a No U-Turn sign at the intersection of Union Turnpike and 188th Street was approved and done. A request for day lighting at Manton Street at 84th Drive was approved but not yet installed. A request for a No U-Turn sign at 164th Street and 71st Avenue was denied as unwarranted at this time.The Department of Transportation said the traffic signal at Main Street and 68th Drive will be adjusted because drivers going eastbound on 68th Drive are not supposed to see the louvered signal. Cars going southbound on Main Street making a left turn onto 68th Drive are.A request to extend the median on 69th Avenue just west of PS 26, made by Assemblyman Mark Weprin was granted and it will be completed after the winter when the weather warms. A request for a traffic light at corner of 179th Street and 73rd Avenue was approved by the Transportation Committee.A request to have the Q75 bus route extended westward toward Queens Boulevard along 73rd Avenue. was denied as were a request for an all-way stop sign on 69th Avenue and 195th lane and a request for an all-way stop sign at 69th Avenue and 197th Street.Approval was given to a request to add a crosswalk sign and painted pathway across 69th Avenue on the east side of PS 26 by the exit door there. A curb cut in the median to improve student safety and facilitate pedestrian crossing was also given the go-ahead. Although daylight lighting on the west side of 199th Street and 75th Avenue was approved, stop signs on 199th Street from 73rd Avenue to Union Turnpike were denied. Most of the requests came from Maria Delnnocentiis from CB 8 at the behest of the Meadowlark Gardens owners.The 175th Street Block Association, PS 173, Ryan Middle School 216 and CB 8 member Rory Lanceman asked for a number of things to be done to slow speeding cars and thus improve pupil safetyThe committee did not approve requests from individuals for All-Way Stop Signs at 75th Avenue and 96th Place or to lower street name sign on pole to make it more visible to motorists.The committee approved the changing of parking meters from 8 a.m. to 7 a.m. at Utopia Center from Utopia Parkway to 193rd Street after obtaining Sanitation Department authorization. The committee again approved the increasing of parking meter limits from one hour to two hours at Utopia Center using Muni-Meters. A request was denied to shorten the length of the bus stop at Utopia Center in line with the three other corners so there will be at least two more parking spaces.Good and bad news of the weekA homeless man may have started a fire in a tunnel which destroyed the switches for the A and the C subway lines. We all know that homeless people live in subway tunnels. A TV series was made about them years ago. First the Transit Authority said it would take five years to fix the switches, then it said six to nine months. Get it straight! About a million people are having trouble getting to work or school. New York City needs more money for security and infrastructure. Homeland Security gives more funds to states like Wyoming or the Dakotas than New York City even though we have more people than some of those states have. Did they give the money to other places as pork to get their votes? What is more important, the security of the economic center of the nation or getting votes from small states?
