Summer Gathering
June 23, 6 - 8:30 PM
Sculpture Center, LIC

 
Join us for an enjoyable evening of wine, hors d'ouevres, raffle prizes, culture and networking at LIC's Sculpture Center.  This renovated trolley car factory is located just off Jackson Avenue, between Queens Plaza and Court Square.  For map and directions, click here.   Purchase your ticket online.

LIC Business Improvement District
Annual Meeting, June 29, 9 - 10:30 AM

Come to Silvercup Studios for an update on Queens Plaza and Jackson Avenue capital improvements, election of board members & awards.  Networking & continental breakfast.  No charge to attend.  RSVP required.  
 

Early Registration for B2B Expo on November 17
Pay in full for exhibit table & listing in program by Monday, September 13 for 10% discounts. 

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Sponsor Profiles

Citibank provides services that help LIC businesses grow, stay competitive and keep customers satisfied.

The Law Office of Robert Altman specializes in tax exemption programs and real estate services. 

Mount Sinai Hopital of Queens serves a community of nearly 400,000 residents.

Palm Bay International ranks among the fastest growing sources of premium imported wine and spirits in the US.

SDS Global Logistics has been a leading provider of global logistics
and transportation services
for over 60 years.

Webline Designs is a full service web design and development studio.

York Scaffold Equipment Corp. is a major scaffolding provider to the construction industry.

Additional co-sponsors: di Domenico & Partners, Eastern American Data Voice, Green Mountain Graphics, Law Office of Barbara Pryor.

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LIC Area Events and News

LIC in the news: middle income housing project on Queens waterfront; LIC profiled in Canadian paper; a report from LICBDC's real estate breakfast; City's Cool Roofs program re-launched in LIC; new LIC residential buildings come to market; roof top farming on Standard Motors Building; Weill Cornell Medical College office to open.

Events in brief: new waterfront playground opens; Taste of LIC and Dutch Kills Bar on NY1; free boating on the East River; documentary on LIC arts scene; Water Taxi Beach; Tournesol; business openings include Cuban steakhouse and Jackson Avenue grocery.  Click here for details and links to full articles. 

LIC Business News Stories

- City Proceeds with Middle Income Housing Project on Queens Waterfront
- LIC Profiled in Canadian Paper
- LICBDC Real Estate Breakfast
- City Re-Launches Cool Roofs Program Developed in LIC
- Three New LIC Buildings About to Hit the Market
-  Roof Top Farming Underway on LIC's Standard Motors Building
- Weill Cornell Med College Office to Open in LIC
Click here for full articles.

New LIC waterfront playground opens at Gantry Park
The new 8,000 s.f. playground was packed within minutes of opening. 

Taste of LIC on NY1
Sheila Lewandowski of the Chocolate Factory Theater and Gianna Cerbone of Manducatis Rusticas interviewed about the annual event.   See the video.

Free boating on the East River
LIC Community Boathouse offers weekday and weekend kayak rides. 

Documentary explores LIC arts scene

LIC Bar Dutch Kills featured on NY1
“Time travel may not be possible, but the speakeasy-style Dutch Kills Bar in LIC, Queens tries to give New Yorkers a taste of times past.”  Click here for the NY 1 video. 

Water Taxi Beach LIC is now open for its sixth season, with spectacular views of the Manhattan skyline, beach volleyball, burgers, and outdoor dance parties.

Distinctively French brunch at Tournesol Bistro
Neighborhood residents and business people come in during the week. On weekends people from all over the city come for brunch before heading to Gantry Park or PS1.  The servers are all French.  Profiled in the Wall Street Journal.

Financing seminar, June 15, 9 AM
Improving credit, and access to capital for small businesses.  ACCION and LaGuardia Community College.  Call (646) 833-4515 for location and to RSVP.

Incentives for Hiring Long-term Unemployed
NYS Dept. of Labor is administering the HIRE Act.  It entitles businesses who hire people who have been out of work for 60 days or more to receive a 6.2% payroll tax cut on wages paid to them until December 31, 2010. 

news from liQcity.com

Now open: Madera, Vernon Blvd’s brand new Cuban Grill & Steakhouse; 

Caffeina, the coffee shop in the bottom of the LIC Art Center; the old Oh So Good Deli on the corner of Jackson & Thompson is now the ENC Market; and the Natural Frontier Market grocery, in the ground floor of 12-01 Jackson Ave. 

All the potholes reported by LICBDC staff to NYC Dept. of Transportation have been filled.  If you know of any potholes, please contact us about them.

