Construction site dirt mountain a hell on earth for Forest Hills residents

PIX 11 News 

 Residents of a Queens co-op building told PIX11 News it’s a neverending battle against dirt and dust. The culprit — a massive mound of dirt located on an ongoing construction site.

After six years, they said they’ve had enough.

“I want my life back,” resident Collette Smith said. “My neighbors deserve their lives back. Enough is enough.”

The construction vehicles at the site, located near the Van Wyck and Grand Central parkways, kick up debris in the yard, which causes dust to travel into nearby apartments. The residue is found on multiple surfaces throughout their homes.

“I don’t need to be breathing this stuff,” Connie Hemingway said. “I want to extend my life, not shorten it.”

Big rigs hogging Grand Central Parkway service road space is another persistent problem the city avoids

CBS NY

  Trucks are taking over another Queens neighborhood.

CBS2 found around two dozen parked Sunday night in Forest Hills, some idling for hours.
Residents said they are begging the city to help. Reporter Lisa Rozner first reported on the problem two years ago. On Sunday, she went back to speak with residents who said the situation has only gotten worse.

Truck fumes filled the air, but she wasn’t at a truck stop.

It was actually the Grand Central service road spanning several blocks starting at 64th Road. For the last three years, Rafy Yusupov and his neighbors say it’s what they come home to every night — and it’s especially bad on weekends when trucks are left for days.

“Always noise, always smell, traffic,” Yusupov said.

Here's an idea. Since the MTA did a transit ad campaign with Comedy Central and Forest hills resident and Golden Globe winner and viral rap star Awkwafina having her doing station announcements, have the NYPD make the same integrated advertising/public service arrangement with the network and have her order the removal of these pig parking big rigs.

Catch Awkwafina is Nora from Queens premiering on Comedy Central on January 22nd.

 

Homeless men get evicted from house they built by the Grand Central Parkway

NY1


A wooded area off the Grand Central Parkway was once known as the "Parkside Hill Community Garden." But's it's been a long time since residents planted anything there.

"Honestly, this has been a dumping ground for quite some time," Swarovski Beaumont said at the location.

Tires, shopping carts, and trash are common now. Sometime last year, neighbors said, two men planted themselves here, pitching tents behind the thicket:


"They're building a tiny home on city property," the resident said.

A @NY1 exclusive: Two men began constructing their own well-crafted shelter in the thicket off the GCP this week. Concerned neighbors say the area used to be a community garden but became a homeless encampment and dumping ground over the years pic.twitter.com/j913aHlriK

— Van Tieu (@Van_Tieu) October 18, 2019

 "They definitely have a power saw and a power drill," she said. "They have already built flooring, and started to build insulation."

When we returned two days later, after asking the city parks department about the encampment, the city had stepped in.

Several city agencies, including the Department of Homeless Services and the Department of Sanitation, came together to clean up the site Friday morning.

The city's response included dozens of workers in protective clothing. An official, who declined to be identified, said one of the men was taken to a shelter, but that the other refused services an outreach team offered.

Advocates for the homeless say the encampment is a sign of just how bad the homeless crisis has become.

"This story is pretty incredible, that people are opting to build their own housing in a city where we are one of the richest places on earth," said Paulette Soltani, of VOCAL-NY.

The mayor's officer told NY1, "The Mayor has been clear — we will not tolerate encampments.  Our outreach teams have met with these individuals, offered them services, and are working to connect them with further resources."

 

Should we send more trucks to the GCP?

From DNA Info:

Elected officials are calling on the Department of Transportation to allow large trucks to drive on a portion of the Grand Central Parkway — an effort to alleviate "paralyzing" traffic the big-rigs are causing on Astoria's residential streets, they say.

Commercial vehicles are currently banned from the parkway, with the exception of the stretch between the RFK-Triborough Bridge and the western end of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. Currently, that approximately 14-block area allows for smaller trucks as long as they have "no more than three axles and ten tires," according to the DOT.

Astoria officials want that same stretch open to trucks of any size, which they say would keep larger vehicles making their way to the bridge on the parkway instead of on residential streets like Astoria Boulevard, where they're causing traffic mayhem, they say.

Smaller trucks have been allowed to drive on the Grand Central between the BQE and the Triborough Bridge since 2004, when the state legislature passed a bill — sponsored by Gianaris — in an earlier effort to combat Astoria traffic.

The senator said expanding that to include larger trucks would be a "win-win" for residents as well as commercial drivers, who would have a more convenient route between the bridge and the BQE.

