A major stop on the AirTrain from Kennedy International Airport has long offered a troublesome first impression for travelers visiting New York.
Scarred by poverty, crime and blighted conditions, that transit hub in Jamaica, Queens, has generally been more of a place to contemplate from train platforms than to stroll through on the ground.
But sweeping plans are being made to rejuvenate the area with new hotels, stores and apartments, with hopes of persuading some of those travelers to step off the platform and stay a while.
“Our area has needed a face-lift for quite some time now,” said Adrienne Adams, the chairwoman of Queens Community Board 12 and a Jamaica resident for more than two decades. “And I think for the most part people will be quite pleased with the results.”
The effort to lure tourists is focused on a small slice of the area, around the intersection of Archer Avenue and Sutphin Boulevard.
Besides the AirTrain, the intersection is served by the Long Island Rail Road, three subway lines and more than a dozen bus routes. One result is the kind of bustling public transportation hub that has become catnip for developers who believe that people no longer want to be so dependent on their cars.
14 comments:
More money thrown into a black hole.
Will they be providing a military escort for tourists?
What is there to see that will pull tourists away fro visiting the Statue of Liberty or Rockefeller Center?
How many decades have the town fathers been cranking this pipe dream without any success to improve Jamaica?
Jamaica is what it is and will not be elevated to the level it once had long ago.
Stop sucking up citizens' tax money to pursue a fantasy.
I'd rather be visiting Syria!
Life imitating art, if you know the reference!
Promote the nearby McDonald's where in walked the guy with the knife in his back. Jamaica Crossing? Jamaica Stabbing.
Needs more than a "facelift"...needs a whole body replacement.
What the heck does the Jamaica BID do?
While they're at it, they need to get the bums off the E train! They must make a lousy first impression on visitors.
Jamaica use to be nice a lifetime ago. My grandmother was born in Jamaica in the 1920's. It went from being beautiful to being taken over by poor third worlders who bring their dirty living conditions with them. The indians and muslims in the area certainly are not helping either! The whole area is gross and nasty. I have not shopped there since I was 16 and within the last 20 years, it has only gone from bad to worst. Jamaica needs more than a prayer....it needs massive deportations and the national guard there to clean that place up! However, I did read that they are building a starbucks there....where there is a starbucks, the liberals will follow. Better liberals in the area than the garbage they have living there now!
I also remember when Jamaica was nice.
One memory i have is of Macy's. At one of the entrances they had a stone that had water running into a carved out bowl shape. It was a doggie water bowl! Had a little brass plate on it that said something like "A drink for your pooch". What civility.
You can only "fix" Jamaica for tourists by having all of its current residents replaced. Jamaica's people are the problem.
I'm sure this will work to some extent with the FUBU crowd. Can't get any worse, that's for sure. Been the same since 1968.
Don't they want to see the buildings Addabbo's dad built with all their money?
good place to buy your crack and get your hos real cheap. note the south American eateries that cater only to men in that area.
Post a Comment