The LIC Partnership held its 2nd Annual LIC Summit today. A few interesting tidbits were gleaned, but there’s not much left to say about LIC that hasn’t been said or isn’t really known. There was a lot of jawboning about residential edging out office space, and thus office space displacing light manufacturing, and hazy solutions for it, all of which require government subsidies, tax breaks, zoning changes, and variances. As if letting capitalism take its course combined with good regulation aren’t enough of a panacea.
Plus there was a lot of well trodden ground such as 7-train overcrowding, the new LIC North ferry stop (definitely coming, thinking at the top of Gantry Park), and dreams of an LIC-Greenpoint pedestrian bridge. Finally, when talk did turn to resi by the panelists and moderators, it was all about the need for affordable housing.
In all this ‘planning for the future’ talk, not mentioned in any depth were the needs of the current market rate renters and home owners. Namely schools and a rec center.
Also on this list, is the aforementioned subway overcrowding. So while most discussions focused on adding square footage to accommodate more people and businesses, little consideration was given to what this means for those living here now. This was not surprising, given that the organizer’s main job is to promote businesses and developers, but an outsider would be mistaken to think that it was an accurate snapshot of what it means to actually reside in LIC. Let’s be very clear about the future and the takeaway I got from the Summit, we can either have more necessities for current residents and less crowded conditions, or more affordable housing. Not both.
//Schools: speak of the devil, there’s a meeting of the Panel for Education Policy members regarding the fact that Long Island City needs to be included in the SCA Capital Plan for Fiscal Years 2015 to 2019 for new school construction considering that LIC has 22,000+ new residential units that will be constructed in the next five years some which is already in construction and the need for new schools in Long Island City will be great. The vote will be tonight: Tuesday June 23rd at 6:00 P.M. at Long Island City High School 14-30 Broadway, Long Island City, NY 11106. Please let your parents know. The Panel for Education Policy’s phone number is (212)-374-5038 and their email is panel@schools.nyc.gov.
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