Feature
to small businesses,” Simotas said. “This
is especially true in Astoria where locally
owned restaurants and all kinds of small
businesses are the lifeblood of our com-munity.
The meeting should have opened
MTA’s eyes to the devastating impact
of full station closures, and prompted
it to reconsider any future plans for our
neighborhood.”
Roseann McSorley, the co-owner of
Katch Astoria, walked up and down 30th
Avenue before the meeting to hand out
flyers and invite shop owners to attend.
Though the bar is not located directly
along 30th Avenue, McSorley was trou-bled
by what she was hearing from her
neighbors.
“The effect of this is these businesses
rely on foot traffic and they rely on parking
capabilities on the street, and both of those
things have been taken away from them,”
she said. “The MTA has taken up not only
the subway space but the parking on the
street. Fences protrude at least three feet
out. They basically removed their livelihood
because there is no foot traffic.”
Since the shutdown, Katch Astoria has
had a revenue decrease of about 20 to
30 percent. McSorley has also had to lay
off kitchen staff and suspects that “other
shops will have to do the same.”
Photos by Angela Matua
Shahraj Khan runs Astoria Wireless on 30th Avenue.
www.qns.com I LIC COURIER I MARCH 2018 25