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City program paints roofs white, cuts air conditioning as much as 50%

First tested last year on LIC's YMCA, Plaxall and PS1 buildings, the City's Cool Roofs program encourages building owners to paint their black or gray roofs white, which keeps buildings cooler. Columbia University researchers discovered a cool roof can reduce air-conditioning costs by 50% in a one-story building and 25% in a two-story building. That will lower your electric bills - and reduce the likelihood of blackouts and brownouts. Read more here - and find out how to cool your roof.  


Astoria Times, May 20, 2010

http://www.yournabe.com/articles/2010/05/21/astoria_times/news/at_whiteroofs_20100520.txt

Con Ed, city launch Cool Roofs program developed in LIC

May 20, 2010, Astoria Times

As summer approaches and the weather heats up, New York City and Con Edison officials are planning to keep the city and parts of Queens cool while lowering energy costs using a new, green-technology program called Cool Roofs, which was developed in Long Island City.

The program is a city initiative recently started to encourage building owners to change their rooftops’ colors from black to white, using paint or a special coating, or covering their roofs with plants because these materials absorb less sunlight than blacktop surfaces. This helps combat what researchers call “heat island effect.” The result is cooler buildings, which researchers said can actually keep the city cooler.

“Heat island effect takes place when dark roofs absorb light during the day and radiate the heat back into the atmosphere during the night,” Con Ed spokesman Allan Drury said. “We’ve decided as a company to do whatever we can to preserve the environment and the Cool Roofs program is one of those measures.”

City Department of Buildings spokesman Tony Sclafani said because of heat island effect, temperatures in urban areas like Manhattan are typically higher than in more suburban areas.

“When you cool your roof and coat it with a reflective white coating, you not only can reduce a building’s energy costs, but also reduce the temperature in your neighborhood,” he said.

A team of researchers led by Columbia research scientist Stuart Griffin recently completed the study at Con Ed’s Learning Research Center in Long Island City. They discovered a cool roof can reduce air-conditioning costs by 50 percent in a one-story building and 25 percent in a two-story building.

“A cool roof absorbs 80 percent less heat than a traditional dark-colored roof and can lower in-door temperatures by up to 20 degrees on a hot day,” Sclafani said. “By decreasing the temperature, a cool roof can lower electrical bills and reduce energy consumption, and that can help reduce the likelihood of blackouts and brownouts. So that’s the impact. It’s making our city more [energy] efficient.”

Con Ed has already converted several of its Queens facilities from black to white or green using plants, including a service center in College Point, and a total of three substations in Newtown, north Queens, and Jamaica. Using plants instead of white materials is more efficient and helps insulate buildings in the winter, but it is also more expensive, according to Drury.

“The [Learning Center] roof has a green section and a white section,” he said. “The green roof reduces heat gains by up to 84 percent and winter heat losses by up to 37 percent compared to black roofs.”

To access City support for painting your roof white, contact info@licbdc.org or 718.786.5300 x 27. 

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Sunnyside Chamber Update

An update from our fellow local business organization, from Sunnyside Chamber president Ira Greenberg.  Their new Business Improvement District, local events, arts, advocacy goals, and business directory…

Sunnyside Chamber Update
Chamber President Ira Greenberg, May 28, 2010

http://www.sunnysidechamber.org/

When I was elected as the president of the Sunnyside Chamber of Commerce in 2009 I was both honored and challenged.  My other full-time jobs – parent and attorney were enough to fill my time.  It was an honor for my peers in the businesses in Sunnyside to have the confidence in me to lead us during difficult economic times. No one on our hardworking Board of Directors, including myself is paid.

The Sunnyside Chamber of Commerce includes the area bounded by 39^th Street, 50^th Avenue, 52^nd Street and 39^th Avenue.  We currently have over 100 members, some from neighboring Woodside, mostly small businesses employing 0 to 5 employees. Membership is open to all area businesses and organizations and some of our activities are described below. We hold monthly luncheon meetings at Dazies Restaurant with guest speakers on the second Tuesday of every month except July and August, open to the public, at a cost of $20.

SPEAKERS: Topics of past luncheons this year included topics such as “social networking” from an industry leader and historic Queensborough Bridge /LIC from an Astoria historian. Scheduled for May 11 are NYPD experts addressing us on computer fraud, and on June 8, John Young, Director of the Queens Office of New York City Planning Department.  Mr. Young will be speaking about the planned rezoning of the commercial strips in Sunnyside. Our advocacy includes asking City Planning to consider repealing the prohibition of sidewalk cafes on Queens Boulevard as part of their comprehensive effort.

