The city’s plan in 2011 to bring the Access-a-Ride vans to Maspeth was met with ire from civic leaders and legislators. File Photo
A controversial plan to relocate an Access-a-Ride facility from Brooklyn to Maspeth has been nixed and the site is instead headed to the Bronx, city officials said.
City representatives recently announced the Metropolitan Transportation Authority will send about 100 Access-a-Ride vans from a waterfront lot in Greenpoint to a city-owned industrial parcel in the Bronx’s Westchester Village neighborhood – causing Queens civic leaders to heave deep sighs of relief. Originally, the city had proposed in March 2011 to move the vehicles to 49th Street in Maspeth, which was met with overwhelming protests from the community and area legislators.
City officials recently announced they plan to move an Access-a-Ride depot from a waterfront lot in Greenpoint to the Bronx – instead of to Maspeth as originally planned. File Photo
“The Maspeth community was not offered anything in return for accepting Greenpoint’s Access-a-Ride depot, so we are pleased that the MTA has decided to relocate it to the Bronx instead,” said Christina Wilkinson, communications officer at Communities of Maspeth and Elmhurst Together. “A good percentage of West Maspeth is already dedicated to repair and storage of municipal vehicles. We would prefer to see the parcel return to industrial use, for which it was zoned, and provide jobs for the community.”
When Greenpoint was rezoned in 2005, the city promised residents a waterfront park at 65 Commercial St., on which the MTA’s vans sit – and, ever since then, Brooklyn residents have been pushing the city to move the vehicles in order for them to get their green space. While the Daily News reported there is apparently no funding for the park that has an expected $14 million pricetag, city officials said the vans would be moved to the Bronx regardless of the green space’s future.
“We are glad the city has been able to identify a turnkey facility that will enable us to house a portion of our Access-a-Ride fleet,” said MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz.
When the city first broke the news that it wanted to bring the vehicles to Maspeth, a number of legislators denounced the plan, including Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer (D-Sunnyside), who slammed the proposal in a letter to Mayor Bloomberg.
“The MTA has two existing depots in Maspeth that add to the pollution and traffic problem,” Van Bramer wrote. “Moreover, the community is overwhelmed with illegal truck traffic and convential truck traffic because of a large industrial zone adjacent to the area. Another MTA depot would only exacerbate the current health and traffic problems this community already faces.”
By Anna Gustafson
