Borough Hall parking lot to open Monday

From Forest Hills Post:

A highly anticipated 302-space municipal parking lot will open to the public on Monday at Queens Borough Hall.

The 122,360 square foot lot, which is bound by 126th and 132nd Streets and 82nd Avenue/Union Turnpike in Kew Gardens, was constructed at the former location of a four-level, 400-space parking garage. The structure was closed off in Sept. 2014 in response to concerns about its structural safety.

The lot is intended to relieve congestion in the busy area, and to help motorists access various municipal offices, including the adjacent Queens County Criminal Court. The lot is about five blocks from the Kew Gardens train station, and is within walking distance of many local businesses.

Costa wants senior housing on municipal lot

From the Astoria Post:

An affordable senior housing complex is likely to go up on a 31st Street municipal parking lot.

Councilmember Costa Constantinides announced plans at a press conference today to build a 100-to 150-unit affordable housing complex for seniors on a city-owned parking lot, located at 32-11 31st St — steps from the Broadway (N/W) subway station.

The proposal is part of Constantinides’ overarching plan, announced at his State of the District speech in January, to address a shortage of senior housing by installing 500 senior affordable units in the neighborhood by the end of his term in 2021.

Constantinides described the property’s location as ideal, and said that he is going to work hard to secure it for the building.

“If I were to draw on a drawing board a location that was centrally located, that would have access to trains, access to the bus, access to churches, access to shopping, hospitals, I couldn’t draw up a better location,” the councilmember said.

State of the District speech? Sheesh. There's already a perfectly good use there: a municipal parking lot for people shopping on your commercial strip. Why the war on commerce?

Municipal parking lot construction error crushes worker's legs

From NBC:

A construction worker's legs were crushed when a seven-ton hammer came plunging down on him at a job site in Queens Wednesday, authorities say.

Fire officials on the scene said there was some sort of malfunction on a hammer that drives steel into the ground, and the hammer turned and fell.

The extrication at the site near Queens Boulevard and 82nd Avenue in Kew Gardens was tricky, firefighters say. But the worker was alert and conscious when he was transported from the scene.

It takes more than a year to pave a parking lot

From the Queens Tribune:

After the parking garage behind Queens Borough Hall was demolished last summer, the project for a new parking lot was initially delayed and has now been put on the fast track.

Kenichi Wilson, chair of the Community Board 9 Transportation Committee, said the project went to bid on March 27 and will be closed in 30 days from that date. He added that the project is anticipated to break ground later this summer with an end date in summer of 2017.

Borough Hall’s parking garage being demolished last summer.

Some updates to the new 302 space parking lot is four spots for electric powered cars, LED lighting, a closed circuit camera system, and license plate readers. Wilson said the spaces for electric powered cars may increase depending on demand.

CB7 wants affordable housing dedicated to its constituents

From the Queens Chronicle:

Community Board 7 voted to reject a special permit application to build an affordable housing site at 133-45 41 Ave. on Monday.

The main reason for the rejection, as was frequently mentioned at the hearing, was the proposed allocation of units. Though 50 percent has been offered to residents of the CB 7 area, where the site is located, the other half is split between constituents of CB 3 and CB 4.

The proposed structure is a nine-story, almost 27,000-square-foot mixed-use building with 232 affordable housing units and retail on the ground floor. An underground garage with 229 spaces at One Flushing would provide parking.

The lot is owned by the city, requiring the permit. The Department of Housing Preservation and Development aims to contract Monadnock Development and other partners to make it an affordable housing site that includes services for seniors.

If the city’s Mandatory Inclusionary Housing proposal is approved for the project, 25 percent of the site’s units would become permanently affordable, and it would be legally possible to make the remaining apartments market-rate.

The groups involved with the proposal —HPD, HANAC, Monadnock, and Asian Americans for Equality — gave a joint presentation about the project before the vote. The details of the One Flushing proposal were already familiar to many board members, though, as the panel’s Land Use Committee had already met several times with the city agency and its private partners.

Borough hall garage is a-comin' down

Photo by Domenick Rafter

From the Queens Tribune:

Since the parking garage at Borough Hall abruptly closed down last September, there has not been any action by the city on demolishing and replacing the structure – until now.

The city Department of Transportation has planned a project that will last a total of seven months, in which demolition will occur for the first three. Michael Cohen, a spokesman for Councilwoman Karen Koslowitz (D-Forest Hills), indicated in an email that the project to demolish and replace the garage was originally supposed to encompass a total of 18 months.

Already, demolition work is beginning on the garage and plans are to replace it with a parking lot at ground level.

New law makes it easier to feed meters

From CBS New York:

A new city law allows drivers to prepay one hour before muni-meters go into effect so that they don’t have to sit in their cars watching the clock tick.

