JPCA Archives - Queens Ledger

Group criticizes DOT rollout in Ridgewood

Jessica Meditz on January 11, 2023

Residents hope for pedestrian ramp at Stanhope & Fairview

By Jessica Meditz

As of Dec. 1, the troublesome intersection near Grover Cleveland Park in Ridgewood, where a man was killed in 2019, has brand new crosswalks and stop signs.

After spending the better part of 2022 fighting for these safety signals and pleading with the Department of Transportation (DOT), Ridgewood residents Nicole Galpern and Becca Kauffman have achieved their “Crosswalk Fantasy” at Stanhope Street and Fairview Avenue.

The duo co-founded Crosswalk Fantasy Committee in response to the man’s death and a public unease about the lack of safety in that intersection.

It wasn’t much longer after their celebrations, which included a “Party at the Crosswalk,” lots of signage and high visibility workwear fashion statements, that a local civic group pointed out what they saw was missing: a pedestrian ramp.

Juniper Park Civic Association took to Twitter on Saturday, Jan. 7 to point out the omitted part of the job and call on Councilman Robert Holden to take action.

“Kind of weird to see supposed safety advocates ‘proclaim a crosswalk fantasy realized’ when there’s no pedestrian ramp here. Half-assed @NYC_DOT jobs should never be celebrated,” the group tweeted. “@BobHoldenNYC hopefully will see that the job gets done.”

Juniper Park Civic Association took to Twitter to express their dissatisfaction with the incomplete project.

During their communication process with the DOT, Galpern and Kauffman turned to local leaders to help spearhead their efforts, including Holden and Gary Giordano, district manager of Community Board 5 – both of whom penned letters of support for the implementation of crosswalks and stop signs at the intersection.

Daniel Kurzyna, Holden’s chief of staff, said that from his recollection, he does not remember the topic of a pedestrian ramp coming up explicitly, but only because he thinks it’s a given that a ramp should be installed, also.

“Naturally, when a crosswalk is installed, it should be paired with a pedestrian ramp…We’ll be reaching out to the DOT about this,” he said.”

Galpern and Kauffman told the Queens Ledger that they asked the DOT for a “redesign of the intersection,” which should have included the pedestrian ramp.

“We’d be thrilled if [Holden] sent the DOT a letter of support for a pedestrian ramp,” they said.

Pedestrian ramps are a requirement under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), and the DOT says on their webpage that “any alteration triggers the obligation to provide ADA-compliant ramps to the maximum extent feasible.”

Despite some pushback from Twitter user, @BushridgeBrigad, who accused JPCA of mocking the Crosswalk Fantasy Committee, the civic association maintains that its criticism is of the DOT for not completing the job.

Christina Wilkinson, JPCA secretary, said she takes issue with the Committee’s signage that was left up weeks after their “Party at the Crosswalk.”

“It should be noted that bolting laminated signs to public property and flyers on poles is illegal, could result in Sanitation fines and illegal postering makes it harder for community groups to maintain the cleanliness of the neighborhood,” she said.

In another Twitter reply, JPCA argued that it’s a positive thing that more safety measures were implemented, but “no community minded group posts illegal signage bragging about a routine civic request being fulfilled.”

Kurzyna assures that Holden is committed to ensuring the safety of those in the area.

“Our office is actively reaching out to the DOT to inquire about the progress of installing pedestrian ramps at Stanhope Street and Fairview Avenue,” he said. “The installation of crosswalks at this location was an important step forward, and we will continue advocating for better measures that keep our community safe.”

JPCA updates Citi Bike counterproposal

Jessica Meditz on December 28, 2022

Group will negotiate with DOT before finalized plan

By Jessica Meditz

jmeditz@queensledger.com

Following a pause for additional community feedback on the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Citi Bike expansion plan for District 5, Juniper Park Civic Association (JPCA) has released an updated counterproposal.

Back in April, JPCA released their initial counterproposal in response to the DOT’s original draft plan – which sought to add 52 Citi Bike stations to Ridgewood, Maspeth, Middle Village and Glendale. Thirty-four stations were planned to go in roadbeds and 18 stations were planned to go on sidewalks.

The original proposal for the Citi Bike expansion in District 5, circulated by the DOT.

JPCA’s original proposal called for 45 total stations – all on sidewalks in the interest of preserving parking spaces for locals.

