NY Wiki: October 2003 Archives

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October 31, 2003

Suffolk backroads

From Eastbound Rest Area of the LIE between exits 66 & 65, begin. !

Mill Road.

114

Swamp road

Promised Land

Posted by dc at 10:08 PM | Comments (0)

October 30, 2003

Huntington Station LIRR yard, 2

An afternoon train, seen from the rooftop of Blackman Plumbing Supply Company,
as it passes the potential Huntington Station site. Kevin Gary, a Greenlawn resident,
sent a scathing letter to the Long Island Rail Road, explaining why their interest in
building a train facility in Huntington Station would be an unfair burden on the
communities in that area, and a violation of numerous federal laws.

Update: 2003 Nov 04.

longislandernews.com
The Long-IslanderRecordHalf Hollow Hills NewspaperNorthport Journal

An afternoon train, seen from the rooftop of Blackman Plumbing Supply
Company, as it passes the potential Huntington Station site. Kevin Gary, a
Greenlawn resident, sent a scathing letter to the Long Island Rail Road,
explaining why their interest in building a train facility in Huntington Station would
be an unfair burden on the communities in that area, and a violation of numerous
federal laws.

Long Islander Photo/Brian Ferry

GREENLAWN-HUNTINGTON STATION
Past Comes Back To Haunt The LIRR

Greenlawn man involved in 2000 fight sides with Huntington Station

By Brian Ferry

When officials of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and Long Island
Rail Road (LIRR) informed the public that they were interested in hearing
opinions regarding their plans to build an electric train facility somewhere in the
towns of Smithtown or Huntington, they opened a door that will be difficult to
close. Many people are content with simply showing up to the public scoping
meetings and saying a few words. Others may opt to fill their three-minute time
allotment with a prepared speech or letter. Still, others have done their
homework and have prepared a packet to hand to LIRR and MTA officials while
being forced to cut their speech short once their time is up.

Here�s where Kevin Gary comes in. A Greenlawn resident, Gary was a vocal
dissenter to the MTA and LIRR�s idea to place a similar facility south of the LIRR
right-of-way and north of Pulaski Road � where Harborfields� Estates are now
being planned for construction. He and fellow Greenlawn resident Gary Schoer
brought a lawsuit against the LIRR asserting that the railroad had failed to
comply with the environmental procedures in the scoping process. Thanks to
their work, in conjunction with the work of Town Councilman Mark Cuthbertson
and State Senator Carl Marcellino, the result was a total withdrawal by the MTA
and a promise that the Greenlawn site wouldn�t be considered in the future.

Now, Gary has joined the unhappy citizens of Huntington Station in their fight to
keep the facility from being built on a site between the LIRR right-of-way and
East 5th Street.

On October 2, the two agencies sent out a package to media outlets and
residents who have attended past public meetings concerning these sites. In this
packet, they explained the environmental review process, attached maps of all
the sites still under consideration, and gave dates, times, and directions to all
public scoping meetings in November. Gary obtained one of these mailings,
which is the basis of a seven-page letter that he sent to Peter Palarmo, editorial
officer of the LIRR public affairs department.

The letter lists three primary concerns. The first is called �environmental justice.�
Gary cites various federal laws, including the 14th Amendment of the
Constitution, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and Executive Order 12898. Through
these laws, Gary insists that plans to build the facility in Huntington Station would
imply a discriminatory impact on the residents. He cited demographic studies and
census numbers of Huntington Station and the other communities along the Port
Jefferson Line, and it shows a staggering difference in ethnicity. According to US
Census information listed in his letter, the African-American population in
Huntington Station is 1,500 percent greater than in any other area being
considered. Similarly, the Hispanic population in Huntington Station is 750
percent greater, and the non-English-speaking population 240 percent greater.
The number of people living in poverty in Huntington Station is 300 percent
greater than in these other areas.

�I find it interesting that they had considered several locations in the Huntington
area and all the ones in white neighborhoods, including my own, were excluded,�
Gary said, adding that he believes that the Huntington Station site is the real
focus of the MTA and LIRR efforts. It was reported that extending the
electrification east of Huntington Station would cost the agencies millions of
dollars per mile. �It would seem to me that this was their primary focus based on
economics. Obviously, from a cost-benefit analysis, the railroad believes it
should be the first choice.�

His second argument delves into the reasons why other sites were excluded, or
deemed �fatally flawed� by the MTA. Thirteen sites were excluded from further
investigation under this circumstance, due to their proximity to parks,
businesses, residential communities, schools, and more. Gary argues that the
Huntington Station site neighbors public parks (including Manor Field Park and
Fair Meadow Park), residential communities (including Huntington Country Farms
and Winoka Manor apartments), and is a very short distance (approximately
2,000 feet) from Washington Drive Primary School. For these reasons alone, he
says, the Huntington Station site is fatally flawed.

Finally, he ties back into the non-English-speaking population in Huntington
Station and the method the agencies have chosen to present public scoping
meetings. Gary says that the scoping process itself is riddled with flaws,
providing only documents written in English for the public to analyze after the
first scoping meeting in June. He also argues that the maps provided in the
mailed scoping document are vague, failing to list the location of surrounding
housing and apartment complexes, Washington Drive Primary School, and other
major landmarks, which �seriously calls into question its ability to convey to the
reader, who may not even be able to read English, where the proposed site is
located in relation to landmarks in the surrounding area.�

Gary said that because of his involvement in the Greenlawn fight, he started
receiving letters and documents from the MTA and LIRR concerning these sites
long before such information was made public to most residents. Based on the
information they have provided him, Gary feels the agencies have not proved to
him that the rail yard is necessary.

