FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.qns.com AUGUST 25, 2016 • THE COURIER SUN 3 Nonprofit wants to turn former Ozone Park coffee factory into a homeless shelter By Domenic k Rafter [email protected]/@QNS A transitional facility has been proposed for a former coffee factory in Ozone Park, according to a letter given to Community Board 9. The facility is being planned by a nonprofit group called Breaking Ground, which seeks to help homeless people with immediate needs, such as food, bathing and short-term shelter. Still early in its planning stages, is center is slated for the former site of Dallis Brothers Coffee at 100-32 Atlantic Ave., which technically is in Ozone Park but just steps from the neighborhoods of Richmond Hill and Woodhaven. The coffee manufacturer moved to Long Island City several years ago. At the Aug. 20 Woodhaven Residents’ Block Association (WRBA) meeting at Emanuel Church of Christ — four blocks from the proposed site — Assemblyman Mike Miller said the facility is “not the type of homeless shelter you’re used to hearing about,” but rather aimed at helping homeless and needy people “grab a shower, some food and get back on their feet.” The concerns about the facility come as the city seeks to open a homeless shelter at a Maspeth hotel, and plans are still alive — as they have been for several years — for another facility to house homeless people in Glendale. The plan at the Ozone Park site aims to “enhance our services for the street homeless in Queens, which will benefit that group as well as the borough as a whole,” Breaking Ground’s Assistant Vice President for Quality Assurance John Lee wrote in the letter to CB 9, which the WRBA’s communication director, Alexander A homeless shelter is planned for the former Dallis Brothers coffee factory on Atlantic Avenue in Ozone Park. Blenkinsopp, read at Saturday’s meeting. WRBA President Martin Colberg stressed patience, saying that there needed to be more information about the facility before any possible organized opposition. “I don’t think having facilities like that is a bad thing,” Colberg stressed. “But we have to make sure we get all the information we need Photo: Anthony Giudice/QNS and follow up.” Breaking Ground is scheduled to present their proposed to CB 9’s Health Committee Tuesday night. The nonprofit has sites in Brooklyn, Bronx and Manhattan and several outside the city including one in Rochester, one in the Hudson Valley and two in Connecticut. Far Rockaway to be become a vibrant, mixed-use area By Mich ael Tabri zi [email protected]/@QNS The New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) will set it sights on a Queens neighborhood that is often forgotten by investors and developers. The NYCEDC, in coordination with local officials, has announced the adoption of an interagency plan to reestablish it as the commercial hub of the Rockaway Peninsula. “Downtown Far Rockaway was once a vibrant commercial/beachfront business district,” said City Councilman Donovan Richards. He attributes this community’s downturn in recent years to “disinvestment, lack of open space, lack of employment options, lack of infrastructure and poor pedestrian circulation.” Because of this, Far Rockaway has “long deserved significant investment and bold action from the city,” according to NYCEDC President Maria Torres-Springer. The plan, dubbed Roadmap for Action, will utilize a number strategies in order to make Far Rockaway into a “vibrant, mixed-use area,” according to the press release. The strategies are to implement improvements to approximately 20 existing storefronts; make Mott Avenue into a “Village Main Street” by expanding sidewalks and trees and lighting; make use of all the tools at the city’s disposal in terms of zoning in order to activate underutilized properties and create permanent affordable housing; make key partnerships Far Rockaway will be beneficiary of a $91 million investment in the private sector in order to attract quality employers and improve job opportunities; invest in public infrastructure; and to work closely with community-based organizations and to strengthen them. This plan will be funded by a $91 million public investment from the de Blasio administration, which the mayor promised during his State of the City address. Photo courtesy of Amy Housmann (MTA) This is the single largest investment downtown Far Rockaway has seen in decades and has been lauded by U.S. representative Gregory W. Meeks as “a real path forward for stimulating the Far Rockaway economy.” When all these changes will come has yet to be revealed, but when it does happen they are confident that it will be a complete success.
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