Corona Plaza to actually become a plaza

From the Queens Courier:

Before 2012, Corona Plaza, located on Roosevelt Avenue between National and 104th Street, was a busy area filled with trucks, traffic and no open space. After the Queens Economic Development Corporation (EDC) partnered with the Queens Museum, Councilmember Julissa Ferreras and other local groups, the plaza became an open public space allowing residents and visitors to sit down and relax.

Although the public space was expected to be temporary, in March the Department of Transportation (DOT) met with the community to introduce first plans and designs for keeping and improving Corona Plaza as a public space.

During this meeting the public gave its input as to what they wanted to add to the plaza and picked the best initial design from three options.

Some of the ideas that were included in the renderings were plaza seating, bicycle racks and corrals, a stage for cultural performances, green area, benches, additional trash cans, signage, improved lighting for security, utilizing the space under the No. 7 train for storage, an information/storage kiosk and a drinking fountain.

Well, if it's going to actually look like a park as depicted in this rendering, I'm all for it. But why do other neighborhoods get nothing more than concrete blocks and folding chairs?

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Roosevelt Avenue trip hazard

"Hey

This afternoon I watched as a woman coming out of the escalator exit of the Main Street-Roosevelt Ave 7 train station tripped and fell to the ground.

Her foot had become caught in a 3 inch deep gap caused by a missing section of sidewalk grate just about two feet from the top of the escalator.

There were no signs, cones or caution markers of any kind in the area, despite the heavy traffic that station receives from both commuters and MTA folks.

This could definitely cause someone some serious injuries.

Attached is a photo of the grate."

- Rob from Flushing

Let me guess...the grate became a victim of those metal collecting guys?

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Whitestoners still concerned about traffic near park

From the Queens Courier:

Getting to and from a Whitestone playground is no walk in the park, some residents say.

The lack of a crosswalk or traffic controls at the 3rd Avenue and 147th Street entrance to Francis Lewis Park is dangerous to pedestrians, said Malba Civic Association president Alfredo Centola.

“It’s a beautiful park,” Centola said. “These poor kids, with their parents, whenever they come to the park to play, they have to take their lives in their hands.”

Most residents must cross three-way traffic to enter and leave the park, located at the edge of the East River, since the majority of homes in the area lie across 147th Street.

Irene Rama of Whitestone said sometimes she and her kids are forced to stop in the middle of the street to avoid an oncoming car even after stopping to look in every direction beforehand.

Residents say a piece of property, bordered by jutting construction boards, that is being developed directly next to the park impairs the vision of pedestrians trying to cross.

Centola said he has sent the DOT a letter of complaint every 18 months since 2005.

Queens Borough Commissioner Maura McCarthy mailed the civic leader a response in 2011 saying the department completed an analysis and determined “Multi-Way Stop controls are not recommended at this time.”

“Factors such as vehicular and pedestrian volumes, vehicular speeds, visibility and signal spacing were all taken into consideration in making our determination,” the correspondence reads.

Shortly after the letter, the city installed one pedestrian crossing sign in front of the park, but it only faces one direction of traffic. Centola said the sign is also too high for drivers to see.

“At this point, I’m speechless and dumbfounded,” he said. “The DOT is once again being negligent and refusing to take care of the issues.”

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Whitestone sidewalk blockers

Summer is coming and with it many people walking the sidewalks of our beautiful Whitestone which I think has always been a pastoral type of community where people enjoy the outdoors by walking around the neighborhood and even doing short distance shopping to enjoy the summertime and afternoon delights that this jewel of a place has to offer.

But some people make these summer moments difficult by disrespecting their fellow men, women and children by forgetting the very basic urban manners in total disregard of rules and regulations written or unwritten.




Again (I have called 311 and placed a comment before on this same address before in the Queens Crapper) a car continuously blocking the sidewalk at 20-16 149th Street in Whitestone where there’s a high pedestrian (children to and from school), cars, buses and trucks pushing people to take the street which may endanger their personal safety. Shame on this person. By the way, the car that used to do this before was a white Acura with license plate number FEY 8665, now is a Honda Accord with license plate number FSX 6627.





At 20-07 Clintonville Street in Whitestone a yellow school bus from the Precious Moments Nursery School & Daycare totally blocks the sidewalk, and as most people know Clintonville Street is a heavy traffic street, highly dangerous if you have to walk in the street to avoid this vehicle. The license plate number is 14596 SL.




At the Whitestone Car Wash on the service road of the Cross Island Parkway in Whitestone you can barely walk among the cars parked on the sidewalk, customers and car washers, beyond the protection area - some cars love to park impeding pedestrian of the proper use of the sidewalk.




Finally, since is getting hotter law sprinklers are starting to make their appearance everywhere. But some of them are badly placed and regulated to the point of impeding pedestrians from using the sidewalk thus having to take some heavily traffic streets in order to avoid them and not to get wet. An example would be on 148-09 Willets Point in Whitestone-Flushing where a lawn sprinkler is all over the sidewalk wasting precious water on the sidewalk and street and putting pedestrian on risk of getting hit by an incoming vehicle. My humble question for this type of homeowner would be, if I get hit by a car while trying to avoid your sprinkler, who do you think I’m going to sue? - Anonymous

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