Saturday, September 8, 2012

Report From RIOC President Leslie Torres - Roosevelt Island Public Safety Officer Performs Heimlich Maneuver On Choking Victim, Bicycle Parking Policy Change, Tramway Plaza Rat Update and Main Street Reconstruction Replacing Z Brick


Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) President Lesie Torres sends the following report to Roosevelt Island residents.
Greetings Roosevelt Islanders! I want to start this week’s column by thanking you for your cooperation while we renovated the Tram stations last month. We have a little bit more work to do, but the main portion of the project was completed last Friday, as scheduled, so there will be no more disruptions to the regular Tram schedule.

PSD Officer Saves Choking Victim

On the night of August 27, RIOC’s Public Safety Department received a call for assistance in the lobby of 625 Main Street. Four officers – Lt. Gary Yee, Sgt. Raul Hernandez and Special Patrol Officers Frensheria Michael and Leonard Bunbury – hurried to the scene to find a woman who was choking. SPO Michael quickly examined the woman, who was turning blue and unable to speak, and saw the imprint of an object in her throat. She performed the Heimlich maneuver on the woman twice, causing her to cough up a piece of beef that had been lodged in her throat. Later, Emergency Medical Services arrived and confirmed that the woman’s vitals were good. I’m thrilled that she’s okay and grateful to SPO Michael for her terrific work!

Bicycle Parking Policy Change

Overnight bicycle parking is currently not permitted on RIOC bicycle racks, but that’s about to change. Starting on September 17, overnight parking will be allowed on our bicycle racks with two exceptions: the rack located on the West Drive at the F-train station and the rack located in the Roosevelt Island Tramway Plaza. Overnight parking between 2:00 am and 5:00 am will still be prohibited on those two racks in an effort to reduce overcrowding and ensure space for daily commuters.

Please note that long-term storage is not permitted on any RIOC bicycle rack. Any bicycle that appears to be abandoned will be tagged by the RIOC Transportation Department with a warning tag. The owner will be given seven days to claim their bicycle before it will be removed and held by Public Safety for seven days. After seven days any unclaimed bicycles will be donated to the Roosevelt Island Thrift Shop located at 520 Main Street.

Tramway Park Rat Extermination Update

In the June 16 edition of the RIOC column, I wrote about the rat problem at Tramway Park on the Manhattan side of the Tram. As I said then, Tramway Park is the property of the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation and thus not RIOC’s jurisdiction, but we would work with the Parks Department to assist in their extermination efforts as much as we could.

Last month, with the Parks Department’s approval, the East Midtown Partnership, which is the Business Improvement District covering the Manhattan side of the Tram, agreed to assume the responsibility for a major rat extermination effort in Tramway Park. As part of this initiative, they have hired a new extermination company that has already begun its work. RIOC representatives met with representatives from the Midtown East Partnership and the Parks Department, and we are optimistic that their work will be thorough and successful.

Main Street Reconstruction to Begin

The street work for Phase II of our Main Street Reconstruction Project will begin on Wednesday, September 12. During Phase I, completed in 2009, we replaced Z-Bricks with asphalt pavement on the roadway from 40 River Road to the Fire House Station. Phase II will continue the same work from 40 River Road to the bottom of the Helix ramp. The asphalt surface is better at handling heavy vehicle traffic and the elements, and it won’t require the frequent and costly repairs involved in maintaining the Z-Bricks.

55 comments :

roozevelt said...

Kudos to Officer Michael of the Public Safety Department. With all the negative feedback that is often bestowed upon our island officers, it's nice to see someone print something positive. Many of us residents appreciate the work you guys/gals do. Keep up the good work.

JimmyLaRoche said...

Awesome news! Good job!

On another note:

Frank Farance really needs to get a grip and stop trying to be a law enforcement EXPERT by his ridiculous article printed in the wire.

He takes a one sided story and doesn't understand that law enforcement is hard. I guess if he was a cop he would let everyone disrespect and push him all over the place.

Frank is the biggest loser this island ever had.

YetAnotherRIer said...

