By Scott Sieber
At a news conference Friday, Ellen Young, a spokeswoman for Liu, announced two public meetings to solicit community feedback on the van services.She said the councilman will use the public comments from the meetings as a basis for approval or disapproval to extend the authorizations for both the L&W Express Van Service Corp. and the Flushing Van Service.The first meeting will take place at the Flushing Chinese Business Association, located at 40-48 Main St., 3rd Floor, Suite 302, on Feb. 28, from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.The second meeting will take place at Christian Crusade Community Center, located at 39-07 Prince St., Suite 4J, on March 1 from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.”Commuter vans are very valuable to the community. A lot of people really rely on them,” said Peter Koo, president of the Flushing Chinese Business Association. “But sometimes, they cause traffic chaos in our community.”The buses seat about 20 people and travel from Flushing to Chinatown in Manhattan for a $3 one-way fare.Koo said that because Flushing is a transit hub surrounded by highways, bus traffic and train passengers, the commuter vans may add unnecessary congestion. He cited instances of idling buses fighting over customers as examples.Young said in the past year Liu's office received four complaints about the buses.Reach reporter Scott Sieber by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 138.
