3
QUEENS WEEKLY, DECEMBER 29, 2019
City Councilman Costa Constantinides and other officials
for the groundbreaking on a new playground at PS 84Q in
Astoria. Courtesy of The Trust for Public Land
BY BILL PARRY
City Councilman Costa
Constantinides went back
to his old school to helped
break ground on a new, student
designed playground
at PS 84Q, located at 22-45
41st St., in Astoria.
The playground will be
built through The Trust
for Public Land’s New York
City Playgrounds Program
and will include a running
track, turf field, two play
equipment areas, basketball
hoops, game tables, benches
and green infrastructure
elements including permeable
pavers and specifically
chosen plantings and trees.
“As a PS 84 alumni and a
neighbor who grew up just
across the street from this
school, I have many fond
memories of this outdoor
space, from throwing a football
to chasing baseball into
the street, this schoolyard
was a place of happiness and
I’m incredibly proud to have
helped make the investment
to transform this concrete
lot into a vibrant green open
space that will better serve
PS 84 and the larger northern
Astoria community,”
Constantinides said. “The
new schoolyard will add
many new play elements like
an amphitheater, a turf field,
and even an outdoor classroom.
Even better, green
infrastructure elements are
incorporated into the design
which will make this play
space more sustainable. I’m
excited to see this project get
started and look forward to
its completion.”
Since 1996, working
with the city, The Trust for
Public Land has designed
and/or built more than
200 school and community
playgrounds across the five
boroughs, benefiting more
than 4 million New Yorkers
who live within a 10-minute
walk of one of these sites.
The $1.5 million PS 84 playground
will bring nearly
18,000 residents within a
ten-minute walk of a park
when it opens in the fall of
2020.
The green infrastructure
design elements, made
possible in part through
a partnership with the
city’s Department of Environmental
Protection, is a
hallmark of The Trust for
Public Land’s playground
work. The features help to
improve the city’s resistance
to major storms by
reducing stormwater runoff
that can flood streets
and overwhelm sewer systems,
allowing untreated
water to end up in rivers
and bays.
The playground design
was led by students, helping
them gain valuable knowledge
and life skills like
budgeting, negotiations,
and planning. In addition
to being a fun, recreational
space, the playground will
function as an outdoor
classroom for students to
explore nature, learn about
environmental science
and take part in physical
education and after-school
activities.
“The student-designed
and environmentallyfriendly
playground will be
a first-class, state-of-the-art
recreational resource for
Astoria,” Katz said.
Astoria Boulevard station
reopens after renovations
BY BILL PARRY
The MTA reopened the
Astoria Boulevard subway
station following a ninemonth
closure and marking
the on-time completion of the
first phase of critical work
that will eventually include
four new elevators and other
accessibility features.
During the closure, work
crews safely demolished and
rebuilt the station’s mezzanine
with more clearance
to prevent strikes by trucks
traveling beneath the station
structure. The station will
remain open to the public as
work on the broader accessibility
components continue
with a full completion of the
station expected in the fall of
next year.
“Our customers were absolutely
thrilled to return to
the station last night and I’m
thrilled for them,” New York
City Transit President Andy
Byford said. “”I’m proud of
the team that delivered this
complicated phase of the
project safely, on time and
on budget, and excited for
when we finish the job with
complete accessibility at the
station.”
When the entire project
at the Astoria Boulevard
station, which began in September
of 2018, it will have
two street-to-mezzanine elevators
and two mezzanineto
platform elevators. Additional
accessibility features,
rebuilt elevated walkways,
new benches, finished platform
stair enclosures, new
digital service information
signage, and a pair of new
street-to-mezzanine staircases
are also set to be incorporated
by the time the project
is completed.
Stations along the N/W
subway line have not had
such renovations since they
opened more than 100 years
ago in 1917. So far, NYC Transit
has completed much-needed
repairs and renovations
at the 30 Avenue, 36 Avenue,
39 Av-Dutch Kills, Broadway
and Ditmars Boulevard stations.
Crews replaced thousands
of feet of track and 10
The Astoria Boulevard station on the N/W subway line is back in service after a nine-month
renovation.
switches along the line to
address deteriorating track
components and reduce
train noise.
Age and increasingly extreme
weather have taken
their toll at each of the stations
along the elevated line
to the point where deteriorated
steel and concrete had
to be replaced.
“Our commitment to
upgrading the infrastructure
throughout this area of
Queens is a huge win for local
residents and will vastly
improve the customer experience,”
Byford said.
Since the Astoria Boulevard
station was closed
in March, workers also
strengthened column foundations,
built four new mezzanine
to-platform staircases,
rehabilitated platforms,
installed new LED lighting
and canopy roofs. Artists
also completed work on new
glass at both the mezzanine
and the platform level stair
enclosures.
City Councilman Costa
Constantinides has long
called on the MTA to install
elevators at every station
along the Astoria line, and
the agency announced plans
to build them at some stations
in the coming years,
after losing a lawsuit charging
the MTA was not ADAcompliant.
“Last night, trains officially
began to stop at Astoria
Boulevard again. This has
been a long few months for a
lot of us who use this station,
but I’m glad to see the authority
kept its word on finishing
this December,” Constantinides
said. “Our community
will continue to hold them accountable,
however, to ensure
the elevators are installed on
time. Astoria has been an
accessibility desert for faro
too long, and we won’t stop
fighting until every station in
western Queens can be used
by everyone.”
State Senator Michael
Gianaris, a frequent critic of
the MTA, said, “I am pleased
the Astoria Boulevard station
has finally re-opened. It provides
an important service to
thousands of western Queens
commuters each day. I look
forward to the long awaited
elevators being completed in
the coming months.”
Meanwhile, Gianaris said
he “celebrated” the MTA’s
announcement that they
plan on adding elevators to
three stations in western
Queens, at the 33rd Street-
Rawson Avenue and the 46th
Street stations on the 7 line
in Sunnyside and the Court
Square/23rd Street station
on the E/M line in Long Island
City as part of the next
capital plan.
“While there is still a
long way to go in making the
entire subway system 100%
accessible, these elevators
represent a critical step forward,”
Gianaris said.
Astoria school to get
brand new playground