Frank is an expert in pretty much everything. Since the RIRA presidency is up for grabs, what are the chances that Frank will nominate himself?

Anonymous said...

Yea OK YOU Think Frank is wrong. Just wait until Rioc pays Neal lots of Your. Tax PAYER MONEY. I Wish They would. DO To ME WHAT THEY DID TO NEIL I COULD SURE USE THE MONEY

zoilalexie said...

He's a joke. He truly gets off on having everyone on the island dislike him. What an arrogant individual. No matter the topic, he finds his way into it. Then, he'll slant it in the direction he thinks will get more people agitated. Shoot, even the people he thinks like him walk on egg shells - because he'll turn on them too. Loser!

Anonymous said...

Frank is wrong and u must be as stupid as he is. U could sure use the money? Newsflash Moran that what everyone thinks when they are arrested. Good luck with that. I personally enjoy when cops make a very rough arrest. Maybe it will teach some of our wonderful citizens that they shouldn't brek the law!!!

commonsense540 said...

W her was Leslie's report on the Stuber incident, Neil i a good man.

JimmyLaRoche said...

Cheshire,

You suddenly made a warm place in my heart for you.

Good job on thinking this one through and giving the officers the benefit of the doubt.

Frank Farance said...

Far fetched, but true. Video shows Neal in the cell in handcuffs behind his back, and it pain. Guerra fibbed on this. Guerra looks to discredit the witness by claims of faking injuries

It was Guerra (not me) that initiated all the discussion, i.e., contrary to zoilalexie's statement, I didn't "find [my] way into it", it was Guerra who reached out and asked me to come to his office to "shape" the story, it was Guerra who wanted (true) portions of my letter removed, and it was Guerra who fibbed/misrepresented points in the story. In fact, looking back, it was Guerra looking to do damage control by reaching out to me (from him, over dozen phone calls and messages) to "shape" this. Veras fabricated parts of her testimony to the court.

Lastly, I point out that CheshireKitty made essentially the same points I did (gave Veras the benefit of the doubt on the ticket, crossing double yellow lines is a necessity, Neal shouldn't be handcuffed in a cell). The only point she/he got wrong was: the insurance papers were in the car, it wasn't Jenna's car, and it was a new car with different compartments (which made finding the insurance papers hard).

Mr. LaRoche you and others like YetAnotherRIer and zoilalexie do just what Guerra did: piling on discrediting a person (me in this case) because it's a story you don't want to hear or you don't like the person reporting it, rather than looking at the facts/reports. If you revealed your names, I'm guessing you'd feel more obligated to get your points right, but you can take anonymous pot shots with no recourse.

Anonymous said...

You must be New on the Island. Rioc has been sueed so many times Because of so called arrest by psd its a joke. AND arrest by psd will end Like THE others With Rioc paying neil lots of money

JimmyLaRoche said...

My name is listed!

He was handuffed in the cell probably for a short time.

He was probably trying to more hard to himself or others.

True reasons unknown, but doubt it was for a longggg time.

You are one sided and NOT a police expert. You have never walked in psd or any law enforcement officers shoes to say they should have done it like this and done it like that.

Let me ask you this... If the sgts testimony was so wrong and different, then why did mr.steuber plead guilty?

It was listed on nys e courts. I looked it up a few days ago, but it is not there now.

YetAnotherRIer said...

I know I should just keep quiet but you do miss the point that there is a lot of back story to your person. This is not discrediting you because it is a story I don't want to hear (where did you get this from anyway?) this is because of past experiences with you.

theohiostate said...

Frank is not the only one who knows the Steuber's. Jenna told me she committed the violation but didn't know she could get a ticket for it. She also didn't appreciate that her father ended up getting arrested over it. And Neal did plead Guilty at his arraignment. Neal also said he was in the cell cuffed immediately following the scuffle, not overnight.


Neither of them asked Frank to take up their cause. He just has an issue with minding his business. If you think they wanted their dirty laundry out there, guess again. Frank convinced Neal to see his video (which was given to him by the RIOC, and was about 10 minutes long) and then went on his "activist" trail.

