A group of Springfield Gardens residents banded together last Thursday to make sure their dead end does not spring to life with overdevelopment.New development riles 176th Street residents
Community activist Warren McCain rallied his neighbors outside his house on 176th street against the ongoing changes on his block that have taken almost 16 acres of green parkland for 34 semi-attached and two-family houses. McCain and his neighbors contend that the change has hurt the quality of life in their community.
New Homes A Burden On The Neighborhood, Residents Say
This is just the latest chapter in the long saga to save Springfield Gardens’ dead-end streets from development. In 2003, Warren McCain, president of the Queens Community Council, an umbrella organization of two dozen block associations, began the fight. It was then residents on 132nd and 133rd avenues learned their quiet streets –– punctuated at the ends with pastoral views and shielded from the bustle of the nearby boulevards –– would be uprooted. The expanse of trees they believed was all parkland was in fact partly privately owned by Rochdale Village, which sold its parcel to developers. The community protested and lost. In 2004, trucks tore through the forest, laid down cement and 176th Street was born. Gone were the days when children played freely on the dead-end street without the danger of cars. Then the two-family homes sprouted in pairs.
No ‘yellow brick road’ for Springfield Gardens residents
“We don’t have a problem with the buyers,” said Haigler. She added that she takes issue with the increased stress on the school system, sewer system, and how many of the local homes’ basements flood.
And here people were coming to this board telling us that being against overdevelopment was just a "white old man Archie Bunker" position. Looks like it's affecting everyone's quality-of-life equally regardless of skin color or ethnic background.
Photo from Queens Chronicle
1 comment:
That's really gotta suck.
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