FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.queenscourier.com jUNE 25, 2015 • The Queens Courier 27 LIC ‘suffering from the side effects of its very success’ BY LIAM LA GUERE [email protected] @LiamLaGuerre It has been on the minds of Long Island City leaders for a while, and during the second annual LIC Summit on Tuesday it was brought to light during the first panel entitled “City within the City.” “It” refers to the struggle to maintain balance between building new residential and commercial structures while keeping older manufacturing spaces, which traditionally form the backbone of Long Island City. The Long Island City Partnership, which co-hosted the LIC Summit with The Queens Courier and brokerage Modern Spaces, was even Pinsky, vice president of RXR Realty, during the panel in front of more than 300 professionals and leaders in the Museum of Moving Image. Pinsky pointed out that high demand to move to Long Island City causes land valuations Famous Ribs to surge to levels where only residential projects would make financial sense, which stifles commercial development. In turn, developers convert industrial buildings into offices and retail, displacing old manufacturing jobs that many city residents without higher education have relied on for a long time. But Pinsky’s point was challenged BEFORE AFTER We have unlimited seating and plenty of room for large parties Renderings by Jesse Winter FREE DELIVERY awarded a $100,000 grant in January to conduct a planning study of the neighborhood that would, in part, find an answer to maintaining the balance. The study is still in its preliminary stages, so a solution has not yet been found. “Like with the city as a whole, in some ways Long Island City is suffering from the side effects of its very success,” said Seth & DINNER FREE DELIVERY Like us on Facebook! Follow us on Twitter! FREE Half Onion Loaf With purchase of Entrée One Coupon Per Table or Group (not valid on split checks). Not to be Combined With Other Offers. Must present this Queens Courier Coupon. Expires 7/15/15 FREE Potato Skins With purchase of Entrée One Coupon Per Table or Group (not valid on split checks). Not to be Combined With Other Offers. Must present this Queens Courier Coupon. Expires 7/15/15 FREE Half Onion Loaf With purchase of Entrée One Coupon Per Table or Group (not valid on split checks). Not to be Combined With Other Offers. Must present this Queens Courier Coupon. Expires 7/15/15 FREE Boneless Bites With purchase of $40 Take Out Only One Coupon Per Table or Group (not valid on split checks). Not to be Combined With Other Offers. Must present this Queens Courier Coupon. Expires 7/15/15 FREE Steak Flatbread With purchase of $60 Take Out Only One Coupon Per Table or Group (not valid on split checks). Not to be Combined With Other Offers. Must present this Queens Courier Coupon. Expires 7/15/15 FREE Kicking Shrimp & 2 Liter Soda With purchase of $80 Take Out Only One Coupon Per Table or Group (not valid on split checks). Not to be Combined With Other Offers. Must present this Queens Courier Coupon. Expires 7/15/15 Open 7 Days Mon-Thurs 11:00am - 11:00pm Fri 11:00am - 12:00am Sat 11:00am - 12:00am & Sun 11:00am - 10:00pm Roma’s® STEAKS New York 718) 224-TONY (8669) by Kathryn Wylde, president of the Partnership for New York City, who urged against preserving spaces for older manufacturing and looking toward jobs for companies of the future, such as 3-D printing firm Shapeways and other technology businesses. These would require higher levels of education, which institutions such as the new Cornell Tech campus on Roosevelt Island would provide. “The emotional pull of manufacturing as we think of it in the past, the good bluecollar jobs for a population that didn’t have Ph.D.s, is not the future of manufacturing,” Wylde said. “Robots are going to replace people in most manufacturing.” Pinsky disagreed partly and countered that some old sections of manufacturing will still be important for the “foreseeable future,” such as construction, warehousing and distribution, because they will provide necessary services for businesses in the city. He added that there is a feeling that areas in LIC could easily become zoned residential and many workers would lose jobs as businesses close or move. The problem of finding balance in Long Island City could be answered with a rezoning. Some of the first panelists agreed that the current proposal to rezone certain sections of Long Island City for more high-rise housing has to be examined more closely by the City Planning Department. “I think that this is an opportunity for us to strike that right balance and find the density for the affordable housing that the administration is looking for,” Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer said, “but also preserve some of the things that are worth preserving.” LIC now and how it will be in two years
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