News and Local Events, May 2010
, April 29, 2010
LIC Area Events
Rally against closing Ladder Co. #116 in Dutch Kills, Fri. May 7, 11 AM
Councilmember Van Bramer invites concerned citizens and neighborhood residents. 37-20 29th Street, LIC.
LIC Artists Open Studios, Sat. & Sun., May 22-23, 1 - 6 PM
See works of over 200 artists at major studio buildings. http://www.licartists.org/
Dutch Kills Civic Association, Thurs. May 13
Presentation on proposed 20-story dormitory on Northern Blvd. at Growing Up Green Charter School, 39-37 28th Street, 7:30 PM. http://www.dutchkillscivic.com/
Queens Taste of the World, May 18, 2010
QEDC features over 40 restaurants at Citi Field. Buy your ticket here.
Exhibit of NY Area Artists Opens at MoMA PS1, May 23
Summer Events at Water Taxi Beach
Enjoy stunning views of midtown Manhattan on a real beach just a short walk from Vernon Blvd. Summer DJ parties and other nighttime events start soon, with the 4th Annual NYC Food Film Festival on June 25.
LIC Business News
Video coverage of Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer at LICBDC Breakfast
At our April 21 breakfast, Council Member Van Bramer discussed how the City can keep the cost of doing business in NYC competitive; improving 7 train services; local parking; and a library for Hunters Point. Read the summary and see it all online.
New York Times profile: "Welcome to Queens. Please stay for awhile"
April 21, 2010
"Queens Plaza has the distinction of being the gateway to Queens, a traveler’s first sight after alighting from Manhattan via the Queensboro Bridge....Yet development, even if gradual, has helped strengthen the area’s identity — having been given a big push in 2001 from an influential city rezoning and, since then, from new residents enamored of its unusually quick commute to Manhattan. Some believe the changes may signal Queens Plaza’s future as one of those up-and-coming zones coveted by savvy investors and practical home shoppers....
...Businesses are investing. Last month, JetBlue Airways announced that it would soon quit its Forest Hills headquarters and move its nearly 1,000 employees to a historic building on Queens Plaza North (the runner-up site was Orlando, Fla.). Similarly Gotham Center, a 21-story glass building rising on the site of the former Queens Municipal Parking Garage, will by next year house the city’s Department of Health, bringing 2,800 employees into the neighborhood. There is an increasing supply of hotels, from budget to luxury; a number of new places are up and running, and more are on the way. The city is also in the process of replacing sidewalks and lighting, and adding crosswalks and bicycle lanes.
“You have a real sense of activity and movement,” said Gayle Baron, the executive director of the Long Island City Business Improvement District. “It’s not all fully realized yet, but it’s really coming, and you see how far it’s progressed in the past four or five years.” She says her hope is that the improved streetscape and residential appeal of the area will spur the “normal evolution of services,” bringing in retail outlets, sit-down restaurants, drugstores and other amenities that have generally been lacking. And lately she has noted several hopeful indicators like the opening last year of the speakeasy-style cocktail lounge Dutch Kills on Jackson Avenue a few blocks from the Queens Plaza subway station.
Click here for full article.
. Photos by Audrey Gottlieb.