NYC GOVERNMENT WORKING WITH US: As a result of the Consumer Affairs Commissioner Jonathan Mintz speaking at one of our lunch meetings last year, the Department of Consumer Affairs staff came to the Sunnyside to go door to door to inform merchants regarding the City’s rules and regulations – not to look for violations but to help merchants comply with Consumer Affairs Regulations so that our businesses can avoid fines and find out what Consumer Affairs has to offer them.

COMPREHENSIVE DIRECTORY: We launched our new website in January which we invite you to see at http://www.sunnysidechamber.org. Our site includes the “Sunnyside Directory,” a comprehensive directory which includes over 750 entries of members and non-members alike, with telephone numbers, addresses and website links. Our website has been at the top of the search engines for fourteen years for all things Sunnyside. Want to be listed? Email me at IraGreenberg@sunnysidechamber.org.

OUTSIDE RECOGNITION: The Chamber encourages visitors to Sunnyside, this month recently rated third most livable neighborhood in all of NYC by New York Magazine, making Sunnyside the highest rated area in Queens. Known as one of the most ethnically diverse communities in the world, we can boast many great and interesting restaurants, some Michelin Guide and Zagat, rated at all price ranges. As a resident, when dining out, I find no reason to leave the area.

OLD TIME RADIO SHOW: The “On-Stage Radio Show,” a Sunnyside Chamber benefit is on for October 4. Customized commercial jingles will be sold for 1940’s prices to our businesses. Raffles, prizes and excerpts from “Bob and Ray” skits will be presented in a formal gala, directed by and starring many of our local actors and theater folk, also Chamber members.

THE ARTS: Sunnyside Chamber of Commerce is chock full of creative people and we are working with member SunnysideArtists.org, an organization of fine artists, to present three art shows June 13. The three venues, many of our businesses, and two theater productions are participants in “Queens Art Express,” (QAX) a borough-wide arts festival along the #7 train. QAX partners with the MTA to show the world Queens fine art, theater, and dance on the weekend of June 10-13. Our venues are “Art Fair at Queen of Angels III,” on the affordable art fair model, “The Art of Architecture” with special emphasis on Sunnyside Gardens, and “Portrait of the Exquisite,” a juried show. Theatrical presentations include those by Unity Stage Company and Thalia Spanish Theater. More details on our site coming and at http://queensartexpress.com/events/neighborhood/#sunnysidehood.

XBESTPIX PHOTOGRAPHY CONTEST: Our website photography contest, XbestPix (ten best pix”) culminating in a live and online exhibit and wine reception, will launch this week. Contest entry is free and open worldwide.

UPCOMING TOURS: Local tours in the works, making use of our unique features, are the historic Calvary Cemetery Tour, the newly land marked and architecturally celebrated Sunnyside Gardens, and the Rail Tour, which will feature the rich history of trains beneath and below ground, still actively changing in Long Island City and Sunnyside with East Side Access making its way under the historic Sunnyside Yards.

SUNNYSIDE SHINES: We are proud to say that the Chamber was instrumental in forming a Business Improvement District for Queens Boulevard and Greenpoint Avenue in 2008. Our past Chamber president worked with a team of our members to form the BID, and is now the Chairman of “Sunnyside Shines,” the Sunnyside BID. Sunnyside Shines is located along Queens Boulevard and Greenpoint, and seeks to make Sunnyside even more appealing. Our organizations are separate but we work together when we can. Some of wonderful member restaurants are working with Sunnyside Shines to hold a “Taste of Sunnyside” that would feature all our food stars under one roof on one evening in October of this year.

WE ADVOCATE WITH THE CITY:  We strongly seek reconfiguration of traffic in and around Sunnyside as result of community opinion. Recent changes such as removal of our bus stop used by over 200 seniors, ticketing of vehicles seemingly being given more attention than traffic safety, and complete North/South street closures, have not been beneficial to the businesses or pedestrian safety.  Queens Boulevard is not a super highway just for the convenience of commuters. We advocate that “necking down” needs to be looked at to provide safer streets and pedestrian space.  We think that traffic diverted from closed through streets that are now closed off has made other through streets congested and dangerous. Reducing rather than closing would allow for traffic flow at a reasonable speed and improved pedestrian safety throughout our community, and moreover help accessibility to our businesses.

WE WANT YOU: Come to a luncheon, $20, open to the public. Our Chamber has long been called “the most active Chamber of Commerce in the City,” and we see ourselves attracting the best and the brightest businesspeople, organizations, and residents through our open and voluntary membership. The $125 yearly membership is the same for global corporations or yoga instructors. Individuals not joining as businesses may join for $25 a year. We want everyone to have a place to share new ideas, work for a better place to live and work, and continue a tradition that began in 1947.