S"TREET WORK IS ON TAP Board 10 Resurfacings Are Announced At Latest Meeting story by Ralph Mancini
The Thursday, Oct. 4 meeting of Community Board 10 featured the announcement of upcoming street resurfacings and sewer reconstruction in various parts of Howard Beach.
Howard Beach resurfacings
Board members and residents congregated at the Knights of Columbus Hall in South Ozone Park were apprised of the milling and repaving of the following Howard Beach locations by Community Board 10 Chairperson Elizabeth Braton:
156th Avenue from Shore Parkway to the dead end portion of the street.
176th Street between 156th and 157th avenues.
• 91st Street between 161st and 162nd avenues.
• 161st Avenue between Cross Bay Boulevard and 87th Street.
• 161st Avenue from 87th to 83rd streets.
• 81st Street from 157th to 161st avenues.
• 82nd Street from 157th to 160th avenues.
• 85th Street from 158th to 165th avenues.
• 83rd Street from 158th to 161st avenues.
Additional Ozone Park and South Ozone Park locations were not available at the meeting.
Bus shelters
While reading correspondence, Braton made mention of the following locations identified by the Department of Transportation for bus shelter installations.
• Cross Bay Boulevard between Pitkin Avenue and Linden Boulevard; and
• Cross Bay Boulevard between 156th and 157th avenues, near a Chase Bank branch.
On this last spot, the community board chairperson indicated that permission will be needed from the property owner in order to make the proposed shelter a reality.
Sewer reconstruction
In her monthly report, District Manager Karyn Petersen shared a notice she received from the Department of Environmental Protection informing the community of sewer reconstruction taking place on 105th Street between Liberty and 107th avenues in Ozone Park.
The work involved will consist of preparing a collapsed area surrounding a manhole cover.
Park funding
Petersen also learned that Southern Fields in South Ozone Park is in line for field improvements thanks to $2 million in funding on the part of Borough President Helen Marshall.
Other park projects included the addition of a multi-use field at Pals Oval, located at North Conduit Avenue and 88th Street in Ozone Park. This endeavor was reportedly made possible through a $3.1 million allocation secured by City Council Member Joseph Addabbo.
City Council Member Thomas White, according to Petersen, was also able to obtain funding by appropriating $1.2 million to renovate the fields at Frederick B. Judge Park located in the area of 111th Avenue and Lincoln Street in Ozone Park.
JFK GM introduced
The recently appointed general manager of JFK International Airport, Susan Baer, was on hand to introduce herself to board members who peppered her with a hodgepodge of questions.
When asked by board member John Fazio if there’s anything in the pipeline to build better railways that would eliminate the need for the high number of existing short flights to Washington D.C. and other cities, Baer said that the number of flights of under 500 miles are actually down because people are electing to drive or ride trains.
Furthermore, she stated that she personally prefers riding trains because they are “reliable and ultimately faster.”
One of her biggest challenges remains finding enough room at JFK for growing airlines, such as Jetblue, Delta and American, said Baer.
Prior to accepting her current position at JFK, the New Jersey resident was also the general manager for LaGuardia International Airport in addition to working in Newark Liberty International Airport’s capital redevelopment program.
Buckeye revisits community
Buckeye Pipeline’s manager of right-of-way and permits Roy Haase, Jr. joined Jeff Arrien, Buckeye’s supervisor of JFK International Airport, in giving people a recap of their company and explained why no one should not feel safe regarding their fuel distributions.
In reference to two pipelines bringing both airplane fuel and other fuel varieties into JFK, LaGuardia, Inwood and Long Island City, Haase informed that the “jet fuel” going into the airports is actually turbine fuel, which is “a cleaner version of diesel similar to kerosene.”
In total, Buckeye delivers 10 million gallons of fuel per day to these parts of which 4.2 million gallons consists of turbine fuel and another 5.2 million gallons is a combination of gasoline, diesel and home heating oil.
On a daily basis, Haase estimated that it would take approximately 2,500 trucks to deliver the 10 million gallons of fuel that is carried through company pipelines.
The company spokesman further stressed that truck accidents resulting in deaths are 87 times more likely than pipeline mishaps ending up in the same fashion.
In addition, it was noted that all of Buckeye’s pipelines are patrolled and inspected daily.
Automatic shutoff valves are also remotely operated to check for loss of product that’s been unaccounted for.
Insurance concerns
During the meeting, Fazio brought up the fact that a number of well-known insurance providers, such as Allstate and AIG, are no longer renewing or issuing home insurance policies to property owners living within a mile of the water.
The Hamilton Beach resident called for legislative bodies to regulate these insurance companies.
Fazio communicated that homeowners who are renting their space are particularly being rejected or hit with very high premiums.
“A lot of people are not apprised to the fact that when their insurance policy comes to be renewed, and if it’s by one of these companies, it won’t be renewed. Now, you have to go out hunting,” he said. “People are not knowing about this until they get hit in the head with it.”
Community Board 10 regularly meets on the first Thursday of the month at the South Ozone Park Knights of Columbus Hall located at 135-45 Lefferts Boulevard. For further details call 1-718-843-4488.
