By Madina Toure
Community Board 7 announced the MTA is considering making changes to the Q65 bus route, which travels from College Point to Jamaica, at its monthly board meeting Monday night.
Warren Schreiber, chairman of CB7’s aviation and transit committees, said the Transit Committee met Feb. 18 to discuss the MTA’s proposed changes to the Q65 bus route. The changes will go into effect in June.
The Q65 route starts at the terminal on 110th Street and 14th Avenue in College Point and ends at Sutphin Boulevard and 94th Avenue under the Jamaica terminal for the LIRR station and the Airtrain JFK.
Schreiber said the MTA wants to use 14th Avenue instead of 14th Road because 14th Avenue is wider and would eliminate two bus turns, improve reliability and decrease the need for detours. He also said that in Flushing, the Q65 will be rerouted from Bowne Street to Parsons Boulevard, a recommendation that came out of the Northeast Queens Bus Study funded by state Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside).
“The MTA said that they only make recommendations to DOT and they’re hopeful that DOT will follow their recommendation and restore parking (on 14th Road),” Schreiber said.
He said the MTA will do whatever it believes is necessary and that the agency only approached CB7 because it is a requirement to do so.
“They came to us because they have to,” he said.
An MTA spokeswoman said the agency agreed to modify the travel path of the Q65 in Flushing to provide more reliable all-day service on Parsons Boulevard alongside the part-time Q26 in response to the findings of Avella’s bus study.
The spokeswoman said the changes are not finalized at this time and that the agency is in the planning process and will continue to work with community members.
Turning to airplane noise, Schreiber also stressed that CB7 has never taken a position on whether there should be one roundtable or two roundtables to address the problem in the borough.
“We have never, ever taken a position on that here,” he said. “Our only position has been that we want a roundtable so we can start to address the issues.”
On another matter, the board was supposed to hear a proposal about constructing a three-story, two-family dwelling at 42-29/31 149th St., which rests on the mapped but unbuilt portion of Ash Avenue, but it was tabled.
“There were some concerns about the building itself and also they didn’t have all the letters in place,” Chuck Apelian, CB7’s vice chairman, said. “They only had the letter from the DEP … the other two letters were missing from the Fire Department and the DOT.”
Attendee Alishia West announced her proposal to create a community garden in Flushing during the public participation period.
Dara Goldberg, special assistant to City Planning Chairman Carl Weisbrod, gave a presentation on the city’s OneNYC plan, which seeks to address the city’s long-term challenges, which include the increasing population, climate conditions, a developing economy and outdated infrastructure.
Speakers included Dr. Jeffrey Rosen, chairman of the Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation division of NewYork-Presbyterian/Queens, and his fellow department colleagues, Flushing-raised Dr. Tony Quach and Dr. Justin Classie, who all spoke about the division’s offerings.
Ann Pirro-Radeos, director of program and development and continuing medical education in the hospital’s Cancer Center, spoke about the changes occurring in cancer therapy and its future.
Reach reporter Madina Toure by e-mail at mtour
