Tony Avella

The city Department of Transportation (DOT) has a great citizen-friendly street-care-repair policy—if you report that the curb in front of your home needs fixing, the report will be entered into its database and will be repaired in the order in which it was called in.

Problem is, according to state Senator Tony Avella (D–Northeast Queens), at least in the Bellerose section of his district, the DOT has a 23-year backlog on repairing reported broken curbs.

Now Avella has joined with frustrated homeowners to accelerate their curb repair program.

Six constituents of Queens New York State Senator Tony Avella have complained in the past few weeks of tickets for placing trash curbside outside of the sanitation department policy’s hours.

That policy says you can’t put the trash out any earlier than 4 p.m. on the day before collection between October 1 and April (5 p.m. other dates).

Avella says he can find no evidence that what he calls sanitation department policy was ever made into a formal regulation. That would require public comment, a hearing, and other measures.

Senator Tony Avella issues a legislative resolution honoring retired combat veteran William D. Costello, this afternoon.

In honor of Memorial Day, Senator Avella, D-Bayside, invited William D. Costello, a retired construction worker from VFW Post 4787, to receive a Legislative Resolution from the State of New York commemorating his service to the country

Costello was drafted at 18, now 86, recalls the morning of the D-Day Invasion of Normandy as a rifleman in the Army’s 4th Infantry 20th Armored Division.

“We woke up at 9 am, put our packs on, and by 10 am we were down the net and into the landing craft,” recalls Costello.

Armed with an M1 Garand rifle, Costello spent 196 days on the line.

Queens residents have had their hopes for safe sidewalks curbed by the Department of Transportation (DOT).

Senator Tony Avella recently united with perturbed residents from northern and eastern Queens – who have suffered with broken curbs in front of their homes for years – to demand the DOT “accelerate” their sidewalk repair program.

After three fatal accidents on the Cross Island Parkway and repeated calls for safety improvements, the Federal Highway Administration has indicated it’s studying possible changes to the design of the roadway’s guardrails.

The plan was announced last week by state Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside), who has been calling for changes since 2006. Avella got involved that year when he was a city councilman after 24-year-old motorcyclist Eric Arsenault crashed into a guardrail on the parkway and was killed.

The accident site is known as “Deadman’s Curve” and is near Exit 36S toward the southbound Whitestone Expressway. The area dips down quickly around the bend and at night foliage hides the upcoming barrier created by the nearby overpass.

By Adam Sichko

The pesky “millionaires tax” just won’t go away.

Senator Tony Avella is aiming to erase any thoughts of vandalism from the minds of the students in his district – and paint them a clear anti-graffiti picture.

The senator joined representatives from the Bayside Business Association (BBA) and students from across northeast Queens on December 15 for his first annual Anti-Graffiti Poster Contest.