Author: Dan Rose

Following years of advocacy from the communities surrounding area airports, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has signed an agreement with Environmental Science Associates to conduct a Part 150 airport noise study of the city’s two airports.

The estimated $8 million study, expected to run from October 2014 to August 2017, will analyze land-use compatibility issues, asses the viability of potential noise mitigation solutions and produce noise exposure maps of JFK and LaGuardia airports. Studies are also planned for Newark and Terboro airports.

“Working in concert with residents, elected officials, industry partners and FAA representatives, the agency’s consultant will perform the intensive, complex studies necessary at these four airports to evaluate noise levels and propose and analyze potential efforts to alleviate the problem,” said Thomas Bosco, the Port Authority’s aviation director.

Janet McEneaney, president of Queens Quiet Skies (QQS), said while she is happy to see the hard work of advocacy groups calling for more noise mitigation for residents affected by the airports is beginning to net results, the group is still pressuring the Port Authority to hire a community representative for the process.

“Hiring a noise expert to work with the first consultant would produce a more comprehensive study,” McEneaney said.

The group has also been calling for the day-night average sound level (DNL) reduction from 65 to 55 dB, as well as for a more comprehensive roundtable, which the governor called for last year.

Currently, the Port Authority is pushing for separate roundtables for JFK and LaGuardia, while McEneaney and other members of QQS would like to see on comprehensive group.

“All of these parts work together,” she explained. “It’s all part of a package, and you can’t have one without the other.”

QQS member Susan Carroll said she is “cautiously optimistic” about the news that the Part 150 study is moving forward, but hopes to see some results before the three-year timeline is up.

“I hope there are intermediate steps and we don’t have to wait three years,” Carroll said. “When you have low landings and planes flying by for hours on end, that’s just way too much for anyone to have to endure.”

Carroll said planes often fly by her Flushing home every 30 seconds to a minute for the last two years.

She said that a personal noise monitor, while not a professional tool, has often measured noise levels anywhere from the 70 to 90 decibels.

“I applaud the Port Authority, but I’m afraid it’s going to just find what we already know,” she added.

[QE]

Dear Editor:

Despite your endorsements for city and state office seekers, many readers couldn’t vote for anyone on November 4 because they have no accessible polling place.

This is painfully true in Kew Gardens Hills, where the Board of Elections closed P.S. 164, a polling site for nearly 60 years, and replaced it with an alternate site that most voters can only reach by car or two bus lines.

The BOE deemed P.S. 164 and other polling sites inaccessible to disabled voters. There’s a simple solution: provide absentee ballots to disabled voters who can cast

their ballots at home.

But the BOE’s brain-dead decision-makers don’t have enough sense to do that. The BOE is a bottomless pit of political patronage.

Fire the hacks and install competent leaders.

Sincerely,

Richard Reif

Flushing

Read more opinions at on the Queens Examiner website, or submit yours here.

The Teen Space and Children’s Library Discovery Center at the Queens Library’s central branch will be closed for two days on November 6 and 7 to permit installation of new flooring, according to Joanne King, the library’s director of communications.

The work, says King, is part of the full, phased renovation of the library branch at 89-11 Merrick Blvd.

BKSK architects, the firm responsible for the renovation of the historic Olmsted Center at Flushing Meadows Corona Park, completed the first phase of the project last week.

The center was used as the administrative building for the World’s Fair in 1964 and 1965, and continues to serve as the headquarters for the Parks department. It was named in honor of Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr., who designed the landscape architecture for some of America’s most notable park systems, including Central Park in Manhattan and Prospect Park in Brooklyn.

In a release from BKSK architects, they outlined the specifics of work completed so far:

“Phase I of the 60,000 square foot project includes a 10,000 square foot addition, which features distinctive exposedsteel honoring the original structure’s design along with abundant daylight and park views. The Capital Projects Division of the NYC Department of Parks & Recreation now also benefits from several new offices, a new public procurement/bidding room, and other new meeting rooms. Notably, staff members remained at Olmsted Center throughout Phase I construction, ensuring business continuity.”

The second and final phase of the project is scheduled for wrap up next year, and includes installation of raised water channels to ensure the space will be protected from floodwaters in the future.

A select group of Queens College’s most accomplished players from the Wind Ensemble will be performing this afternoon from 2 to 4 p.m. at Flushing Town Hall, located at 137-35 Northern Blvd.

Founded by Symphonic Wind Ensemble Director Kristin Mozeiko, the group will perform a combination of classical and contemporary works.

The Queens Historical Society at Kingsland Manor is hosting a tour of the Flushing Cemetery from 2 to 4 p.m. this afternoon.

The tour will highlight the history and horticulture of the cemetery as well as the notable people who are buried there.

To participate, purchase your tickets by following the link to EventBrite.

