From the Queens Chronicle:Lippmann Plaza, a pedestrian walkway in downtown Flushing, has been a problem for years with its graffitied walls and litter-strewn paths. Despite efforts by elected officials and volunteer groups, the site looks as bad today as it did more than 10 years ago.
Recently, Liz Vannicola, a longtime Flushing resident, contacted the Queens Chronicle to vent her frustration about the conditions in the plaza. “When young kids see graffiti, it sends the wrong message,” Vannicola said. “It becomes the norm and they think it’s okay.”
She has called the offices of area elected officials “but nothing gets done” and believes there should be ongoing cleanups at the site.
“It’s not artwork; it’s vandalizing and not welcoming,” Vannicola added.
The city upgraded the site in 2006 after talking about it since 2001. The work involved new lighting, plantings and tree pruning. But looking at the location now, the trees are just as big and sit in dingy pits of eroded soil and weeds. Litter abounds and the walls of businesses are covered in graffiti.
The plaza is a major connector for the 50,000 commuters who travel through the area every day using buses and the subway. It links Roosevelt Avenue, site of the No. 7 subway and several buses, with 39th Avenue, where there are more buses and Municipal Parking Lot 1.
Illegal street vendors set up tables at either end of the plaza, hawking their merchandise and adding to the confusion. Community Board 7 District Manager Marilyn Bitterman said police are trying to crack down, as it’s become a problem.
Bitterman noted that the property belongs to the Department of Transportation and that the Sanitation Department empties the trash cans.
20 comments:
Isn't this site about a block from the vaunted 109th Pct. Where's CB7 on this. Where's Hallorans Chief of Staff Chrissy, Who's head of the 109th Pct. Council. Come on Pauls this is your chance to shine.
Were is that group called, "One Flushing"?
Why not jump in and volunteer your services to clean up the plaza? You are sorely needed there.
Your fundraising efforts for the painting of a mural by the famed graffiti artist, "Lady Pink (near the westbound LIRR Main Street station), is very commendable. That back street has become a veritable cesspool! When finished, please take up the Lippman Plaza cause.
The BID doesn't seem to care--nor does CB7 or local elected officials--judging from the poor conditions that exist.
When I served with the "Coalition For A Planned Flushing Inc.", WE ALL DID OUR JOBS making Lippman Plaza appealing.
In addition, filthy sidewalks were pressure washed by our volunteers and graffiti was removed.
An annual Flushing beautification day was just one of our regular events. That really brought everyone together as ONE united Flushing! It can be done once again with the support of our (lazy?) electeds!
By the way--the illegal vendors and those various signs (not pictured here) which block the Lippman passageway--more than add to the blight of graffiti.
Concilman Koo takes his walks with the press, and complains about the overcrowded sidewalks. He's obviously NOT walked through Lippmann Plaza or was looking down when he did.
YOU POLITICAL COUCH POTATOES OUT THERE--ALL ARE HEREBY INVITED TO DO YOUR JOBS!
P.S.
Lippman Plaza once had a beautifully painted mural there too.
Next time that Francis Marrone does a puff piece on the Vibrant! Diversity! of Flushing use a picture of Lippman Plaza for the article.
the graffiti is to let you know what kind of drugs are available for sale and which gangs are selling them.
It has be painted over every other day. If not, then every day.
and put up surveillance cameras to arrest who is doing it. Yes doing graffiti is a crime.
Here's an idea- demolish a couple of stores on either side and make Lippmann a true plaza, rather than the alley it currently is.
That's all pigeon crap
Just call it 7 Pointz, in honor of the train — problem solved.
Lippman plaza ?
I have shopped in Flushing for 25+years and ever heard of it. I get my annual $35 Rolex's, sox & work T's in Fluchang.
Where's Fluchang, Joe? I need a watch
Dear Joe:
Really? You've been shopping in flushing 25+ yrs and DON'T know where Lippman Plaza is? Its even on the Map on my smartphone/BB. Its between Roosevelt Ave and 39 Ave (municipal Lot #1), and about 1/3 the way down/West from Union Street towards Main Street. On Roosevelt side, its bet McDonald's on the West side and a NYCB (I belive) Bank on East side, and on the 39 Ave end is a childrens store, I believe, on the West side and again the same NYCB Bank's parking lot on the East side. Its also called, by myself, my family and others, as "The WalkThru"! We used to pick~My father from the 39 Ave side, as he walked thru, from the #7 Train for decades.
I've lived NE Queens for decades and never heard of Lippman Plaza. Who the hell is Lippman to get a graggiti alley named after him.
Why not rename it John Liu alley, then you wouldn't have to clean it up.
At Annon:
When I go to flushing its usually just for the street junk stores on Main street near the LIRR trestle. The Chinese lady had some nice LED yo-yo's, spinners and party lanterns
Like the $35 Rolex's you just cant find that stuff anyplace else.
Canal street in lower Manhattan is all over priced yuppie crap now
Lippman Plaza?
When will these dam politicians quit re-naming monuments for each other. Its getting really out of control and annoying especially wile driving--"To RFK bridge" sign on the Grand Central Parkway WTF, now that really pisses me off.
Why name a bridge after a member of such an evil tweeding crime family from Massachusetts ? Who the hell is this Lippman ?
Gang graffiti indicating drugs? I doubt it.
It's just a bunch of punks scrawling their marks on the way home from Flushing High School, just like a dog pisses on a hydrant to mark his turf.
For drugs go to College Point B'lvd.
You don't know your own G-damned town.
A few try dealers try pushing near the Flushing YMCA.
Calling John Liu's former employee, John Choe.
Is his "One Flushing" genuine...or is it being used to publicize a run for some political office in the near future?
In the mean time...you've got to hand it to the enterprising Choe, folks. He's created for himself a nice paying position as executive director.
Why do we have this constant duplication of such groups in Flushing? Is it because the previous ones haven't worked out...so the wheel keeps on getting reinvented?
What a waste of time and money.
In the end it winds up being our tax money!
The 109 and one flushing should clean the graffiti. If the leadership didn't spend all their time in hot pursuit of political office maybe it would get done. Cleanliness and safety should be a priority in downtown Flushing.
Flushing has always looked like crap anyway!!
The article forgot the homeless and street people that hang out there. The cops are not rying to crack down on the street vendors. They are there every day and once in a while, so are the cops - who do not bother the street vendors.
When you could walk through Genovese, that eased some of the crowding in the plaza. The graffiti these days is just sad. In the 80s and 9s the tags were legible!
Believe it or not its the street vendors that have the best hard to find stuff and that's part of what New York City has always been about. Knickerbocker ave 1962 or Main street today.
For example the watches, old 50's monster movie DVDs and real New York pretzels like in Penn Station.
If a local legal store carried this stuff I would buy it legit. Its simply not local available anyplace.
Try and find "The Monster That Challenged The World" or "The Crawling Eye" the infamous $35 Rolex or 1970's LED Pulsar copy--YOU CANT anywhere on the east coast.
If the the RIAA and film studio weren't so mobbed and greedy with distribution and licensing there would be no demand for illegal street venders and piracy.
I do agree on busting and locking up the street venders selling cooked rats, turtles, hamsters and things in downtown Flushing. Food is a different story !
Graffiti and newyork city will always be
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