“Let’s say you’re going to a doctor’s appointment or you’re taking your kid to school and the meter starts at 8:30 in the morning and you get there at 8:15, well, up until now, you have to wait until 8:30 to actually get the receipt,” said Councilman David Greenfield, who sponsored the legislation passed in June 2013. “What my law does is it allows you to get the receipt an hour before to prepay that muni-meter.”

The new law also requires parking meters to shut themselves off at the end of their posted hours of service and when they run out of receipt paper.

DOT hogging up municipal parking spaces

From the Times Ledger:

Dozens of angry Court Square residents joined City Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer (D-Sunnyside) to call on the Department of Transportation to restore nearly 190 public parking permits that were withdrawn from the neighborhood. After a policy change, DOT officials significantly decreased the number of monthly parking permits and began using the public spaces to house agency vehicles and materials.

“Parking is precious in Long Island City and to take away these much-needed spaces is dead wrong,” Van Bramer said. “What has been done can be undone. We are calling on the agency to give back these parking spaces to the hardworking residents of Long Island City who deserve it.”

LIC parking garage space crunch

From CBS:

More than 100 people spent hours waiting on line Wednesday morning, for a special permit in a multi-level parking garage in Queens.

And as CBS2’s Alice Gainer reported, the people in the queue said they have to do it every month now due to a policy change.

The drivers at the Court Square Municipal Parking Garage in Long Island City were stuck going through a long wait as they tried to secure their monthly parking passes.

For some, the nearly three-hour wait paid off with a coveted $200 permit.

But others waited in vain. A man said those in charge at the garage cut off the line and refused to issue anymore permits after a certain point.

The old policy for securing a monthly spot was much easier, according to Jim Rohan. And it didn’t involve first-come, first-serve lines.

“I’ve parked here for seven and a half years, Rohan said. “I signed up. I had a monthly spot every month. I’d pay my 200 bucks, and I was renewed for another month.”

Making matters worse the loss of space, drivers said.

According to the website for the city Department of Transportation, the Long Island City garage has 703 spaces, about 320 of which are reserved for permit holders. But now, they are only giving out 211 monthly permit passes because the DOT is using the spots for other purposes such as construction equipment storage.

I guess the city would rather have these folks drive into Manhattan. Who needs parking?

CB7 unhappy with municipal lot plan

From the Queens Chronicle:

The city announced Tuesday plans for 208 units of affordable housing — 60 of those for senior citizens — in a Downtown Flushing municipal parking lot, but it does not have the blessing of Community Board 7.

The project, called One Flushing, was brokered by the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, which members of the community board say left them out of the planning process.

In a letter dated April 24 to board members, Chuck Apelian, CB 7 vice chairman and head of its Land Use Committee, wrote that HPD “refuses to meet and include input before a developer is selected” for the project.

Apelian added that a meeting was held in March at the Borough President’s Office with HPD, but that the agency’s presentation “was extremely guarded, confusing and perfunctory, designed to limit our participation.”

He said the community board has “great concerns” about proper development “on this very narrow and complicated site” that is adjacent to the Long Island Rail Road.

Bayside blocks near LIRR popular for parking

From the Times Ledger:

Matt Carmody, the director of transportation for VHB, presented “heat maps” during the public meeting, which displayed the utilization of parking on residential streets within a half mile radius of the LIRR Station on 41st Avenue, color coding the streets at different times of day.

The streets with a utilization rate at or above 85 percent were marked in red. And between 8 a.m. and the end of data collection at 7 p.m., the residential street map of Bayside was almost nothing but red.

There are 12 permit-only parking spaces in the DOT lot as well as 47 short-term (four-hour maximum) parking spaces and 33 available long-term (15-hour maximum) parking spaces.

In VHB’s findings, the municipal lot does not fill up until the afternoon, around 1 p.m. But once it is full, it stays full, because there are limited options at that point in the day for parking on residential streets.

One of the most attractive short-term solutions to those community members present at the public meeting was to introduce a parking permit system for employees and business owners offstreet and on side streets, which VHB consultants said might take away some of the cars now parked in meter spots.

Other more long-term solutions proposed include working with DOT to reconfigure and stripe on-street parking spaces and readjust meter rates for different times of day. Also, Sclair said the BID would look into ways to encourage a private entity to buy the municipal DOT lot from the city to build a parking garage further down the line.

Borough Hall parking garage will soon be demolished

From the Forum:

The Queens Borough Hall Municipal Garage remains on track for expedited demolition this spring, according to Borough President Melinda Katz.