RooseveltIslander said...

whether or not the appropriate use of force was used by Public Safety Department in this incident is a legitimate question to be asked. The Roosevelt Island Residents Association Public Safety Committee will be looking into this issue as well.

Anonymously insulting/attacking the person asking valid questions does not diminish the validity of the question.

JimmyLaRoche said...

RIRA has no jursidiction or authority to look into anything.

If he was non compliant and resisting, i am sure it was necessary.

KidKilowatt said...

According to Frank, "[i]t was Guerra," not Frank, "that [sic] initiated this discussion."


How did Guerra "initiate" this "discussion"? Why, he "reached out and asked [Frank] to come to his office."


When did Guerra reach out to Frank? After he read Frank's letter.


Thus, Frank didn't "find his way into" this. No, of course not. It was Guerra who dragged him into it.

You can't make this stuff up. (Frank could, obviously.)

JimmyLaRoche said...

Your still a nobody, no matter how much you try to be somebody.

Worry about your own personal affair, stop being a busy body.

Find a hobby other than crap talking and being a community nagger.

Go fishing.

Anonymous said...

Not new at all, keep living in your fantasy world. Maybe Santa will bring u something for Christmas. I hope all law enforce uses all force necessary to restrain the garbage when needed!!!

zoilalexie said...

Jimmy, you are waisting your time. If Rick thinks the RIRA Public Safety Committee is a viable organization - let him. Everyone knows they are led by a drunk from Westview whose son has been arrested, and their lead spokesman is another "Perp" from Eastwood, who has a record a mile long. But hey, they "will be looking into this issue as well." Gimme a break !

roozevelt said...

Wow, and here I thought this Blog Post was about a PSD Officer saving someone's life. Like I said, Kudos to Officer Michael for helping that woman. We should be thanking these officers, who are not paid all that well, instead of trying to second guess them evey time one of our locals gets arrested.

CheshireKitty said...

I don't think it's up to anyone who wasn't there to say Officer Veras was lying in court. That's simply ridiculous and hurtful. Lying in court is a felony because it's perjury - so although we do have free speech here, to make a claim like that is really neither here nor there. How can you prove Veras was lying? You weren't there at the time of the incident, and in the end, the detainee pleaded guilty. If Guerra has reached out to the RIRA PSC, it's because the aftermath of the incident is extremely serious for the father, a former red bus driver and a RI resident. He has been fired from his job and also has a police record - two automatic "black marks" against his name when he goes to look for a job. Being fired for cause means it is unlikely he will be able to collect unemployment insurance benefits. He has been crushed by the outcome of his behavior so the question is, what can be done for the family? Guerra should know that although this is a catastrophe for the family, and all of us can sympathize with that, it's unlikely many sympathize with the driver for driving around the bus, or with the father for getting in the face of the police (or getting in the face of anyone for that matter). So I do not think the incident will lead to community or anti-PSD outrage even if the community may feel sorry for the family. To address the initial problem, that of driving around stopped buses, I think PSD should publicize a policy that cars are not to drive around north-bound stopped buses Main St boarding and deboarding passengers, and that henceforth, motorists doing so are subject to a moving violation summons, the reason being there is a possibility children may be running around the bus or crossing the street without looking. Perhaps small signs could be affixed to the back of the buses informing drivers "stuck" behind buses that they risk a ticket if they drive around a stopped bus. In fact, if PSD/RIOC really wanted to get fancy about enforcing this law, they could install cameras on buses to photograph the license plates of cars driving around stopped buses - and put that in the signs on buses as well, that the law is enforced with on-board cameras on the buses. That way, the safety of pedestrians is enhanced, and there is almost no question of drivers receiving summons if they drive around stopped buses - it will be almost a "given" that they will receive a summons if they drive around a stopped bus. As far as the father being fired for being involved in an incident at PSD, on one level, it was an altercation between a bus driver and a PSO of the same "parent organization" - RIOC. In most cases in a company, employees that have a physical fight (and sometimes even a verbal altercation) are automatically fired - this is usually spelled out in company employee handbooks. Again, we do not have video of the incident, but it is logical to assume that PSD did not wish to, or go out of their way, to either set off or escalate a confrontation. Maybe the father thought he deserved special treatment from PSD since he was a red bus driver and couldn't accept that the ticket would not be torn up. If the father pleaded guilty in court, then he must agree with the account given by the PSD - which is, that he became unruly, and had to be arrested, restrained and held until booking paperwork was completed. The father is an experienced bus driver, which is an in-demand skill, and I certainly hope he will quickly be re-employed at another transportation company - drivers are always needed, if not at the MTA then with an Access-o-Ride transportation provider, school bus company etc., or even as a limo driver. Unfortunately, I do not see that RIOC had a choice but to fire him once he got in the face of the PSOs at PSD.

