City and state clash over plan for Deegan exits

City and state clash over plan for Deegan exits

Nov. 9 hearing will give public a chance to weigh in

Posted on 05. Nov, 2009 by Bernard Stein in Government, Transportation

Efforts to relieve congestion on the Major Deegan Expressway have touched off a turf war between state traffic engineers and the city’s planners over the future of the Harlem River waterfront in Mott Haven.

City planners fear that the state’s redesign of the Deegan will torpedo their ambitious plan to build housing, parks, office buildings and a hotel on the waterfront, completed last summer when the City Council and the Mayor signed off on rezoning the Lower Grand Concourse.

A spokesman for the Department of City Planning warned Community Board 1 that the state Department of Transportation’s plan to lengthen exit ramps will wall off the shoreline, discouraging waterfront development.

Residents will have the opportunity to weigh in at a public hearing scheduled for Nov. 9 at Hostos Community College.

The hearing, will be held from 4 to 9 p.m. in the Savoy Multi-Purpose Room, 120 E. 149th St. at Walton Avenue, second floor.

There will be two 20-minute presentations of information, one at 4:30 p.m. and the other at 7 p.m. Public comments and statements will be taken throughout the hearing, and project staff will be available for informal discussions.

A version of this article appeared in the Fall 2009 issue of the Mott Haven Herald.

INDIAN ROAD EVENTS

INDIAN ROAD EVENTS     SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 8th 12 – 2PM, Will Teez Bike Club The Inwood Cycling Club meets every Sunday outside of the Indian Road Café.  Show up any time after 11am.  We’ll head out a bit after noon, leaving plenty of time to get properly caffeinated, hydrated and schmooze. Meet your neighbors, Rep Your Hood and get your ride on. Everybody’s welcome, come one come all.   1 – 3PM, Medleys and Mimosa Brunch with Stephen Kennedy Murphy This week we feature songs of The Knack including “My Sharona” and “Oh Tara.” (Just kidding-not sure what the featured songs are this week)   3:30 – 5:00PM, We host a closing reception for “subway artist” Enrico Miguel Thomas (on the mezzanine)   MONDAY thru FRIDAY 4 – 6PM, Happy Hour at the bar   MONDAY, NOVEMBER 9th 7PM, Indian Road Knitting Circle Come on in, have a drink, and knit yourself that piano tie that you’ve always wanted.   WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 11th 8 – 10PM, Trivia Night with Dr. Jordan & The Evil Mr. Philoptikos   Come on out and join up with your friends and neighbors for a night of raucous fun and great prizes, including tickets to Broadway and sporting events.   THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12th 8:45 – 10:15PM, LIVE MUSIC – Orville Davis “Take a taste of Rock and Roll, mix it with a little Rhythm and Blues, top it off with a little Country and Western, stir it up and you’ve got Honky Tonk With Attitude. This is the music Orville Davis brings to the public.”

Bellevue Natural-Birth Center, Haven for Poor Women, Closes

clipped from www.nytimes.com Bellevue Natural-Birth Center, Haven for Poor Women, Closes By A. G. SULZBERGER and NICK PINTO The Bellevue Birth Center was celebrated as a landmark achievement for the natural-birth movement in New York City when it opened in 1998. The luxurious natural-birth center, designed to feel more like a home than a hospital, was the only one of its kind dedicated not to Manhattan’s trend-conscious set, but to poor, mostly immigrant women on Medicaid. But last month, as Carolina Palmgren prepared to give birth to her first child there, she learned from a midwife that the center at Bellevue, a city hospital, had been quietly closed. “The upsetting thing is that there was no notice,” said Ms. Palmgren, 31. The closing has provoked complaints about a lack of public notice that it was being considered, as well as about the declining number of natural-birth options in the city.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/07/nyregion/07birth.html

Charles Barron May Run For Council Speaker

clipped from gothamist.com Charles Barron May Run For Council Speaker According to Runnin’ Scared, City Councilman Charles Barron is considering challenging Christine Quinn to be Speaker, saying, “I would be an excellent speaker…We need someone to be a check on the Mayor, not a deputy mayor.” He noted that the Speaker and Council chairs for the finance and land committees are white, so if a non-white Council member doesn’t throw her or his hat into the ring against Quinn, he will. He added, “You only need 26 votes.