RIRA President On Roosevelt Island Subway Problems, Ferry Service, Blackwell Park Planning And Red Bus Scheduling
Roosevelt Island Residents Association President (RIRA) Frank Farance sends the following report to Roosevelt Island residents.
1. Meeting with MTA soon on subway. Thank you to residents for contacting the elected officials. I contact the offices of Stringer, Lappin, Serrano, and Kellner: all support the our concerns about Island transportation. Kellner's office is taking the lead in arranging the meeting with the MTA. Still, can you help? Yes, if you haven't called, please call their offices:
— Scott Stringer, Manhattan Borough President, +1 212 669 8300, bp@ManhattanBP.org
— Jessica Lappin, City Councilmember, +1 212 980 1808, Lappin@council.nyc.ny.us
— Mayor Michael Bloomberg, +1 212 788 9600, ksheekey@cityhall.nyc.gov
— Jose Serrano, State Senator, +1 212 828 5829, NYSsenate28@gmail.com
— Micah Kellner, Assemblymember, +1 212 860 4906, KellnerM@assembly.state.ny.us
— Governor David Paterson, +1 518 474 8390, http://www.state.ny.us/governor/contact
If a meeting is already being arranged, then why should you still call? In my discussions with each of their offices, I received a uniform response: they keep track of the number of calls from us. The number of calls makes a big difference when the official discusses the "weight" of their constituents' concerns.
Why will we need this "weight"? We will be presenting several options to the MTA for increasing service to Roosevelt Island, including: extending the Q service from 57 Street and 7 Avenue out to 21 Street - Queensbridge; reserving the first car for Roosevelt Island; swapping V and F lines (F to 53 Street, V to 63 Street); and several others. Previously, the MTA has dismissed our suggestions. The "weight" (that means YOU making a 6 phone calls ASAP) will put much more pressure on the MTA to look harder at the proposed solutions. If 1 out of 15 of you call, that's a thousand calls -- a strong response. As they say, we get the government we deserve ... please make the calls.
We are posting information about this effort and general transit information about Roosevelt Island on http://RITransit.org.
2. Ferry Service. At RIRA's November 4 Common Council meeting, we approved the following resolution:
The RIRA Common Council supports the creation of commuter ferry service on Roosevelt Island and urges the choice of a ferry docking site to best expedite the start of service and that could potentially become a permanent service.
RIOC is investigating ferry service during the tram outage.
3. Blackwell Park planning. For the first time in 30 years on Roosevelt Island, I experienced something absolutely new and unexpected: watching a large group of strong-minded residents (including several RIOC Board members) collaborate and come to consensus on a substantial topic with no bickering and histrionics . This happened a week ago Tuesday (Oct. 27) and again this Monday (Nov. 3). As I reported previously, the previous approach, led by RIOC's Rosina Abramson, involved six people that meet infrequently, didn't exchange/share information, and was designed/destined to merely rubberstamp Abramson's plan. Residents started asking good questions: Why do we need a master plan, if we just need to move the tot lot? Why are we urgently developing a master plan when the new Southtown buildings are at least 3-5 years off? Why don't we know how RIOC's intended budget range? Something isn't right here.
So residents have started their own planning and have come up with great ideas. Wants: retain the basketball courts, retain the trees (don't move them), adjust steps/hills for better disabled access, co-locate kids and tots areas, durable equipment, low-maintenance costs. Don't wants: old tram cabin, education-themed park (i.e., heavy content), a clear view of the power plant. Residents want planning coordinated for all the parks, not just worrying about Blackwell. The residents have taken the lead and are forming their own plan to present to RIOC and the architect Lee Weintraub. More on this soon.
4. Red bus scheduling. Met with Buddy, the bus service supervisor and traveled the Island to understand service issues in the AM rush: (1) hospital shift changes near 7AM cause congestion across from Manhattan Park; (2) commercial vehicles, deliveries, and school buses at 7-9 AM between Motorgate ramp and Blackwell house; (3) northbound Access-A-Ride parking in WIRE buildings corridor; (4) short bus dock at M&D Deli backs up traffic; (5) potential improvements at southbound stop at subway. First understand the problems (not completely there yet), then work towards solutions. More in next issue.
1 comments :
"extending the Q service from 57 Street and 7 Avenue out to 21 Street - Queensbridge" - That's probably the solution I would like the most BUT as the MTA stated in the past (and I agree with that) there is not much capacity left to squeeze another train into the same route. Plus getting the Q out there will require a lot of coordination with the other lines as well. It'll be complex.
"reserving the first car for Roosevelt Island" - that is a stupid idea. Sorry. Should every station get its own car now?
"swapping V and F lines (F to 53 Street, V to 63 Street)" - not sure what this is supposed to do. The only difference between Manhattan-bound V and F trains are they terminate differently.
How about an express train that skips the 21st St and RI stops during rush hour? For every 2 express trains there will be one local train leaving Roosevelt Ave. That should keep the train a little emptier.
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