Thursday, August 23, 2007

Jamaica plan enters the home stretch

A plan to transform downtown Jamaica, Queens, into a vibrant “airport village” while preserving the quiet, low-scale character of neighboring side streets cleared an important City Council committee yesterday, all but ensuring final approval next month for the single largest rezoning of the Bloomberg administration.

Council Committee Backs Rezoning Plan to Turn Jamaica Into an ‘Airport Village’

Covering a 368-block area that sweeps northeast from the AirTrain transit hub, the rezoning would expand the neighborhood’s commercial core by allowing hotels and office towers to rise on underused industrial land surrounding the train station, officials said. At the same time, it would encourage new, denser housing and retail development in some areas and limit residences to one- and two-family homes in others.

To accommodate that growth, officials said, they are working to bring in schools, sewers, parking spaces and other infrastructure improvements, including lighting and trees along Hillside Avenue.


Shouldn't these have been included before the plan was brought to a vote?

Oh, silly me, this is the Bloomberg administration... act first, think later.

Meanwhile, a civic group offered their own rezoning study.

More from the Daily News:

Big vote for Jamaica rezoning plan

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

It might be the 'Bloomberg Administration' but it is the clubhouse's city council that will approve this crap (to say nothing of the clubhouses' media outlets that will do their best to fog the public out when city council puts the developers interests first, then sticks us with the tax bill for infrastructure later)

Anonymous said...

That is right. Contact your city councilman to vote no.

No tax breaks for developers.

Demand that they improve services on your block first.

georgetheatheist said...

Schools, Sewers, Spaces 1st!

The Horse BEFORE the cart!

Anonymous said...

Will this plan preserve the brick paving of 89th Avenue? I think not.

Anonymous said...

Are going to PROTEST THIS? OR Sit back and let these COUNCIL MEN WALK OVER US?!

georgetheatheist said...

Doctoroff: "You go to cities around the country and around the world and they've got major commercial centers NEAR THE AIRPORTS." [My emphasis]...Jamaica "Center" is NEAR the airport?

Katz: "It's going to make great use of the train-to-the plane"...You're a European headed for downtown/midtown Manhattan, yeah right, you're going to stop first in Jamaica.

Burden: "This has been a marathon four-year effort. Jamaica is a retail destination." That's right, for people in busses from Scranton who live for 99-cent stores. [Don't forget that great emporium, I kid you not: Sneaker Pimp, 92-10 168th Street.]

Towery: Since 1961, he said, zoning changes have been "project by project." Now, "there are developers proceeding and waiting to proceed." [THE SHARKS ARE IN THE WATER!!]

Anonymous said...

George, brilliant post.

So New York calls itself the media capital of the world. hahahahahaha

They don't have the backbone to cover stories like Crappie.

Yes boys, you stand accused of not doing your work and caving in to developers adverstising and by doing so, not only shortchanging the public, but risking losing credibility with them.