JimmyLaRoche said...

Yeah I almost forgot about those upstanding citizens!

I think one member is also a big time drug addict.

Not mentioning names or anything, just pointing out facts.

Criminals looking into a police incident. AWSOME!

Anonymous said...

Really

ChrisEnock said...

Jimmy LaRoche really needs to get a grip and stop trying to be a law enforcement EXPERT by his ridiculous posts in this blog.
He takes a one sided view and doesn't understand that law enforcement officers are people too and make mistakes. I guess if he was a cop he would be just as abusive as he is here would push people all over the place.
Jimmy is the biggest loser this island ever had.
Go find another hobby instead of being a busy body. Nobody likes your negative nit picking and annoying agendas.
Find a hobby like fishing or something. Being a bully doesn't give you any brownie points. You ALREADY have a bad reputation on this island. They and we don't like you.

JimmyLaRoche said...

Did you read the article?

A joe civilian who never did police work is saying how the job should be done.

Of course he knows best!

I do side with law enforcement first in most cases as THEY ARE THE EXPERTS! This is WHAT THEY deal with and what they get paid to do.
I won't tell a surgeon how to operate on a patient!
I won't tell an EMT how to treat a patient!
I won't tell my dentist how to work on my teeth!
I won't tell the garbage man how to pick up garbage!

This is what they do and I give them benefit of the doubt unless PROVEN OTHERWISE.

The man plead guilty.

That is all I need to hear.

"Us and Them" said...

Great thinkers and writers were drunks. Please.

"Us and Them" said...

we love Frank, he teaches out kids robotics. What do you do for the community, mr.Roach?

"Us and Them" said...

Neil is a good man. He just couldn't stand the horrible harassment both him and his daughter were put through by OUR OWN peace officers. Thank goodness they did not have tasers.

"Us and Them" said...

Thanks Chris:)

"Us and Them" said...

what do you mean by "doing" police?

"Us and Them" said...

riiiiight! and you mr.roach are simply perfect. And according to you, anyone with an addictive personality disorder has no right to an opinion? You must be seeing "red"....

"Us and Them" said...

Good Job Michael!

YetAnotherRIer said...

I see that you have not improved your reading comprehension.

YetAnotherRIer said...

Great thinkers and writers do not represent people, though. Big difference, no?

JimmyLaRoche said...

A relative of frank?

So sweet taking sides. That's Nobel.

Erin Feely-Nahem said...

Obviously Zoilalexie is engaging in ad hominem attacks to divert discussion away from the work that the PSC does, investigating reports of Public Safety misconduct and brutality. It takes a lot of courage to slander people behind an anonymous tag. Stop calling people names! The RIRA Public Safety committee will continue its independent work.

Erin Feely-Nahem said...

The CCRB does not have jurisdiction over State employed Public Safety Peace Officers. I believe that Micha Kellner presented legislation which supported the formation of a review board to oversee State Public Safety Peace officers last year but it hasn't been passed yet. The CCRB has oversight over reviewing police infraction, not Public Safety officer, egregious treatnmw

Frank Farance said...

theohiostate: You are not telling the truth. I read your post to Ms. Stueber, she never said any such thing. You're wrong on the Stuebers, too: Yes, they were interested in my follow up because they felt they were poorly treated, and unjustifiably so.