Christina Wilkinson, a member of JPCA who prepared the counterproposal, said that despite submitting the original document to the DOT in April, they did not hear back until June, and all but seven new suggestions for the 34 stations allotted for the roadbeds were rejected.

“The reasons they gave didn’t really make any sense. It was this language that maybe they would understand, but nobody outside of the DOT would,” Wilkinson said.

She along with Councilman Robert Holden also felt a great sense of disappointment when the DOT neglected to present their plan to the full Community Board and obtain feedback from local businesses.

Additionally, at Community Board 5’s monthly meeting on Dec. 14, the board voted overwhelmingly in favor of submitting a letter to the DOT requesting that they be able to play an “active role” in the implementation of the program and the placement of these stations.

After some negotiation with the DOT, JPCA’s updated counterproposal calls for 53 stations in total, with 20 in roadbeds and 33 on sidewalks or in no parking areas.

The group argues that the neighborhoods of District 5 are low-rise communities where the majority of residents already own bikes and can adequately store them, resulting in a “reduced demand.”

They also brought up that because this area is a “transit desert,” many residents own cars and thus, need the street parking.

In addition, they argue that roadbed docks “prevent adequate street cleaning,” and that only able-bodied people can enjoy the bikes.

Ridgewood Gardens Associates, Inc., a residential cooperative corporation located at 5224 65th Place in Maspeth, expressed their dissatisfaction with the proposed placement of the Citi Bike stations near their property in a letter to Holden.

“These locations make no sense for several reasons…A large part of our resident population is elderly and they along with other residents struggle to find parking,” George Mandato, board president of Ridgewood Associates, Inc., wrote in the letter. “The inability to find parking is a serious problem for them and the loss of many parking spaces will clearly prejudice the health and safety of these disabled individuals.”

Wilkinson feels that CB5 had the right idea by voting to send that letter requesting more input, and that many people most likely are not even aware of the stations that are coming.

“The more input, the better,” she said. “We didn’t know about this co-op having an objection until [Dec. 16], so I guess most people in the area don’t know that this is coming. And when they find out, they freak out.”

The installation of the stations will be delayed until at least January, but it’s not certain as to when residents will begin seeing more Citi Bikes.

JPCA releases Citi Bike counter proposal

Jessica Meditz on April 13, 2022

JPCA argue that DOT draft plan would disrupt Middle Village, Maspeth, Glendale and Ridgewood

As ridership increases and environmental preservation efforts are further encouraged, the Department of Transportation seeks to expand its Citi Bike outreach.

Its latest expansion proposal would add 52 Citi Bike stations throughout neighborhoods within Community Board 5, which include Middle Village, Maspeth, Glendale and Ridgewood. It would include 18 stations on the sidewalks and 34 in roadbeds.

In response, JPCA released a counter proposal to the DOT’s Citi Bike draft plan in support of residents who own cars in those communities, which is the majority of households.

“We’re a transit desert in most of the areas, so they were putting more of their stations in the street, which takes parking away from people who need it for parking at their residences or businesses,” JPCA member and Juniper Berry Editor Christina Wilkinson said.

“So I think our plan is more sensitive to the needs of the community,” she continued. “We’re having bus stops taken away from us and spaced further apart. So having bike share with this narrow criteria that the DOT has of every two or three blocks is not very realistic if they’re asking people who take mass transit to walk further to get to the bus.”

She emphasized that JPCA takes no issue with stations placed on sidewalks as they are non-disruptive, however they must be placed strategically.

“The regular destinations of people living here, such as Queens Blvd. or Woodhaven Blvd., as well as the other half of CB5, do not yet have Citi Bike docks installed. The inability to dock the bikes at popular destinations reduces the program’s usefulness,” JPCA’s counter proposal says.

“It would be more strategic to have Citi Bike installed boroughwide along major commercial corridors before focusing on residential area placement.”

The counter proposal also points out the fact that Citi Bike docks feature branded content from Citi and Lyft, which is generally prohibited on residentially zoned blocks.

JPCA advocates that only 43 stations be placed in the CB5 neighborhoods, and eliminated the locations from the DOT’s plan that they felt would not be as useful to residents.

Their plan has been shared with the DOT via a virtual meeting on April 6.

“I think that they were pretty receptive to what we were saying. They just received the proposal earlier that day, so it was hard for them to give us any feedback on what we proposed,” Wilkinson said.

“But they said that they would look at each individual location, most likely visit it in person and determine whether or not there were any reasons why what we proposed wouldn’t be able to be implemented.”