�It would seem to me that the sum of the other five sites that they are
considering are better suited for a rail yard. I also note� that when they were
previously considering the Greenlawn site, they were also considering the Cerro
Wire site,� Gary said, referring to the Syosset property proposed for
development as a regional shopping mall. Referring to a civic group�s vocal
opposition to the shopping mall plan, Gary said, �I read in the newspaper that at
least one of those individuals said they would rather see the rail site than the
mall.�

�We have received Mr. Gary�s letter,� said Sam Zambuto, spokesman for the
LIRR. �It has been entered as part of the record for the Environmental Impact
Statement (EIS) and we will be responding to his letter.�

�I think he was a very effective advocate in the past and this letter shows that he
will continue to be, Cuthbertson said of Gary. The councilman said that he
anticipates Gary will follow through on his commitment until the situation in
Huntington Station is resolved. �He is a very committed community activist.�

� 2003 Long Islander Newspapers, Inc.
(631) 427-7000
322 Main Street
Huntington, NY 11743

Posted by dc at 01:14 AM | Comments (0)

October 29, 2003

No Standing in Flushing. Parking OK ?

Posted by dc at 09:55 PM | Comments (0)

October 28, 2003

Hampton Jitney Boston

Bus Service:
Hampton Jitney Boston runs from Southampton, NY to
Boston via the Bridgeport-Port Jefferson Ferry. It makes one round
trip per day and costs $59 one way/$98 round trip. I assume the bus
is carried on the ferry, though it's possible that a different bus
meets passengers on each side. For some reason they leave half an
hour of padding meeting the ferry southbound, but an hour northbound
(90 minutes on Friday and Sunday).

Hampton Jitney's service is somewhat luxurious as buses go -- there's
an attendant that serves drinks and snacks. The bus makes some
intermediate stops on Long Island and also stops at the Riverside T
station in Newton, MA. This service makes things very convenient for
people who want to travel from eastern Long Island to Boston.

Posted by dc at 03:39 AM | Comments (1)

October 27, 2003

boogaloo

Boogaloo

South Williamsburg, Brooklyn

I'll be performing a set of guitar processed through the laptop (using Peter
Nyboer's Girl, a looping pedal, and a submixer for multiple feedback loops),
resulting in sounds ranging from ambient drones to dystopian sample noise, and
possibly even some beats for the hip kids. (Samples and more detailed
descriptions here.) My slot's probably any 45 minutes in the range of 8:30 to
11:00 (new self-contradictory info has come in), which at it's worst theoretically
isn't too late for people who have to work Monday morning. Come up and say hi,
buy some merch, or just stand there with your arms folded and nod slowly and
knowingly.

Boogaloo can be found in Willamsburg--the current epicenter of the hipoisie.
Bring your too-tight high school athletic T-shirts, emo glasses, John Deere caps,
and guzzle some Pabst...or don't, and stare coldly at those who have. See you
there.

Sunday, October 19, 8PM to 4AM (my set's 10:00-10:45). 21+ (I think), no
cover. Boogaloo, 168 Marcy Ave. between S. 5th and Broadway, South
Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY. (718) 599-8900. J-M-Z train to Marcy, or L train to
Lorimer. Map here, and more info
here.

-- Maurice Rickard

Posted by dc at 02:31 AM | Comments (1)

October 26, 2003

Expressways

Jeff Saltzman

Posted by dc at 08:14 PM | Comments (0)

October 25, 2003

Huntington Drives

Roads in Huntington:
Snake Hill Rd; and
Sweet Hollow Rd

Posted by dc at 03:02 AM | Comments (0)

October 24, 2003

Forest Hills Gardens

With its air of medieval mystery, Station Square in Forest Hills Gardens seems
more like something out of a dream than the gateway to the most exclusive
neighborhood in Queens.

October 23, 2003

Old Kew Gardens

Old Kew Gardens, Queens.

Posted by dc at 07:36 PM | Comments (0)

October 22, 2003

Morning sky, NYC from EWR

Posted by dc at 12:37 AM | Comments (0)

October 21, 2003

Queenspix

http://www.queenspix historical photography.

Posted by dc at 07:41 PM | Comments (0)

October 20, 2003

Forest Hills Gardens 2

The commercial clutter at the intersection of Austin Street and 71st Avenue in the
heart of Queens is lively but ordinary. It's hard to imagine that one block away lies
the verdant, precisely planned community of Forest Hills Gardens. Not to be
confused with the surrounding sprawl known simply as Forest Hills, this 147-acre
enclave has a population of about 4,500. It remains, almost a century after its
founding, the most successful and durable American example of the "garden city"
movement, which took hold in England in the late 19th century as an antidote to the
grimness of factory towns.

See also Forest Hills Gardens 1.

2003 August 15

In a Pocket of Queens, 'City' Meets 'Garden'

By PETER HELLMAN

The homes along Greenway Terrace in Forest Hills Gardens show the hand of
Grosvenor Atterbury, the supervising architect on the planned community, which
was begun in 1910.