In a recent meeting with Katz, representatives from Queens District Attorney Richard Brown’s office, and other agencies that would be affected by the work, city Department of Transportation officials also indicated that construction of a new 300-spot parking lot is still on schedule for the end of 2016.

Additionally, Katz noted that DOT has implemented mitigation efforts during the demolition and construction periods, including additional Police Department traffic agents at Queens Boulevard and 83rd Avenue; 38 new temporary angled parking spaces on 134th Street; and extended hours on meters at 25 spots along Queens Boulevard at 83rd Avenue.

Borough Hall parking garage won't be replaced any time soon

From the Queens Courier:

The city is planning to complete the demolition and replacement of a vital public garage near Queens Borough Hall by 2017 as members of the community complain about traffic nightmares and a constant battle for parking while they wait.

The city’s abrupt decision to close an essential parking garage in a congested area was described as irresponsible and unfair by local politicians back in September. City officials said the decision was made because of impending dangers from the building’s crumbling structure.

While the Department of Transportation attempts to hasten a usually long process, residents and commuters are stuck with heavy traffic and a lack of parking.

The decision to close the 500-space parking garage triggered a slew of community problems, including increased traffic from drivers looking for an extremely limited supply of parking spaces on the streets.

According to city documents, a new garage is set to be completed in 2017 under an “expedited process.”

Van Bramer concerned about Vernon Mall plan

From the LIC Post:

Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer has “serious concerns” about the Department of City Planning’s proposal to extend the Vernon Mall beyond 51st Avenue to make way for public space.

The proposal, put forward by City Planning at a community board meeting in November, would extend the mall toward Borden Avenue and replace the strip where more the 30 cars are parked. The additional public space, the department argued, would complement the existing mall that has trees and benches.

However, the proposal has received some push back from local residents and business owners. They claim the loss of the parking spaces would hurt small business.

At the community board meeting when the proposal was put forward, several board members were hesitant about the plan. While they appreciated the concept of additional public space, they were concerned that the lost parking spaces would cause problems.

TDC unhappy with traffic mess it caused

From the Queens Chronicle:

It’s always gridlock alert day in Downtown Flushing.

Calling it “the perfect storm,” Flushing developer Michael Meyer said last Friday at a Community Board 7 district cabinet meeting that changing bus routes, construction and increased traffic have exacerbated the situation over recent months.

“I’ve never seen such a bottleneck in my life and I’ve been around the world,” said Meyer, president of F & T, which is developing the Flushing Commons mixed-use development with the Rockefeller Group at the site of the former Municipal Parking Lot 1.

He said some inconveniences were expected during the multi-year construction project, but that no one had anticipated so much gridlock.

Joe Kennedy, representing the MTA, said the Q17 and Q27 buses have been rerouted from stopping at St. George’s Episcopal Church on Main Street to 138th Street, between 38th and 39th avenues. “The buses have a big problem turning around on 37th Avenue and the only way to solve the problem is to eliminate vehicles in the area,” he said.

CB 7 District Manager Marilyn Bitterman explained that the historic church foundation was deteriorating due to vibrations from all the buses. In addition, drivers were urinating on the structure and the Main Street stop was making it difficult for church dropoffs.

Meyer also believes the casino buses parked in the area add to the problem, as does Bitterman, but Kennedy downplayed their importance.

Capt. Tom Conforti, commanding officer of the 109th Precinct, said that the 37th Avenue traffic flow is backed up from Main Street, past 138th Avenue to Union Street, where the precinct is located.

Muni Lot 3 project may replace Willets Point

From the Queens Chronicle:

During a recent quarterly meeting with concerned parties, members of Community Board 7 demanded input in the review process for development of Municipal Parking Lot 3 in Downtown Flushing.

Bids on the mixed-income, affordable housing complex planned near the Long Island Rail Road station were due earlier this month to the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development.

Agency spokesman Eric Bederman said a designation of the winning plan is expected in the first quarter of next year.

But CB 7 members want to offer their input before a decision is made. Chuck Apelian, board vice chairman, said it’s not enough to review the project when it comes up for a public Uniform Land Use Review Procedure hearing. “It’s a done deal by then,” Apelian said.

The site is located on 41st Avenue near Main Street. The 43,200-square-foot location abuts the LIRR and has 156 parking spaces. Plans call for an equal amount of parking to be retained.

The city envisions affordable housing across a range of incomes and community and retail space. It wants to rezone the area R7X, which allows for greater height and bulk, usually in a nine- to 13-story building.

The project was first announced in 2010 by former Borough President Claire Shulman as a Transportation Opportunity Development project to make the LIRR more accessible to affordable housing.

As part of the project, the LIRR will add elevators and modernize the station next year.

The city has since linked the project with Willets Point to find an alternative site for affordable housing since it has been delayed at the Iron Triangle.