Eyesore McMansion almost finished

From the Queens Chronicle:

Construction on the castle-like house at 179-16 Grand Central Pkwy. is moving steadily along, after more than a decade of oft-stalled construction and thousands of dollars in fines from the Department of Buildings.

Stakeholders are pleased that the building is no longer stuck mid-development. Though Community Board 8 District Manager Marie Adam-Ovide used to receive complaints about the house, she said that they stopped since construction resumed.

“Nobody likes to see those empty shells of houses and no one living there,” Jamaica Estates Association President Martha Taylor, who also serves on the community board, told the Queens Chronicle.
The property had been purchased in 2001; a DOB permit was applied for in 2003; construction began in 2005.

Grand Central cat rescue

NYPD Highway Officer Saves Cat

A Worthwhile Traffic Jam An NYPD Highway Unit officer stopped traffic last Friday to help save a cat that accidentally wandered on to the Grand Central Parkway in rush hour traffic -- #ItsWhatWeDo. Cat and cop are now new friends and doing well!

Posted by NYPD on Wednesday, December 23, 2015

From NYPD:

An NYPD Highway Unit officer stopped traffic last Friday to help save a cat that accidentally wandered on to the Grand Central Parkway in rush hour traffic -- ‪#‎ItsWhatWeDo‬. Cat and cop are now new friends and doing well!

Forest Hills trucks towed

From DNA Info:

Forest Hills police towed away several illegally parked tractor-trailers after their drivers recently turned the Grand Central Parkway service road into their rest area.

For several months, local residents have voiced concerns about tractor-trailers parked on the service road as well as in a nearby parking lot behind Forest Hills High School between 66th and 67th roads.

“Some of them leave the trucks there, some of them are sleeping there, they are also lined up on the service road,” said one concerned resident who did not want to give her name. “We don’t know what’s going on there at night.”

Other residents also complained that the parked vehicles block their view making it dangerous to drive in the area.

Due to complaints regarding tractors parked along the GCP Service Road, we're conducting a heavy duty tow operation pic.twitter.com/Ba8bbWSmYQ

— NYPD 112th Precinct (@NYPD112Pct) December 18, 2015

LaGuardia getting an AirTrain?

From DNA Info:

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced plans Tuesday to build a second AirTrain in Queens, connecting riders to LaGuardia Airport from the 7 train and Long Island Rail Road.

The plan calls for a 1.5-mile tram that runs along the Grand Central Parkway from the Willets Point 7 train and LIRR stations, Cuomo said.

"We just are in the initial planning phases of it," Cuomo said.

But then he said something which makes me wonder if he got the memo:

...the governor said he didn't think the project would face major problems because Willets Point is industrial and therefore not prone to "siting issues" that arise in residential neighborhoods, he said.

"It runs basically along the Grand Central Parkway. It's basically an industrial area. You're not talking about neighborhoods, etc," he said.

So does he not realize that there is a megadevelopment planned for Willets Point, or does he just think that it won't be happening any time soon?

Misleading signs on parkways are causing accidents

Turn your volume up to hear the audio.

Better keep a boat handy

From Eyewitness News:

A house in Fresh Meadows is covered in dirt and grime. The water line is about 3.5 feet high all the way around the kitchen, and the refrigerator is tipped over.

From the driveway, you can see just how it happened.

The water made its way down and instantly filled up the house. However, it is not just homeowners who experienced the sudden rainfall. Mid-afternoon drivers were also caught off guard. Flash flooding on the Grand Central Parkway near Union Turnpike forced drivers to brave the deep waters.

Eventually drivers gave up and came to a virtual standstill.

Police directed people to turn around and head back the other way.

Major clusterfuck coming soon!

From the Queens Chronicle:

In February, the second phase of the Kew Gardens Interchange project will get underway. It is a massive reconstruction and renovation plan affecting a complex web of thoroughfares — the Van Wyck Expressway, Grand Central Parkway, Queens Boulevard and Union Turnpike — which are used by half a million vehicles each day.

The first phase of the four-part project, which aims to correct structural problems and operational deficiencies, is already in progress.

The engineers overseeing the project from the Manhattan-based firm of Hardesty and Hanover gave a presentation about the status of the project at a Community Board 8 meeting last Thursday.

It will include the ramp to the northbound Van Wyck, originating from the eastbound Union Turnpike and eastbound Jackie Robinson Parkway; replacing the northbound Van Wyck viaduct, and construction on the eastbound Union Turnpike over the connection between the Grand Central, Van Wyck and merge bridge.

Homeless mess on GCP

From WPIX:

For years it’s been a dumping ground for trash off the Grand Central Parkway, now people who live on Stronghurst Avennue, say the homeless have moved in.