The commercial clutter at the intersection of Austin Street and 71st Avenue in
the heart of Queens is lively but ordinary. It's hard to imagine that one block
away lies the verdant, precisely planned community of Forest Hills Gardens. Not
to be confused with the surrounding sprawl known simply as Forest Hills, this
147-acre enclave has a population of about 4,500. It remains, almost a century
after its founding, the most successful and durable American example of the
"garden city" movement, which took hold in England in the late 19th century as
an antidote to the grimness of factory towns.

Until 1977, thousands of tennis fans poured into Forest Hills Gardens each
August for the United States Open at the West Side Tennis Club. Now that the
event has moved to Flushing, the Gardens, with its privately owned streets,
sidewalks, parks and even sewers, has receded into year-round seclusion,
almost as if it were a gated community. Yet the Gardens, less than 30 minutes
from Manhattan by subway or 15 minutes on the Long Island Rail Road, beckons
anyone interested in experiencing what was accomplished, beginning in 1910,
when a free hand was given by the Russell Sage Foundation to the visionary duo
of Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., landscape architect, and Grosvenor Atterbury,
supervising architect.

Walk two blocks south from the subway stop (the E, F, R, G and V lines) at 71st
Avenue-Continental and pass under the railroad trestle. As you arrive on the
red-brick-paved Station Square, the natural starting point for a walking tour of
Forest Hills Gardens, the familiar is left behind. With its quirky high and low
towers, half-timbered facades, steep, terra-cotta-tiled roofs, arcaded walks and
covered bridges, Station Square evokes a medieval town platz in Germany. The
architect Robert A. M. Stern calls this public space "the finest of its kind" in
America.

The square, completed in 1911, is anchored by Atterbury's train station, perched
beside the elevated tracks, and his Forest Hills Inn, whose nine-story main
tower, topped with a spray of small windows and a dome shaped like Kaiser
Wilhelm's helmet, is the tallest structure in the community. (A needlelike tower,
rather like an off-center spike on the helmet, is currently in storage.) The inn
was converted to apartments in 1967 and became a cooperative in 1981.

The sharp eye will be rewarded by quirky Arts and Crafts Movement details on
Station Square and beyond. Midway up the steps of the railroad station, for
example, silhouettes on the lantern brackets show a full-skirted mother pulling
her recalcitrant child and the Long Island Rail Road's signature dashing
commuter clutching briefcase and umbrella. Above each figure, a crow peers
down.

Forest Hills Gardens can be said to owe its existence to the miserliness of Russell
Sage. Upon his death in 1906, the unphilanthropic financier left his intact $70
million fortune to his elderly wife, Olivia Slocum Sage. She created the Russell
Sage Foundation. Her interest in creating affordable housing resulted in the
purchase of several tracts, including, in 1908, one adjacent to the recently
improved railroad line.

Olmsted Jr., a worthy successor to his illustrious father, and Atterbury, a pioneer
in modern building methods and the designer of the American Wing of the
Metropolitan Museum of Art, were hired by Mrs. Sage's lawyer, Robert de Forest.
Their charge was to show that suburban development geared to modest wage
earners need not be haphazard. Development of the Gardens would be
controlled right down to the width of home setbacks, the precise color of exterior
trims, even the placement of oriel windows.

Forest Hills Gardens was not meant to be a nonprofit enterprise. In a 1908 letter
to Olmsted, who was then investigating the best of town planning in Europe, de
Forest wrote, "I believe there's money in taste." But not in overtly expensive
taste. In keeping with the Arts and Crafts ideal, a sense of visual modesty was
to rule the design. In a sharp-tongued, lengthy article in Scribner's Magazine
(July 1916), Atterbury wrote that "model towns in America most closely
resemble the renowned chapter on snakes in Iceland; for, with but one or two
exceptions, there are none." And he warned against those "who would deck out
our modest villages in Paris finery and ruin their complexions with architectural
cosmetics."

Beginning the Walk

In the center of Station Square are two sturdy police kiosks erected in 1916,
when the nearest precinct house was in Elmhurst. Now they serve as storage for
the gardening supplies of the Friends of Station Square, a volunteer group
formed in 1991 to fend off the railroad's plan to tear down the station, which had
fallen into disrepair. From its steps, on Independence Day, 1915, Theodore
Roosevelt gave his "100 percent American" speech, castigating conscientious
objectors.

Beyond Station Square, gently curved residential streets and narrow lanes
ribbon out toward the south, east and west. Tucked among them are an
occasional secluded circle or close. Only the two "feeder" arteries, Continental
and Ascan Avenues, run straight. Visitors accustomed to Manhattan's rectangular
grids may well lose all sense of direction upon entering the Gardens. "When I
call a car service," says Andreas Krueger, who lives on Middlemay Circle, "I
always allow an extra half-hour for them to find us."

In keeping with the asymmetric plan, the village green called Greenway Terrace
slants off from behind Station Square. While the hands of many architects are on
homes and apartment houses in the Gardens, the residences along Greenway
Terrace are all Atterbury's. The one at No. 65, with its roofed and trellised
sidewalk entrance, once belonged to the actress Thelma Ritter, remembered for
films that include "Rear Window" and "Miracle on 34th Street."

