A kickoff workshop for transit oriented development around the proposed Barnum Station on the East Side will take place Tuesday 6:15 to 8:15 p.m. at the Summerfield United Methodist Church, 110 Clermont Avenue. For more on the project see here.
Initially proposed under Mayor Bill Finch in 2014, the Barnum Station project is supported by Mayor Joe Ganim. Last October Governor Dan Malloy announced a $10 million federal grant for the construction of Barnum Station, Finch’s vision for a new commuter rail station along Metro North on the East Side.
Then-city development chief David Kooris stated at an announcement in the summer of 2014 that a fully functional train station would cost $50 million, but other estimates are higher. Malloy on that day visited the city to announce $2.75 million for engineering, design and environmental permitting in support of Barnum Station at the site of the former Remington Arms factory on Barnum Avenue. Kooris added DuPont, which had once owned the property years ago, has agreed to cover remediation costs.
Dean Mack, in the Office of Planning and Economic Development, is the city’s project manager. He can be reached at (203) 576-7086, Dean.Mack@Bridgeportct.gov.
It is imperative Bridgeport gets the parking dollars. I’d like to set up a bathroom or two (portable potties), maybe I can turn quarters to dollars myself.
The world’s worst stigma belongs to the first person to charge commuters to use a porta-potty. Besides, that’s not Bridgeport getting the parking dollars. Uh-huh, uh-huh.
Will this be a gun-free zone?
With the second crucial train station, maybe people will flock here from New York and Boston–and beyond–to make a pilgrimage to pray on Mount Saint O & G as they gaze upon the serenity of Steal Point and the harbor power plants and smoke stack. We have such sacred, peaceful places and we don’t even appreciate them. Maybe those from distant states and shores who are not as blessed will take the train to our magical station and show us where to get off.
Handled well, this will be a transformational project for the East Side. I look forward to this planning effort. It’s exciting to have this underway along with all the shoreline planning in southern neighborhoods of the city.
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As for the rather astonishingly ignorant comment of The Bridgeport Kid: Has he never, not-ever-no-never, seen the “no weapons” placards on vehicles and facilities operated by the MTA including Metro-North Railroad? Could he be so blind? Or is he being somehow stereotyping, and if so, what is he stereotyping and why?
To edify TBK and others, please consult Section 1050.8(a) of the MTA’s regulations:
“Weapons and other dangerous instruments.
“(a) No weapon, dangerous instrument, or any other item intended for use as a weapon may be carried in or on any facility or conveyance. This provision does not apply to law enforcement personnel and persons to whom a license for such weapon has been duly issued and is in force (provided in the latter case the weapon is concealed from view). For the purposes hereof, a weapon or dangerous instrument shall include, but not be limited to, a firearm, switchblade knife, gravity knife, boxcutter, straight razor or razor blades that are not wrapped or enclosed in a protective covering, sword, shotgun or rifle.”
It took three minutes to find this. Maybe The Bridgeport Kid has never heard of Google. Or the Internet. Or a computer. But then, how does he get his comments published onto this blog? Does he use tin cans and string? Sheesh! (Yet, it would be an engineering marvel in its own way). TBK, answer your own damned questions and stop baiting us. Argh. Do your own work.
BTW, the URL is:
web.mta.info/nyct/rules/rules.htm
As for Amtrak, if we are so fortunate to use Barnum Station as the Acela stop Bridgeport so richly deserves, weapons are quite sanely also prohibited aboard Amtrak, except under very specific conditions when packed into checked luggage. To wit:
“Firearms or ammunition
*Firearms are accepted on many trains with restrictions.
Black powder, percussion caps or any ammunition used with a matchlock, flintlock, percussion-cap ignition system or similar type are never permitted; this includes self-loaded, gunpowder-based modern ammunition.”
URL:
www .amtrak.com/prohibited-items
Amtrak also notes: “The following prohibited items list is not an exhaustive list. Any item that is similar to the prohibited items below, even if not specifically mentioned, is also prohibited. Amtrak personnel may determine if an item not mentioned in this list is prohibited.”
Does The Bridgeport Kid have any more of these easy-as-pie searches he would like the wider community to perform for him ? We could all cooperate to answer such difficult queries as:
— Does East Main Street run east-west or north-south?
— Does North Avenue run east-west or north-south?
— Does Capitol Avenue run by our state Capitol?
— Who is the mayor of our city, and who were his or her three or four immediate predecessors, possibly including himself or herself?
— How many times does the letter “C” appear in the name of our state? (Answer, says The Bridgeport Kid, who clearly feasts on bad news on television since he evidently cannot comprehend simple signage that has been posted on public conveyances since time immemorial: “None! Everyone knows ‘New York State’ has no ‘C’s’ in it.”)
