Whitestone stop sign fight about the kids

http://www.timesledger.com/stories/2011/46/whitestonestopsign_wt_2011_11_17_q.html


Alfredo Molinari (far r.) stands with parents and just a portion of the kids who play on the block in front of the intersection he says cars speed through. By Joe Anuta

Alfredo Molinari is second-generation — as in the second generation of residents to fight for a stop sign on a Whitestone block teeming with children.

Molinari has taken up the helm of a two-decade battle to get a stop sign on the corner of 23rd Avenue and 157th Street, which he said will go a long way to protect the roughly 30 children that play there after school and on weekends.

“I want a stop sign only for the fact kids are playing outside and I want them to be safe,” said the father of three.

But the city Department of Transportation told residents that the intersection does not have enough traffic, nor accidents, to warrant a stop sign.

Molinari has lived his entire life on the block and said that cars shoot from Francis Lewis Boulevard down 23rd Avenue to get to the heart of Whitestone and vice versa. After getting off the boulevard and encountering two stop signs, Molinari said the two-block length before the next one becomes a dangerous mix of drag strip and playground.

“They speed down the block,” he said, adding that he sometimes has to take matters into his own hands. “I threw a ball at some guy’s car.”

The avenue runs across the entire neighborhood, and out of 12 standard intersections — where a two-way street intersects another two-way street at a 90-degree angle — it is the only one without a stop sign or stoplight.

The intersections on either side are a cookie-cutter match to 23rd Avenue and 157th Street, but even the older residents who had petitioned the DOT 20 years ago for one of the red octagons were unsuccessful..

But Molinari said children should be taken into account instead of just accidents.

“The most important of all is the population of children under the age of 15 or 13 that reside on both blocks,” he said.

On Monday evening, Molinari summoned the children out to the corner in question to demonstrate how many of them play in the area.

More than 20 youngsters emerged from houses along the street, carrying balls and gliding along the sidewalk on bikes and scooters.

There were accompanied by many parents who shared Molinari’s concerns.

Molinari has circulated a petition to the households surrounding the intersection and collected a lengthy docket of signatures.

Although this is the third time he has tried, he will submit the petition to Community Board 7 and ask, once again, for the city to put up the sign.

“We’re not going to rest and give up until something happens,” he said.

Reach reporter Joe Anuta by e-mail januta@cnglocal.com or by phone 718-260-4566.

We at the Malba Gardens Civic extend our support and offer our help in this endeavor.  Mr. Molinari is correct, the CHILDREN, must be taken into consideration.  DOT needs to step up and protect our children. 

HAZ MAT CONDITION ON 5TH AVENUE

Monday, March 7, 2011
Truck causes Haz Mat situation in Malba

All of the pictures I sent you were taken tonight March 6th, 8PM, as another Tractor Trailer attempted to turn onto our small residential street. This driver struck the hydrant, and ruptured his gas tank as his cab completely jumped the sidewalk spilling Diesel fuel all over the street. According to witnesses he then attempted to back out of the block. What if the hydrant was a person? or worse, a Child? HE ATTEMPTED TO BACK UP? IN ESSENCE RUNNING THE BODY OVER AGAIN?





Now tragedy was averted this time as it was only a hydrant. It did however become a HAZ MAT CONDITION which the Fire Department handled quickly (Albeit a Haz Mat condition of this magnitude should not be occurring on a 24 ft wide residential street, especially when we forewarned them over and over). Our organization has been trying to get our dangerous street converted into a one way westbound in order to avoid such happenings.






Today a Hydrant, tomorrow ? Yet if you ask Maura McCarthy of Queens DOT the traffic on 5 th avenue is not a safety issue, it is just a mere inconvenience. You look at these pictures and tell me, is it an inconvenience or a tragedy waiting to happen? Gene Kelty Community Board 7 chairman claims that his other group, Boosters Beach is against the change as it would be an inconvenience.

This is not the first time a Tractor Trailer has turned on our residential street, along with the scores of box trucks, on top of the 107 cars per hour all day every day (As per DOT traffic survey). For FIFTEEN YEARS the Malba Gardens Civic Association has been fighting to make this street safe for the residents, especially the 18 children under the age of 16 living on the first block of 5th avenue alone.

The Hydrant was destroyed today, LET US NOT ALLOW A FAMILY TO BE DESTROYED TOMORROW.

MAKE 5TH AVENUE A ONE WAY WESTBOUND TOWARD THE BRIDGE BEFORE ITS TOO LATE.

