Mayor Michael Bloomberg and U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar signed a deal yesterday establishing a management agreement between the city and the National Parks Service for 10,000 acres of parkland in and around Jamaica Bay.
The deal, announced nine months after the intent was made public in October, establishes the framework for collaboration between the National Parks Service and the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation to promote access, establish research and education programs, and develop recreational opportunities in the park area, which includes Floyd Bennett Field and the marshlands and waterways around it.
(Video of the announcement is above. Note that this was originally a live stream, and the announcement does not begin until the 12:50 mark.)
At the end of May, the Department of Transportation surprised local drivers by installing a No Left / No U-Turn sign on southbound Coney Island Avenue at Banner Avenue.
And, just about every day since then, hundreds of cars have been ignoring it.
Opponents of that plan said diverting southbound Coney Island Avenue traffic to Neptune Avenue is a danger for all. Traffic is already congested on Neptune Avenue, they argued, and bus stops on the corner will make matters worse. Drivers looking for the Belt Parkway will be forced to go down East 12th Street – which has no light or signal – or next to Bay Academy on East 14th Street, putting students at higher risk.
While that proposal – which also recommended the creation of a left-turn lane onto Guider Avenue for northbound drivers – appears to have quietly hit the back-burner, DOT just as quietly installed the No Left / No U-Turn sign at the end of May. Community Board 15 told Sheepshead Bites at the time that they were not notified about the changes.
Apparently, drivers aren’t paying much mind to it, holding up traffic to make the turn up Banner Avenue, or a U-turn up the service road to Shore Parkway and the highway.
More than one year after Pathmark made its last sale from its 3795 Nostrand Avenue location, the building remains vacant, political leadership to bring a new supermarket to the site appears to have dried up, and residents are fuming about the lack of nearby options to shop for their families.
We all know by now that one of the biggest problems with Jamaica Bay – and the parks and beaches that comprise it like Plumb Beach – is that there are too many cooks in the kitchen.
Many of the smaller recreational areas have elements that are overseen by a hodgepodge of federal, state and city agencies – and the lines of what belongs to whom are sometimes blurred. That’s why in Plumb Beach, when long-term solutions were called for, all of the agencies claimed it was all of the other agencies’ jurisdiction, not theirs. And, amidst the finger-pointing, not much gets done.
Good news, everyone! Mayor Michael Bloomberg joined U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, and a host of other city and federal officials, at the Salt Marsh Nature Center in Marine Park yesterday to announce that all of the stakeholders are hammering out a formal legal agreement detailing how the city and federal governments will manage Jamaica Bay and its various elements. That means we’ll know exactly who to point the finger at!
It’s the biggest political upset of the century! Despite not being a designated candidate, former Congressman Anthony Weiner won the special election for the 9th Congressional District… at least among write-in candidates.
The New York City Board of Elections released the break-down of votes from the September 13 special election for New York’s 9th Congressional District, and voters turned to write-in candidates at more than double the rate of the previous congressional election, reflecting voters’ disaffection with the offerings of the established political parties.
Top on the list of write-ins? Anthony Weiner, who walked away with 31 votes… out of 72,197 total votes cast in Brooklyn and Queens.
The special election is now over, and Republican Bob Turner bested Democrat David Weprin in what was originally expected to be an easy win for the party of donkeys. The writing was on the wall by the time 84 percent of districts had been counted: Turner had a relatively wide victory margin of 54 percent of the vote to Weprin’s 46 percent.
Now we get the political navel-gazing, the slice-and-dice of every campaign gaffe, the meticulous scrutiny of national and local sympathies that could’ve led to such an upset. After all, political reporters – the fiercest of reportorial wizards in the game of sussing out meaning, whether it’s real or imagined – must justify their salaries and fill their pages. But does any of it actually speak to local voters’ motivation?
The audience at last night’s Manhattan Beach Neighborhood Association received a surprise visit from Bob Turner, the GOP candidate for the 9th Congressional District, who stopped by just hours before polls were to open to deliver his “last political speech” before today’s special election.
In an opening statement, Turner emphasized his endorsements from Democrats like former mayor Ed Koch and State Assemblyman Dov Hikind, both of whom rallied behind the Republican more as a sign of opposition to Obama’s Israel policy than as support for Turner’s positions.
Responding to concerns from multiple attendees about constituent services, Turner said he’d have an office in both Brooklyn and Queens, but refused to say if it would be in the Sheepshead Bay area, instead saying somewhere in Flatbush might be more likely.
“I fully understand this is not about winning an election. It’s about representing and serving the people of a community,” Turner said. “To do that, I will staff and I will have people interested in doing the job. The things I don’t know, I’ll learn.”
Turner’s appearance was not a surprise to everyone in the crowd. MBNA President Alan Ditchek said Turner confirmed with the group’s leadership earlier that day. Both Weprin and Turner were invited in the days before the meeting, but Weprin was unable to attend, Ditchek said.
Voters head to the polls today for the special election to decide the new representative for the 9th Congressional District – the seat vacated by Anthony Weiner.
The two candidates for the 9th Congressional District – the seat vacated by Anthony Weiner – made their cases before a packed auditorium last night amidst an audience of locals, activists and a smattering of heckling.
Though largely focused on national issues, the town hall-style debate momentarily touched upon local topics, including infrastructure, community input and constituent services.
At the end of May, the Department of Transportation surprised local drivers by installing a No Left / No U-Turn sign on southbound Coney Island Avenue at Banner Avenue.
