Van Wyck plaza has let itself go

Queens Chronicle

 The plaza above the Jamaica Avenue-Van Wyck E-subway station at the edge of Kew Gardens has been in a state of disarray for over a decade, according to Roxanne Simone Lord Marcelle, the executive director and founder of the Southeast Queens Chamber of Commerce, who wants to raise $100,000 and revitalize the space as a thank-you to first responders a stone’s throw away at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center.

For years the park-like area has become a haven for the homeless and people using drugs, according to Lord Marcelle, who had to pass it when going to the juice bar she owns when it was located in Kew Gardens. It also suffers from a lack of lighting.

“There are too much disparities and some places end up distressed,” Lord Marcelle told the Queens Chronicle by telephone on April 15. “We need awareness and funding, but awareness first.”

For years Lord Marcelle says she has been concerned for the students, medical staff, families and business owners that have to cut through the park to get to the station, but she had difficulty figuring out which agency manages the park.

“We want to do more,” said Lord Marcelle. “This is such a big area at Van Wyck and Jamaica ... This isn’t about money, money, money. We want to revitalize the area and help it look better.”

She plans to hold a press conference later this month to draw more attention to the issue.

After the Queens Chronicle shared Lord Marcelle’s concerns with the MTA, the agency referred the paper to the city Parks Department, the Department of Sanitation and the NYPD about the issue.

The NYPD did not comment on the concerns, but after sending people to Kew Gardens, the Parks Department said it believes the MTA owns the 3 feet surrounding the escalator at the station entrance and the stairs below. Days later the agency said the remainder of the property might belong to the city Department of Transportation.

Lord Marcelle also reached out to Borough President Donovan Richard’s Office and after days of research of property records a representative confirmed the property has belonged to the DOT since 1993.

Developer funded group proposes to build public plazas under Queensboro bridge underpasses

 

LIC Post

A plan to transform a gritty area under the Queensboro Bridge ramps into a vibrant public space is starting to take shape–with an architect considering designs that would include a basketball court, a dog run and a large seating area.

The plan, called the “Long Island City Ramps” project, would cost $5.5 million and involves revitalizing 50,000 square feet of underutilized space beneath the road ramps that lead to the Queensboro Bridge in Court Square.

The area that is set to be revamped includes a 17,000 square foot site along Dutch Kills Street which is currently being used by a DOT contractor for roadside parking.

The second area is a 33,000 square foot adjacent space that is being used by the NYPD School Safety division as a parking lot. Unlike the Dutch Kills Street space, much of this space is not covered by a ramp and will provide a large open area with plenty of sunlight.

The two ramps converge above Jackson Avenue.

Pedestrian plazas are homeless havens

From CBS 2:

There are a lot of homeless people on the streets on New York, which has lead some to wonder if the city’s homeless problem is growing.

CBS2 found one homeless hangout right in the middle of bustling Midtown Manhattan. For Thomas Decoteau, the area most known for the hustle and bustle of daily life in the Big Apple is simply known as the quiet zone.

Occupants say they typically get to the space around midnight every night and sleep surrounded by around 25 other homeless people. Decoteau has been sleeping in the Midtown oasis for years, and says outreach workers check on him every night. He’s still there because the city has labeled his street home a temporary pop up location, not an encampment. Only encampments may be forcibly removed.

By the city’s definition, encampments have a visible physical structure that’s difficult to move. Decoteau estimates there are upwards of 100 people staying along the space stretching from 39th to 35th Streets. The Department of Homeless Services refused to discuss the so-called pop up, but insisted last week the homeless situation is under control.

But does the fountain work?

From NY1:

Borough President Melinda Katz and other elected officials cut the ribbon on the newly-dedicated Women's Plaza in Queens Tuesday. It now has new masonry, benches and plants.

The monument on Queens Boulevard and Union Turnpike used to be home to a statue called the "Triumph of Civic Virtue." It depicted a man standing over two women symbolizing corruption and vice.

“It really represented old-fashioned, old-fashioned thoughts about women,” said Claire Shulman, a former Queens Borough President.

As do you, grandma!

Are DOT's plaza projects misguided?

From QNS:

Local businesses in Ridgewood are feeling the pain during a months-long project to make the 71st Avenue Plaza a permanent site.

Much like their Glendale counterparts — who are facing plaza construction issues of their own — several businesses that abut the ongoing construction site along Myrtle Avenue are seeing a decrease in customers, and in turn, a decrease in profits.

Although businesses are hurting right now, Ted Renz, executive director of the Myrtle Avenue Business Improvement District (BID), asks business owners to look at the bright light at the end of the tunnel.

