14 THE QUEENS COURIER • OCTOBER 1, 2020 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Flushing business leader calls for delay to city’s
busway plan citing COVID outreach restrictions
BY BILL PARRY
bparry@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
A Flushing business leader wants the
city to hit the breaks on its controversial
plan to create a car-free busway on
Main Street.
Peter Tu, the president of the Flushing
Chinese Business Association, with its
nearly 1,500 members, is calling on the
Department of Transportation to postpone
the Oct. 1 implementation of the
2020 Main Street Busway Plan for at
least 30 days in order to convene formal
meetings with community stakeholders
including retail businesses, medical and
dental practices, restaurants, hotels and
other commercial businesses.
Tu’s organization retained retired judge
Randall T. Eng who sent a letter on Sept. 25
to DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg
formally requesting that the agency allow
more time for the concerns of the aff ected
businesses to be fully heard, saying that
due to the COVID-19 pandemic the agency’s
public outreach was either curtailed
or not completed.
Eng wrote that the expanded busway
plan would stretch 0.6 miles from
Sanford Avenue to Northern Boulevard
and the outreach eff orts were hampered
by COVID restrictions as well as language
barriers.
“In addition, the timing of the implementation
of the proposed busway cannot
be worse,” Eng wrote. “Like many other
businesses in New York, the pandemic
and the accompanying lockdown have
taken a substantial toll on the Flushing
businesses. Th ey are still struggling to gain
their footing and fi nancial stability aft er
the easing of the pandemic’s restrictions.
Implementing this busway at this precarious
time in the recovery will have a devastating
eff ect on many of the businesses.”
A spokesman for the DOT said the
agency has received the letter and did not
off er further comment. Eng included several
letters of support from elected offi -
cials as well as community and business
leaders.
“Flushing has been hit extremely hard
and we need to rally behind these businesses
right now and not stifl e their return
to business,” state Senator Toby Ann
Stavisky wrote. “I have personally seen it
fi rst-hand having visited Flushing during
the shutdown and now in the reopening
of Flushing.”
Councilman Peter Koo agreed writing
that the COVID-19 pandemic had a crippling
impact on all sectors of the community.
“As we work toward recovery, the city
of New York must take preventative measures
to protect those impacted by the
worsening fi nancial crisis, unemployment
and ongoing pandemic,” Koo said.
“Whether residents, businesses, or essential
services, we need to make sure any
large-scale infrastructure changes to our
community are fully vetted and appropriate
for all.”
Community Board 7 chairman Eugene
T. Kelty, Jr. added support for the postponement.
“Th e roll-out of a busway plan on the
heels of a pandemic which has aff ected
New York the hardest is not only untimely
but without adequate studies and planning,”
Kelty wrote. “According to the mayor’s
2019 Action Plan, there should be
stakeholder briefi ngs, on-street outreach,
public workshops and open houses, business
survey and shopper surveys which
were curtailed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Flushing businesses were locked
down by executive order and is just beginning
to re-open for business. To shut
down the heart of downtown Flushing
by implementing this busway will be just
another blow to this Asian community.”
Queens Chamber of Commerce
President Th omas J. Grech wrote that the
DOT presented no data that the proposal
of shutting down Main Street between
Sanford Avenue and Northern Boulevard
would speed up bus travel.
“Th e rerouting of the private cars off
Main Street to College Point and Union
Street will be displacing the congestion
from Main Street to these other streets,”
Grech wrote. “It will now cause congestion
on the side streets which are narrow.
I look forward to having meaningful discussions
and coming up with a plan that
will help the Flushing community.”
“The timing of the
implementation of the
proposed busway cannot
be worse.”
— Randall T. Eng
File photo
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