We discussed this incident at the RIRA Public Safety Committee meeting last night. We reviewed Sgt. Veras's testimony, the consensus was that she fabricated the testimony. At that point, we heard about a PS officer who had tripped and injured while chasing a suspect and, thus, the suspect was charged with Assaulting an Officer. According to committee members, this is a common problem with PS officer reporting. Regardless, it is worth complaining to the District Attorney's office about truthfulness of Sgt. Veras's report, and RIOC Board members are interested in hearing about this, and RIOC staff feels a third party investigation is a better approach.

We also discussed tasers and we'll have a resolution to vote on at the October RIRA Common Council meeting, expressing opposition to tasers even at the supervisory level (the Stueber event nicely demonstrated why this is so, and Mr. Guerra's shifting explanations of the event reinforced perceptions), and other concerns will be expressed, including leadership, executive, and reporting problems at Public Safety.

Jesse Webster said...

We need a PSD equivalent to the CCRB for these situations.

JimmyLaroche said...

A complaing to the ada office? He pled guilty. If he was not, why did he plead guilty?

A few words that might be wrong in a "testimony" doesnt mean his actions did not take place.

It still does not mean he did not act disorderly, or did not resist.

Also as stated about ccrb was correct, they only investigate nypd police and nobody else.

theohiostate said...

No Frank, YOU are wrong. You still speak like you were there. You were there for the incident, and you were there for my conversation with Jenna. Problem is you weren't there for either. And since some people on this blog oppose your view, you will continue to try to convince everyone that your view is the right view. Your view is just that - your view. You can influence RIRA and its Public Safety Committee all you want. That won't change the fact that you weren't there.

YetAnotherRIer said...

"[...] Director Guerra's quibble [...]"


Quibbling is just right down your alley. You must be enjoying this. Or are you the only one who is allowed to quibble?

YetAnotherRIer said...

"And since some people on this blog oppose your view, you will continue to try to convince everyone that your view is the right view. "


Thanks for putting this into a very simple sentence. This pretty much summarizes every discussion with Frank.

Frank Farance said...

theohiostate: You're claiming you were at the incident? Your complaint of not being there rings hollow. You're an anonymous persona whose story can't be validated. Ms. Stueber disputes your story. Since you saw the video, at least you know the Guerra wasn't telling the truth in his characterization of Mr. Stueber in the cell. And you know that Director Guerra had too much focus on pushing the (false) idea that Mr. Stueber was faking his injuries. Don't you agree that Director Guerra's focus is problematic for community policing? Really, someone gets hurt in a Public Safety incident and one of the first things you hear *from the head of Public Safety* is the person is faking his injuries. And you discover the head of Public Safety is not telling you the truth, but slanting the story. You don't find that alarming?

theohiostate said...

I was not at the incident.
Nor did I see the video. I don't
know what Guerra's focus here is. I can
only go by what I was told, just like you.
But, unlike you, I'm not going out of my way to bash anyone. (Not even you.) You, apparently, have a problem with the
Public Safety Department. You have for
years - even before Guerra got here. So,
you will continue to harp on Neal's injury instead of the fact that what
happened to him was just unfortunate. I
didn't like hearing about the incident, but if you go into any Police Precinct
cursing everyone out and acting belligerent, you will be arrested too. And, if you resist arrest, you might get hurt
in the struggle. That's all I'm saying. Now, I'm sure you'll reply to this because
you always have to have the last word, so I will stop here.

Frank Farance said...

theohiostate: By your reasoning, people who were not at an event (e.g., jurors) could offer opinions/understandings about an event. If you weren't at the incident, then why complain that someone else's comments weren't at the incident. And if you haven't watched the video, why complain about someone who has?

I don't have a problem with the Public Safety Department. I have a problem with some of the actions of a couple officers and, in particular, I'm appalled by Director Guerra's take on all of this. His focus upon selling the idea of faked injuries is a really bad problem. Not to mention many of the other things Director Guerra said about this incident.