“Once the sewer project is complete, then work will be going on in the plaza itself,” Renz said. “Vincent Arcuri (chair of Community Board 5) and I met with the contractor with DDC (Department of Design and Construction) on [Feb. 16] and he expects the sewer project, with the big gray sewer connections, to be completed in three weeks. Then work will be commencing in the plaza itself and the visibility will be greatly improved.”

Renz also mentioned that once construction is completed — scheduled for September of this year, according to the contract — that the new permanent plaza will be a major boon to the same businesses that are suffering right now.

Glendale plaza construction hurts small businesses

From the Queens Chronicle:

The city, area elected officials and community leaders have reached a deal they hope will alleviate some of the burden pedestrian plaza work had placed on a number of Glendale businesses.

According to Department of Design and Construction representative Ian Michaels and Community Board 5 Chairman Vincent Arcuri Jr., the project at Myrtle and Cooper avenues hit a snag recently, as it was discovered underground Verizon infrastructure had to be moved in order for the project to continue.

But even before the issue with Verizon occurred, a number of area stores had said the restricting of traffic flow and the loss of parking in the area was resulting in declines in sales and customers.

Kew Gardens Interchange work complete

From DNA Info:

Driving around Queens may now be a bit less frustrating, after a major phase of the lengthy Kew Gardens Interchange Project was completed six years after it started, officials said.

The state Department of Transportation just finalized the $159 million reconstruction of a large portion of the Van Wyck Expressway in Kew Gardens and Briarwood, which seeks to reduce congestion and ease traffic flow in the area, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Thursday.

That phase of the Kew Gardens Interchange project included:

► reconstructing and widening the Van Wyck Expressway between 82nd and Hillside avenues;

► reconstructing the exit ramp from the northbound Van Wyck Expressway to westbound Queens Boulevard;

► constructing several bridges over the Van Wyck Expressway, including the Queens Boulevard Bridge over Main Street;

► building an extra lane on the Van Wyck Expressway between the Grand Central Parkway and Queens Boulevard;

► constructing a dedicated exit lane on the southbound Van Wyck Expressway to Hillside Avenue.

Residents will still, however, have to wait a bit longer for a new elevator at the Briarwood subway station, which was built as part of the project, as well as for three pedestrian plazas and landscaping along Queens Boulevard planned for the Kew Gardens and Briarwood area after it was overtaken by the construction project for many years.

Church tries to win over community with a gazebo

From DNA Info:

A church looking to build a bigger house of worship on Roosevelt Avenue is hoping to win over opponents of its expansion project by developing a public plaza with lights and a gazebo near 69th Street.

The Universal Church of the Kingdom of God's plan to demolish its building at 68-03 Roosevelt Ave. to build a bigger church on top of an adjacent parking lot facing 69th Street had some neighbors worried that the plan would mean increased traffic and less parking in the area.

Church officials told Community Board 2 members in September that they would be building a new 150-space parking garage next to the 7 train tracks on the same lot as the new building.

The garage would mostly be used by parishioners, but would open to the public on Saturdays, they said — but that wasn't enough to appease neighbors at the time.

The church returned to the board on Dec. 1, this time promising to build a plaza on top of the underground garage, with landscaping, lights and a gazebo.

John Ciafone redefines "plaza"

This property has a great history of complaints. One of the most entertaining we have come across.

Definition of plaza per Merriam Webster:

Full Definition of plaza
1
a : a public square in a city or town
b : an open area usually located near urban buildings and often featuring walkways, trees and shrubs, places to sit, and sometimes shops
2
: a place on a thoroughfare (as a turnpike) at which all traffic must temporarily stop (as to pay tolls)
3
: an area adjacent to an expressway which has service facilities (as a restaurant, gas station, and restrooms)
4
: shopping center

Glass box for Flushing non-profit

From Curbed:

Housing non-profit Asian Americans for Equality are set to open a large new community and entrepreneurship center in Flushing, Queens that will be located at the corner of College Point Boulevard and 39th Avenue. The seven-story structure will span 90,000 square feet and is being designed in collaboration between JCJ Architecture and Leong Leong.

Plans so far call for an outdoor plaza on the ground floor that will connect to a 5,000-square-foot public market. The second floor will be configured in such a way that it can be used for a variety of events, meetings, exhibitions, and performances. This floor also comes with a large terrace. The third floor will house a business incubator that will provide the neighborhood’s businesses a co-working space, and an area to collaborate. Floors five through seven will offer additional office space.

The architects have also designed a three-story staircase that starts at the base of the structure. This creates a seating area for the market on the ground floor, and on the second and third floor, it can be used for events, performances, and screenings.

