102 Precinct Community Affairs officers Jose Severino (left) and Joseph Martins speak to CB 9 board members and residents about recent activity going on in their command. Forum Newsgroup photo by Luis Gronda
Two proposed street conversions within Community Board 9’s boarders were turned down on Tuesday night after many residents complained that the changes would do nothing to slow down speeding cars.
The conversions were put up for a vote at CB 9’s monthly meeting, which took place at Fairfield Pavilion in Richmond Hill. The proposed street changes would have changed 97th Avenue between 97th and 98 streets in Ozone Park from a two way street to a one way street and 84th Avenue between Lefferts Boulevard and Myrtle Avenue in Kew Gardens from a two way street to a one way street going eastbound.
Many residents living on or near 84th Avenue voiced their opposition against the street change at last month’s meeting when CB 9 was taking public comments on the change before voting on it during this meeting. Some of them also showed up on Tuesday to vocalize that same opinion.
Mike Pascuzzi, a resident of 84th Avenue for 22 years, is against the conversion because he says that drivers speed down both ways on that street and making it a one way would only allow people to continue the speeding because there would be no oncoming traffic from cars coming in the opposite direction.
“People do not stop at the stop signs,” he said. “I could see accidents, at least once a week all coming down the block.”
Laurence Levy, also a resident of 84 Avenue, spoke of the same problem on the street and how the conversion would not do anything to quell the speeding. He said that people often speed down 84th Avenue to get to Myrtle Avenue as a quicker way to get to the Jackie Robinson Parkway instead of taking Park Lane South. He also said that it would create more traffic on that avenue and on nearby 115th Street.
“The amount of cars that would be on the one-way street would increase dramatically,” Levy said. “The problem is that it would make the bottleneck worse on 115th Street.”
After listening to their concerns and taking into account the comments residents, Andrea Crawford, chairwoman of CB 9 and of the board’s transportation committee, recommended that the board vote against the two conversions based on the complaints from the residents and because they want the Department of Transportation to conduct a study of the entire area to improve traffic instead of fixing one or two streets by itself. CB 9 unanimously voted against the two street conversions.
The 102nd Precinct also made an appearance at the meeting to talk about crime that’s going on in their patrol area.
Community Affairs Officers Jose Severino and Joseph Martins came with a bunch of fliers regarding a hit and run that killed a bicyclist on September 25 on Queens Boulevard near Hoover Avenue in Kew Gardens.
Martins encouraged people to contact them if you have information leading to the arrest of the driver.
“Obviously, we left the flyers here for a reason, all the help that we can get is always very much appreciated,” he said.
The number to call for that is (718) 217-3529. This is a special hot line set up by the police to receive information on hit and runs like the one that happened in late September. You can also call crime stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477).
There’s also been a spike in crime in recent weeks and the two officers encouraged people to be aware of your surroundings when you are out and about and don’t keep possessions like your cell phone in plain sight.
“Close your windows; don’t walk down the street with your phone in hand, not paying attention to what’s going on,” Martins said. “Stuff like that doesn’t help the police.”
They also reminded people that their crime stats are publically available at nyc.gov/nypd.
According to the latest crime stats in the 102 Precinct that covers the week of September 24 until September 30, the command is up slightly in crime for the last 28 day period for this year, 142 reported crimes, compared to last year, 137. Robberies have seen the biggest increase in the last 4 week period with 32 robberies in the 102 compared to 22 last year.
Grand larceny auto, which is when a person steals or attempts to steal someone else’s car, decreased in this period, with 20 this year compared to 28 at this time last year.
For the year overall, crime is up about 4 percent in the precinct with 1,175 reported crimes so far this year compared to 1,133 at this point last year.
By Luis Gronda
