These strobing lights aren’t any social gathering for locals.
Fixed flashing from city-operated road lights in Queens have distracted drivers and irked close by residents for weeks – and was solely mounted after a social media publish uncovered the difficulty, The Publish has discovered.
Complaints concerning the strobing lights on the Rockaway Seaside Boardwalk alongside the Shore Entrance Parkway date again to at the very least Dec. 29 — however the flashing solely stopped Sunday evening due to “momentary repairs” from the Division of Transportation.
The DOT continues to be working to proceed the upkeep work, an company rep stated, including the flickering lights had been brought on by cable injury. The company didn’t return a request for remark concerning when it grew to become conscious of the matter or when the restore work is about to finish.
Residents residing close to the boardwalk blasted the weeks-long delay in repairs, lamenting to The Publish that the uncared for challenge poses a safety danger to each distracted drivers and locals who get pleasure from nighttime boardwalk strolls.
“Lights are safety: when folks wish to stroll on the boardwalk, particularly when it will get actually darkish — you already know, darker earlier — folks nonetheless wish to stroll,” stated Rockaway Seaside native Edward Pastore.
The 20-year resident claimed the neighborhood has persistently been on the receiving finish of sluggish fixes from the town when there’s a problem.
“That’s a traditional drawback in Rockaway [Beach], is issues not being completed in a well timed method,” Pastore, 68, stated. “Particularly now that it’s winter, no one actually cares.”
“It’s an issue, as a result of it means the infrastructure is fallacious,” stated Marian Brewer, a 49-year-old barista at Rockaway Roasters.
“I dwell proper on the boardwalk, I see every little thing,” she added. “They’re not on prime of it: In the event that they had been on prime of it, it wouldn’t preserve taking place.”
The NYC Parks Division, which maintains the boardwalk, was notified of the faulty lights in late December, and utility firm PSEG’s crews subsequently inspected the difficulty on Jan. 13, metropolis councilmember Joann Ariola’s workplace instructed The Publish.
After PSEG decided its personal gear was in working order, it contacted the town’s Division of Transportation, which is chargeable for sustaining the Massive Apple’s streetlights.
A now-viral X video from a WNYC reporter additional boosted the difficulty on Jan. 16 — weeks after the weird gentle show started. Two days later, momentary fixes from the DOT appeared to cease the flashing, in response to a social media replace.
“Thanks to no matter hardworking folks discovered easy methods to repair them,” the replace reads.
However not all New Yorkers had been amused with the sunshine show.
“These businesses determined to play a weeks-long recreation of volleyball with this, bouncing it backwards and forwards and finally dragging in PSEG, when it was clearly a DOT challenge from the beginning,” Ariola fumed to The Publish.
The DOT has acquired about 90 streetlight-related 311 complaints for the world surrounding the boardwalk since 2020, in response to a Publish assessment of metropolis knowledge. Whereas most are resolved inside days, one latest criticism took practically a month to shut.
The newest 311 criticism, made Oct. 15 concerning a broken lamppost on Seaside 98th Avenue, stays in progress.
“I hope that underneath the brand new commissioner, the DOT lastly begins taking some accountability and begins understanding what they’re chargeable for,” Ariola stated.
“What occurred on the boardwalk was ridiculous, and it shouldn’t take a name from a metropolis councilmember to get folks to do their jobs,” she added. “All of us deserve higher, and I thank the group for his or her endurance.”
