By Howard Koplowitz
Although the median is filled with cracks sprouting weeds, uneven cement and craters, efforts to repair the divider on the Queens Village border near Bellerose are largely nonexistent.”It's an accident waiting to happen, especially in the snow,” said Kirby Lindell, the president of Bell Park Manor Terrace, in a phone interview.”It's horrible. Anybody that passes can break their leg. It's dangerous,” said Valli Hoisel, a senior citizen from Queens Village after she crossed the divider. Lindell said the group first took up the issue three years ago. But he said his request asking the city Department of Transportation to repair the divider was denied because he was told there was no money for it in the budget. In 2004, he was informed that the DOT's re-entrenchment department was “looking at it” and the matter was on its schedule to be reviewed, but Lindell said the issue was never taken up.In August 2004, state Sen. Frank Padavan (R-Bellerose) wrote a letter to the DOT's director of roadway capital program management, John Martin, about the divider. Martin responded to the letter in April, saying that there was “no capital project for this location or funds allocated to replace/repair curbs on medians at this time.”Bell Park Manor Terrace's general manager, Enid Brezil, still lauded the legislator's effort.”Senator Padavan has always been responsive to our needs,” she said.City Councilman David Weprin (D-Hollis) said he was not aware of the condition of the divider until he was contacted for this story, but promised he would make an effort to appropriate funds for a potential project.”Maybe we'll find some money in the capital budget before July 1,” he said.Reach reporter Howard Koplowitz by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 173.
