Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Fixing up Farmers Blvd

From the Queens Chronicle:

Prominently displayed community artwork, a farmers’ market, uniformed storefront facades and a mixture of mom-and-pop businesses alongside big box retailers are all part of the future Farmers Boulevard envisioned by one area organization.

“We want to help the existing entities and businesses on the boulevard, but we also want to attract some others, particularly to the existing vacant spaces,” said Isa Abdur-Rahman, president of the Farmers Boulevard Community Development Corporation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the revitalization of the underutilized business corridor.

The group’s members presented their ideas and asked for feedback from the community at a meeting Monday at the African Center for Community Empowerment in St. Albans. About a dozen people attended.

“I grew up here and it didn’t always look like this,” said Almitra Gasper, Farmers CDC community liaison. “It’s gone through a lot of changes over the years. People used to have a lot of pride in the shops they had on Farmers Boulevard and I just want to get back to that.”

Gasper plans on opening an outdoor farmers’ market on Saturdays at the corner of Farmers Boulevard and Mangin Avenue from June through November. “Who doesn’t love a fresh fruit and vegetable market that is open during the summertime?” Gasper asked. There will also be music and other vendors who will be invited to participate.

The Farmers CDC was founded in 2009 and its primary focus is the segment of Farmers Boulevard that runs from Linden Boulevard to 109th Avenue, but they hope to expand their scope in the future. For more information call (718) 262-0682 or visit them online at farmersblvd.org.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

What about Northern Boulevard in Flushing. There used to be a nice mix of Greek, Italian, Colombian and AMERICAN restaurants. Now it's simply Korean BBQ restaurants OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER.

How many Korean BBQ restaurants can one neighborhood possible have/need?

Anonymous said...

Now it's simply Korean BBQ restaurants OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER.
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Doesn't sound very DIVERSE! to me.

Anonymous said...

I believe that Farmers blvd is much needed to this community,an could produce an helpful enviroment in all avenues.Its sad that many business have left the neighborhood.I think they could use more developement,maybe a school,affordable housing,new gas station,daycares,recreation center for young adults,supermarket.All ideas are good for this neighborhood!

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