Planted ruin construction underway

From DNA Info:

Repairs to a damaged fountain in Kew Gardens began this week and will include plans to transform the site into a plaza dedicated to women of the borough, according to the Queens borough president.

The $720,000 restoration project by the city's Department of Design and Construction will repair the stonework at the base of a fountain at the corner of Queens Boulevard and Union Turnpike on the ground of Borough Hall. The project will also improve landscaping, install benches and a plaque to honor the borough's women.

Restoration of Civic Virtue statue: $50,000 vs. Creating new plaza: $720,000

Translation: Someone's relative needed a contract.

Bayside LIRR plaza not being maintained

From the Times Ledger:

The small traffic island in front of the Bayside Long Island Rail Road station on 41st Avenue has a history of neglect.

This summer the shrubs planted around the half-circle plaza became overgrown with weeds. What used to be grass alongside the paved pathway is now only a few patches of dirt littered with trash, cigarette butts and empty beer bottles.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the state agency that oversees LIRR, said the plaza is under the jurisdiction of the city Department of Transportation.

The half circle is on MTA property, but at least part of the plaza is zoned as city property, lined with streets and sidewalks, according to the city Open Accessible Space Information System.

The DOT said it does not have the equipment to take care of green space and is only responsible for paving in park space and plazas.

This was also discovered by Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside), who expressed concerns about safety at the site, calling upon the DOT to repave the cement paths on the traffic island.

In response to the lack of responsibility taken for the small plaza at the Bayside train station, Avella said he is in the process of finalizing a $50,000 grant to be awarded to the Bayside Village BID to take on maintenance at the site.

This week's de Blasio leadership summary

He's giving up on banning horse carriages.

He's removing pedestrian plazas in Times Square to prevent bad behavior (but the one on Northern Blvd is still apparently a go).

He's sending Willets Point back to the drawing board. (Which is kinda interesting, because as public advocate, he thought the plan was just fine.)

What do you think of these decisions? Good? Bad? Spineless? Is he learning when to hold em, fold em, walk away and run?

Koreatown Plaza becomes controversial

From the Times Ledger:

State. Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside) and community leaders say they are against a pedestrian plaza proposed for the street across from the McGoldrick Library in Flushing.

In 2014, the Korean American Association of Queens applied to the city Department of Transportation to permanently close the street in front of the library on Roosevelt Avenue between 155th Street and Northern Boulevard and make a pedestrian plaza with tables and chairs.

The plaza would also be on Leonard Square, which honors Corporal William A. Leonard, a Flushing resident and World War I veteran.

Avella attended the trial street closure Friday, which he said he learned of only a day earlier and found that the area had too little pedestrian traffic to warrant a plaza and limited room to reroute traffic to avoid congestion.

“I only found out about this on Thursday and my first reaction was, ‘What idiot came up with this?’” he said during a news conference Monday afternoon.

He places the blame on the DOT and elected officials who support the proposal, saying they should know better than to support a plaza in an area with a lot of traffic and without sufficient community input.

He said state Sen. Toby Stavisky (D-Flushing), one of the supporters of the proposal, should be “ashamed of herself.”

“I fault the city and I fault any elected official who tried to sneak this through,” he said.

Mike Favilla, Stavisky’s chief of staff, said the proposal does not concern Avella.

“Tony Avella has made more crazy allegations than Donald Trump and now he’s at it again,” Favilla said in a statement. “Considering that Tony only received 52 percent of the vote in his last primary, perhaps he should spend more time in his own district rather than looking for fights elsewhere.”

At the trial street closure last week, Stavisky and City Councilman Peter Koo (D-Flushing) said they were unaware of opposition to the proposal but that they would meet with community leaders to discuss it.

City Councilman Paul Vallone (D-Bayside) supports the proposal as well.

It's more than a pedestrian plaza with tables and chairs. They also want vendor stalls. Because there's nowhere else in Flushing to buy cheap junk right now.

Koreans push for Flushing pedestrian plaza

From the Queens Courier:

In response to a Flushing group’s demand for more public space, the city is considering a pedestrian plaza for Leonard Square.

Between all of the construction and rush hour traffic, residents and local politicians say there are too few places for people to just stop and take a break.

The Korean association applied to the Department of Transportation’s plaza program. The department will make a decision early next month, according to a spokesman. And if the Flushing square is chosen, city officials would work with local officials and the community to hold public workshops and develop a design.

Business owners thankful that DOT listened

From the Forum:

The city Department of Transportation last week told The Forum that, after a lengthy study, the agency has decided to scale back the pedestrian plaza in Ozone Park near City Line.

