Community Board Votes Down Queens Blvd Bike Lanes In Forest Hills

FOREST HILLS, QUEENS -- The battle of the bike lanes has made its way to Forest Hills.

After months of workshops, surveys and impassioned community feedback, the New York City Department of Transportation went before Community Board 6 on Wednesday evening seeking approval for its final stretch of Queens Boulevard safety improvements through Forest Hills.

The project will add crosswalks, slip lanes and other safety improvements along the roadway between Yellowstone Boulevard and Union Turnpike. Its most controversial component is the bike lanes, which the DOT said will replace 220 parking spaces along the 1.2-mile stretch of Queens Boulevard.

Board members ultimately voted 23-11 against the project. It will likely move forward regardless.

"This has no effect on what the DOT is going to do," Community Board Chairman Joe Hennessy said before calling for the vote. "They're going to do it anyway."

DOT representatives did not immediately respond to Patch's request for comment on whether they'll move forward with the project, but the CB 6 District Manager Frank Gulluscio told QNS earlier this month the agency made clear to him the improvements were happening no matter what.

Albert Silvestri, who presented the project, asked locals to give the bike lanes a chance and pointed out no pedestrian or cyclists have been killed along Queens Boulevard, once dubbed "The Boulevard of Death," and pedestrian injuries have been cut in half since the first phase of the safety redesign began years ago.

"We know it's a change," he said. "We know its been difficult at times, but at the end of the day the changes we've seen have been more than robust. They've saved lives."

Silvestri said the DOT did take local input into account when designing the project's latest phase. The agency adding 10 spaces and scaled back hours for truck loading after hearing the current zones took away parking. The DOT found space to add back 22 of the 220 parking spots the bike lanes took away in different areas along Queens Boulevard, Ascan Avenue, Austin Street and 112th Street.

It still didn't sit well with some board members, who said they felt the safety redesign was being "shoved down our throats."

"The mayor of this city, who's supposed to respect to the community boards' input, that we have the authority to vote on these things, has taken that authority away from us," said board member Jean Silva, who voted against the project. "He has made that decision."

Public comment was banned leading up to the vote, but that didn't stop the packed room from shouting out cheers and jeers as board members voiced their concerns.

Critics argued bike lanes installed in the redesign's last phase through Rego Park already hurt local business by wiping out nearly 200 parking spaces along Queens Boulevard. Several pointed to Ben's Best Deli owner Jay Parker, who has been outspoken about the business he says the bike lanes have cost him and recently announced his deli would close after 73 years on Queens Boulevard.

Forest Hills Chamber of Commerce President Leslie Brown said his and other horror stories from Rego Park business owners have Forest Hills merchants on edge about the bike lanes.

"I represent quite a lot of businesses and they're very concerned," she said.

Others worried the parking spaces lost would make it harder for seniors and people with disabilities to get around - A valid concern, Hennessy said, considering seniors make up about 80 percent of his board.

"We're discriminating against these groups, because they're not going to be able to hop on a bike," one board member said.

But proponents contend the bike lanes' safety benefits outweighed the negative aspects. Board member Alexa Wetizman said she voted in favor of the project for her 4-year-old son who just learned how to ride a bike.

"I'm invested in this community, and I would like for him to be an independent rider as he ages," she said.

Peter Beadle, the board's vice-chair of scoping, argued the 55 percent decline in pedestrian injuries reported on Queens Boulevard since the project began couldn't be ignored.

"You don't see that anywhere else in this city," he said. "It's this design that's giving this to us."

He acknowledged the bike lanes might come with hardships for local businesses, but not to the extent its critics suggest.

"The idea that this is shutting down business after business after business is simply not happening," he said.

Beadle also argued bike lanes would make parking easier for those who need cars by giving those who don't the infrastructure to bike safely.

"If you don't give people other options, they'll use their cars," he said. "Get them out of their cars so if you need to use your car, you can."

Hennessy admitted he was torn on the issue.

"I don't know the answer, I honestly do not," he said. "To ride a bike on Queens Boulevard takes a lot of guts. I admire the people that do it."

Though neither side in the audience could agree on much, both voiced disappointment at not being allowed to make their case to the board until after the vote was cast and DOT representatives long gone.

"What concerns me the most is that no one is really listening to us," Brown said on behalf of the chamber's merchants. "I'm upset right now because I'm passionate about trying to save small businesses."

Laura Shephard, who chairs Transportation Alternative's Queens Boulevard committee, took the stage next to deliver 10,000 signatures in support of the bike lanes neatly wrapped in a bright yellow bow. Her voice was giddy with excitement, but her message was similar.

"I've been excited for this moment for years...but public comment should have been allowed before this vote."

(Lead image: NYC Department of Transportation representatives present finalized plans for the Forest Hills phase of the Queens Boulevard safety redesign to Community Board 6. Photo by Danielle Woodward/Patch)