At the circular seating area of high-back benches at the head of the village
green, residents still gather in the shade of chestnut trees to chat in good
weather. Just beyond is Flagpole Park, dominated by the former mainmast of the
yacht Columbia, America's defender of the America's Cup in 1898 and 1901.
One hundred feet tall, capped with the figure of a seagull that is often mistaken
for an eagle, it was an early 1920's gift from the Harriss brothers, residents of
the Gardens. Also on the green is a World War I monument by the sculptor
Adolph A. Weinman, whose "Civic Fame" caps Manhattan's Municipal Building.
The "Mercury" dime and "Liberty" half dollar were also his designs. Weinman's
former home at 23 Greenway South is dominated by the triple height window of
his studio.

Distinctive Houses

Soaring land costs quickly pushed Forest Hills Gardens out of reach of the
working families Olivia Sage hoped to house. But Atterbury did try to keep costs
down by creating attached homes throughout. Their impact, however, is quite
different from the dreary phalanxes of "side by sides" that define much of
Queens. Where tiny Archway Street cuts through a group of attached homes on
Greenway Terrace, for example, Atterbury designed paired apartments over the
arch, with large bay windows overlooking the green.

Or consider the trellis-fronted cottage at 18 Park End Place. Viewed front-on, it
appears to be free standing. From around the corner, one sees that the
"cottage" is actually an end unit on a group of nine attached houses that face the
one-and-a-half-acre Hawthorne Park, one of two private parks in the Gardens.
(Olmsted Jr. felt no need for more parks, as the 535-acre Forest Park is
adjacent to the Gardens.)

On a recent Sunday afternoon, Jane and Miles Siegel, former Upper West Siders
who moved into 18 Park End Place four years ago, were gardening in their small
but flower-filled yard. "The first time we walked under the trestle, it was like
magic to find that this place could exist," Ms. Siegel said.

The homes on Park End Place, like many in the Gardens, have hollow concrete
walls that were precast off site. Atterbury used this technique throughout Forest
Hills Gardens, sometimes mixing into the concrete "soup" broken shells, ceramic
tile and pebbles to give color and texture. "Our walls are incredibly strong," Mr.
Siegel said. "The only problem is trying to hang a picture."

The fabric of life in Forest Hills Gardens � more small town than big city � is
influenced heavily by volunteer committees. The Christmas Eve caroling on the
train station steps, Santa's sleigh ride through the community and his home
delivery of gifts to children are planned by the celebrations committee. An
informal committee got the tower clocks on the inn back on time after a long
hiatus. A temporary committee is now raising money to restore Flagpole Park.

Perhaps the most onerous volunteer duty is the architectural committee, which
tries to maintain the standards set down by Atterbury and Olmsted. Showing a
visitor around the Gardens one recent evening, Elizabeth Murphy, president of
the community association, made note of a driveway that had been widened
without permission, white window frames in one unit of attached homes that
should have been brown like the others, a newly surfaced entrance path to a
house that should have been flagstone but wasn't, and a high hedge that was
"unfriendly."

Erring homeowners are asked by the architectural committee to bring their
homes up to standard. "Some new people think our volunteers are just cute little
things and that they can bully us," said Ms. Murphy, who grew up in the Gardens.
"If they have that attitude, they will see us in court. Our right to protect the
appearance of this place has always been upheld."

Prominent Names

Early on, Forest Hills Gardens was a white community that voted Republican. In
recent years, Asians, Russians, Indians, Iranians and a few black families have
moved in. An Orthodox rabbi lives on Dartmouth Street. Still, a surprising
number of old-time families stay rooted in the Gardens. Robert M. Hof, president
of a local real estate brokerage, and his wife, Susanna, president of the Friends
of Station Square, can each trace five generations in the community: their
grandparents and parents lived here, their daughter was married in the rose
garden of the West Side Tennis Club, and their grandchildren are now growing
up in the Gardens.

The most imposing houses in the Gardens are on the broad arc of Greenway
North. The Norman-style stone mansion at No. 123 once belonged to Trygve Lie,
the Norwegian who was the first secretary general of the United Nations
(1946-53). It faces a group of much humbler attached houses, about the same
length as the mansion. No. 150, now split into two homes, was the home of the
vaudevillian Fred Stone, who played the scarecrow in the 1903 Broadway
production of "The Wizard of Oz." At stately No. 167 lived Michael Miranda,
among those arrested at the infamous gathering of Mafia dons in Apalachin,
N.Y., in 1957.

The finest house in Forest Hills Gardens is at 8 Markwood Road, just off
Greenway North. Its setting on spacious rolling terrain is exceptional in a
community devoted to efficient land use. The house's steep, multiple rooflines,
its use of decoratively infused concrete divided by brick perimeters, its
wrought-iron gates and fine carving make this house the essence of Atterbury.
Indeed, local lore has it that the architect intended to move in, but there is no
proof that he ever did.

Separated from this house by a stone wall is that rarity in New York: a privately
owned park that is open to all. Named Olivia Park in honor of the creator of the
Russell Sage Foundation, this bowl-shaped green acre is where generations of
local children first sledded. Facing the park, at 22 Deepdene Place, is the house
where the family of Geraldine Ferraro lived until a few years ago. Nearby is the
home where the journalist Jimmy Breslin and his first wife, Rosemary, raised
their children. Olivia Park is an ideal spot for a walker in the Gardens to rest or
even picnic.

The most influential local person was not from the world of politics, crime or the
arts, but from sports. Branch Rickey, general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers
in the 1940's, lived in the red brick house at 34 Greenway South. In October
1945, after two months of secrecy, the story broke that Rickey had signed
Jackie Robinson, setting in motion the desegregation of major league baseball as
well as of other professional sports leagues. (But decades would pass before the
first black family moved into the Gardens.)

