Community Magazine November 2009

*Alternate Side Parking: For snow and other emergencies call 311 to get an update of parking rules for a particular day **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 disruption of on-time household collection service. Recycling: Residents who are normally scheduled for recycling collection 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. New York City Municipal Schedule Occasion Day Date Alternate Side Parking Garbage Collection Parking Rules Banks & Post Offices Observance Sun November 1 Suspended Normal Normal Open Election Day Tues November 3 Suspended Suspended Normal Open Veterans Day Wed November 11 Suspended Suspended Normal Closed Thanksgiving Thurs November 26 Suspended Suspended Holiday Closed Observance Thurs-Sat November 26-28 Suspended Normal Normal Open Observance Tues December 8 Suspended Normal Normal Open Observance Fri December 25 Suspended Suspended Holiday Closed Swine Flu Vaccines at School The next consent form you may get from your child’s school might not be for a field trip – but for a vaccination. New York City started vaccinating students against swine flu on October 28. Mayor Michael Bloomberg is urging parents to sign the consent forms for the free swine flu vaccine will be offered at all city elementary schools – public and private. Parents who prefer to have their children vaccinated at a doctor’s office may do so, but the Mayor is urging all pre teen children to get vaccinated one way or another. City Cleans Up Graffiti Red Tape Mayor Bloomberg recently agreed to an amendment to the Graffiti Abatement Law that aims to make the program more efficient and cost-effective. Currently, in order for residential and commercial buildings to receive free graffiti removal services from Graffiti Free NYC, the building owner must file a form to ‘opt in’ to the program granting the City permission to clean the building. Under the new bill however, once graffiti is reported, the City will notify the property owner of the planned removal and then clean the property within 35 days. The property owner is no longer required to file any paperwork with the City. Property owners may still ‘opt out’ of the program and keep graffiti on the building, or clean it themselves, by calling 311. F Line Earns its Designation The F train service, which connects South Brooklyn to Manhattan and Queens, deserves a failing grade as it “lags behind other routes” in terms of keeping trains on time, according to a recent MTA report. Trains on the F line are delayed 25 percent more than the system average, and an average of 2.5 Brooklyn-bound F trains skip stations every day during evening rush hours. About 15 F trains per week are rerouted to the A, G, R or V line in Brooklyn or Queens without warning. The report blamed the poor service on old subway cars, heavy construction and the fact that the F shares some track with the E, G and V lines. Some of the MTA’s solutions have already begun. Riders who are confused between the F and G, which run on the same track for eight stops in Brooklyn and have similar-looking cars, often hold up the train when they hold open doors. To solve this problem, the F will be getting one of the newest models of subway cars so it is easily distinguishable from the G. The line is expected to speed up when construction at the Smith-Ninth Street station is completed. The MTA may also run a Manhattan-bound express F train through crowded stretches of Brooklyn, starting in 2013. 96 Community magazine