The Lefferts Blvd. bridge isn't over for small businesses

 

 QNS

Assemblyman Daniel Rosenthal and Senator Leroy Comrie on Tuesday, March 30, announced passage of their legislation to protect the character of the Lefferts Boulevard bridge amidst restoration, and to give protections to existing small businesses atop the structure. 

“The Lefferts Boulevard bridge serves as both a historic landmark and a community hub for Kew Gardens,” Rosenthal said. “Over decades, the diverse small businesses along this corridor have been entrenched in the civic and cultural life of our neighborhood. To destroy their livelihoods without cause during a pandemic is both unconscionable and preventable. I am grateful for the partnership of Senator Comrie and all the advocates who worked to bring this issue the attention it deserves.”

Since the late 1920s the Kew Gardens Lefferts Boulevard bridge over the Long Island Rail Road has been home to mom-and-pop stores that give the town its character and serve the shopping needs of the urban village in the city. 

In October 2020, the MTA, which owns the property, announced that the compromised structural integrity of the storefronts atop the bridge would require major capital investments. The MTA introduced a request for proposal (RFP) for a new master leaseholder to manage the stores on the Lefferts Boulevard bridge with no provisions for existing tenants. 

According to Save The Kew Gardens Coalition, a broad-based group of civic and resident organizations and Kew Gardens businesses, the RFP also specifically stated that the stores will be delivered empty. Existing small mom-and-pop stores who have served the community for over 20 years and are already hit hard by the pandemic would be forced to close under these conditions. 

To save the stores which are central to the neighborhood’s economic life, Kew Gardens community organizations partnered with the Mutual Housing Association of New York (MHANY), a nonprofit housing and commercial property development organization, to submit a unique response to the MTA’s RFP.

“The Lefferts Boulevard Bridge has suffered from years of MTA mismanagement. Because of this neglect, approximately $11 million in capital improvements will be required for the buildings, and an additional $5.5 million will be necessary to repair structural work on the bridge,” the organizations said in a petition that was shared in January. “The MTA expects the master lessee to bear the considerable cost burden of these repairs even after the city has given money to the MTA in the past to make repairs to this structure.”

Woman reported missing found dead in car trunk on Lefferts Blvd.

 

 

QNS

Authorities discovered a woman’s body inside the trunk of a car parked in South Ozone Park Wednesday morning.

The woman, believed to be 26-year-old Destini Smothers, was found inside a black Toyota Camry, parked outside of 149-57 Lefferts Blvd., around 9:51 a.m. on Wednesday, March 10.

A tow truck operator discovered the body after they had come to move the abandoned car, which didn’t have any license plates, according to the NYPD.

Officers from the 106th Precinct cordoned off the residential block as the investigation began.

 Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz arrived at the crime scene around mid-day on Wednesday. (?!)

Smothers, who was from Troy, New York, went missing in November 2020. She was last seen at Bowlero, a bowling alley in Woodside, according to the NYPD.

 

Hope for the Lefferts Ave bridge

From the Queens Chronicle:

At a Wednesday meeting with elected officials and civic leaders, Long Island Rail Road President Phillip Eng said the MTA has devised a plan to save the Kew Gardens span and the handful of small businesses on top of it, according to multiple people who were at the gathering.

“It was a productive meeting. The LIRR came back and said there’s a way to fix the bridge to make it stable,” Assemblyman Daniel Rosenthal (D-Flushing) told the Chronicle on Wednesday. “There’s a very clear pathway forward to rehabilitate the bridge. Nothing is done until its done, but it was a very optimistic meeting.”

The MTA originally said last May that the century-old span had decayed to the point where it would have to be torn down come 2020 — the year the entrepreneurs’ collective lease expires.

But in the 14 months since, mass community outrage led to both the MTA softening its position and state lawmakers passing legislation calling for a bridge rehabilitation feasibility study.

Councilwoman Karen Koslowitz (D-Forest Hills) even allocated $1 million for one.

But shortly after Eng took over as the head of the LIRR, he met with area lawmakers and civic leaders in June to hear their concerns and discuss how to potentially save the span.

In the following six weeks, Rosenthal said, Eng stayed true to his word.

“I’m not an engineer, but there is a way to — underneath the bridge — remove the deteriorating concrete and replace it,” the assemblyman said. “Today, [the LIRR] came back and they showed it was more than just words. They showed they have a realistic, tenable plan.”

Hope for Lefferts Ave Bridge?

From the Queens Chronicle:

The battle to save the Lefferts Boulevard bridge — and the handful of small businesses atop it — has been raging for more than a year now.

But at no point in that fight has Assemblyman Daniel Rosenthal (D-Flushing) been more optimistic that Kew Gardens residents and leaders alike will win in the end.

“Their attitude has changed to, ‘How can we save the bridge?’” Rosenthal said of the MTA. “There are a lot of obstacles ahead, but things are looking up.”