PIX11 News found piles of garbage, clothing, even a suitcase in several trash piles off the Parkway.

Looking past the trees and trash, there were visible tents of possibly homeless people who have created makeshift homes on the side of the Grand Central Parkway.

In start contrast, just across the street are the plush well-manicured lawns of Queens Village.

Is this the Belt or the GCP?

A brief glimpse of what was then a progressive concept in transportation: a parkway. It doesn't look it, but it's located in Greater New York. My grandfather filmed these scenes in the 1940's. He didn't note the exact location, but it appears to be The Belt Parkway somewhere along Jamaica Bay in the Borough of Queens - or is it Grand Central Parkway near Willow Lake in Queens?

The black and white "mystery highway" appears to be in Queens also, or further out on Long Island. Grand Central Parkway, perhaps?

Robert W. Martens
March, 2011

Plan to allow trucks onto Grand Central Parkway

From the Daily News:

Astoria residents, tired of the heavy trucks that rumble through their streets in search of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, have made a seemingly simple request to state transportation officials.

They want the Grand Central Parkway opened up to trucks for the seven-tenths of a mile between the end of the Robert F. Kennedy Triborough Bridge and the start of the expressway.

But the hurdles are high.

It would take an act of law, state approvals and construction to get the plan rolling because commercial traffic is banned from parkways.

City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr., who supports the proposal, said city transportation officials have embraced the idea even though it would involve some unusual construction work on the highway.

The roadbed of the Grand Central Parkway would have to be lowered about six inches to allow trucks clearance under the 31st St. overpass.

"The trucks can fit there now, but they don't have the required safety clearance," Vallone said.

Although the work sounds complicated, Vallone said he was told it could be completed in one weekend.

Gianaris said he believes the state Legislature would pass the law to open up the parkway if the state Department of Transportation gave its blessing.

State DOT officials said yesterday they were reviewing the proposal.

Astoria traffic headache roundup

From the Queens Gazette:

Motorists who travel through the maze of traffic at 31st Street and Hoyt Avenue in Astoria to reach the Grand Central Parkway, Astoria Boulevard or the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge (Triborough Bridge) should pay special attention to new signage at the bustling intersection – where the city recently installed a series of new traffic patterns, signs and signals.

Drivers are advised to take notice of the changes, since failure to follow messages on new signage puts them in risk of a $130 summons and two points on their driver’s license, law enforcement sources said.

The changes were made following months of hearings and an exhaustive traffic study that showed a need for safe crossings on Astoria Boulevard from 29th to 33rd Streets, reduced congestion and new vehicle-to-vehicle safety measures in the designated area, a city Department of Transportation (DOT) spokesperson said.

From the Queens Courier:

Two local Queens elected officials want the state Department of Transportation (DOT) to green light a plan that would allow large trucks to access the Grand Central Parkway (GCP) from the RFK Bridge, instead of having the large vehicles come in and cause congestion on the local streets of Astoria.

City Councilmember Peter Vallone Jr. and Assemblymember Michael Gianaris sent a letter to acting DOT Commissioner Stanley Gee and Regional Director Phillip Eng asking the agency to support an MTA construction project that, when completed, would eliminate the need for trucks to use local streets to access the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (BQE).

Since November 2003, small commercial vehicles have been allowed to use the GCP to access the BQE from the RFK Bridge in the eastbound direction.

Local elected officials said that this program, which started out as a pilot, has been very successful, but larger commercial vehicles – trucks higher than 12 feet, 6 inches with more than three axles – are still required to exit at 31st Street. The vehicles are required to make a sharp right turn onto 29th Street and then a sharp left onto Astoria Boulevard to avoid the low clearance on Hoyt Avenue South under the elevated train.

Recently, the city’s Department of Transportation installed a traffic signal at 29th Street and Hoyt Ave South. The MTA Bridges and Tunnels wants to perform construction that will allow the large trucks to stay on the GCP to gain access to the BQE.

By grinding the highway lower, these large vehicles will meet clearance requirements. Legislators believe this will improve the operation of the newly installed traffic signal, and reduce traffic delays and safety concerns at this intersection.

Mayhem on the parkway

From the Daily News:

The Buildings Department's top enforcer came to the rescue of a woman being beaten by her deranged husband on a Queens highway Wednesday.

Deputy Commissioner Eugene Corcoran was driving by as Ameer Khairullah, 54, attacked his wife, Bebe, and commandeered her SUV on the Grand Central Parkway in Jamaica Hills about 7:30 a.m. officials said.