You're wrong about my having an issue with them for years. I had concerns in the past, but they were resolved. You'll see that, largely, I've had positive comments about PSD for many years.

Frank Farance said...

Public Safety with another bogus traffic stop for crossing the yellow line. It's about 10:40 PM on September 19, the Q102 has stopped at 546 to load/unload a disabled passenger. The bus has its yellow hazard flashers on, it's clear the bus is not moving. There are no pedestrians or oncoming traffic. About three cars pull up behind the Q102. The first one slowly starts to go around the bus, and then three Public Safety officers quickly appear.

Rather than doing something useful like directing traffic, they are their ready to pounce, including an unmarked car with a fourth officer. And it looks like it's Sgt Veras again, pulling over the motorist for no good reason.

This is an aggressive stance by Public Safety: if buses pull over regularly at 546 Main and block the northbound traffic, they should be directing traffic (i.e., making things work better) rather than looking for an excuse to harass people doing what they normally need to do on narrow/congested streets in NYC.

YetAnotherRIer said...

I am in favor of everything that discourages car traffic on this island. Main Street is way too busy as it is right now. If that means PSD has to crack down on every little violation I really like that.

YetAnotherRIer said...

You should think about editing your posts. You pretty much said the same thing over and over and over again. You said a lot less than it actually looks like.

Frank Farance said...

RIOC also violates the law. Here's the RIOC red bus crossing the double yellow line (see picture below). So Public Safety selectively enforces the law, they focus on traffic stops rather than increased safety, and RIOC violates the law, too.

Here's a suggestion: Make It A Broken Yellow Line. According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2009 edition of Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, section 3B.01, there are three options for us:

[3B.01, paragraph 04:] The center line markings on two-lane, two-way roadways shall be one of the following as shown in
Figure 3B-1:

A. Two-direction passing zone markings consisting of a normal broken yellow line where crossing the center line markings for passing with care is permitted for traffic traveling in either direction;

B. One-direction no-passing zone markings consisting of a double yellow line, one of which is a normal broken yellow line and the other is a normal solid yellow line, where crossing the center line markings for passing with care is permitted for the traffic traveling adjacent to the broken line, but is prohibited for traffic traveling adjacent to the solid line; or

C. Two-direction no-passing zone markings consisting of two normal solid yellow lines where crossing the center line markings for passing is prohibited for traffic traveling in either direction.

We now have Option C, we should have Option A. Note that the broken yellow line Option A requires "passing with care", which
addresses the safety concerns of pedestrians and oncoming traffic.


In other words, just repaint Main Street with a broken yellow line. Public Safety can still ticket unsafe drivers.

JimmyLaRoche said...

Your such a baby.

Nypd officer handle upwards of 30 calls in 8 hours. They have no TIME to deal with petty nonsense.

They also don't deal with a street with two lanes with a bus going through it, and with the overall habit and "they way it was and the way it is" habit of people immediately crossing in front of the red bus or q102.

A summons is discretion. If there is a red bus or q102 or school bus stopped and if they FEEL the driver is driving without care, then by all means pull them over. Pulling someone over does not mean summons automatically,

It can mean lecture, or further check of documents.

JimmyLaRoche said...

Stop complaining.

Serious talk now.

One day you will get older and you and I, all of us will die.

Guess what happens! Go on guess!

The wheel will keep going round and round. All of your fighting, hooting and hollering will mean zip, zero, nada.

You, me and all of us will just be forgotten eventually.

Just move out if you are so frustrated and pissed off here. You are mad about everything and complain about everything.

Your just wasting your time. Enjoy your family, enjoy your time.

I really feel bad for you. I really do.

Just food for thought.

CheshireKitty said...