For months, the DOT and civic leaders have heard myriad complaints from small business owners in the area regarding the open space on 101st Avenue at Drew Street and Liberty Avenue. Many have said the plaza has greatly affected their bottom lines.

According to a DOT spokesperson, the department will pull back a portion of the plaza on 101st Avenue to restore metered parking spaces along the block. The change is expected to take place before the end of the year, weather permitting.

A small step, but one the business owners undoubtedly hope will lead to a restoration of clientele.

Discuss your ideas for the Pavilion

Photo from The 1939 World's Fair

From Brownstoner Queens:

This Saturday, November 1st, People for the Pavilion and Architecture for Humanity are setting up information tables around the borough to talk with Queens residents on the past and present of the New York State Pavilion. Reps will be asking passerby what they know about the historic structure and what they’d like it to become. Currently, People for the Pavilion is working to revitalize the towers for community use, with growing support from politicians. If you’d like to stop by and share your thoughts, tables will be out in Diversity Plaza, 37th Road between 73rd and 74th Streets, Corona Plaza, Roosevelt Avenue between National Street and 104th Street, and Queens Library: Flushing, 47-17 Main Street, from 11 am to 3 pm.

Under-el sitting areas opened

From DNA Info:

There's a new place to sit in the neighborhood, as the second of two public plazas under the elevated 7 train line is now open.

Officials cut the ribbon Friday on Lowery Plaza under the 40th Street Station in Sunnyside, which has been made over into a public gathering place with tables, chairs and plants, according to the Sunnyside Shine Business Improvement District.

The BID is managing the new site as part of the Department of Transportation's NYC Plaza Program, along with Bliss Plaza, which opened under the 46th Street Station in July.

I don't know who would want to sit underneath an elevated train with traffic whizzing by on both sides of them, but whatever floats their boats...

Future of crappy plaza still under debate

From the Queens Courier:

Supporters of the controversial Ozone Park pedestrian plaza defended the space during a meeting about the plaza’s future, calling it an oasis in a neighborhood that is starved of public space.

But others said the plaza, located on Drew Street and 101st Avenue, is detrimental to business owners who feel that the loss of parking and the cut-off of two-way traffic is causing sales to drop.

“We wanted to create an open environment for the community,” said Darma Diaz, chief operating officer for the Bangladesh American Community Development and Youth Services Corporation (BACDYS), which is responsible for the upkeep of the plaza. “This plaza gives the opportunity for the community to have a place to go.”

She noted that public space is so minimal in the area that children have to use the nearby municipal meter lot, located at Elderts Lane and Glenmore Avenue in Brooklyn, for activities.

“This is the only place we have in our neighborhood where children could get together,” said one attendee of the Aug. 21 meeting at Queens Borough Hall. “We have never had a place for us to get together [until the plaza].”

But Khemraj Sadoo, owner of Super Clean Laundromat, located on the same street as the plaza, said there is viable space just two blocks down on Elderts Lane in Brooklyn and wants the plaza moved.

“We need the plaza moved,” Sadoo said. “Who will accept such a plaza in front of his face with such loss of business?”

I don't know, every time I see a photo of this plaza, it is empty. Maybe the community doesn't really need or want it. As for children getting together here...to do what?

Pedestrian plaza has become total crap

From the Queens Courier:

It started out as a beautification and community development project, but a pedestrian plaza on the Brooklyn-Queens border is an eyesore that is detrimental to business, locals say.

Five parking spots were permanently removed last November when the Department of Transportation (DOT) built the plaza at Drew Street and 101st at City Line.

“This plaza has totally crippled my business,” said Ahmad Ubayda, owner of the 99 Cent Ozone Park Discount Hardware store on the corner of the block. “This has been my worst year of business because they took away parking spaces for my customers but aren’t even using them.”

The site has deteriorated since its opening, locals charged.

Four tables and 12 chairs set up in a small section of the plaza while most of the space isn’t used.

Initial plans called for ample seating space, permanent bench seating and bike parking. When the plaza was first built there were plenty of chairs and tables, some even with umbrellas.

But a few weeks after its grand opening much of the furniture, which was chained up to a nearby light pole, was stolen and it hasn’t been fully replaced since, according to residents.

Now the plaza has just four tables, 12 chairs, two permanent benches and no bike parking space.

Moreover, the Bangladesh American Community Development and Youth Services Corporation (BACDYS), a local nonprofit organization, is responsible for the plaza’s upkeep, according to the DOT. Yet garbage overflowed from several cans and littered the floors on Monday.