"He punched the wife, dragged her out of the vehicle," said a police source. "And the car rolls over her leg and breaks it."

Corcoran stopped his Ford Explorer in the center lane and hopped out. Khairullah's 2000 Toyota 4Runner then rear-ended Corcoran's vehicle.

"That sent him flying over the guardrail," Buildings Department spokesman Tony Sclafani said. Corcoran, hired in May as the agency's head of enforcement, wasn't down long. "He gets up, walks toward the vehicle and confronts the suspect and subdues him," Sclafani said.

A former U.S. marshal, Corcoran pinned Khairullah to the ground while Firefighter Edward Tucker pulled up to lend a hand.

Tucker - who completes training today to become a fire marshal - handed Corcoran a pair of cuffs until cops arrived, FDNY spokesman Steve Ritea said.

Million trees program moves to Grand Central Pkwy

From the Times Ledger:

The trees had been taken down by the state Department of Transportation, which started construction on a large section of the Grand Central Parkway near the airport this spring, said Adam Levine, spokesman for the DOT.

He said right now the on-ramp and off-ramp from the parkway to the airport are both underneath the 94th Street bridge. The department is working to move the on-ramp further east down the parkway near 97th or 99th Street to alleviate the traffic on the ramps, a project expected to cost about $65 million.

“There’s a lot of traffic backups and a lot of accidents in the area,” Levine said.

As part of the construction, Levine said 550 trees in the area will be taken down.

This has angered some residents in the area. Smith-Jackson, founder of the Ditmars Boulevard Homeowners Alliance, said losing the trees has been a hardship to the community. The trees acted as a buffer. They separated residents’ backyards from the parkway and mitigated the emissions from the parkway and airport.

“Nobody can open the windows now,” she said.

Smith-Jackson also said the trees were taken down without warning. The DOT never informed the residents the project was starting.

Levine said the department has been apologetic for not doing so.

“This is really not the way we like to introduce ourselves to the community,” he said.

After construction started, Community Board 3 set up a meeting between residents and DOT. Smith-Jackson said that at the meeting homeowners said they wanted the department to stop cutting down the trees and also did not want the DOT to build a noise wall in the back of their properties.

“They removed mature trees,” Smith-Jackson said. “They removed 100-year-old trees. … They cannot replace that.”

Levine said the noise wall was approved 23-6 in a department-run poll of residences identified as being potentially affected by the project. This poll was done in late 2007 in the design process of the project.

Tree buffer planted in Jamaica Estates

From NY1:

Community officials broke ground Monday on a project aimed at cutting noise pollution and beautifying the Grand Central Parkway.

Trees and shrubs will be planted on the eastbound and westbound sides from Utopia Parkway to 188th Street in Jamaica Estates.

Besides being a cosmetic improvement, the foliage will act as a sound barrier for homeowners living along the highway.

"The green wall will reduce the heat island effect, it will produce oxygen, it will absorb carbon dioxide. It will trap particulate matter on the leaf surface. It will provide a home for insects, for birds. It will raise property values. It will look beautiful in terms of colors of leaves and things like that," said Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe.

Congressman Gary Ackerman secured $375,000 in federal funding for the trees earlier this spring.

The plantings count toward Mayor Michael Bloomberg's initiative to plant one million new trees throughout the five boroughs by 2017.

Crazy guy wreaks havoc in Forest Hills

Man nabbed in Qns. arson-assault
By JOHN DOYLE, NY Post

A crazed Queens man set fire to the home of a couple he knew and then returned to the scene to brutally beat the woman before mowing down the cops who chased him.

Vipan Chander, 49, was captured Tuesday after he returned to the Forest Hills home on 64th Avenue that he allegedly torched the same day, police said.

Cops said the victims, both from India, called 911 after 3 p.m. to report that an arsonist threw gasoline in their doorway and windowsill and lit it.

They managed to put out the blaze. When fire marshals arrived to investigate, the female victim saw Chander driving by and said, "That's him there." He drove off but the marshals took down his license-plate number.

A short time later Chander came back to the home and assaulted the woman so badly she had to get hospital stitches for two cuts to the face.

At 6:34 p.m. cops spotted Chander's car stuck in traffic on the Grand Central Parkway. When they got out to stop him, he ran them down. One of the three injured officers was hospitalized overnight.

Chander was later arrested on attempted-murder and other charges.

Kew Gardens Interchange slated for $400M,10-year upgrade

From NY1:

A state project is slated to tackle the traffic problems created by several major highways that meet in Kew Gardens Hills.