A pair of street changes that wiull impact Woodhaven will be voted upon by Community Board 9 on Tuesday. Although the Woodhaven Residents' Block Association was invited to a meeting to discuss one of these changes a year ago, were were not advised or approached since then. We were also advised that residents would be polled or surveyed about their opinions on this change, but as far as we know that never happened. If any Woodhaven residents' received a survey about any of these changes, please drop us a line.
UPDATE: The vote will take place Tuesday, January 10 - the meeting begins at 7:45 and will be held at The Punjabi Palace 91-52 Lefferts Boulevard in Richmond Hill. If you object to this plan, you can help by coming to the meeting, signing up and speaking for 3 minutes. You can also help us by dropping a polite e-mail to Community Board 9 at [email protected] or by calling (718) 286-2686.
UPDATE 2:
UPDATE #3
Assemblyman Mike Miller has sent a letter and spoke to CB9 about postponing the vote --
84th Street
It is proposed to change 84th Street, from One-Way North Bound to One-Way South Bound from Liberty to Atlantic Avenues. Although this change occurs beyond the boundaries of Woodhaven (on the other side of Atlantic Avenue) it will eliminate one of the main Northbound entry points into Woodhaven. Once this change goes into place, only Woodhaven Boulevard and 76th Street will be left as Northbound roads that cross Atlantic.
Here is the current map of Atlantic -- notice how 84th crosses Atlantic. From there , once you make a quick turn on to 85th Street (at 89th Avenue) you can continue all the way through Woodhaven, across Jamaica Avenue all the way up to Park Lane South.
Let's look at the proposed change -- the convenient access path into Woodhaven is eliminated. Residents and shoppers will have to go blocks east or west to get into Woodhaven. How will this impact emergency services? How will this impact Engine 293 when they are returning from a run on the other side of Atlantic? We don't know -- and if there was a study done that asked these questions, the WRBA was never made aware of their results.
89th Avenue
This change may be less controversial. Then again, as we first heard about it yesterday, perhaps we haven't thought it all the way through. Again, if residents in the area were polled or surveyed, please let us know.
Currently, 89th Avenue from Woodhaven Boulevard to 97th Street is 2-way. On the other side of the boulevard, 89th Avenue is one way westbound.
It is proposed to turn 89th Avenue from Woodhaven Boulevard to 97th Street into a 1-way street, eastbound. If you live on 97th Street near the Avenue, it means you need to drive up to 91st Avenue (two-way) to get to Woodhaven Boulevard.
Our one concern is that 89th Avenue used to be a straight ride through Woodhaven from 98th to 85th. In fact, it was identified as one of Woodhaven's PRIMARY ROADS by the DSNY in the aftermath of last winter's blizzards.
Overall, though, that 2nd change doesn't strike us as too bad. 89th Avenue off of Woodhaven is narrow.
But, again, we have to ask what kind of notification they gave the community -- what kind of feedback did they try and get?
It's not as if the WRBA is hard to get in touch with -- we have phones, fax machines, email -- we're on Facebook, Twitter --
And so, the WRBA joins the Greater Woodhaven Development Corporation and the Woodhaven Business Improvement District in opposing thse changes and will respectfully ask the Community Board to table these votes until the community can be better involved in the discussion leading up to a vote.
You can help us by dropping a polite e-mail to Community Board 9 at [email protected]
Please ask them to consider tabling the vote --
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