FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM JANUARY 10, 2019 • THE QUEENS COURIER 23
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letters & comments
WE AIM TO PLEASE
As a faithful reader of Th e
Courier, I want to thank you
for putting the article, “Santa’s
Corner in Whitestone,” in the
Nov. 29 issue. It served as an
entertainment feature for
me when my relatives from
Connecticut paid me a visit. It is
a delightful display. Th anks again.
Mary Wedemeyer, Bayside
KEEPING THE
VOICE STRONG
Back at you to all my friends
at Th e Queens Courier (“Don’t
Forget To Write,” Editorial,
Jan. 3). I’m grateful that you
have aff orded me the opportunity
to express my views via
your letters to the editor section
along with others who
may have diff erent opinions on
the issues of the day. Th anks
to you, an ordinary citizen like
myself has the freedom to comment
on the actions and legislation
of elected offi cials.
Public offi cials use taxpayers
dollars to promote their views,
via mass mailings of newsletters,
news releases, letters to
the editor and guest opinion
page columns. In many cases,
they are produced or written by
campaign or offi ce staff ers who
are paid for by taxpayers.
Th e rest of us have limited
time to submit a letter. Let
us thank those few brave souls
who are willing to take on the
establishment and powerful
special interest groups in the
pages of your letters to the editor
section. Th ey fi ll a valuable
niche in the information
highway.
Patronize their advertisers;
they provide the revenues necessary
to keep them in business.
Let them know you saw
their ad. Th is is what helps
keep our neighbors employed,
the local economy growing and
provide space on a weekly basis
for your favorite or not-so-favorite
letter writers.
Larry Penner, Great Neck
MAKING
MEANINGFUL
RESOLUTIONS
It’s January 2019, and another
year of resolutions where
many will fail or to be forgotten
as the year goes on.
Some will make resolutions
to lose weight, get healthy habits,
exercise and even generate a
positive nature. But instead, let’s
do things that we can all do and
accomplish and that will take little
eff ort.
Let’s do things for others by
giving to our local charities,
food kitchens, food pantries,
and even giving the gift of life
by donating blood if we can.
Here are some other things we
can do and that is wherever
we go like a store, business or
apartment please open a door
for a neighbor or stranger.
When we get on a bus, train or
subway please give up a seat for
a handicapped or elderly person
and in general show acts
of kindness for those in need, if
only just a kind word.
All these things I feel are
things we all can do for others
and make our communities a
better place to live and that is
a good New Year’s resolution
in my book.
Frederick R. Bedell,
Glen Oaks Village
Email your letters to editorial@
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to the Editor) or leave a comment
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are subject to editing. Names
will be withheld upon request,
but anonymous letters will not
be considered for publication.
Th e views expressed in all letters
and comments are not necessarily
those of this newspaper
or its staff .
Amazon ties in with LIC’s history
BY JACK EICHENBAUM
Lost in the discussions, speeches
and protests on Amazon’s
imminent arrival in Long Island
City has been the important historical
context.
While some are concerned
about the fi nancial incentives
off ered, and others are worried
about infrastructure and access
to jobs, we would be wise to
bear in mind that the arrival of
a major new employer in this
western Queens neighborhood
could be a positive step toward
returning Long Island City to
its long-held status as a bustling
hub for jobs.
In the early nineteenth century,
industrial activity in NYC
was confi ned to the South
Street Seaport area of lower
Manhattan. But by 1854, investors
built a rail connection from
Flushing to the Queens waterfront
in the area we now call
Long Island City. Th is proved
to be an advantageous — and
unchallenged — area for industrial
transshipment and the Long
Island Rail Road soon built a
competitive line from Jamaica to
the same waterfront.
Nearly 150 years ago, before
Queens became a part of NYC,
a consortium of railroad and
industrial magnates came
together to incorporate a new
municipality — Long Island
City. Nearly 30 years later, the
area had already become bustling
with factories and jobs.
One of the proponents of this
eff ort was the industrialist Henry
S. Anable, for whom Anable
Basin — the inlet on the waterfront,
and the future home of
Amazon’s future northeast headquarters
— is named. But the city
of LIC was poorly managed and
in debt. Consolidation into the
Greater NYC erased that debt
but ended self-determination for
the municipality.
Long Island City of the late
1800s through the 1950s was a
busy hive of activity, the industrial
heart of the metropolis.
Factories produced staplers
and chewing gum, oil and sugar
refi neries sprawled across the
area, and freight and passenger
rail brought goods and people by
the carload.
Th ousands of workers —
many of them recent immigrants
— went to work daily in this
bustling jobs mecca. Workforce
housing at Queensbridge,
Sunnyside, Astoria and beyond
housed these workers, and their
jobs were a quick walk or transit
ride away.
Beginning in the 1960s and
accelerating through the 1980s,
Long Island City’s industrial
landscape shift ed, as many jobs
went to lower cost environments
out-of-state and overseas. Th e
population of the entire borough
contracted, and the working
class struggled mightily. Long
Island City became known for
crime, prostitution and abandoned
buildings.
Now, with Amazon’s arrival,
we are arguably at the precipice
of a new era for Long Island City.
With tens of thousands of jobs
on off er, this new headquarters
may house the second-largest
private employer in the entire
city, and the largest in the history
of Queens. A well-designed
campus at Anable Basin has
the potential to build upon the
recent successes of reclamation
and remediation of the entire
Long Island City waterfront for
public use — a process that started
with the Queens West development
in the early 1980s and
continues with Hunters Point
South today.
Certainly, there are voices raising
legitimate concerns about
the project, but I cautiously view
Amazon’s arrival in Long Island
City as a positive development
in the context of the area’s long
history.
Th e next chapter in Long
Island City will be about its
reemergence within New York
City and around the world as a
place that drives innovation and
employs New Yorkers.
Dr. Jack Eichenbaum has
served as Queens Borough
Historian since 2010, has a doctorate
from the University of
Michigan in Urban Geography,
and is a lifelong observer of
NYC.
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