About 872 affordable units were planned for Willets Point, but they will be delayed for years and may never be built at all.

Is anyone surprised at the bait and switch? Willets Point was *never* about affordable housing.

Brace yourselves for the return of alternate sides

From the Queens Chronicle:

Absent a last-minute extension, the emergency suspension of alternate-side-of-the-street parking around the Queens Supreme Courthouse in Kew Gardens will end on Monday morning, giving residents and businesses the first full taste of life without the condemned Borough Hall parking garage.

The garage, where the city’s Department of Transportation had about 400 spaces used by people going to the court house and Borough Hall, was shut down last week, about seven months after published sources claimed the city determined it to be unsafe.

Alternate-side-of-the-street parking had been suspended since Sept. 24 in the area on days it was not already suspended for Rosh Hashanah.

In response to questions emailed from the Chronicle, the DOT said things are in hand.

Judges still have on-street parking in designated areas adjacent to the courthouse, and the streets also have zones open only to court employees and personnel with special parking permits, a practice common in other boroughs.

And the jurors are screwed.

Flushing Commons construction is a pain in the ass for many

From the Queens Chronicle:

Work on Flushing Commons, the large mixed-use development, has not only affected area businesses but the historic church next door as well.

The house of worship, located at 37-22 Union St., is on one side of the $1 billion project that is also bounded by 138th Street and 37th and 39th avenues. So while construction work — which began officially in June — continues through 2021, the 203-year-old congregation will have to put up with noise, dirt and a definite hemmed-in feeling.

Although 1,144 parking spaces remain during construction, using them is no longer free at certain times. The site previously served as a municipal parking lot and parking was free on Sunday and for some evening hours.

The remaining piece of the former municipal lot is being developed by the church. It has constructed a 14-story, 142-unit affordable housing structure located adjacent to the house of worship.

It was completed months ago, but the city is taking its time in making inspections before giving the project a certificate of occupancy.

More than 40,000 applications were received by the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development.

Prior to the start of Flushing Commons construction, Korean stores on Union Street feared a loss of business due to the work.

The city, however, has set up a $2.5 million small business assistance fund for all Flushing merchants that is being administered by Asian Americans for Equality and the city.

But Ikhwan Rim, president of the Union Street Small Business Merchants Association, said on Monday that businesses are closing down. “I’m okay, hanging on, but it’s not too good for business,” the jewelry store owner said.

He blamed the drop-off in commerce to lack of parking, the cost of what remains and additional traffic due to construction. “The developers need to work harder for us,” Rim said.

Piss poor planning leads to parking nightmare

From the Daily News:

The city shuttered the decrepit Queensboro Hall municipal parking garage a week early on Wednesday after tagging the half-century-old structure a safety hazard.

But local leaders said the Department of Transportation has no concrete plan to accommodate hundreds of people — including jurors and court personnel — who use the roughly 500-space facility every day.

Workers handed out flyers to confused drivers Wednesday, outlining nearby private garages and bus routes.

The lot serves both Borough Hall and the Queens Criminal Court facilities in Kew Gardens.

Transportation officials originally planned to close it Oct. 1 but announced late Tuesday it would shutter the next day.

“This came fast,” said Queens Borough President Melinda Katz, who fears frustrated drivers will spend hours circling nearby streets, adding heavy traffic around nearby Public School 99.

“What we need right now is for the city to give us alternatives where people can park,” she said.

One of those options could be to shuttle people from Flushing Meadows-Corona Park and nearby colleges, Katz said.

The borough’s criminal justice system is also expected to take a big hit, a spokesman for District Attorney Richard Brown said.

“The garage’s closing will be extremely burdensome on crime victims, witnesses, jurors and defendants, as well as the surrounding neighborhood,” he said.

City lets Boro Hall municipal garage fall apart

From the Times Ledger:

The DOT plans to shut the 500-spot municipal parking garage next to Borough Hall Wednesday due to structural concerns, elected officials said.

Despite politicians’ pleas that the mayor should have his transportation commissioner reconsider closing the lot at 80-25 126th St., Borough President Melinda Katz and City Councilwoman Karen Koslowitz’s (D-Forest Hills) said DOT maintained the disrepair required an imminent closure.

“The city engineers are saying it’s unsafe,” Katz said. “The city is working with us to get traffic agents to be able to guide folks to private lots and parking spots.”

She said the city has not been able to find extra street parking.

Michael Cohen, a spokesman for Koslowitz, said Department of Transportation intended to take down the 1963-era Queensboro Hall Parking Garage and operate a 300-slot surface parking lot in its place. He said the councilwoman’s team was not yet given a time line for this work.