SO, the city made the announcement today that “Long Island City, New York City’s fastest-growing neighborhood, will get a $180 million infusion of capital to build and improve schools, streets and parks.” Before you get too excited note that $95 million of it will be spent on sewers, $60 million on a new school that had already been announced, $10 million on street improvements – all of which are necessary infrastructure for the fastest growing neighborhood in the U.S. That leaves $15 million for parks, so maybe a better headline is “City Allots $15 million for Long Island City Parks.” That’s not chump change, but given the all but inevitable explosive growth, it’s as good a number as any for the city to announce. Of course the only problem is you can’t just create new parks out of thin air in an already densely populated area – there’s no land available and if there was it would easily consume the $15 million.
Hold that thought, as we look at the “context” behind the $180 mil announcement today, which was presented in a slick new website called LIC.NYC which asks and tries to answer the question of “As more people call LIC home,
there is increasing pressure on neighborhood resources …how do we address this?” One thing they allude to is taking advantage of public/private partnerships = enhancing zoning for developers = taller buildings = more people -> in return for some open space. They also mention the proposed new park from reclaimed land under the Queensborough Bridge, whose air quality compares favorably to that of Beijing and New Delhi.
Getting back to that $15 mil/no land problem, as long as the city is now taking a stab at comprehensive planning in Long Island City and given what are truly limited resources, why not give consideration to building that pedestrian bridge to Cornell Technion??? It will make the whole park area on the southern tip of Roosevelt Island vastly more accessible. 1 In addition, though further away, all the under-utilized amenities on Roosevelt Island will now become more viable for use on a regular basis – no land requirements necessary. Oh, then there are all the other tangibles and intangibles previously noted in regards to building a bridge. C’mon NYC, the opportunity is now to get creative.
//MENS Indoor Pickup Basketball in Hunters Point – play when you want every Monday and Wednesday from 7pm – 8:45pm at the high school on Center Blvd and 51st Ave. (ACTVF/Hunters Point Community Middle School) Only $10 per session. For more info go to LICYSL on meetup.com or licysl.org
NYC’s Fastest Growing Neighborhood Gets $180 Million Investment – more people = more toilets = more sewers
LIC.NYC – please read it all and splain it to me
Bellwether Gets Nod From Michelin – but no star …yet
New Yorkers Pack in the Pooches – “Long Island City has the highest proportion of dogs per capita”
Bike Kill Gleefully Slashes Through a Noreaster in Cop-Free Spot – aka Plaxall’s parking lot
Massa’s Pizzeria & Bar Nearing Completion – will be third coal-fired pizza place to open in Court Squ/Qnsboro Plaza recently
Walk The Abandoned Tracks of the Montauk Cutoff in LIC – yes you can
- likewise it will make the LIC waterfront and all its amenities vastly more accessible for residents of Roosevelt I. [↩]
Anonymous says
November 1, 2018 at 1:36 pmNY Magazine is linking to the different Bellwether restaurant, the one in Brooklyn. Oops!