— Is “Long Island Sound” the (a) name of a band, (b) the dialect for everyone who grew up due east of Manhattan, or (c) an arm of the Atlantic Ocean onto which Connecticut (including Bridgeport) adjoin, or (d) all of the above?
Sadly, the prohibitions on inflammatory objects aboard trains does not apply to The Bridgeport Kid’s posts.
It’s sad The Bridgeport Kid is so parochial he has apparently never traveled to or from Bridgeport by train. Perhaps his irrational fear of weapons keeps him from exploring the wide world beyond his tiny depressingly little sphere of absolute influence, safety, and bright assurance all is well with the world. It’s a shame such people bring their limited worldview and their over-baked societal fears and pessimism to important discussions like this.
I think The Bridgeport Kid draws my fire every few months. It’s so easy to attack an anonymous ignoramus and frankly a not entirely defensible joy in responding to venom with venom piled on. I’m not sure I would be quite so vindictive if TBK would but come out of hiding and reveal his name. I’m far more polite and accommodating–respectful, even–to an individual who claims a real identity rather than choosing to pose as a child. I’d argue, but I would not intentionally insult.
But to come out of hiding would require TBK to choose courage and optimism. TBK is a scared, angry, and ill-bred child hiding safely behind Miss Anonymity’s skirt. Grow up!
(And do your own freaking research.)
DD, you’re 99.9% right. But when this blog started, everyone was required to adopt a “handle.” It was a feature. Today, handles are permitted at Lennie’s discretion.
That was then but this now, many now have been using their real names for years, like Andy, Joel, Ralphie and even while they had a “handle” they would use their real name when writing about something so we knew who they were.
You’re right Ron, you deserve better. So here it is:
www .twitter.com/door24
Doug, you say “[If] Handled well, this will be a transformational project for the East Side. I look forward to this planning effort. It’s exciting to have this under way along with all the shoreline planning in southern neighborhoods of the city.”
Do you really think anybody in a decision-making capacity gives a care about what you think or have in mind for this project?! Surely you can’t be that naïve. Any suggestions from the public, besides maybe some aesthetics/signage, will be completely weeded out of the final plans. This train station has absolutely nothing to do with any East Side/East End or Bridgeport “renaissance.” Truly, it is quite the contrary. I have been following the planning and propaganda surrounding the Remington Woods development/Seaview Avenue Corridor Project, and I assure you, the train station and these Bridgeport red herrings are all connected. They are all part of a plan to further the economic growth of Stamford/The Gold Coast through “transit-oriented development” in Bridgeport. Yes, it is part of the plan to further “develop” Bridgeport as the “slave’s quarters” for the “Stamford Plantation.” There is no way to sugarcoat it. (Does anyone think Dan Malloy would be all over this project for any other reason? He placed Stamford City Councilman David Kooris in the Bridgeport Economic Development Director’s position via Dan’s guy in Bridgeport, Bill Finch, so he could put things in place in Bridgeport to accommodate Stamford taxbase growth ASAP. He’s been up the new administration’s rear end for the same reason, despite his expressed disdain for Mayor Ganim and party Chair Mario Testa.)
Other than further segmenting and dividing the East End/East Side, occupying many acres of potentially valuable industrial land, and serving, along with the four-lane highway to be built along Seaview Avenue (the Seaview Avenue Corridor, which will be rammed through the Upper East Side/East Side/East End and the Stratford/Trumbull/Bridgeport border area to connect Route 25-8 to I-95) to ferry suburban and Bridgeport workers efficiently to Stamford (no need to spend time in Bridgeport outside of the train station area), what will this train station (and the Seaview Avenue Corridor Project) do for Bridgeport?! Doug, this is just another project being built for the Stamford economy at the expense of Bridgeport tax base development. This train station, to be connected directly to 25-8 and I-95 on Seaview Avenue (it will sit directly on the Seaview Avenue Corridor) will not be served by the Acela. It is really just a connector-line station that will get mostly suburban commuters in and out of Bridgeport efficiently. There is no major retail or anything else that might help Bridgeport that is planned in connection with this station, only workforce housing for the cheap labor needed from Bridgeport for the continued expansion of the Stamford/Gold Coast tax base.
Don’t be naïve, Doug. Spend a little time connecting the dots, using history and common sense as a guide.
I don’t believe in TOD (Transit-Oriented Development). I believe in BOD, which stands for Bridgeport-Oriented- Development. To that end, I have launched a one-man stimulus program aimed at attracting businesses and their workers to Bridgeport and Trumbull. I have chosen the world leader in biz development to achieve this goal. To learn more aim your browser here and look at the blogroll:
www .NewYorkNewYork1.com
Trains work in both directions; I’m drawn to the one that’s rarely mentioned.
*** Better have “TOP FLIGHT” Security guarding the station and parking lots in that “ghetto neighborhood,” no? *** WHOOP ***