Your Neighborhood — Your News® January 20, 2019
A SEA WORTHY TRIP TO WORK
Benedetto, Gjonaj pushed mayor’s Throggs Neck ferry plan
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
Change.org City Island skate park petition gets traction
BY PATRICK ROCCHIO
A group of youth has started a
petition calling for the creation of
a skate park in the borough’s and
city’s largest park.
A Change.org petition calling
for the creation of a skate park for
skateboarders and BMX bicycle
riders at Orchard Beach in Pelham
Bay Park has gathered over
2,000 signatures in its fi rst fi ve
days.
The effort, named in memory
of avid skateboarder and BMX bicyclist
Drew Cottam, a City Island
youth who passed away in a car
accident on the Hutchinson River
Parkway on September 30, 2018, is
gaining momentum as a group of
about a dozen young people, primarily
from City Island, stepped
up advocacy for a concrete skate
park at a barren stretch of blacktop
near Orchard Beach’s Section
4.
Cottam’s two brothers, Austin
Cottam and Blake Cottam, said
that the memory of their brother
sparked the petition effort, which
can be found at Change.org under
Continued on Page 4
‘Drew P. Cottam Memorial Skate
Park in Orchard Beach.’
It aims to serve youth on City
Island and those nearby who don’t
have a place close by to hone their
skateboarding skills, BMX riding
and other action sports maneuvers,
said Austin Cottam.
“For years we wanted a skate
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.
“This is a game-changer
for our corner of the city,” said
Gjonaj.
Assemblyman Benedetto said
that he has been working on getting
a ferry stop in the park for
the past decade, and spoke with
de Blasio to discuss this need
Northwest
Bronx’
nineteen
transit cures
BY ALEX MITCHELL
The new calendar year 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.
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