|
Chaos in Queens
It was not different in Flushing, a neighborhood in Queens that has a large Asian population, and is dubbed by many as "Little Korea", although there are many of Mandarin and Cantonese heritage in that neighborhood. Last Saturday, there was a huge parade which took place on Roosevelt Avenue and Main Street, Flushing. Of course, the traffic was redirected to other parts of the area, and several police officers were present on location of the event. Unfortunately, lack of information and bad management during that important moment turned commuters' lives, myself included, into a virtual chaos that Saturday morning. As I got to Roosevelt Avenue after disembarking the 7 train(the same
that takes Mets fans to the Shea Stadium) at around 9:30 AM. I noticed
how the streets were filled with police officers and their familiar
blue-colored street blocks. On assorted bus stops, there were signs
warning commuters that the buses would be redirected to another avenue
after 10:00 PM to make way for the Chinese New Year's parade.
Upon seeing the sign, I consulted a passing-by policewoman if the information was correct, since I had to catch a bus to nearby Whitestone to present a GED class at a nearby YMCA Beacon Center. She then stated that the information was correct, and that the scheduled buses would run through Roosevelt Avenue normally until the street was closed. So I calmly walked to the stop and waited for my usual 9:40 bus, which strangely, by 9:50, had not yet arrived. I attempted to call the toll-free number of NYC transit, but weirdly enough I wound up reaching a fax machine. After 10:00, I realized that the bus would not come, so I made my way to the other avenue. As I got there, I inquired a few policemen who were coordinating the traffic about the buses and they pointed me out to a bulky MTA employee who was a few meters away. I spoke to him - a tall, heavyset man in his late forties, who had graying hair and a bushy mustache, and he told me where I could catch my bus to finally get to work. I also asked him since what time the buses had been rerouted, to what he replied "oh, since around eight thirty in the morning!" "But the sign at Roosevelt said the buses would only be rerouted after ten", I said. "Well,"he replied, in a humorous way, "there are a lot of people who aren't doing there jobs properly, and whoever posted the signs is one of them." I felt distraught and impatient as I waited, in freezing weather, for the Q15 bus that would take me to Whitestone, and I asked the MTA man when that bus was expected to come. "Haven't seen them in a while - maybe the driver assigned to it got lost." "How late is it?" "Oh, about fifteen minutes or so." By then the condition of traffic had worsened considerably, and there was no sign of the bus. I worried about my students, who had been expecting me for over half an hour by then. I then grumbled to the MTA employee: "Man, I do hate parades sometimes," as I recalled a grim experience I had during my recent New Year's ordeal at Times Square. The big guy then turned to me and said, with a laugh : "The only time I like them is when I am drinking beer and shouting at the sidelines." I laughed as well, as I noticed his more than evident belly budging under his jacket. After all, I wished I could just go back to Main Street and enjoy the parade - and maybe enjoy a drink later on. However, I had a job to do - as the other people at the stop probably did as well. As the minutes passed,everyone at the improvised bus stop grew more and more impatient as no buses showed up. The MTA man then attempted to contact the bus by radio, but he seemed unable to do it. After over an hour of waiting, we finally saw the Q15 slowly coming down the streets. Apparently, the radio in the bus was busted, and the driver was unfamiliar with the surroundings(!!!) When I finally did get to Whitestone, it was 11:30 AM and the students had all gone home, leaving me little to do but think about my wasted morning. All the above mentioned ordeal happened simply because City officials seem unable to coordinate simple things as to have their manpower efficiently trained to perform a task such as adapting to a parade - which, may I add, happens every year. As I tried to get to work, there weren't any police officers who could at least point me to the right direction(one of them, a young policewoman, told me that wasn't her precinct,and that she was totally unfamiliar with the surroundings); The information numbers posted at bus stops led to fax machines; and bus drivers were reassigned without any previous orientation, causing the service to become even slower than it already is. Whenever I go through experiences like this one, I always try to put myself in the shoes of a tourist. What kind of impression New York City wants to give to its visitors? With the kind of service like the ones that I have encountered, let me tell you that a visitor would get a terrible impression of our great metropolis. As a matter of fact, I recently received an e-mail from a Brazilian relative who visited New York a couple of weeks ago. In her message, this relative told me how the people had been rude to her, and that she could not get reliable information nor courteous service anywhere in town. It is time for a change. If the usual New York rudeness cannot change, at least public services have to become reliable and trustworthy, or else all that tourist income will quickly disappear. Ernest Barteldes A writer needs feedback in order to write properly.
Please send feedback to: ebarteldes@nycny.net
|
richard e. schiff,
|
ast Saturday,as many readers
might be aware of, marked the passage of the Lunar New Year. Of course,
celebrations were expected from all the members of the Chinese
communities in our great city, and several events were scheduled around
town in observance of that day. 
