WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES APRIL 9, 2020 29
BY ANGÉLICA ACEVEDO
AACEVEDO@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@QNS
Sunnyside Shines Business
Improvement District, Astoria
Together and Sunnyside Gardens
Park joined forces to create
a western Queens local business
source map, or “Who’s Open??,”
which is tracking 250 businesses
and counting.
The local organizations created
the map to provide real-time updates
on business hours and services that
have been dramatically impacted by
Governor Andrew Cuomo’s PAUSE
executive order.
“This is a sensible way to organize
our neighborhood and amplify the
businesses that are still prepping
the food, pouring the coffee, offering
dinner and drinks to go, and making
their local products available for the
rest of us,” said Alan Baglia, Queens
source map founder and organizer.
“So many of us are home and following
state guidelines to flatten the
curve. Little things like keeping
daily habits and ordering from our
favorite places will play a role in
helping us all get through this. It is
time more than ever to support the
local business and the workers that
are essential to our community.”
The listing was created by Sunnyside
Shines BID immediately after
the executive order was enacted,
with a focus on Greenpoint Avenue,
Queens Boulevard and areas south
of Queens Boulevard. The initial data
was then transferred to Google’s
My Maps feature and expanded
to include the Sunnyside business
districts of 43rd Avenue, Skillman
Avenue, as well as parts of Woodside,
Astoria and Long Island City.
In less than a week, “Who’s
Open??” is tracking more than 250
businesses.
These business include grocery
stores, corner markets, laundromats,
bike repair shops, takeout
and delivery options, as well as
other essential services including
emergency childcare for first responders
at Little Friends Schools
in Long Island City.
The map also points to a variety
staff solicitations via GoFundMe for
fitness studios as well as bars and
restaurants, including Tone Pilates
in Astoria, Suryaside in Sunnyside,
and Solid State in Woodside, among
others.
Some entries even list job opportunities,
such as Food Bazaar located
on Northern Boulevard.
Sunnyside Gardens Park is also
A look at the western Queens local business source map, created by Sunnyside Shines BID, Astoria Together
and Sunnyside Gardens Park.
hosting the map on their website.
“We’re thrilled to host the map on
our site and promote in our newsletters
and social media,” Paul Roer, current
Sunnyside Gardens Park board
president, said. “Our local businesses
are the cornerstone of our community
and we want to do everything
we can to support them as we all get
through this situation together.”
Users can search “Who’s Open??”
by entering specific businesses by
name or broaden searches with
simple keywords like “pizza,” “wine,”
“market” or “staff fund.”
Keywords are being added
regularly to strengthen the search
feature of the map.
The map creators want to stress
that the platform is constantly
evolving and being fact-checked.
Business decisions are day-to-day,
and to avoid any doubt, they advise
others to always call the businesses
themselves with the phone numbers
and social media information provided
in the listing.
The organizers credit Instagram
and Facebook pages as great sources
for businesses ever-changing information
at this time. They note that
walking the neighborhoods for
direct visits from a safe distance as
well as phone calls to confirm hours
and services have been essential
tools in this unusual time.
Hand-lettered signs serve as
primary communication for dozens
of small businesses, and the
map brings that information to the
greater public.
While many businesses have listed
delivery apps among their available
services, the map creators are urging
customers to first try to order
directly from businesses and use
the delivery apps as a last resort.
“Some of the apps have announced
they will defer fees to businesses, but
this just means the fees will be passed
on to the businesses down the road
when they are struggling to dig out
from this,” said Jaime-Faye Bean, director
of Sunnyside Shines BID.
In time, the developers hope to include
more Queens neighborhoods,
such as Hunters Point and Jackson
Heights.
The organizers are in discussion
with Edible Queens to broaden the
map and expand the platform’s
distribution. In the East Village,
community organizers are patterning
off of the Queens source map
in an effort to promote their own
businesses.
They hope similar maps will trend
elsewhere and give a lift to other
neighborhoods and communities.
The ultimate goal is that the
“partial closure” maps will soon
end — but for the time being, they
want to be a source of information
and innovative promotion for their
communities.
They are encouraging anyone
with consumer tips, corrections,
additions for the western Queens
source map, or to set up additional
neighborhood collaborations to
contact them by email at hey19-
tips@gmail.com or via social media
by direct messaging Baglia at @
alanbaglia on Instagram and Twitter
and Sunnyside Shines BID at @
sunnysideshines.
Baglia added that “Who’s Open??”
early working title, “Hey-19,” alludes
to the Steely Dan song by the
same name, with lyrics that are
reminiscent of the current social
distancing measures: “Hey, 19 / No,
we can’t dance together (We can’t
dance together) / No, we can’t talk
at all / Please take me along when
you slide on down.”
ACTS OF KINDNESS
Western Queens organizers create local businesses
source map to help residents determine ‘Who’s Open??’
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