“It’s really a needed thing,” District Manager George Delis said after the…
By Matthew Monks
Angled parking in Ravenswood has proven so successful that Community Board 1 members say they hope the city Transportation Department approves its use on other Astoria streets.
“It’s really a needed thing,” District Manager George Delis said after the board’s District Service Cabinet meeting March 29.
DOT approved angled parking spaces about two months ago along 12th Street between 34th and 36th avenues, Delis said. It has nearly doubled the amount of parking in the area because cars now park slightly perpendicular to the curb, rather parallel to it, he said.
Delis applied in March 2003 to the DOT for angled parking at 35th Avenue between 12th and 21st streets. To qualify for angled parking, a street must be over 50 feet wide. It takes about a year for the DOT to approve it because they must do an engineering survey and traffic study of the area, Delis told the cabinet.
He said he is confident that his 35th Avenue application will be approved.
In other service cabinet business:
• A Sanitation Department official announced the return on April 1 of glass recycling and weekly recycling collection. Glass bottles and jars, plastic bottles and jugs, drink boxes, and metal and foil should be placed in clear bags or blue-labeled recycling containers, said Thomas Fitzgerald, a community affairs representative for the city Department of Sanitation.
Place paper and cardboard products in clear bags or green-labeled recycling containers, he said.
Fitzgerald also urged residents to participate in the department’s Adopt-A-Wastebasket Program. Any person, group, store owner, or building manager can help cut down on litter by adopting a wastebasket and ensuring that it is emptied regularly. Participants will be provided with a supply of plastic liners and certificate of appreciation.
Visit www.nyc.gov/sanitation for more information for more information recycling and the wastebasket adoption program.
• Transportation officials told the board that a project to repaint the Astoria subway line from Queensboro Plaza to Ditmars Boulevard is in its second phase. The project, which began last year, should be completed by next fall, said Joe Raskin, assistant director of community relations for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
Last year a stretch between 35th and 36th avenues was repainted forest green, he said.
This year, he said, officials hope to complete the track length from Northern Boulevard to 36th Avenue. The rest of the line should be completed during the next painting season, which lasts from spring to November, he said.
• Local resident Maryanne Richardson announced the formation of a new youth and family after-school mentoring/tutoring program. Similar to the Big Brothers Big Sisters of America program, Crosslands will match children from single-family homes with adult volunteers, Richardson said. Volunteers will spend between 4 and 12 hours each month with their charges, serving as a positive role model, she said.
Crosslands is also launching an after-school math and English tutoring program for children in second through fifth grades. The organization is currently looking for a location.
Enrollment costs $65 a week and vouchers are available for families that qualify. Crosslands is looking for volunteers who must submit to a background check, Richardson said.
For more information call 718-274-8824.
• A Keyspan Corp. official updated the cabinet on its new 250-megawatt plant extension in Long Island City. The extension, which opened last month and was erected adjacent to the facility’s main plant, is the cleanest and most efficient power generator in the city, said April Dubison, Keyspan community development director.
She said the company eventually would like to renovate its older plant to match the cleanliness and efficiency of the extension. But that would require shutting the plant down. That is currently impossible, she said, since the station provides roughly 25 percent of the city’s electricity.
• The director of the Isamu Noguchi Garden Museum in Long Island City announced a ceremony on June 12 to celebrate a major renovation to the facility. The ceremony, which will take place at the museum on Vernon Boulevard, will kick off the publicity campaign for five new U.S. stamps featuring Noguchi sculptures, said Jenny Dixon said.
She said the stamps will begin circulating in November.
Reach reporter Matthew Monks by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 156.