Rickey was then a member of the interdenominational Church in the Gardens, a
village-style church designed by Atterbury on Ascan Avenue and paid for by
Olivia Sage. In a letter to Rickey that October, its minister, John Lawrence
Casteel, wrote: "I noticed in the paper this week the statement concerning the
signing of Jack Robinson to the team. This morning, as we were repeating the
Statement of Faith, and you were standing just in front of the reading desk, we
used the expression `the relation of human brotherhood' and I could not help
thinking to myself, `Well, here is one man who has done at least one
outstanding thing to make this come true.' "

Pointing out Rickey's house, Jeff Gottlieb, president of the Central Queens
Historical Society, said, "Nobody famous lives in the Gardens anymore." What
does still live in this community, however, is Olmsted and Atterbury's vision of a
model city, still fresh as it approaches its centenary.

The careful eye catches a wealth of details at Forest Hills Gardens, like this
lantern bracket at Station Square, with its umbrella-clutching commuter dashing
for the train.
Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company
See also WiReD NY.

Posted by dc at 03:06 AM | Comments (0)

October 19, 2003

Century21 Benjamin Realty

Century21 Benjamin Realty:
Syosset / Dix Hills / Forest Hils / Flushing / Bayside / Glen Cove / Brooklyn.

Posted by dc at 01:23 AM | Comments (1)

October 18, 2003

Views Of

Views of Long Island photo tour.

Posted by dc at 03:05 AM | Comments (0)

October 17, 2003

Fall foliage tour

Hudson Valley foliage.

First Two Weeks in October:

Borderline - This area is a thin strip between the Hudson Valley proper and the
Connecticut state line. Generally, this includes the higher elevations between the
Hudson River and the state of Connecticut. The main road is NY 22.

Shawangunk Mountains - This includes the mountains themselves and a small
portion of the surrounding area. Main roads are I-84, US 6, NY 17, NY 208 and
NY 94.

Second and Third Weeks in October:

Mid-Hudson Valley - This includes the Hudson River, and eastern valley, from
Peekskill northward. Main roads are US 9, Taconic State Parkway and NY 82.

The State Parks - This includes both the Bear Mountain State Park and Harriman
State Park, and the immediate surrounding area. Main roads are I-87 and US
9W.

Last Two Weeks in October:

Lower Hudson - This includes the Hudson River, and valley, south of Peekskill.
Main roads are US 9W, US 9, Taconic State Parkway and I-684.

For precise foliage information call the New York State Division of Tourism at
(800)CALL-NYS.

Posted by dc at 02:30 AM | Comments (0)

October 16, 2003

Taconic State Parkway

Taconic State Parkway is a nice drive.

Posted by dc at 02:31 AM | Comments (1)

October 15, 2003

Road pics

Gribblenation.

Posted by dc at 02:44 AM | Comments (0)

October 14, 2003

Open House New York

Open House New York sites and hours.

Posted by dc at 01:27 AM | Comments (0)

October 13, 2003

Arverne by the Sea

Arverne by the Sea Rockaway redevelopment.

An area was once filled with small privately owned bungalows that were
torn down by the city during the 1960's in a "urban renewal" attempt. As you
can tell, very little was ever renewed. There is currently a plan to build
on 117 acres of the site near the Gaston station (Beach 67).

Posted by dc at 10:30 PM | Comments (1)

October 12, 2003

Airtrain to end blight at Jamaica

Change at Jamaica: Sutphin Boulevard sees a revival with AirTrain's opening and
a business improvement district.

Ben Harris is talking on the phone, but he's more focused on the group of guys
loitering outside on the sidewalk. They block his view of Sutphin Boulevard,
known for its commuters and its courthouses, and keep passersby from viewing
his business.

An hour after police chased them away, they are back outside his Early Bird Car
and Limo Service, and this time, they're in Harris' front door and they have some
words for him.

"They said, 'You think you've got a problem? We'll give you a problem,' " Harris
recalled. He told them to leave, called police and waited, saying he understood if
they didn't show up. Police in Jamaica are busy, and resolving a squabble
between a small business and a group of unemployed men -- a daily dispute,
Harris said -- isn't a top priority.

"Merchants are terrified of these people and it scares me, too, but I confront
them anyway," said Harris, who has run his taxi and limo service on Sutphin
Boulevard for 22 years.

Update: see also 2004: AirTrain to end blight at Jamaica.

Change at Jamaica: Sutphin Boulevard sees a revival with AirTrain's opening and
a business improvement district
By Matt Donnely, Staff Writer

2003 October 13

An hour after police chased them away, they are back outside his Early Bird Car
and Limo Service, and this time, they're in Harris' front door and they have some
words for him.

"Merchants are terrified of these people and it scares me, too, but I confront
them anyway," said Harris, who has run his taxi and limo service on Sutphin
Boulevard for 22 years.

The problems of business -- from Maloney's Bar to McDonald's -- in this section of
Jamaica have gone the same route for years: Owners or managers complain to
their landlords, who then lobby the police, the borough president, the mayor.
Meanwhile, the problems, like the loiterers, linger along Sutphin Boulevard:
overflowing garbage, dark streets, poor sidewalks.

