Jackson Heights Life

It's preposterous to me that people who have lived in the area for "decades" have their heads so far buried in the sand that they don't have a clue about what's going on in their community. If they were truly invested they would be aware, connected to community resources and deal with their part of the neighborhood like every other part of this city. There are enough opportunities on-line and off to learn about what's going on. From the local community board to civic associations, public meetings, newspapers, email blasts, web sites and all around chatter that a personal invite to a community wide forum should not be necessary. It says more about people who suddenly figure out how to be involved when something affects them personally than it does about those who do the outreach. Personally, I don't want my tax dollars spent paying someone to knock on doors  trying to track down each and every living soul when they can be working on more important issues. Nothing about this change was done in secret, in fact quite the opposite. If people chose to be disconnected form their community then that's their problem.

For the record I received mail about the proposed issues from an elected official. Yes, USPS delivers Snail Mail from a State representative informing me and presumably those in my area of public meetings where the proposed changes were to be discussed.  Based on that mailing and where I live, I assume the overwhelming majority of people affected by this change received the same information. There was ample and accessible opportunity for everyone in our area to participate in the discussions about the change to 75th Street long before it ever happened.

There will always be someone who isn't happy with something, it's part of living in a community and understanding that the needs of the whole outweigh the needs of the few. We all have to compromise.

I sympathize with the 75th Streeters. You really had to be looking to notice the signs regarding the community transportation meetings. Because I'm interested, friends with someone loosely connected with the process, and online, I noticed and attended and participated. Through reading this forum, I knew about the scheduled traffic direction change weeks before any of the non-JHLifers on 75th St. would have found out, if indeed no one notified them in particular. Come on, folks, they didn't even get a letter from the DoT?

And now I am living with the unintended consequences of the traffic flow change. I'm on 77th Street, and all the traffic that used to go up 75th St. turns up 77th St. instead. Where else are they going to go-- 74th Street? The traffic itself would not be so bad if it weren't for the fact that the drivers are impatient and honk their horns when they are backed up down the street, as if the one-minute-28-second red light at 35th Ave is broken, and then they honk when it turns green because they fail to understand the physics of the car in front having to move before the next car does, etc, and they're 8 or 10 cars back. The honking gets so bad on weekend afternoons that I'm considering investing in eggs so I can throw them from my window. If that's what the 75th Streeters want back, well, I say bless them-- give them back their north-bound traffic and give me back my relative peace.

I definitely sympathize, as these are the same complaints that 73rd St residents have been making for years now.  DOT finally rerouted the buses off 73rd because on a weekend, the traffic on 73rd is backed up to 34th Ave and those buses would almost never arrive in a timely manner.  Plus, all of the double-parking and other shenanigans on 73rd make the street almost impassable for large vehicles, leading the bus drivers to lay on the horns.  73rd St is now noticeably quieter and less congested (although certainly still crazy at peak times!).

If you look at the 73rd St threads, you will see a number of comments along the lines of "you live in a busy area, just suck it up" (or worse, posters impugning the motives of those with complaints).  That is completely unfair for 73rd St, and certainly for these other streets that are now sharing part of the traffic burden.

I thought the meetings were very well advertised through mailings and postings, and I'm only somewhat engaged in community matters because of family and job duties.

What do folks propose doing now that 73rd St is not bearing the entire brunt of the buses, honking, and congestion?

My opinion is that the only solutions are long-term and involve reducing car usage in the neighborhood.  As pointed out above, congestion pricing would immediately change the economic calculation for owning a car and driving to Manhattan.  Some people need them, and I'd been fine with a waiver or credit for small businesses.  However, I know a number of people in JH with a suburban mindset that drive simply because they are lazy or think public transit is for other people.

Another set of changes would be converting "free" (actually taxpayer-subsidized) parking into metered spots, and raising the meter rates.  That would reduce traffic from outside the neighborhood and cut down on the number of cars just circling around looking for parking.  Other cities have successfully tried systems that change the rate based on the time of day or amount of available parking...