His optimism stems from a May 24 Borough Hall meeting hosted by Borough President Melinda Katz and attended by a laundry list of officials, including new Long Island Rail Road President Phillip Eng, state Sens. Joe Addabbo Jr. (D-Howard Beach) and Leroy Comrie (D-St. Albans), Rosenthal, aides to Councilwoman Karen Koslowitz (D-Forest Hills), Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi (D-Forest Hills) and Rep. Grace Meng (D-Flushing), MTA State Legislative Affairs Director Tim Ellis, Community Board 9 Chairman J. Richard Smith and a handful of Kew Gardens civic activists.

At the gathering, Eng expressed a willingness — even a desire — to save the bridge that no one else at the MTA or LIRR had done with similar vigor, according to multiple attendees who spoke with the Chronicle this week.

“We’re all on the same page. We all want to save the bridge,” Addabbo said. “We’re starting from common ground.”

According to Kew Gardens Improvement Association President Sylvia Hack, Eng told the crowd that he will take about four weeks to look over internal engineering reports before coming back to the community with a more informed opinion about how, or if, the bridge can be salvaged.

Neglected Kew Gardens bridge needs some quick help

From the NY Times:

The bridge over the railroad tracks is Queens’s rickety answer to the store-packed Ponte Vecchio in Florence. It doubles as the hub of the bedroom community, with restaurants and stores on either side of the crossing on Lefferts Boulevard. But it is also a crumbling mess, in dire need of drastic repairs, according to the agency that owns it, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. To the dismay of the tight-knit neighborhood, the M.T.A. says that the best way to fix it is to tear the bridge down as well as the shops.

Now, the community is scrambling to find other answers before 2020, when the leases of all the business on the bridge expire. The M.T.A. said it will not permit the leases to be renewed while it makes plans for the bridge.

One suggestion from the neighborhood has been to stave off demolition by building a new bridge underneath the existing span to prop it up. The agency has offered a glimmer of hope, saying it would consider other options for the dilapidated bridge if a study were produced outlining the feasibility of alternatives. But the M.T.A. has said it is unable to pay for such a study, which it estimates would cost $1 million. State and local lawmakers who represent the area have said they will push to fund the study.

Lefferts Blvd elevator finally open

From Impunity City:

In what I admit could be an aberration in the usual posts that get written here, here is an actual good news bulletin and sign of albeit late ass civic progress. As reported here since this digital publication’s inception, it took almost 4 years, but the main entrance of the Lefferts Blvd has completed with the activation of the elevator! And it actually is quite shiny and nice. It official got turned on about a few weeks ago about 4 months ahead of the proposed 3rd quarter deadline.

Lefferts Blvd station repairs still incomplete

From Impunity City:

The renovation and modernization of the Lefferts Blvd. Station remains incomplete and nearly 2 years behind schedule. This was supposed to be complete in September 2016.

When I last wrote about this, it was with great relief that the staircase was repaired and accessible again. Also the encrusted vile, unsanitary and health hazardous pigeon shit that piled up on the turnstiles and the partition walls was finally scoured somewhat. I attribute this to an actual televised report way back in late May by CBS New York’s Reena Roy.

Now when I wrote that I would write back in a month, being July, was around the time when Mario’s Son, Governor Andrew Cuomo proclaimed commuting on your city’s subway was in the midst of a summer of hell and ordered a fast tracking of repairs all over our lousy transit system. An encouraging sign appeared at this station promising the station’s completion, including the monstrous elevator which hogs half the sidewalk on the corner by September 16 or the end of the 3rd quarter.

Look how they creatively fixed the date on the sign with the sophistication of a little scamp changing D-'s to A+'s on a report card.

Engineer volunteering to help Kew Gardens bridge businesses

From the Queens Tribune:

A once-dim future for the Lefferts Boulevard bridge businesses in Kew Gardens appears to be getting brighter.

Recently, three engineers—from the MTA, city Department of Transportation and a volunteer retired engineer from Kew Garden—examined the bridge after the Metropolitan Transportation Authority told the business owners that the platforms on which their buildings are located must be demolished.

Al Brand, the retired engineer, floated the idea that an additional concrete slab could be installed underneath the bridge.

Concerns regarding this proposal include whether the slab would allow adequate clearance for Long Island Rail Road trains underneath and the possible cost of the project.

Michael Cohen, communications director for Councilwoman Karen Koslowitz (D- Forest Hills), said that Brand is volunteering his expertise and acting as a representative for the Kew Gardens community and Koslowitz in the MTA’s discussions.

Cohen noted that there are still many questions that need to be answered regarding the site. He said that Koslowitz is pleased that the MTA is considering the alternative. He added that the agency has committed to hosting a meeting before Aug 1. to discuss bringing in a third-party consultant to review this matter and making a recommendation.

Lefferts bridge businesses endangered

From DNA Info:

About a dozen mom-and-pop businesses lined along the Long Island Rail Road bridge in the heart of Kew Gardens fear they may face demolition as the MTA tries to figure out what to do with the aging structure, local residents and officials said.