Now those owners and managers say two things are giving them hope: the new
Sutphin Boulevard business improvement district, or BID, and the new AirTrain
station, which could bring 35,000 people a day to one of Queens' best-known
communities. Jamaica, once the premier shopping district for many Long
Islanders as well as city residents, could see its fortunes reviving with the
opening late this year of the $1.9-billion AirTrain and rehab of the adjoining Long
Island Rail Road station. AirTrain will link residents to Kennedy Airport, and it
already has attracted at least one developer, LCOR, which plans a
500,000-square-foot office building at Sutphin and 94th Avenue, across from the
station.

More than two years in the making, the business improvement district --
stretching along Sutphin from Hillside Avenue to 97th Avenue -- is expected to
hire security officers to patrol for loiterers and other problems, provide
maintenance workers to keep trash cans from spilling onto sidewalks and build
informational kiosks to promote businesses.

Despite drawing many supporters, the BID also has its detractors, including
Jamaica's city councilman, who is concerned that the additional tax costs will hurt
companies, from bakeries to fish markets and restaurants to children's clothing
stores.

More important than cost, supporters say, it will give the businesses along
Sutphin Boulevard a sense of unity and a singular and more powerful voice to
make demands to the police, the borough and the city. "The feeling is, if we have
a BID, we'll have more authority," said Harris.

A business improvement district is an area where businesses agree to pay an
additional tax to supplement services provided by the city. Property and sales
taxes paid to the city and the state fund road repairs, sidewalk cleanup and police
salaries, but those services sometimes fall short of businesses' demands. A BID
creates a second, more focused government -- funded for, elected by and
answerable to the participating businesses. Sutphin Boulevard's will be the eighth
in Queens and the third in Jamaica. There are 12 in Brooklyn, 17 in Manhattan
and three in the Bronx.

"The thing about a BID is, if it doesn't work, you can always dissolve it," said Joy
Tomchin, a BID co-chairwoman and co-owner of a Sutphin Boulevard retail and
commercial building across the street from the Jamaica Courthouse. "But it shows
how successful they are that that's never happened to a BID in New York."

Janet Barkan, director of the Jamaica Center Improvement Association, said her
BID on Jamaica Avenue from Sutphin to 169th Street puts up holiday lights in the
winter -- for multiple reasons. "One reason to celebrate the season, is that it gets
dark so early the lights provide security and almost creates a sense of home,"
she said. A BID "provides things that you take for granted -- trees, planters,
things that brighten the cityscape and make it look nice."

Business owners are already hitting the streets to learn what businesses and
residents hope the new district will accomplish. April Jones, owner of Coleman's
Daycare and a 35-year resident of Jamaica, said she's eager for change along
the boulevard. A BID co-chairwoman, Jones has been attending meetings and
working with business leaders and public officials for two years to make the
Sutphin Boulevard BID a reality.

"I'm going to be out there speaking to people and finding out what they want,"
said Jones, who wants to find out what the improvements they want so they're
more willing to patronize businesses in the area.

Even before it is completely approved, Jones said she and other businesses
supportive of the BID plan to pool money to deck the boulevard in holiday lights.
"People will really know it [the BID] is taking place."

But businesses along Sutphin also hope the BID will provide the intangibles they
have learned not to take for granted: a sense of pride and security in their
neighborhood.

Owners first got the idea to form the district two years ago when the Greater
Jamaica Development Corp., another nongovernmental business, presented a
carrot to businesses: a $700,000 grant to improve the streetscape, pieced
together from city, state and federal funds. The catch: To receive the money,
businesses would have to agree to maintain all the neighborhood's capital
improvements.

"It's going to make a tremendous difference on Sutphin," said Jessica Baker,
project manager with Greater Jamaica Development Corp. for the Sutphin effort.
"We want to stand behind them and help provide the infrastructure, then basically
step out of the way once the BID has been approved."

Robin Eshaghpour, owner of Sutphin Properties, took on the job of going
door-to-door to convince his neighbors along the southern end of Sutphin to sign
on to the BID. The 35-year-old Iran native native grew up working in his parents'
liquor store on Sutphin and now owns several properties on the street, most
recently a 400,000-square-foot office and retail building across from the AirTrain
station.

"I'd like to see increased sanitation, increased security, a more uniform presence
on the storefronts -- make it a little bit neater, more inviting so [LIRR and
AirTrain] passengers don't have tunnel vision and go straight from the subway to
the bus" or train, said Eshaghpour, who serves as the new BID's co-chairman.

"There's not a major amount of crime, but there's a lot of loitering," he added.
"It's the biggest complaint I get from my tenants" which includes the boulevard's
only McDonald's. They have asked for increased security for a long time.

The BID has the support of most of its 110 businesses in a springtime vote, plus
Community Board 12 and the city's planning commission, which approved it Aug.
27. In the next month, the district will come before the city council for final
approval. After that, it will require the nod from a few state agencies, but both
Sutphin business and Greater Jamaica Development Corp. officials are confident
the BID will be up and running by next summer. A district management
association of elected business leaders will govern the BID and hire an executive
director to run its day-to-day operations. Several public officials in the
neighborhood have stood behind the district, speaking in support as well as
providing their necessary approval.

"I believe it's going to be a win-win situation; it's only going to improve that
area," said Community Board 12 chairman James Davis in an August interview.
Davis, 46, who was chairman for 11 years and died of a heart attack Aug. 4,
hoped capital improvements to the streets would serve residents as well as
commuters.

