Co-op City’s official newspaper serving the world’s largest cooperative community. © Copyright 2010 Co-op City Times
Vol. 45 No. 36
Saturday, September 11, 2010
QBx1 split takes effect tomorrow; Bronx hearing on fare increases scheduled for Wednesday BY BILL STUTTIG The QBx1 bus route, which has served Co-op City for more than four decades, providing service between here and Pelham Bay Station and then on to Flushing Queens, will effectively end as of tomorrow, replaced instead by two separate lines — the Bx. 23 and the Q50. The plan going into effect tomorrow involves the creation of a new Q50 limited which will provide service between Queens, Pelham Bay Station and all five sections of Co-op City. The new plan, as outlined by the MTA, will involve limited bus stop spacing and bypassing stops in the loops in Co-op City, sticking to the
main thoroughfares to cut approximately five minutes off the current routes. The second new line to be created to replace the QBx1 will be the Bx. 23 which will only provide service between Pelham Bay Station and Co-op City. The Bx. 23 will involve two different levels of service, peak and off-peak service. Off-peak service will run to and from Pelham Bay station along the entire perimeter of Co-op City, encompassing all five sections. Peak service on the Bx. 23, meaning morning and afternoon weekday rush hours, will involve two (Continued on page 5)
Riverbay’s Technical Department continues work to upgrade connectivity within development BY ROZAAN BOONE Riverbay’s Technical Department reported this week that there are currently more than 600 cameras recording in residential buildings and more are expected to be installed in the near future, with some slated for more public areas. “We’re constantly adding cameras to targeted areas,” said Rick Schmidt, Riverbay’s Director of Technical Resources. “Recently, we added cameras in Section 2 and we’re also adding call boxes in the townhouse clusters.” Earlier in the summer, the Co-op City Public Safety Department (CCPD), working with the Technical Department, began installing call boxes in the courtyards of the townhouse clusters after complaints from townhouse residents that they did not have the same security measures in place as the residents in hi-rise buildings. While each cluster will have one call box, the larger townhouse clusters will eventually have at least two call boxes. So far, four of the community’s seven townhouse
clusters have had call boxes installed. In May, when the first call box was installed at the south end of the Broun Place townhouse cluster, Chief Frank Apollo of CCPD, said that the call boxes were a low cost but effective crime prevention measure, and while some clusters are slated to have two call boxes, the immediate plan was to have at least one box installed at each townhouse cluster. “The boxes will give an extra sense of security to the residents of townhouse clusters who frequently have voiced complaints to us that they feel isolated. So, aside from the regular patrols through these often tucked away courtyard clusters, the residents will now have direct access to our dispatchers with just the touch of a button.” In addition to call boxes, recording cameras have been installed in the residential buildings, namely, in the elevators, laundry rooms, front lobbies, back
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Primary elections set for Tuesday; New voting procedures take effect BY BILL STUTTIG When Co-op City voters go to the polls Tuesday, September 14, to vote in the primary elections for several Democratic nominations to key statewide and local offices, they will be introduced to a new voting system. The old system of pushing down on a lever next to the name of the candidate of your choice while standing in a booth behind a curtain has been replaced by a new system where paper ballots are marked by voters and then put thorough a scanner to be tallied at the poll site. The new system is being implemented in compliance with the Help America Vote Act passed by Congress on October 2002, which requires a voting system that produces a permanent verifiable paper record of each vote. The lever machines previously used in the City of New York did not comply with this requirement. The primary election to be held on Tuesday is the first time this new system will be used in New York City. The system will also be used in the general election on November 2nd. The steps that voters will follow as they go to the polls next Tuesday will be to first sign-in and get a paper ballot from the poll worker. The voter will use a pen
or a ballot marking device to mark the choices on the ballot. The voter will then insert his or her completed ballot into a scanner which will record the vote. The system will allow the paper ballot that was scanned to be kept as part of the record in case a recount is required later in the process. “Everyone at the Board is working hard to make sure all voters are aware of the new voting system and we will continue working hard through November to make sure Election Day runs as smoothly as possible for voters in New York,” said Board of Elections Secretary J.C. Polanco. Representatives from the Board of Elections will be on hand at tomorrow’s community fair in Section 5 to demonstrate the new voting procedures and answer questions. When Co-op City voters go to the polls on Tuesday, they will be casting votes for the Democratic nomination in a number of key races including those for New York State’s United States Senate representative, New York State Attorney General, and locally, Co-op City’s representative in the New York State Assembly. (Continued on page 2)
Sidewalk repairs
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Riverbay Construction Department mixes concrete in preparation for sidewalk repairs outside Building 23 Thursday afternoon. New York City crews repaired the sidewalk earlier this year, but failed to secure the area and the concrete was compromised before it was given a chance to properly dry. Thursday, Riverbay staff poured new concrete and then secured the area until the new sidewalk slab was settled and dried. Photo by Bill Stuttig