By Peter Sorkin
The meeting at Our Lady of Hope School was organized by Juniper Valley Civic Association President Robert Holden in response to two separate traffic accidents that occurred Nov. 7. The first one took the life of a Ridgewood mother and injured her 4-year-old daughter. The second one injured two thirteen-year-old girls.
“We have been screaming for over a decade about this problem,” Holden said. “People are in such a rush these days and their lives are very busy. There's more traffic and faster cars and people are getting killed. People are afraid of crossing the street.”
Holden called the emergency meeting Nov. 14 with police officers from the 104th Police Precinct, which covers Middle Village, Glendale, Maspeth and Ridgewood, and Inspector Edward Cannon, the executive officer of Patrol Borough Queens North.
Holden said traffic-related accidents were up 20 percent in the 104th Precinct this year and accidents in Patrol Borough North were up 11 percent.
At a Community Board 5 meeting a day after the two accidents, District Manager Gary Giordano asked for a moment of silence to honor Nelly Trojhan of 84-30 60th Ave., who died. In response to the two accidents, Giordano said he would write a letter to Mayor Giuliani requesting a public statement saying the speed limit is 30 miles per hour in the city.
Trojhan was walking with her 4-year-old daughter in the Citibank parking lot at 51-10 Metropolitan Ave. when a car struck the two of them Nov. 7 at 3:12 p.m., said Police Officer Louis Cruz, a Police Department spokesman. The daughter was taken to Wyckoff Hospital with a broken leg.
Just two hours later, a car hit two 13-year-old girls as they were crossing the street at the Long Island Expressway service road and Hamilton Place in Middle Village. Both girls were taken to Elmhurst hospital in critical condition, said Cruz. Neither driver was charged.
Holden said many residents worry about dangerous intersections and fear being hit by reckless drivers more than they do about being the victim of a violent crime.
“The Juniper civic group has made it a big issue for a number of years,” Holden said. “What we're demanding is we want to receive a good amount of traffic enforcement. These laws have to be enforced over a couple of years. Without sustained traffic enforcement, you are seeing the results.”
At the meeting Tuesday, Cannon promised the residents at the that he would investigate complaints about 13 problem intersections in the neighborhood and report back to the neighborhood residents about his findings.
Capt. Anthony Renna, the executive officer of the 104th Precinct, said he would work closely with the community to address their concerns.
“The thing that I'm very happy about is when Bob Holden asked who was worried about crime, no hand was raised,” he said. “It was when he asked about traffic safety that they responded. They feel safe in the community about crime, but they're worried about traffic.”
Holden said the problem is so pervasive that he formed a traffic advisory board for the 104th Precinct with Cannon; Mike Hetzer, the president of Citizens for a Better Ridgewood; and Roe Daraio, president of Citizens of Maspeth and Elmhurst Together, or COMET.
“What we're saying here is that we have one of the busiest neighborhoods in the city,” Holden said. “We have the Jackie Robinson Parkway and the BQE is to our west. We're worried about crossing the street and it's not only this area, it's a problem throughout the city.”
“Pedestrians have a responsibility, but we really have to focus on the drivers,” Renna said. “We are going to be working on various initiatives – moving violations, parking violations. We're going to piece together a bunch of things to make the streets safer and do what we can to alleviate the community's concerns.”