Youngsters can enjoy a celebration of Halloween, Dia de los Muertos and All Saints Day all in one at 7 p.m. this evening at Flushing Town Hall, located at 137-35 Northern Blvd.

Attendees are encouraged to wear their costumes for the evening of mask making, All Saints Day Medallions, Dia de los Muertos candy skulls and ghost stories.

There will be sweet treats for all.

Dear Editor:

For over a half-century, Democrats and Republicans have taken turns at presiding over the economy, guiding and managing our national debt, deficit and social programs to the brink of bankruptcy.

We have spent many decades switching seats, but changing nothing. Both parties continue to debate how to spend money we don’t have and ignore the fiscal crisis we face. We have been repeating the process of voting for one or the other expecting different results, a process Albert Einstein called “insanity”.

There is no doubt that a majority of citizens disapprove of the path our country is on. Let me suggest a course of action that would make this election remarkable. Vote for candidates from a party other than Democrat or Republican.

Non-incumbent candidates will have fewer ties to the established corrupt network of lobbyists, may have a different perspective of their role as representatives, may be innovative and offer new ideas.

Whatever kind of government the new candidates create, it can’t be any worse than what we have now. If the new candidates are ineffective, we can replace them at the end of their terms. Elections and voting are the best tried and true means of term limits.

By reducing the number of incumbents that are elected, we are sending a message that no one in Congress is indispensable. What is indispensable is our constitutional right to vote and elect those who will best serve their constituents.

Sincerely,

Ed Konecnik

Flushing

Read more opinions at on the Queens Examiner website, or submit yours here.

Forty subway stations in both Queens and Manhattan went online last week with the expansion of Transit Wireless WiFi services.

Now 29 new Queens subway stations – and 11 in Manhattan – will see both cellular and wireless services via providers AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint and Verizon on mezzanines, platforms and passageways following the completion of Phase I and II of the overhaul.

Through a sponsorship from Royal Caribbean International and a total $300 million revenue sharing plan with the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA), Transit Wireless is on course to put 39 more stations online by the spring of 2015.

The seven-phase project is slated to provide service to all 277 underground stations by 2017.

“The wireless connectivity provided by the four major U.S. carriers is the core of our network and ensures everyone can have connectivity and access as we roll-out stations in Queens and expand coverage underground,” said Transit Wireless CEO William A. Bayne at a press conference inside the Court Square station in Long Island City last week.

New stations include stops along the R line from Queens Plaza to Forest Hills and Grand Central and 34th Street/Herald Square in Manhattan.

Phase III will include the Flushing-Main St. station in Queens, as well as stations in Lower Manhattan, West Harlem and Washington Heights.

Read the full article here: Queens Ledger

Scavenger hunters, history buffs and park enthusiasts descended on Flushing Meadows Corona Park on Sunday to put a wrap on celebrating both the 50th and 75th anniversary of the two World’s Fairs held in the park.

Sunday was the end of the nearly year-long celebration of the historic events in the park. It began on April 22 when the Parks Department opened the Tent of Tomorrow for one day to the public.

This past weekend, families searched for hidden gems, took part in numerous outdoor activities and sat in on a concert from Beatles cover band Yesterday and Today, which were also honoring the 50th anniversary of the band’s visit to Queens.

Judy Dotson has lived in Forest Hills for the last 20 years, and although she wasn’t born in time to catch the last World’s Fair in Queens 50 years ago, she was out for the scavenger hunt to learn something new and explore the park.

“It was fun and I really learned a lot about the park and the World’s Fair that I didn’t know, and I’ve lived in Queens my whole life,” Dotson said. 

Dotson added that while she regularly rides her bike and goes for runs in the park, she never noticed much of the historical significance left behind in the park from the World’s Fair.

“It was really fun,” she said.

Robert and Patty Wiedemeier both attended the 1964 World’s fair as children, however the married couple from Oceanside did not meet until many years later.

“I have vivid memories of sitting in the Pavilion, riding in the Mustang and trying to change the radio,” Robert recalled. “And going to the Sinclair exhibit and making a dinosaur out of molded plastic.”

The couple said they came to the park earlier in the year at the opening ceremonies to reminisce of their childhood in Queens, stopping in at the Queens Museum and the Queens Zoo during their visit.

“It really reminds be of being a kid again,” Robert said. “That was a time when there were no worries.”

With thousands out for the Breast Cancer Awareness walk earlier in the morning and the regular crowds of soccer players, park administrator Janice Melnick said many people who were there for the World’s Fair celebrations also had a chance to see what happens in the park on a daily basis.

“Today was a really wonderful day to be in the park because you got to see so many aspects of what goes on here,” Melnick said. “They really got to explore the park and see how important this park is to this community.”

Read more Flushing news from the Queens Examiner.

*Photos: Malcolm Pinckney/ NYC Parks