I'm afraid that traffic will only get worse for additional blocks soon when 37th Road closes.  Again, the reason is to reduce the incredible burden on 73rd St and its intersections / cross-streets.  Once DOT has made these changes (after several years of studies and open comment periods), it is unlikely they will revert to the old traffic pattern any time soon.  Long-term changes are necessary.

Hey planesland, yeah that is kind of funny and I guess kind of a big government vs. free market contrast!  I wouldn't be against a parking garage, but I think there would have to be serious negative incentives (i.e. a high cost of looking for street parking) for it to work.  There is a pay lot on 75th that is rarely at capacity (I know because I often tell driving guests to try there if they don't find street parking right away), but you still have tons of people circling.  How would you encourage or force people to use a garage?  But yeah, you're right...none of this is going to happen!

(MODIFIED to in response to planesland above): yes, that is a good point and agreed that a lot of the nonresident traffic are driving to buy large amounts of groceries (i.e. not practical for public transportation)...don't want to hurt the businesses too much.  But there simply isn't ever going to be enough parking on those few streets to satisfy demand (it's already really difficult to park)...raising the price of meters would allow those willing to pay to park right next to the shopping, and then others can use a garage or lot (assuming they can be built).  If the street parking is too cheap or free, then I think people will be too enticed to circle around and then end up double-parking when they finally give up!

That's funny, Peromyscus. Your answer to the congestion issue is public policy changes. Mine is a multistory parking lot. Not sure what that says about us, but it's an interesting contrast.

I live on 75th and was aware of the changes being made only through this forum.  I did not receive a mailing nor did I see a flyer posted in my building's lobby, which is how we communicate throughout the building normally.  I have no one to blame but myself for not showing up to the last meeting.  I was away for that meeting and forgot about the one or two others (?) that were scheduled. 

As for noise, I was expecting a lot of honking, but that hasn't materialized.  Ironically, my friend who lives on 76th St says she now hears honking all the time, and her apt faces the garden, not the street!  My theory is that with the buses coming through every 3 minutes down our block, people are getting wise and choosing to drive south down her street in lieu of ours.  So the folks on 76th St seem to be suffering as well.  I say suffer because we on 75th St definitely suffer from the high pitched squealing of the bus brakes as they slow down and stop for the red light. 

I timed the buses one evening and they run every 3 minutes sometimes, more like every 5 minutes other times.  The bus schedule has to be wrong because they are running more often in the evening than it would appear on paper.  I've also observed that some of these buses are "Out of Service" and have no passengers in them.  That really grates at me because they add to the noise without any benefit to commuters.  I will definitely be calling 311, although I am honestly resigned to this situation until we move out of here.  Not being on a bus route was one of the reasons for why I bought my apt 9 years ago.  I wonder how many other people will be moving with me.

I also live on 75th St. and didn't know about the traffic change until a couple of days before it happened.  There were no signs up in our building, nothing sent through the mail, nothing.  We were out of town for about 4 days and came home to the giant signs on 37th Ave. saying that the traffic would change direction that week.  As a resident of 75th St. who finds myself reasonably aware of community issues I was shocked that there was no advance notice of this.  And I can definitely see how some folks would have been left out of the discussion. 

Also, there's the possibility that people didn't know that buses were going to be re-routed and that the only change would be the direction of traffic.  If you don't drive it probably was a non-issue until you found out that the buses were going to be re-routed.  There was very little, if any, notice from the MTA that they would actually re-route the buses.

There is a noticeable increase in traffic noise between the buses and cars honking.  We hear this in our apartment even though we don't face the street - I can only imagine how those people with apartments facing the street must be frustrated.

I was aware of the transit study (which was very well done, IMO); however, I only learned about it through this message board.

Oh, and we lost a parking spot on my street, too.  Just sayin'.

They lost parking on that street because of the bus stop.