January 18-24, 2019 Your Neighborhood — Your News® 75 cents
SERVING THROGGS NECK, PELHAM BAY, COUNTRY CLUB, CITY ISLAND, WESTCHESTER SQUARE, MORRIS PARK, VAN NEST, PELHAM PARKWAY, CASTLE HILL, ALLERTON
Awashed In Blue Tears
There was a fl ood of tears as Police Service Area 8 police offi cers, NYPD and community members paid
their respects to fallen off-duty PSA 8 police offi cer Brian Kessler at 2794 Randall Avenue. Kessler, 28,
was killed in a head-on collision with a NYC Parks garbage truck on Wednesday, January 16 at 8:20 a.m.
on Shore Road. . Photo by Fernando Justiniano
A SEA WORTHY
TRIP TO WORK
Benedetto, Gjonaj pushed mayor’s TN ferry plan
Continued on Page 61
Vol. 39 No. 03 www.bxtimes.com
Northwest Bronx’
19 transit cures
BY ALEX MITCHELL
The new calendar year
Continued on Page 61
also spells out new tranportation
goals for one
Bronx legislator.
Assemblyman Jeffery
Dinowitz listed his own 19
commuter priorities for
2019 before heading back
to Albany on Wednesday,
January 9.
While in no particular
order of necessity, Dinowitz
emphasized that poor
bus service in his northwest
section of the borough
needs to see signifi -
cant improvement.
“It’s been a chronic
problem,” the assemblyman
said, mentioning
that much of the problem
is caused by traffi c light
duration, something he
has been working with
NYC Department of
Transportation on improving.
“In the outskirts of
the borough many commuters
rely on busses as
much if not more than the
subway,” he said.
Another huge issue
Dinowitz aims to tackle
is making subway platforms
more accessible via
the installation of elevators
with priority at the
#4 IRT Mosholu Parkway
station; which currently
sits in a design phase.
Completion of a pedestrian
bridge for Van Courtlandt
Park was also among
the priorities.
Dinowitz originally secured
$12 million for that
project, but over time the
cost estimate of the project
has jumped to $21 million.
He also included his
own ‘pipe dream’ of relocating
the Henry Hudson
Bridge toll to Yonkers-New
York City line rather than
at the bridge itself.
“With the governor in
talks of congestion pricing,
Bronxites shouldn’t be
put in a sitation of paying
two tolls. That isn’t fair,”
Dinowitz said, adding how
he’s pushed for this initiative
for years in offi ce.
“I couldn’t resist putting
it on the (list),” he added.
The remaining transportation
priories are: prioritizing
signal system upgrades
along #1 and #4 IRT
lines; accelerating the installation
of Transit Signal
Priority at intersections
along all bus routes
throughout the northwest
Bronx; accelerating implementation
of all-door
boarding on all local bus
routes; and implementing a
BY PATRICK ROCCHIO
It looks like the efforts by
Assemblyman Michael Benedetto
and Councilman Mark
Gjonaj to secure ferry service
for Throggs Neck area have
paid off.
New details were released
on Thursday, January 10 concerning
an extension of the
ferry route currently serving
Soundview’s Clason Point
Park to include a stop at Ferry
Point Park.
A new landing will be
added to Ferry Point Park by
2021, with the route following
the same course as the Soundview
ferry with stops in Manhattan
on the Upper East Side
at East 90th Street, Midtown
East at East 34th Street and
Wall Street / Pier 11.
Service on the ferry to
Soundview began in August
2018.
The planned expansion
of the existing route into
Throggs Neck came after persistent
advocacy from Benedetto
and Gjonaj, who held
a joint press conference last
June in Ferry Point Park to
call on the city to add another
stop.
Mayor de Blasio announced
the expansion of NYC Ferry
in his recent 2019 State of the
City Address, and the news
came as a pleasant surprise to
the councilman.
“Last year, the fi rst thing
that I asked for in the budget
process was this ferry extension
to service a ‘transportation
desert’ and make
this a fairer city for all when
it comes to transportation,”
said Gjonaj. “I am really excited
that the ferry is coming
to Ferry Point Park.”
The councilman said that
he expects the new ferry stop
to provide commuters with
another option when travelling
to Manhattan.
Gjonaj added it would
bring the same transportation
options to the northeast
Bronx that other parts of the
city currently enjoy.
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