The bridge on Lefferts Boulevard, between Austin and Grenfell streets, near the Kew Gardens LIRR station and the Kew Gardens Cinemas, is one of the most distinct spots in the neighborhood.

Built more than nine decades ago, it's been compared by locals to the Ponte Vecchio, a medieval bridge in Florence known for shops built along it.

But over the years the aging structure has become a hazard as falling bricks and pieces of crumbling facades continue to put residents and passing trains at risk, local merchants and officials said.

Now, the MTA is considering not renewing the lease for the property operator when it expires in 2020, instead commissioning a developer to figure out what to do with the run-down structure, prompting concerns that new buildings could replace the 13 businesses currently located along the bridge, according to several people who participated in a meeting with MTA representatives which was held at Councilwoman Karen Koslowitz’s office earlier this month.

Lefferts Blvd station still under repair and covered in poop

From Impunity City:

It’s almost the middle of May, about 6 weeks into the 2nd quarter of 2017, and the notorious tardiness renovating the Lefferts Blvd. station continues unabated and sadly unconcerned by the higher administrative brass and even the thousands of commuters who rely on this heavily populated hub. The stairway and the handicap accessible elevator look complete but are still surrounded by machinery, giant orange thimbles and partition fencing obstructing the majority of the sidewalk. And it’s still causing massive bottlenecks of people exiting and entering the station.

But during my last visit, I happened to meet the curators of the year long fecal art exhibition at the turnstiles.

Slow is the progress at the Lefferts Blvd station

Good morning,

In light of Andy Cuomo's decision to cut funding to the MTA I posted recent pictures on the super slow progress on the renovation and rebuilding of the Lefferts station.

JQ LLC

Landlord renting from MTA refusing repairs in Kew Gardens

Excellent report in the Queens Tribune:

Kew Gardens businesses have been waiting eight years for $3 million in repairs to their buildings on Lefferts Boulevard and several store owners have said there appears to be no end in sight.

According to business owners on the Lefferts Boulevard bridge over the LIRR tracks between Austin and Greenfell Streets, the landlord of the property has refused to maintain the buildings for the eight years he has leased them from the MTA.

Since the master tenant, Zee N Kay, took over the lease in 2009, Nathalie Reid, owner of Thyme Market, said she has had a hole in the floor of the storage room through which she can see the passing LIRR trains below, and Zee N Kay has not made any attempt to repair it. She has since covered it with plywood boards.

Reid said that the stores are so poorly insulated that they have to keep the heat on high during the night so the pipes don’t burst. Thyme Market carries vitamins with gel capsules and during the night, in the high heat, those capsules melt. “My heating bill is astronomical,” Reid said.

Pradeep Argawal, a certified public accountant with an office on Lefferts Boulevard, said that his pipes have frozen several times and the landlord sent someone to fix it, but it is only a temporary fix as it will freeze again regardless of whether or not the heat is kept on.

Both Argawal and Reid have asked for reimbursements for heating expenses since they say that Zee N Kay has never insulated the pipes, but that request was refused.

Lefferts stairs need repair ASAP

From Impunity City by JQLLC:

I have to wonder if Mario’s son, Governor Andy, will take his new found proactive helmetless casual Friday style down to the Dirty Southeast Of Queens and get a look at the Lefferts Blvd. station. Where it takes longer to build a pair of stairs than it is to stuff big trains into little tunnels and have big time artists take months making portraits of themselves.

This was supposed to be completed by Thanksgiving, it should be noted that the other staircase was supposed to be finished last year too and got done in fucking June. I don’t have much hope for the MTA, the worst fucking transit system in the universe, to get it done, even if they have the technology for time travel. Look at that sign taped indelicately to the partition wall.

That’s right, January 2016. That is just awfully discouraging. If only the governor makes the time to assemble a garrison of contractors down to Richmond Hill to fix this miscue.

Bus noise stops. For now.

"After the city council's office of Queens read your blog piece about the noise created by the new long buses, and after additional prodding by a board president of a coop in Kew Gardens, and finally after CBS news appeared on the scene and threatened to run a story, the screeching buses traveling down Lefferts Blvd seem to have been replaced (or their brake systems repaired). The problem with these long, so-called "flexible" or "accordion-like" buses has thus mainly been resolved. Thanks to the intervention of Koslowitz's office, the media, and concerned citizens. It seems there is only one bus now that screeches somewhat, and the MTA should address that last bit of the problem, lest they receive continued complaints. This writer will be monitoring the situation carefully and reporting back if the bus screeching resumes to unacceptable levels." - anonymous

Bus screeching must come to a halt

"Ever since the city began running long buses down Lefferts Blvd, no one in my area of Kew Gardens has gotten a good night's sleep. The buses, coming around the curve or going down the hill between Metropolitan Ave and 85th avenue, screech as loudly as an out of control car just before it crashes into a another vehicle. The noise level is unbelievable, and writing to my city councilwoman Koslowitz apparently does no good, as she does not even have the decency to respond to complaints. Either ban these buses or give them brake systems appropriate to the new size of the buses." - Anonymous