Vehicular traffic, including buses and cars, as well as emergency vehicles, can flow around parked ambulettes or Access-o-Ride vans as in the instance in the photograph, or double-parked cars, if it is safe to do so. That is very different from driving around a stopped bus on Main St when it is in the process of boarding and deboarding passengers. Also, it is against the law to do so if the bus is a school bus, if I am not mistaken. But even if it is not a school bus, drivers using common sense should not drive around a bus since deboarding children may heedlessly dart across the street without looking both ways. Wouldn't a driver do the same thing at a stopped ice-cream truck surrounded with customers, some of whom might be kids? Although he could legally simply drive around it at a normal speed for the locality he is driving in, the ethical and safe thing is to consider that truck as equivalent to a school bus because of the possibility that kids might be running to and from the truck. No, it is not against the law to drive around a stopped ice-cream truck without stopping or slowing down - it is just unethical and unsafe to do so. The same reasoning and consideration should apply to stopping and waiting for a bus boarding and deboarding passengers on Main St. Drivers are aware that Main St is not a speed zone: Every few feet, there are yield signs - yield to the pedestrian in walkway. Otherwise there are stop signs - cars at the stop signs are to stop whether or not there is a pedestrian in the walkway. If I am not mistaken, the island-wide speed limit is 25 mph. RI was originally envisioned as a car-free planned town - that didn't completely work out but even so there are restrictions - yield signs, crosswalks - in place so that the pedestrians are not endangered by cars. The next step would be to put speed bumps on Main St to further ensure motorists comply with the stop signs, speed limit, yield signs and so forth.

CheshireKitty said...

There are 2 south-bound lanes along Main St in Northtown - one is occupied by parked cars or reserved space for police/emergency vehicles or bus stops. So, because of the additional lane, there is no issue about cars driving south - although even cars driving south around buses stopped at a bus stop should still exercise caution and slow down. Also, if there is a double-parked car on the south-bound side of Main St, vehicles must drive around the double-parked car very cautiously if it is safe to do so, because of the limitations to seeing ahead in the curving street. That is why there are double-parking laws in effect - to eliminate the dangers of having to drive around a double-parked car. More tickets should be issued to double-parked cars - which clog streets despite the rules against double-parking. The north-bound Main St. in Northtown has only 1 lane. If a driver is in too much of a hurry to wait a few minutes for a bus - be it a q102, a red bus, or a school bus - to board and deboard passengers, including the disabled - then he shouldn't be driving on Main St. He should wait. At the very least, as Mr. LaRoche says, if he is observed by a PSO creeping around a stopped bus, he should get a lecture, but if there are other problems such as missing vehicular documentation or any other problem, the driver may get a ticket. As I have previously written, this north-bound lane of Main St is hazardous. There is a limited sight distance because of the curving street. The arcade of Eastwood means pedestrians can and often do dart out to cross the road giving motorists only a few seconds to see them and slow down or stop. I have no problem with aggressive enforcement of the law on the north-bound lane of Main St in Northtown since it serves to protect the pedestrians. The pedestrians are no match for cars, Frank - a car going even just 25 mph hitting a person can be fatal; the car only gets a dent in a fender. I've written before that if it were possible, there should never be cars driving around stopped buses going north-bound on Main St - and if any do, they should receive tickets, perhaps with the installation of rear-facing cameras on the red buses and warning signs posted on those buses notifying following drivers that their plates will be photographed and they will be issued a summons if they drive around a north-bound stopped bus along Main St in Northtown (i.e. where the road narrows to 1 lane).

JimmyLaRoche said...

I could have sworn I seen signs for 15mph somewhere. I can't remember where, but I agree with more enforcement with careless drivers.

Breaking the yellow solid line is... Well... Breaking the law. No matter how petty mr.farance tries to paint it.

Some psd officers like to write tickets, some like to lecture the driver on safe driving and some may not see it as a big deal. To each is own.

But to say that psd had discretion in arresting mr.steuber. No way, no how. Law enforcement in nys only have discretion in petty offenses, such as moving violations and simple petty offenses like open beer. When a person gets boisterous, aggressive and REFUSES to leave the station house. Sorry, discretion flys out the window.

Imagine if that was your home and your next door neighbor barged into your apartment because he or she did not agree with your plants by your door.

Your going to of course give them several warnings. Then if you are man enough, you will show them the door.