Other officials, however, have grown skeptical of another tax burden on business.
Democratic Councilman Allan Jennings, who represents Jamaica, was initially
supportive and helped to convince businesses on the southern end to join. But
since the city passed an 18.5 percent property tax hike last fall he changed his
mind and has vowed to vote against the BID.

"I think the BID is a good idea, but because of the property tax hike and the
economy the way it is, I think we should postpone the BID a year," said Jennings.
He also said more businesses along Sutphin oppose the BID than support it, but
had little evidence to support this assertion. "What sense is there in having a BID
if we're going to put people out of business?"

Yet the co-chairmen said the BID's cost is relatively small, though they
acknowledge the price tag was an early obstacle. If adopted, businesses along
Sutphin will pay $68 per linear foot of space along the boulevard. The typical
small business has about 20 feet and a yearly bill of $1,360, which advocates say
is comparable to other BIDs in the city. The Sutphin BID itself has 2,575 feet and
an annual budget of about $175,000.

The money will pay for and maintain new street signs, better sidewalks, garbage
collection and most importantly, private security. A few days after calling the
police on loiterers, Harris watched from his window as plainclothes detectives
patted down and cuffed another group of men. Harris didn't make the call to
police this time, he said; one of his neighbors probably did.

"With a BID comes more expenses, but you know, that's what it's going to take,"
Harris said. "It's going to be worth the effort to make this a better to place to
shop, to do business and to work."

Posted by dc at 10:13 PM | Comments (1)

October 11, 2003

Rapid Transit Net transit history

Rapid Transit Net's transit history.

Posted by dc at 10:06 PM | Comments (0)

October 10, 2003

Queens living

Queens: asian areas:
Flushing
Bayside
College Point, and
Whitestone

Posted by dc at 12:56 AM | Comments (0)

October 09, 2003

Forgotten Subways

Forgotten NY's subways.

Posted by dc at 09:52 PM | Comments (0)

October 08, 2003

NY BMW Club

NY BMW Club's autocross at Nassau Coliseum.

Posted by dc at 06:40 PM | Comments (0)

October 07, 2003

LIRR history

Carl W. Condit's The Port of New York: A History of the Rail Terminal
System from the Beginnings to Pennsylvania Station Volume II for an
overall look at the rise and fall of the commuter rail system.

Posted by dc at 02:57 AM | Comments (0)

October 06, 2003

LIRR - MTA - Metro North Merger

A year after the Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced a historic
reorganization that included merging the Long Island Rail Road and the
Metro-North Commuter Railroad, some local leaders and transit watchers are
wondering where the plan has gone.

"The thing is we haven't heard anything from the MTA in almost a year," said
Tom Dunham, an aide to Sen. Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) who sits on the
MTA Capital Review Board. "As far as we're concerned, the proposal is either
dead or it's on its last vestiges of life support. Either way it does not appear to be
a high priority for the MTA at this time."

Checking Progress of Transit Plan
MTA to merge LIRR, Metro-North

By Joie Tyrrell, Staff Writer

2003 October 06

The proposal called for one of the most significant changes in the history of the
LIRR -- consolidating it with Metro-North into one company called MTA Rail. It
would create companies for subways, buses, bridges and tunnels and a new
company to oversee all major building projects. Plans also called for merging all
MTA-run bus operations into one, MTA Bus, which would include all bus service in
New York City and Long Island. MTA officials said last year the proposal would be
in place by 2004.

Despite requests over the past year for details from the Long Island state
delegation, the MTA has not spelled out the specifics of what a merged commuter
rail system would look like. The LIRR, created in 1834 and part of the MTA since
1968, transports an average of 290,000 riders each weekday, more than any
other commuter line in the nation. Metro-North, which stretches north of the city
and into Connecticut, transports about 250,000 riders each weekday and joined
the MTA in 1976.

Part of the plan was implemented this past year when the MTA Board created a
company called MTA Capital to oversee all capital projects, including East Side
Access, which would give LIRR riders direct access to Grand Central Station by
2011.

MTA spokesman Tom Kelly said "the whole plan is still there."
"The status is we are still working on it," he said.

Kelly said there is no timetable for the proposed merger of the railroads.

"I don't think at this point they have it nailed down to each specific item," he said
when asked for details of the plan.

The MTA did implement some small policy changes to align the two railroads over
the past year, such as eliminating the LIRR's forgotten ticket policy where
monthly ticket holders received a refund if they forgot their ticket and had to buy
a daily fare. Metro-North had no such policy.

The MTA also submitted a 200-plus page bill that included other provisions for the
merger.

But the legislation failed to find a Senate sponsor. The bill included changes to
the funding formula, essentially giving the MTA Board control over the
distribution of funds, a move that the Long Island Association, the region's
largest business group, is against.

"At the moment there is a specific statute ... in relation to the distribution of TBTA
[Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority] funds -- most of that money goes to
mass transit, not to the bridges. The MTA wants to repeal that and make those
decisions themselves," said Mitch Pally, vice president for government affairs for
the Long Island Association.

Some transit watchers say the LIRR and Metro-North already share some
attributes, including the procurement of new cars and ticket vending machines.
Perhaps a substantive merging of the two railroads is not necessary, they said.

"If one railroad does something better the other railroad should follow suit," said
Beverly Dolinsky, executive director of the Permanent Citizens Advisory
Committee, the coordinating body and funding mechanism for both the LIRR and
Metro-North-riders councils. "I don't think each railroad should reinvent the wheel
every time."

