8 THE QUEENS COURIER • OCTOBER 25, 2018 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Protesters to Elmhurst developers: Don’t ‘Target’ us
BY ALEJANDRA O’CONNELLDOMENECH
adomenech@qns.com
@AODNewz
Activists and community members
from Elmhurst and Jackson Heights rallied
in front of the offi ce of the New York
City Board of Standards and Appeals
(BSA) on Oct. 18 against a new Target
set to be built at 40-31 82nd St., near the
neighborhoods’ border.
Queens Neighborhood United (QNU),
an anti-BID group, delivered an appeal
and a stack of affi davits stating that
the new proposed Target is illegal.
According to the organization, the new
store, which is described by developers,
Sun Equity Partners and Heskel Group
as a department store, directly contradicts
“local use” clauses in the city’s zoning
laws.
“Gentrifi cation is not natural,” said
Tania Mattos, organizer and founder
of Queens Neighborhood United who
attributes the death of family business
to the large developers and city agencies.
Community members and lawmakers
alike claimed that the new Target,
which is going to be part of a larger mall
called “Th e Shoppes,” would push out
local business, increase traffi c, destroy
job prospects for the neighborhoods’
black and Latino communities.
Th e rally and legal challenge was part
of yearlong community battle to stop
“Th e Shoppes” project which plans to
bring corporate chains and luxury housing
to the mostly working-class immigrant
neighborhoods of Jackson Heights
and Elmhurst. Participants in the rally
chanted, “Don’t Target us!”
“It’s an evil thing to be in the middle
of our community,” said Eleanor
Batchelder, a Jackson Heights resident.
Target has a history of opposing labor
unions and LGBTQ rights and recently
made headlines for claims of discrimination
toward black and Latino job applicants.
Th e company paid $3.74 million to
settle claims against racially biased hiring
practices in April of this year.
“We can’t pretend to keep New York
aff ordable for working families if we are
not protecting our small business and
any means to create real and aff ordable
housing that is aff ordable for the people
that actually live in the neighborhood,”
said state Senate candidate Jessica
Ramos.
Another Target has been proposed at
a site on 31st Street south of Ditmars
Boulevard in Astoria, according to
Ramos. Target has locations in College
Point, Elmhurst (at the Queens Place
mall) and Forest Hills.
Activists unhappy with ‘The Big Jump’ bike lane plan in western Qns.
BY ALEJANDRA O’CONNELLDOMENECH
adomenech@qns.com
@AODNewz
Dotted lines indicating bike paths stretch
across Jackson Heights in the Department
of Transportation’s (DOT) fi rst draft of a
proposed bike grid that was released on
Oct. 18.
Th e draft is the fi rst physical product
of the DOT’s Big Jump initiative, a
national three-year-long eff ort to encourage
bike riding and triple the amount of
bike riders in New York City. Th e proposed
grid is meant to improve on existing
routes in Jackson Heights, Corona and
East Elmhurst.
“It’s disappointing to see Jackson
Heights get more than Corona,” said
Juan Restrepo, Queens organizer at
Transportation Alternatives, a nonprofi t
that works to increase cycling and walking
in New York City.
Restrepo hopes that the network’s second
draft will better represents neighborhood
needs by allowing bikers to access
subway stations and dispersing more protected
paths.
In the network, the
majority of the paths
are concentrated to one
neighborhood — Jackson
Heights — and there
are a few key needs that
have not been addressed.
Restrepo and Queens
Bike initiative— a group
of Queens residents campaigning
for safer bike
lanes — pointed out
that there is no connector
from 34th Avenue
to Flushing Meadows
Corona Park, no protected
bike lanes connecting
neighborhoods from East
to West and no protected
bike lane for north-tosouth
travel.
According to the DOT’s
Safer Cycling Report,
Queens Community Boards 3 and 4 were
found to have a high number of cyclists.
Community Board 3, which includes Jackson
Heights, East Elmhurst and North Corona
was found to have “medium coverage.”
While Community Board 4, which
Map courtesy of NYC Department of Transportation
is comprised of Elmhurst, Corona and
Flushing Meadows Corona Park was
found to have “low coverage” — meaning
that CB 3 already had more bike lanes
than CB 4.
“Th e people that need it the most don’t
speak the language of
elected officials,” said
Restrepo, who said that
language barrier for
Corona’s high number of
Spanish-speakers might
have prevented them
from attending one of the
70 workshops and public
meetings held since
October of 2017, when
the Big Jump Initiative
started. According to
Restrepo, Jackson Heights
has had more of a voice
in regards to cycling than
other neighboring communities.
When contacted by Th e
Courier, a DOT representative
issued the following
statement: “As our outreach
eff orts move forward
into year two, the agency will continue
working collaboratively with stakeholders
and Community Boards 3 and 4
to refi ne potential bicycle routes as well as
develop additional safety projects for 2019
implementation and beyond.”
Photo by Alejandra O’Connell-Domenech/THE COURIER
Organizer from Woodside on the Move, Ivan Contreras, is determined to not let Target destroy the
community of Elmhurst.
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