Addressing Johnson Ave mess

EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is a Sept. 17 letter addressed to Nivardo Lopez, the Bronx commissioner of the city’s transportation department.

Commissioner Lopez:

As I know you are aware, Johnson Avenue was recently milled and repaved by DOT. This process can often be arduous for local motorists, can make parking very difficult. Yet, just this week, Con Edison began roadwork on the same block that had just been repaved.

It seems ludicrous to me that DOT would pave over a roadway, then allow Con Edison to dig up their work just weeks later. Yet that is exactly what has taken place.

If some emergency has occurred, it could be understandable. However a re-piping project, as it appears to be, could have been planned and approved without destroying millions of dollars of work.

In addition, approving and carrying out a project that takes away parking during a period of the holiest of holidays is completely inappropriate. I am outraged that Con Edison and the city would decide to do this kind of work during any religious holidays.

Street work that demands cars be moved on days when people cannot move them for religious reasons is unacceptable. This is an unnecessary hardship for many observant New Yorkers, and should have been better thought-out by the city and Con Edison.

I request you do everything possible to ensure parking on Johnson Avenue is restored immediately.

Eliot Engel

The author is the U.S. Representative for New York’s 16th Congressional District, covering parts of the northern Bronx and Westchester County.