Keep on Truck'n

They just keep on trucking on 5Th avenue off of the Whitestone Bridge. This lovely 18 wheeler came around twice between the hours of 8:15PM and 9:00Pm and then stops halfway up the block, and decided to back up down the block. He spent over an hour trying to maneuver backing out of the block. All this time cars continued to turn on to 5Th avenue and go around him, even driving up on some sidewalks.

Yet according to the Queens D.O.T., this is not a dangerous situation, just a mere inconvenience. I personally called 911 and guess what happened?

Yep you guessed it , no one showed.

Alfredo

Community Board 7

We apologize for any inconvenience regarding this piece. In order to understand it you must read from the bottom up. The first in the sequence of emails is dated 10/20/2010. This is what we are facing with Community Board 7.

Thank you,


Thu 10/21/10 10:45 PM
To:
charlesapelian@gmail.com; Community Board 7 (qn07@cb.nyc.gov)

We appreciate Community Board 7's assistance with the 109th . We do not however, appreciate your dictatorial stance regarding the survey. There are several issues regarding the survey beginning with the method in which it was conducted, along with several residents/homeowners voting more than once, some claiming two family homes when legally they are one family homes (according to the Buildings Department). These along with several other issues must be addressed in order to insure future surveys are conducted in a proper, transparent, and fair method. Our goal is to secure the safety of the residents in our community especially those on 5th avenue, not the convenience of some over the safety of others. We hope to work closely with the Advisory Community Board, in order to secure the safety of our families.
Alfredo Centola
President
Malba Gardens Civic Association

Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2010 15:40:21 -0400Subject: Re: Your response to our FOIL dated Sept 30, 2010From: "mailto:charlesapelian@gmail.com" charlesapelian@gmail.com
malbagardenscivicassociation@hotmail.com wrote:
Thank you for your response, However, our last FOIL request did not include the information we requested. At this point it is irrelevant, let us move forward and open a new dialogue that will bring a remedy to this extremely dangerous situation that has been ignored for far too long. We will need to discuss with the 109th about the 33% of 107 speeding cars on the block as well as the commercial vehicles. Regarding the surveys and the "input from the community at large" we reviewed the surveys and there are several inconsistencies that we would like to discuss with you at a mutually convenient time. Malba Gardens Civic Association

Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2010 12:30:30 -Dear Malba Civic Association,
Your group has made numerous FOIL requests to CB#7 for various documents.
All requests have been submitted to you, with the exception of your last request which has been ready for pick-up for more than three (3) months.
We responded to your last request on July 19, 2010 and informed you that the materials you requested were ready for pick-up for a nominal reproduction cost of $56.50. No one has responded to us, and these documents are still sitting in our Office. Please have someone retrieve your FOIL request.
The request to have 5th Avenue converted to a One-Way Street from 147th Street westbound to the Whitestone Bridge Service Road has been comprehensively reviewed by our Community Board with extensive input from the entire Community-at-Large, and a decision was made and there is nothing further to discuss at this time.
As you know, the Third Avenue Exit on the Whitestone Expressway will be closed shortly during the Whitestone Bridge Reconstruction, and this will certainly help your concerns. Our Committee reassured you that we will assist you with 109th PCT regarding enforcement of commercial vehicles illegally traveling on 4th and 5th Avenues, and we will once again have dialogue with the entire Community-at-Large once the Third Avenue Exit is re-opened after Reconstruction.
We all need to move ahead.
Sincerely,
Chuck Apelian
Vice Chairman
Community Baord #7 Queens
On Thu, Oct 21, 2010 at 10:51 AM, <
From: Malba Gardens Civic AssociationSent: Wed 10/20/2010 6:33
Your response to our FOIL dated Sept 30, 2010

Dear A.J. and C.B. 7, I have been in receipt of your letter dated September 30th and have been discussing how to respond. There are several points that we have issue with, beginning with the fact that the survey would be make available at the next scheduled Transportation Committee Meeting. However, the last paragraph in particular is very disturbing to us in which you state that you had the Community Board office print up a draft copy of the survey and asked them to send it out to each civic group to review. I refer you to our emails which state that the survey was shown to me by Mrs. Bitterman in the rear of the room at the end of a C.B. 7 meeting at which she snatched it from my hand and said she would send me a copy to review. You are directed to our repeated emails requesting said copy of survey immediately after this incident, they were all forwarded to you , C.B. 7, and Mr. Apelian. You also state that "IT IS MY UNDERSTANDING " that all civic groups agreed to the wording of the survey except for our civic. Your understanding? it either is or is not, you are after all the chair, do you not know for certain? We have several other points that we will be addressing shortly with regards to your letter. Also, please Once Again review our FOIL REQUEST and provide us with the information. If you like I will resend you the request and cc Mr. Robert Freeman from The Committee on Open Government and therefore strictly follow legal time frames.