Community Magazine October 2003

s ” xc New York City Parking & Sanitation Schedule Life in the Date Occasion Garbage * and Recycling Alternate ** Side Parking Parking Rules Oct. 6, Mon. Yom Kippur As Scheduled Suspended Normal Oct. 11-12, Sat.-Sun. Succot, 1st/2nd Day As Scheduled Suspended Normal Oct. 13, Mon. Columbus Day Suspended Suspended Normal Oct. 18-19, Sat.-Sun. Shemini Atzeret/Simchat Torah As Scheduled Suspended Normal Nov. 1, Sat. Observance As Scheduled Suspended Normal Nov. 4, Tues. Election Day Suspended Suspended Normal Nov. 11, Tues. Veterans Day Suspended Suspended Normal Nov. 26-28, Wed.-Fri. Observance As Scheduled Suspended Normal Nov. 27, Tues. Thanksgiving Day Suspended Suspended Holiday Rules New Cell-phone Same Number? Local number portability, scheduled to be implemented Nov. 24, is an FCC mandate seven years in the making that gives cell phone customers the right to keep their phone numbers even when they switch carriers. The measure continues to be opposed by most wireless companies including Sprint, Alltel, Nextel, Cingular and AT&T Wireless who fear that a price war will ensue as cus- tomers will have no incentive to remain with their carrier past the contract expiration. Additionally, John Muleta, chief of the FCC Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, in Washington, indicated that carriers should not refuse to port a customer’s phone number to another carrier while attempting to collect delinquent fees from that customer. Of the major area carriers, only Verizon has come out in favor of the rule and announced that it will not charge number porting fees to old customers who want to switch carriers or new customers who want to keep their numbers. Currently, AT&T Wireless charges a per-month service fee of $1.75 that includes recovery for several FCC mandates, including location-based services for emergency operators (Enhanced 911), number pooling and number portability. If the FCC rescinds the portability rule, the company has indicated it would lower the fee. Cingular, Nextel and Sprint also charge similar monthly regulatory fees related to the portability mandate. Goethals Bridge Rehab Coming Soon The 75-year-old Goethals Bridge will undergo a major $63 million deck rehabilitation project this Spring. The three-year project involves the removal of the asphalt riding surface, rehabilitation of the bridge deck where necessary, replacement of deck joints and storm drains, rehabilita- tion of a portion of the structural steel, installation of a new asphalt riding sur- face and replacement of the sidewalks. Work will begin in April 2004 in the westbound (to NJ) direction and contin- ue in these lanes until June 2005. Eastbound (to NY) work will follow from June 2005 to December 2006. One direction of the bridge will be closed from 9:30 p.m. to 5 a.m., Mondays through Thursdays, and from 12:01 a.m. to 8 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday mornings once the work begins. During the nightly closings, traffic will be diverted to the Outerbridge Crossing and Bayonne Bridge. The bridge will remain fully open in both directions from late November to mid-March. Prior to the start of major work on the project, some interim repairs will be made to some bridge joints. The work will require periodic lane clos- ings but no full closures. The Goethals Bridge project will be similar to the work done recently on the Outerbridge Crossing. Last November, the Port Authority completed a $52.2 million project to rehabilitate the deck at that bridge. A similar $25 million project to rehabilitate the deck on the Bayonne Bridge also has been completed. Don’t Smoke and Drive Some five bills have been introduced to the NewYork State leg- islature in the past year to further limit where a person can light up. Public beaches, carnivals and even a person’s private vehicle, have been targeted to become smoke free. Pro-smoking forces fear the ultimate goal of lawmakers sponsoring the bills is to ban cigarettes and cigars completely in New York. Assemblyman Alexander “Pete” Grannis (D-Manhattan), the Legislature’s leading anti-smoking advocate and a sponsor of many of the pending bills, explains that the proposed laws outlawing smoking in cars with kids on 44 C OMMUNITY M AGAZINE *Garbage: Residents who are normally scheduled for collection on the day of a holiday should place their trash out at curbside on the holiday evening for collection. Some residents will experience a dis- ruption of on-time household collection service. Recycling : Residents who are normally scheduled for recycling col- lection on the day of the holiday will not receive service that week. They should place their recyclables out at curbside the following week on their regular day of service. ** For snow and other emergencies call 212 or 718 CALL DOT (225-5368) to get an update of parking rules for a particular day.