|
Looking South Photo Gallery: Queens Blvd |
 |
 Sofia Leviyev's memorial appeals to drivers, cyclists and pedestrians alike to be careful. |
 |
  We
look south across Queens Blvd, where Sofia Leviyev, a mere 14,
met a tragic end to her life on earth. Sign after sign, of styles
ranging from the quiet, subtle and traditional, to the screaming,
tactless and even hysterical, are thrown up on every conceivable
open spot available on lampposts, traffic light stanchions and
utility poles along Queens Blvd., imploring folks to cross with
care, and occasionally to not cross at all. No sign, however,
can have more of an affect, at least on those area residents
and regulars who know what happened here, than the flowery expressions
of grief and mourning tied to the lamppost on the westbound median
island here. A fire truck passes by, probably headed for the
stationhouse a block past Ascan Avenue, a little over a mile
to the east. Emergency personnel stationed to this area must
be heartily sick of this road by now. |
| For the time being, in late February of 2001, the city has taken extraordinary measures to prevent further tragedies at the hardest hit intersections. Here, they've provided crossing guards to escort the elderly, the young and the otherwise skittish, across the great divide. The location of the CVS drugstore here is probably a great source of consternation to both the DOT and the police, for it ensures a steady stream of the area's most vulnerable, the elderly, across this spot heading to and from their pharmacist, not to mention kids for whom the drug chain is a convenience/candy store. Even well before the CVS and the killings, this corner always had a drugstore, a small family run operation called Forest Hills Drugs. My mother used them for all our prescriptions when we were kids. I remember they used to deliver. Does CVS deliver? |
© 2001, Jeff Saltzman.