MTA officials said at the time that the consolidation would save $30 million but
never spelled out how.

"One of the real problems I have with this legislation is nobody has ever
quantified that," Dolinsky said. "Maybe they would have had a better shot if they
quantified the savings.

" ... As far as I know it's not going any place ... A lot of people said it was dead
on arrival in Albany," she said.

Also, the unions had requested a briefing on what a merged system would mean
to them but were never told.

"They never explained anything to us," said Michael J. Canino, general chairman
of the LIRR's United Transportation Union.

It was also unclear whether the new agency, expected to be called MTA Rail,
would retain its own president. Just last month, the MTA named James Dermody
president of the railroad.

Still, there could be benefits to merging the two, said Peter Haynes, president of
the LIRR Commuters Campaign.

"If they get all the bus systems for the city and Nassau under the MTA, they can
coordinate schedules and make it a true mass transportation system for the
region," he said. "There is a lot of potential to do some good things, whether or
not that will become reality is another story."

Pally said the MTA could revive the plan at any moment.

"I never assume anything is dead where there is a live bill," he said. "And at the
moment there is a live bill."

Posted by dc at 02:48 AM | Comments (1)

October 05, 2003

42nd Street Trolley

Vision 42 street trolley.

Posted by dc at 03:37 AM | Comments (0)

October 04, 2003

Village Of Sagaponack

In an apparent attempt to pre-empt their oceanfront neighbors, a group of
Sagaponack residents filed a petition yesterday to incorporate their community
into a village. The petition, signed by 100 residents, is the second filed this year in
Southampton Town.

Petition For 'Village' Of Sagaponack
Residents seek to halt drive for Dunehampton

By Katie Thomas, STAFF WRITER

2003 October 03

In an apparent attempt to pre-empt their oceanfront neighbors, a group of
Sagaponack residents filed a petition yesterday to incorporate their community
into a village.

The petition, signed by 100 residents, is the second filed this year in
Southampton Town. In July, a group of beachfront homeowners proposed the
Village of Dunehampton, which would have shaved a sliver of shoreline off the
hamlets of Sagaponack, Bridgehampton and Water Mill. The effort was defeated
last month when Town Supervisor Patrick Heaney invalidated their petition.

Lee Foster, who helped organize the Sagaponack effort, acknowledged that the
move was an attempt to prevent Dunehampton supporters from trying again.
"It's like fighting fire with fire, in a way," she said. Dunehampton opponents say
they fear the proposed village would prevent their access to public beaches and
could raise property taxes.

While state law allows residents to form their own village in unincorporated areas
of towns, no provision seems to exist for forming a new village inside an existing
village. "If this village gets formed, I think it totally stymies the attempts of
Dunehampton," said town board member Steve Kenny, who earlier this spring
spearheaded the town's new shoreline protection law. The law spurred the
Dunehampton effort after beachfront homeowners claimed it prevented them
from rebuilding their homes after a storm.

Kenny said he would support the Sagaponack residents' efforts. "I don't think
they're out to harm the town. This is a group I know the town can work with," he
said.

Joe Prokop, a lawyer for the Dunehampton supporters, declined to comment
yesterday.

After sitting through hours of spirited debate on the Dunehampton issue, Heaney
said yesterday he was shocked that its opponents were now trying to create their
own village. "It came to me as a complete surprise," he said. "When the
opponents of one village decide that the cure is the formation of another village,
I'm left shaking my head."

Town board member Dennis Suskind agreed. "I'm having a feeling that I'm in an
episode of 'The Twilight Zone,'" he said. "It doesn't seem to be the way to go."

To create a village under state law, proponents must first submit a petition
signed by at least 20 percent of the area's registered voters. The area must
include at least 500 residents and cannot be larger than five square miles.
According to the Long Island Power Authority's 2002 population survey, 606
people live in Sagaponack.

Foes of Dunehampton have said they opposed that village because it didn't
coincide with any historic community - the new village would have no school, no
post office, not even a store. For that reason, many said they saw no hypocrisy
in supporting the incorporation of Sagaponack - and maybe even Bridgehampton
and Water Mill.

"We have inhabitants, we have a church, we have a school, stores, a fire
department," said Patti Goldstein, who lives in Bridgehampton and is a member
of Friends of the Community, a group that opposes Dunehampton. She planned
to attend a meeting last night of Bridgehampton residents who were themselves
discussing incorporation. "If it was a way to stop Dunehampton, then I'd be in
favor of it."

Al Colina, co-chairman of the Water Mill Citizens Advisory Committee, a group
appointed by Southampton Town, said incorporating Water Mill has come up for
discussion at least twice at meetings. Colina said he was "interested" in the issue
but couldn't take a stand because of his position on the committee.

"Anywhere you go, there are people who are talking about it," Colina said.
Copyright � 2003, Newsday, Inc.

Posted by dc at 07:49 PM | Comments (0)

October 03, 2003

Retired LIRR stations

Some stations were abondoned in the 1950's, 60's and 70's (Union
Hall, litterally next to Jamacia, Elmhurt in the early 80's, and Landia,
though the LIRR's phone system thinks it exists for some reason).

Union Hall, Hillside, Bellaire, Corona, Elmhurst, Woodhaven, Cedar Manor,
Springfield Gardens, Higbie Avenue, the Ozone Park line stations all went
away after 1955.

Posted by dc at 06:27 PM | Comments (0)