8 The Courier sun • september 5, 2013 for breaking news visit www.couriersun.com More bike lanes coming to Western Queens BY LIAM LA GUERE [email protected] The wheels are turning in the right direction for one community’s Willets Point biz owners are . . . HUNGRY FOR ANSWERS BY MELISA CHAN [email protected] The hunger strike being held by a group of auto shop owners at Willets Point is a “look into the future” for soon-to-be displaced families who could be left fending for food and a sustainable job, advocates said. At least eight business owners are fasting and staying put inside an auto shop at 37-03 126th Street until they can be relocated out of the Iron Triangle as a group. “I have to do it,” said Julia Sandoval, a 56-year-old business owner who is diabetic and striking against her doctor’s Some auto shop owners at Willets Point are holding a hunger strike until they can be relocated If You’re Ready to Buy a Home,We are Ready to Help. The State of New York M ortgage Agency offers: Up to $15,000 Down Payment Assistance 1-800-382-HOME(4663) for Housing www.sonyma.org orders. “I have to do something. It’s my place, my business.” The city has been urging shops to leave in order to make way for a $3 billion project to redevelop Willets Point, which includes cleaning up 23 acres of contaminated land and eventually constructing housing units and a mega mall near Citi Field. Developers need the City Council’s final approval to move Citi Field parking to Willets Point in order to construct a 1.4 million-square-foot shopping center west of the baseball stadium. However, the Council’s Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises did not vote on the project during a September 3 hearing and is not expected to do so this month, sources said. Councilmember Julissa Ferreras, who represents the area, instead drilled city officials and developers for more answers and better relocation plans. “I want to ensure the proposed development is fair and balanced,” Ferreras said. “Before making any decision, we must know all the facts and the community must feel reassured that this is the best decision.” Soon-to-be displaced businesses say they can only survive if they are moved as a whole and can continue as a one-stop shop for motorists. “The motor, body work, glass — all these things get damaged in a car accident,” said Marco Neira, an advocate for the businesses. “They come in with a car over here and they find everything in one place. They pay half of the price they could pay somewhere else.” Ferreras, at the hearing, said she was told in 2009 the businesses could be moved in a group. “We are now here in 2013 and I’m being told it’s impossible – the economy, all the reasons why it can’t happen,” she said. “That is not a plan that we can just scrape off the table now.” Neira said business owners have been eyeing a $9 million spot in Maspeth which would house 60 to 80 shops, but they have heard no guarantee from the city. City officials said they were open to group relocations and proposed moving smaller clusters of five to seven businesses. Economic Development Corporation executive Thomas McKnight said the city has found 140 potential relocation sites in the last year. So far, there are only relocation plans in works for 10 businesses of the 120 eligible, officials said. The project has been given the green light by the City Planning Commission, THE COURIER/Photo by Melissa Chan Queens Borough President Helen Marshall and Community Board 7, but both the board and borough president had conditions for its endorsements. They said surrounding communities and its leaders must be kept informed of the project’s progress and traffic problems that arise. The city and the facility’s developer must also fulfill written commitments they made, which include funding traffic mitigation measures, building a 1,000-seat K-8 public school, giving $1.87 million to the Willets Point Infrastructure and Traffic Mitigation Fund, and hiring locally. out of the Iron Triangle as a group. push to get more bike lanes. At a recent Community Board (CB5) Transportation Committee meeting, the Department of City Planning (DCP) revealed a list of streets that could have bike lanes in place by early 2014. The DCP is looking to add six potential new routes to the area and streets that are under consideration are Eliot Avenue, Juniper Boulevard South, Central Avenue, Cooper Avenue, Woodward Avenue, Onderdonk Avenue, 80th Street and 69th Street. Currently, there are a few lanes in the district, which encompasses Maspeth, Ridgewood, Middle Village and Glendale, but hardly any at all that connect the bike-friendly neighborhoods surrounding the district to the north in Sunnyside and Long Island City, and parts of northern Brooklyn. “If you look at the bike map right now there is a big hole where Community Board 5 is,” said Donald Passantino, a member of the CB 5 Transportation Committee and an avid bike rider. “Part of this is that these lanes are supposed to connect with other neighborhoods.” The board requested new lanes throughout the community last year through the Department of Transportation (DOT). The request was then turned over to City Planning, which has been assessing streets that the community recommended for new bike lanes. Now the DCP will review bike planning practices with the DOT and continue to analyze the most practical streets for lanes, and then in the coming weeks meet with the community again to get additional input, according to a DCP representative. “The real advantage of bike lanes more than anything else is that they calm traffic,” Passantino said. “The street looks narrower, which forces cars to drive slower and cuts down on deaths.” City Planning will meet with the community board members again this month to talk about potential lanes. Map courtesy of DOT
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