You are reading

Constantinides and Miller Introduce Bill That Would Require Boro-Specific Transit Plans

Council Members Costa Constantinides and Daneek Miller (Photo: NYC Council)

Jan. 9, 2020 By Kristen Torres

City Council Members Costa Constantinides (District 22) and I. Daneek Miller (District 27) introduced a bill Wednesday that would require the Department of Transportation to develop transit plans for each of the five boroughs.

Under the bill, the DOT would be tasked with assessing conditions for transit in every neighborhood within each borough. The DOT would also have to identify neighborhood “transit deserts” while working with community boards and government agencies.

The council members said the bill comes amid shifting changes to where New Yorkers live, work and leisure, with a greater demand for mass transit that’s focused on traveling between neighborhoods.

“For years, residents of Queens have contended with lack of service and inefficient routes, disconnecting entire neighborhoods,” Miller said in a statement. “Eastern Queens, in particular, remains an extreme transit desert, despite decades of outreach and advocacy.”

The bill would require the DOT to submit its findings, along with its recommendations for improving transit systems in each borough, within a year of the bill’s passage.

“This legislation will help facilitate the hyper-local analysis our transit system desperately needs as we work to provide better options for all residents of the borough,” Miller said.

The bill comes amid community outcry against a new draft plan released by the MTA on Dec. 31 to overhaul the Queen’s bus system. Under the proposed plan, some local bus service in Jackson Heights—which is represented by Constantinides—would be eliminated.

email the author: [email protected]
No comments yet

Leave a Comment
Reply to this Comment

All comments are subject to moderation before being posted.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Recent News

Met Council leader warns of ‘catastrophe’ for low-income families in Queens due to lack of pandemic-era federal food aid

Mar. 28, 2023 By Bill Parry

As an accomplished legislator, law professor and media personality with broad experience in government and not-for-profit organizations, Met Council CEO and executive director David Greenfield is well aware of the power of words. With Passover arriving on Wednesday, April 5, and with federal pandemic food assistance no longer available to low-income families in Queens, the leader of the nation’s largest Jewish charity organization warned of a coming “catastrophe” and called for the city to step up to provide $13 million in emergency funding for pantries to help New Yorkers facing food insecurity and elevated costs of living in the borough.

Pair of Queens community organizations will activate public spaces to celebrate local cultures

Two Queens community organizations are among an inaugural cohort of five groups citywide that will lead new projects to celebrate local cultures and histories in public spaces under a new initiative called The Local Center in a partnership between Urban Design Forum and the Association for Neighborhood & Housing Development (ANHD).

At a time when New York is grappling with an uneven pandemic recovery and as displacement looms large for communities and neighborhoods across the five boroughs, this new endeavor will convene interdisciplinary teams to transform and activate the shared spaces where cultural traditions flourish — and importantly, center the community visions and leadership that is too often left out of the process.