Nearly 300 people attend town hall and provide feedback and ideas
November 6, 2023
Long Island City – On Monday, September 6, Council Member Won was at Culture Lab LIC with the New York City Department of City Planning (DCP), WXY Studios, over a dozen City agencies, and residents for the first town hall to kick off the comprehensive planning process for the Long Island City Neighborhood Study, One LIC. Nearly 300 residents from Long Island City attended the town hall and provided feedback at 8 topic-specific stations staffed by representatives from 13 city agencies. The feedback ranged from the need for deeply affordable housing, public housing infrastructure needs, to increasing school seats in Long Island City.
Open House Stations:
- Economic and Workforce Development
- Arts and Culture
- Housing
- Land Use and Zoning
- Social Service and Education
- Transportation and Mobility
- Open Space and Public Realm
- Climate and Resilience
City Agencies in Attendance at the Town Hall:
- Department of Culture and Affairs (DCLA)
- Department of Parks and Recreation (Parks)
- Department of Transportation (DOT)
- Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD)
- Economic Development Corporation (EDC)
- Housing Preservation and Development (HPD)
- Mayor’s Office of Workforce Training
- Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA)
- NYC Housing Authority (NYCHA)
- Queens Public Library (QPL)
- Small Business Services (SBS)
The study area extends from the East River and Gantry Plaza State Park at the southwest, north to Queensbridge Houses, the Long Island City Industrial Business Zone, and east to Court Square and 23rd Street.
For the past 20 years, Long Island City has experienced rapid and unsustainable growth that has displaced communities and lacks affordable housing, adequate infrastructure, jobs, green space, school seats, transportation and more. The city has taken a “project-by-project” approach to land use in Long Island City, focusing on individual sites and plans rather than a neighborhood-wide approach. This planning process — in addition to a separate planning effort for Northern Boulevard and Roosevelt Avenue — will take a holistic look at the study areas and engage the community through transparent, comprehensive planning frameworks that will develop the vision and goals of the community.
The One LIC comprehensive study aims to connect the disparate areas of Long Island City to make them into one cohesive neighborhood. This neighborhood study will culminate with recommendations for zoning changes, infrastructure investments, and other recommendations based on a community-led planning process.
“For years there has been a tale of two Long Island Cities, with disproportionately more investments and resources dedicated to communities near the waterfront, and a lack of investment in our Black and brown communities like in the Queensbridge Houses. Our town hall is the first step to bridging that gap and engaging in a truly community-led process to create one, cohesive Long Island City,” said Council Member Julie Won. “I’ve heard over and over about the need for affordable housing, job opportunities, public school spots for their children, more green space and parks, transportation, and so much more. With the community feedback collected from this town hall, we will be able to synthesize the data to shape a sustainable and equitably developed Long Island City and meet the long-term needs of our community.”
“The Long Island City Neighborhood Plan is a tremendous opportunity to bring new housing, jobs, open space, and climate resiliency to Western Queens. Thank you to Councilmember Won, WXY, Culture Lab LIC, and everybody who joined us this evening to help shape the future of our city,” said Dan Garodnick, Director of the Department of City Planning.
Through this process we want to see the revitalization of Queensbridge Park, an increase in capacity at the Western Queens PAL Daycare Center site, and a comprehensive plan for infrastructure for the Queensbridge Houses,” said Corrine Haynes, President, NYCHA Queensbridge Houses Resident Association. “As the Resident Association President and resident of the largest public housing development in the country, I’ve seen how the city and developers have left Queensbridge Houses out of the planning process. We’re here on day one to participate and make the plan make sense for Queensbridge.
“Over the last decade, infrastructure and school seats have simply not kept pace with the tremendous amount of development in Long Island City. The lack of school seats has become a crisis where we have schools with 180 children on the waiting list for kindergarten. This problem has been ignored for far too long and I’m glad we can now address it head-on. LIC is the “Jewel of NYC” and needs to be a place where families can stay for generations,” said Kelly Craig, President of the P.S. 78Q PTA
“There is a growing demand for middle school seats in Long Island City and the demand will only increase as the seemingly countless new apartment buildings continue to be built. Middle schools in particular are sorely needed as families like mine want to stay and see our kids grow up here with access to a great education. For Long Island City to become a success story, the children of LIC need to have flourishing new schools,” said Danielle LoPresti-Lee, Co-President of the P.S. 384Q PTA
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