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Co-op City Times / January 13, 2024
Co-op City Times COMBING
Find out what’s going on in Co-op City here...
Hutch. River Restoration Project’s CleanUp Volunteer Meeting The Hutchinson River Restoration Project is having a Volunteer Interest Meeting on Tuesday, January 16, 6:20 p.m. via Zoom to explore ideas on when, where, why and how to work together to help the Hutch. If you are interested in helping to clean up the Hutchinson River, creating a safe, enjoyable recreational resource for the Co-op City community and designing a future with natural flood protection, then join the meeting. To register, please visit https:// bit.ly/VolunteerJan2024 or scan the QR code here:
Senior Box Distribution Date Change Due to several Food Bank closures in January, changes have been made to the distribution schedule. As a result, the January 11th distribution date has been moved to Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024, at Dreiser by the hardware store. Please mark your calendar!
Assemblyman Benedetto 2024 Lobby Visits Assemblyman Michael Benedetto will host his next three Co-op City Lobby Visits as follows: • Thursday, January 18 – 100 Aldrich Street • Thursday January 25 – 100 Dreiser Loop All visits will take place from 5:15-7 p.m. “Please join me so I can share key highlights of the Legislative Session with you, as well as discuss your own concerns on local and personal matters,” said Assemblyman Benedetto.
Next CB #10 Meeting The next General Board meeting and public hearing of CB #10 will take place on Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024 at 7 p.m. at Jeanne Jugan Residence, 2999 Schurz Avenue, Bronx, NY 10465. For additional information, you may contact CB#10 at (718) 892-1161 or by email: bx10@cb.nyc.gov.
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Metro-North –– (Continued from page 1) virtual session. “It really shows your commitment and dedication and it really shows you understand the important role that all of you play as residents and advocates of our great borough,” Borough President Gibson said. “This project is truly transformative for our borough – for our communities – and it will truly help to address transit deserts in our east Bronx neighborhoods. The new line will create economic opportunities by giving residents and commuters access to new job centers and programs while reducing their commute time. It is proposed that this project will help to create 10,000 new jobs,” Gibson went on to say. Joe O’Donnell, Director of Government and Community Relations for MTA Construction and Development, spoke after Borough President Gibson and began the first presentation for the session, which was a general overview of station work. “There’s a whole host of improvements that we’re going to be doing on behalf of Amtrak here that’s going to help with their intra-city passengers as well. We’re upgrading the Hell Gate line to a state of good repair and we’ll also be expanding the New Rochelle yard so that it cannot only accommodate the new service, but it’ll be able to maintain and take care of trains – lay up trains – there as well…We’re optimizing what is essentially a two-track railroad now and turning it into a four-track railroad inside, essentially, the same footprint,” O’Donnell said. O’Donnell then outlined the various aspects of the project currently still in construction and went over the renderings for the four stations. O’Donnell later described the projected layout and design for Co-op City’s station. “This station is a little unique in the sense that it is stationed underneath – a portion of it will be underneath – the I-95 overpass. Because of the unique nature of this, one of the art components of this station will be a lighting component, which will be in the ceiling of the station entrance. There is an entrance at Erskine Place and then there’s a secondary emergency egress to the north. But, the main entrance will be on Erskine Place across the street from De Reimer Avenue and there will be the one platform where you will be able to take the train either north or south from Co-op City,” O’Donnell also said. When discussing the projected timeline for completion, O’Donnell underlined the importance of finishing the Leggett Interlocking, which will provide more flexibility and productivity. “Because Leggett Interlocking is not done, like I said, we can’t switch trains off of the tracks that we’re working on. We have to get off the tracks when trains are coming,” he said. O’Donnell then touched on the recent long term outage Metro-North had worked out with Amtrak and how the outage was “not as effective as we initially hoped due to some staffing shortages on Amtrak’s part and some oversight.” However, O’Donnell added that Metro-North and Amtrak are still working together to effectively plan track work and that Leggett Interlocking should be completed sometime in the first six months of 2024. Representatives from the Department of City Planning spoke next and discussed the public processes and environmental review involved with