By Sophia Chang
A public hearing was held for residents to comment on the board's budget for fiscal year 2006. Only one, Walter Mugden of the Udalls Cove Preservation Committee, stepped up to ask the board to place the marshland on its priority list again.
The preservation committee has been working with the city to acquire and protect private wetlands in the area, and Mugden said developers were still trying to build in the preserved areas.
“There are only 4 1/2 acres left unacquired” by the city, Mugden said. “The threats are mounting.”
As of April, the board had spent $171,469 of the budgeted $214,958 for fiscal year 2004.
A second hearing was held about a proposal to convert 196th Street between 42nd Avenue and Northern Boulevard from its current two-way state to a southbound one-way street toward Northern Boulevard. Due to the traffic from Chase Bank and other block businesses on the 30-foot-wide road with cars parked on both sides, board member Bernie Haber said the city Department of Transportation recommended converting the street to one-way.
Kathy Rowe, who said her family has lived on that block for 40 years, spoke in favor of the change. “There's a tremendous amount of activity, all day long, all night long,” she said. “It's dangerous backing out of driveways. It's dangerous walking on the sidewalks. It's an accident waiting to happen.”
Despite Rowe's testimony, Haber said the board was opposed to the one-way street because of what he called the “difficulty of circulation,” citing the circuitous route drivers heading north on 196th would have to take.
“Another suggestion made is to daylight the area, which is to not allow parking on the commercial part of the street,” Haber said. “The resolution of the board was to not recommend the one-way but to recommend to the DOT no parking in the first hundred feet by Chase Bank.”
Haber said the space freed up by the parked cars would improve visibility and safety on the street. The board voted to support the daylighting of 196th Street, which also would also include no standing in the restricted area.
The board, which covers Bayside, Little Neck, Auburndale and Oakland Gardens, will not meet again until September, barring any emergencies.
Reach reporter Sophia Chang by e-mail at news@timesledger.com, or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 146.
