By COLlive reporter
Road work and utilities construction in Crown Heights began this past week, but the City funded project is receiving mixed reactions from locals.
Kingston Avenue, a central street in the Brooklyn neighborhood, is undergoing major renovation, changing old sewer pipes, electricity and phones lines and paving the road from scratch.
Store owners and residents are already feeling the pinch as parts of the road are being blocked off from Empire Beluovd towards Eastern Parkway.
“It’s being called The Rehabilitation of Kingston Avenue and to those who are complaining – you’ve seen nothing yet,” Jacob Goldstein, Chairman of Community Board 9, told COLlive.com.
Following a meeting last week at the governmental body in charge of local infrastructure, Brooklyn Union Gas, Con Edison and Verizon Communications have began the pre-construction pace.
Once that work is done, the city will announce which bid won the contract and the planned 2 year-long construction will begin soon thereafter.
“Better don’t touch the avenue,” says Mendy Raitport, owner of Crown Kosher Meat Market at 413 Kingston Ave, who says he is worried how the work will be handled.
“As it is the parking is messed up,” he said. “They have to give (the job) to a contractor based on time and re-route Kingston so trucks are given times when they could get through.”
One resident, learning about the scope of the work, commented, “The street is not so bad. Why will it take so long? Are they digging for gold?”
Some merchants said their input was left out of the planning process, claiming there wasn’t enough outreach.
But Goldstein called them “belly achers” and said few bothered to attend the meetings. “Will it be an inconvenience for stores – yes. But progress has to go on,” he told COLlive.com.
“These streets are from the turn of the century. There’s buried rail lines from the trolley and sewer system are from 1907 and basements on Carroll Street regularly flood.
“And while they’re at it, they are now changing the gas lines to the homes with no charge. The will be new curves and more trees.
Tully Kahn, manager of Kahan’s Superette at 317 Kingston Ave, said in response: “I feel for the people. But for them it’s an inconvenience. For us, it’s our livelihood. Where are the delivery trucks going to go?”
For his part, Goldstein promises there will always be through traffic and loading on side streets. “They will go block by block or two blocks by two blocks and one side of the street will always be open, although no stopping or standing will be allowed.”
“No pain, no gain,” he concludes.
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+ Say Goodbye to Kingston Ave.
colonell g. knows what he is doing –if anything thank him for his services!!!(to number 27:sb”h who do you think gets the safty??–thats right colonell goldstein!!!)
where on earth will simchas beis hashuavah take place? what will crown heights look like without A kingston avenue??? what will the rebbes shchuna lokk like?
the fact as stated by a family member of goldstein is that there was NO vote for empire blvd they just decided it was important and did it on their own
I actually walked over to the workers when my kids wanted to see the man inside the street, and said hi. I took advantage, and asked if my kids could take pics with them, and they said they will be here for months and months.. my kids are thrilled TWO TRACTORS!!!
uhhh,, newsflash,, who wants to shop on kingston with the merchants having the attitude and the prices being inflated the way they are,, its Empire Kosher for me, and clothing I can get elsewhere,, OK OK so Dovid Teich is nice, and I can walk to his cleaners.
has Goldstien even once called residents to attend meetings?? or informed the residents of the agenda?? of course not he takes great pleasure in causing “pain” particularly to the jewish residents of crown heights! time to get rid of him and get someone that is actually there to help the shchunah not busy it!
Instead of complaining – get active – get approved to be part of the community board and then you can vote. The BOARD is who decides what happens, not you and I.
To all the comments, The Empire Blvd vote was passed by all the board members not by Goldstein alone. If u want to b part of the board, you have to apply to the Boro Presidents office, and once a vacancy is open you will get the job. Parking regulations are decide by the DOT not the community board. IF you want to know what is going , attened the monthly meeting that r sponsered by the CHJCC. Please check you data before you post a comment.
Time for new blood on the community Board. this isn’t a dictatorship where he can tell us peons what will happen to us. We pay taxes, we should have a say.
I see from the photos we are losing parking spaces. We already don’t have enough! And with this 2 year construction (why 2 years? Empire Blvd was massacred in 3 weeks!) + snow it’s going to be impossisble.
as someone else said: Goldstein has a car & probably city plates. HE doesn’t have a problem. You & I have a problem, but he don’t care.
Is Empire Blvd your doing, please tell me ‘NO’, because it’s a mess a total and UNNECESSARY mess. Where’s the ‘saichel’ ??????
Go get ’em big A!
Buildings on Kingston received notices from the city that they are going to fix their sidewalks (which cablevision messed up once) and…CHARGE THE OWNERS FOR THE WORK!!!
What utter Chutzpa!!
I am hopeful that at the end kingston will look like a main ave in the rebbes shchuna
What you see now is only what keyspan is doing, there will be many other companies doing their work, and this will probably go on for a long time. So it wont only be chof bais shvat.
I wonder if someone on the board will take away the no parking on shabbos that is on Eastern Pkwy
Thank you Rabbi Goldstein… without you CH would be stuck in the 19th century….
without people like him, to make decisioins that NEED to be made, we would still be livving in the ghetto crown heights used to be.
WAKE UP PEOPLE! Be Adults!!!
THANK YOU JACOB GOLDSTEIN!
Surgery is not painful …. So long as it’s being performed on someone else!
We dont need ‘curves’ on kingston.
we dont want more trees.
He has a garage. No parking on his block will not affect him in the slightest.
It would only have taken a little bit of intelligent thinking to have planned this construction for the SUMMER when so many people are away and construction wouldn’t have to consider delays because of SNOW and the added effects of snow on complicating traffic.
i understand you want to fix up the street. but on the very weekend of chof beis shvat?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
Just make sure there are no bike lanes!!
how about reducing the parking regulations while construction is in effect.
of course… the good colonel is right.
But does he have to enjoy the “pain” part so much?
there is no parking on the avenue since their truck take up so much space, stores cant get deliveries and neither can the kingston residence unload shopping from their car, as well as today i saw an ambulance trying to get to an emergency and was waiting a good three minutes for the tractor to move out of the way
the only thing to belly ache about is goldstein. he messed up brooklyn ave residents with stupid no parking regulations on a residential block the trucks stop on empire illegally anyway so why cant we have our parking back? as far as attending meetings, we have no say community board 9 redid empire without votes from people. let his block be a no parking residential block then he’ll see what it feels like