4 THE QUEENS COURIER • JANUARY 11, 2018 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Photo by Robert Stridiron
Firefi ghters are shown battling a blaze in Bayside on Jan. 7 that claimed the life of a woman.
Douglaston civic sues over boulevard bike lanes
BY SUZANNE MONTEVERDI
smonteverdi@qns.com / @smont76
As certain community members and
city offi cials remain at odds over a controversial
bike lane in northeastern
Queens, one Douglaston group plans
to take the city to court.
Sean Walsh, president of the
Douglaston Civic Association (DCA),
took the microphone at Monday’s
Community Board 11 (CB 11) meeting
in Bayside to announce the group’s
intent to fi le a case against the city of
New York.
“Th e city has failed in a number of
ways on Northern Boulevard,” Walsh
said on Jan. 8.
Th e decision was made at the group’s
recent annual membership meeting,
Walsh said. Th e civic is also petitioning
the governor to take away the
city’s right to manage and operate state
routes, like Northern Boulevard.
Th e controversial protected bike
lane, which the DOT installed in late
2017, runs along Northern Boulevard
from 223rd Street to Douglaston
Parkway. Th e project was spurred by
the death of Michael Schenkman, a
78-year-old cyclist who was struck by
a car in the area and killed in August
2016.
In September, DCA sent out a call to
action via email to local residents, urging
them to “fl ood Mayor de Blasio’s
offi ce with calls opposing the plan.”
Tensions about the plans mounted
later that same month when protesters
and counter-protesters showed up for
a rally organized by state Senator Tony
Avella, who spoke in favor of CB11’s
proposal alongside DCA President
Sean Walsh. Critics continued the call
against the DOT project at an October
press conference, where they claimed
the lane’s concrete barriers were the
cause of several recent auto accidents.
Plans for the project were fi rst presented
by DOT to CB11 for approval
in June and initially received the
board’s approval with a narrow vote.
However, upon further consideration
of the plans, the board decided
to rescind its initial support and
instead present its own plan in July.
Transportation Committee co-chairperson
Bernard Haber, a retired engineer,
proposed that cyclists and pedestrians
share a widened sidewalk, eliminating
the need for one westbound
lane of traffi c to be taken away.
DOT offi cials have stood by the
plans, stating the project provides critical
safety benefi ts to the area. Other
groups, including the Douglaston
Local Development Corp., Douglaston
Village Chamber of Commerce and
Transportation Alternatives, have spoken
out in favor of the project.
A few others who spoke at the
January CB 11 meeting echoed
Walsh’s sentiments. Michael Feiner,
president of the Bayside Hills Civic
Association, called the project “unbelievably
insane.” He was also critical
of the lack of signage at the location
warning motorists to the lanes and
concrete barriers.
“I’d like to know when signs are
going to be put up,” Feiner said.
Board member Ben Turner later
spoke up in support of the lanes, which
he said are “getting a lot of blame for
a lot of things.” Citing traffi c accident
numbers published by the city earlier
that same day, Turner pointed out
that, in 2017, the fi ve boroughs saw
the fewest traffi c fatalities since 1910.
In Queens, there were 59 traffi c fatalities
in 2017 compared to 65 in 2016,
marking a 9 percent decline.
“People like to dump on Vision
Zero, on the mayor’s offi ce, on these
safety improvements that are going in,
traffi c calming measures — but there
has actually been a steady decrease in
traffi c fatalities around the city,” he
said.
Th ere is “no evidence” that there
has been an increase in traffi c accidents
on Northern Boulevard since
the installation of the project, Turner
also claimed.
“I just urge people to please give it a
chance,” he said.
Walsh did not provide a timeline for
the legal proceedings.
Stavisky seeks
tougher laws on
sex harassment
BY SUZANNE MONTEVERDI
smonteverdi@qns.com / @smont76
A Flushing-based lawmaker is co-sponsoring
a package of bills meant to combat sexual
harassment in the workplace statewide.
In the middle of an ongoing national conversation,
state Senator Toby Ann Stavisky
has announced her support for six bills meant
to ensure workers a harassment-free place of
employment.
“No one should be forced to endure harassment
at their workplace,” Stavisky said. “Sexual
harassment is inappropriate and must be confronted
at every turn.”
With regards to public sector workers, the
fi rst bill would make New York state legislators
facing sexual harassment claims against
them personally liable for settlements, ensuring
that tax-paying constituents would not foot the
cost. Another bill would hold state public offi -
cers to a higher standard, deeming it a violation
of the Code of Conduct to initiate an act of
sexual harassment. Any off ending public offi -
cer would be subject to a civil penalty of up to
$10,000, according to Stavisky.
Also in the public sector, a third bill would
require all state entities to take a “strong management
policy” against sexual harassment.
Provisions include establishing sexual harassment
prevention training protocols and distributing
information about sexual harassment and
ways to report such instances to all employees.
In the private sector, a fourth bill would make
similar changes to workplace policies. If passed,
the legislation would codify sexual harassment
as an unlawful discriminatory practice and
ensure small business employees the ability to
bring a claim of sexual harassment or gender
discrimination against their employer.
Th e standard to bring forth a sexual harassment
case would also be lowered: one incident
of harassment will be severe enough to sue for
damages. Training protocols would also be distributed
to ensure better practices by both small
businesses and large corporations.
Th e fi ft h bill would ensure employees who
report incidents of sexual harassment to the
State Division of Human Rights job security
and protections from retaliation. Th e sixth
would amend the labor law to prevent employers
from presenting contracts to employees that
would waive their procedural rights as a condition
of employment.
Governor Andrew Cuomo recently presented
a series of proposed sexual harassment
reforms in his 2018 State of the State, mirroring
some of the state Senate proposals.
Th e announcements come in the wake of a
series of sexual harassment allegations brought
against public fi gures, mostly men, including
Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein and
outgoing U.S. Senator Al Franken.
Stavisky called the six pieces of proposed legislation
“common-sense bills.”
“We must pass these bills immediately to
send a strong message that this behavior will
not be tolerated in New York state,” the lawmaker
added.
Each of the bills are currently in respective
committees.
Read more at nysenate.gov.
Still unclear what caused deadly Bayside blaze
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
rpozarycki@qns.com / @robbpoz
Fire marshals are still looking into
what caused a fi re at a Bayside home
on Sunday morning that killed a
woman living there.
Th e one-alarm blaze started at
around 11:19 a.m. on Jan. 7 on the
second fl oor of a two-story home on
217th Street near 67th Avenue in the
neighborhood’s Oakland Gardens section.
Firefi ghters and offi cers from the
111th Precinct responded to a 911 call
about the inferno. Upon arriving at the
location, fi refi ghters found Rita Sklar,
60, on the second fl oor, unconscious
and unresponsive.
She was removed from the home and
rushed by paramedics to North Shore
Medical Examiner for an autopsy.
Hospital in Manhasset, where she
Th e Fire Department reported that
was pronounced dead. Her body was
the blaze was brought under control
transported to the Offi ce of the Chief
at 12:16 p.m.
As of press time, the cause of the fi re
remains under investigation, but an
FDNY spokesperson indicated that the
blaze is not considered suspicious.
Photo by Suzanne Monteverdi/QNS
The Northern Boulevard bike lane project at Douglaston Parkway