28 THE QUEENS COURIER • JULY 25, 2019 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
editorial
Leaving out Queens residents again
Love them or hate them, the Citi Bike
transportation program has a singular
purpose: To provide more New Yorkers
with another aff ordable way of getting
where they need to go.
Since its inception back in 2013, the
bike-sharing program has enabled tens
of thousands of people to get moving. In
fact, it’s become so popular that the city
announced last week a Citi Bike expansion
STORY: Here are 11 places in Queens that will give you that
classic diner experience
SUMMARY: The borough is home to casual eateries that have
been around for decades and have gained a following among
locals as the perfect places to grab a great breakfast, a latenight
snack and everything in between.
REACH: 35,362 People Reached (as of 7/22/19)
that includes moving the program
further east over the next four years into
the Queens neighborhoods of Ridgewood,
Maspeth, Sunnyside, Woodside, Elmhurst,
Corona and Jackson Heights.
While that’s all well and good for those
communities, the Citi Bike program left
out areas of southeast Queens that could
really use extra wheels to get around. Th at
development irked local lawmakers such
as Councilwoman Adrienne Adams, who
said that “the many transportation deserts
and communities of color in Queens
have already waited far too long for Citi
Bike and many neighborhoods are still
being denied.”
Adams is not alone in that opinion. New
York Communities for Change recently
issued a report which identifi ed the
Rockaways and Jamaica as two areas of
Queens whose people could benefi t from
Citi Bike by more easily connecting them
to the few train lines available to them.
Th e truly bizarre aspect of Citi Bike’s
snub of southeast Queens is that the program
sought this time around to address
the very concerns that Adams and the
New York Communities for Change had
— but elsewhere. Citi Bike will be coming
THE QUEENS
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VICTORIA SCHNEPS-YUNIS
JOSHUA A. SCHNEPS
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ROBERT POZARYCKI
NIRMAL SINGH
EMILY DAVENPORT
JENNA BAGCAL, MARK HALLUM, KATRINA MEDOFF,
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CLIFF KASDEN, SAMANTHA SOHMER, ELIZABETH ALONI
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VICTORIA SCHNEPS-YUNIS
JOSHUA A. SCHNEPS
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to Brownsville, Brooklyn and Mott Haven
in the Bronx, two communities of color
sorely in need of better transit options.
Why did they leave southeast Queens
out?
Th e subway system ends in Jamaica.
Th e Long Island Rail Road has a handful
of stations in the southeastern Queens
neighborhoods of St. Albans, Hollis,
Queens Village, Locust Manor, Laurelton
and Rosedale which off er limited service
— but at a higher cost than the $2.75 fare
for a subway or bus ride.
Bus service in the region, much like
the rest of Queens, is woefully inadequate
and oft en crawling through local
streets that grow more and more congested
with every passing day. Th e MTA and
the city Department of Transportation
are working on a long-awaited redesign
of the Queens bus route network, but the
potential impact on the region remains
unknown.
It should be noted that the areas of
Queens that are gaining Citi Bike already
have numerous public transit options at
their disposal, including multiple subway
lines.
Southeast Queens residents deserve
better transportation, and making Citi
Bike available to them would give them
another aff ordable public option to get
around their own community.
For a city administration that touts the
importance of creating a more equitable
city for all, to exclude southeast Queens
from this great program is truly hypocritical.
Our government needs to start representing
and serving all of Queens.
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