SEPTEMBER 22, 2019 Your Neighborhood — Your News®
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Gloomy feeling over Sunnyside plan
Anti-development crowd gives city earful over multibillion-dollar railyard idea
Bayside High
seeks more
equal funding
A hearing on the development of Sunnyside Yards projected a cost of $22 billion and left many residents with
questions concerning quality of life. Photo: Mark Hallum/QNS
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UPDATED EVERY DAY AT TIMESLEDGER.COM
BY MARK HALLUM
Protesters did not let Monday
night’s Sunnyside Yards hearing
commence without vocal
opposition, as groups expressed
distrust toward the Economic
Development Corporation’s
plan to deck over 180 acres of
rail yard.
Among the loudest groups
protesting in the cafeteria of the
Aviation High School in Sunnyside
were Queens Neighborhoods
United (QNU), who brought their
beef with the EDC back to conflict
of Amazon HQ2 which they
referred to as a backroom deal.
And while QNU and other organizations
were making a din in
the cafeteria, the teacher’s lounge
saw members of the public were
asking the planning consulting
team leader Vishaan Chakrabarti
and the EDC’s Adam Grossman
Meager what would happen
to their community in terms
fabric and infrastructure.
“We really believe that if
Queens is going to maintain the
diversity that it has today … It’s
going to need more affordable
homes. It’s going to need more
access to jobs. It’s going to need
better transportation, and more
parks schools and healthcare,”
Chakrabarti said. “The city,
generally, we’re facing a lot of
long-term challenges in terms
of climate change, affordability,
economic opportunity. We just
think it would be foolish to not
look at Sunnyside Yards in light
of the needs of what both Queens
has and the city has.”
While an earlier feasibility
study placed the Sunnyside
Yards project between $16
billion to $19 billion, the new
price tag is marked at $22 billion,
which critics say should be
spent on existing problems in
existing neighborhoods.
“Now is the time to speak out
against luxury development and
hyper-gentrification in western
Queens. Mayor de Blasio and
the EDC should not be dumping
billions into new luxury developments
while NYCHA needs
billions for critical maintenance
and repairs. We need good, truly
affordable housing for all and
an end to homelessness. Invest
billions to solve these problems,
not hyper-gentrify our neighbor-
UPDATED EVERY DAY AT QNS.BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
City Councilman Paul Vallone
and the Bayside High School Parent
Teacher Association and fellow
elected officials rallied outside
the school on Sept. 13 calling
on the City Department of Education
(DOE) to provide 100 percent
equitable funding.
Congresswoman Grace Meng,
State Senator John Liu, and State
Assemblyman Edward Braunstein
joined Vallone across the
street from the entrance of Bayside
High School, located at 32-
24 Corporal Kennedy St., which
has only received 83 percent to 90
percent of the funding amount expected
based upon the DOE’s Fair
Student Funding (FSF) formula.
The school faces an over $3
million shortfall this year, according
to Vallone.
“Strides to bring Bayside High
School fair funding are critical
to ensure educators have the resources
they need to contribute
to continue student success and
high graduation rates,” Vallone
said. “I applaud the PTA on their
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