planning the creation of the four new stations being built along the east Bronx. Later on, members of the public were allowed to ask questions or provide a comment on the project. One participant asked if there were any plans to build parking accommodations at the Morris Park/Van Nest station. O’Donnell’s response applied to all four stations, saying that there was no allocated funds set aside specifically to build parking lots next to the stations. “One of the intentions of the project is to get folks out of their cars and into trains. So, the hope is that folks are going to take buses, there’s going to be bike parking at the trains – possibly utilizing bikes or scooters…There’s no parking in the budget, but it doesn’t preclude parking from coming at another point or not part of this specific project,” O’Donnell said in his response. One participant asked if there would be any reduced fares for Metro-North rides from the new east Bronx sta-
tions. In response, Joe O’Donnell said that while no fares have been finalized, the officials overseeing the fare system would consider a system similar to the LIRR where commuters traveling from Jamaica, Queens or any station in between into the city have a reduced fare. A Co-op City participant, Section 5 shareholder Hattie Overman, inquired about the lack of space around the potential Co-op City station and potential congestion problems. “I’m looking at the recommendations and concerns and it says the narrow streets such as De Reimer Avenue, Erskine Place and Palmer Avenue need to be widened to accommodate the traffic. But, they left out the Section 5 Hutchinson Parkway East, which is a single traffic lane. That lane is no more than four blocks I would say and it is the only entrance and exit that we have in Section 5. So, have you considered that? That lane has not been considered, because it’s the only way in or out,” Ms. Overman said. “We definitely need that Hutchinson Parkway East, that needs to be widened because it’s only a single lane.” In response, Lara Merida, Senior Director for Community Planning and Engagement at the Department of City Planning, took note of Ms. Overman’s concern and said she would bring the information back to her team. Michael Kavalar from the Bronx Office of the Department of City Planning, also responded and provided his contact information for Ms. Overman to discuss her concerns one-on-one. Riverbay Board Director and Section 5 shareholder Mary Pearson also spoke during the Q&A session and asked several questions regarding the project. “Co-op City, especially Section 5, is a very crowded area. I know that MTA Spokesman Joe O’Donnell believes that it is marshland on the south side of the tracks, but that is not true. It was true when the station was planned to be further east, closer to the current bridge. It was moved west so that it could build up a head of steam to get over the new bridge, whenever that is going to be done. That is one of my questions, when is that going to be started? Is there soundproofing in the works – in the plan?... Is there some kind of soundproofing being thought about? The other three stations have two-side access. To continually insist that it is marshland is incredibly disingenuous…The way that it’s been moved under I-95 it should be very easy to make an extension to – to get some extra money from the government – to make an extension so that the center platform can be approached from the south side…I know everybody doesn’t want money coming out of their budget, but this is something that is vitally needed for Section 5. All our roads are one lane. You’ve already cut Erskine in half without any consideration of the blind spot making a right-hand turn to the I-95 south entrance from De Reimer,” Director Pearson said. Joe O’Donnell responded to Ms. Pearson’s questions. “I don’t know that I said it was marshland. I said that it was Parks (Department) wetlands. I don’t know if there’s any distinction, but Parks is reluctant to give up land if they don’t need to. So, that was, certainly, the consideration for that side of the tracks, but I’ll go back – and I have been over there a couple of times – I’ll go back to the project team and get a clearer answer as to why, despite the fact that of course we know its moved west as indicated by its location underneath I-95 now and the lighting elements that are going to be going into the art program, because it has moved further away from where it was originally intended,” O’Donnell said. Notably, O’Donnell highlighted that a community discussion is planned for February in the Einstein Community Center in Section 5. The Co-op City Times later confirmed that the exact date will be Wednesday, February 7, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Participants will get an update on the Bronx Metro-North Penn Station Access Program and have an opportunity to ask questions and provide feedback on the project. The expected completion date for the Bronx Metro-North Penn Station Access Project is currently 2027, but the MTA plans to revisit that timeline and adjust accordingly sometime in 2024.
