4 THE QUEENS COURIER • NOVEMBER 26, 2020 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Flushing waterfront rezoning critics rally ahead of City Council vote
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
cmohamed@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Dueling protests were held on Tuesday,
Nov. 17, as groups of supporters and opponents
of the Special Flushing Waterfront
District (SFWD) voiced their concerns
before the City Council Subcommittee
vote on the rezoning application.
Tenants, workers, small business owners
and elected offi cials were gathered outside
by Starside Drugs, located at 136-36
39th Ave. in Flushing, to discuss the damages
they believe will occur if the City
Council votes in favor of the application.
Opponents of the SFWD include the
MinKwon Center, Flushing Workers,
Flushing Bay Alliance, Chhaya CDC
and the Greater Flushing Chamber of
Commerce. Th ey’re demanding that
Councilman Peter Koo— who expressed
strong support for the SFWD rezoning
during the City Council Zoning and
Franchises Subcommittee public hearing
on Nov. 9 — oppose the plan.
“We’re here because Councilman Peter
Koo has failed us. Flushing is being actively
gentrifi ed and Councilman Koo is siding
with developers for more displacement,
congestion and pollution,” an organizer
said.
Meanwhile, across the street, counterprotesters
were wearing hard hats,
appearing as if they had come directly
from a construction site, repeatedly
chanting, “Peter Koo.”
“Flushing has had so much positive
progress because Council member Koo
supports small businesses,” said George
Xu, founder of Century Development
Group, an integrated real estate development
company.
Xu, who is the brother of one of the
three developers of the project, said construction
companies and small businesses
are the reason why Flushing has come
a long way.
“We need to keep supporting construction,
development and small businesses,
and Council member Koo, so that we
can continue to move Flushing forward,”
Xu said.
Th e three developers behind the Special
Flushing Waterfront Development
include F&T Group, United Construction
& Development Group and Young Nian
Group, known collectively as FWRA LLC.
Th e SFWD proposal seeks to revitalize
29 acres of inactive and underutilized
land that the developers say will provide
substantial public benefi ts such as a privately
funded and maintained road network
and a 160,000-square-foot waterfront
promenade along Flushing Creek
that will both be publicly accessible.
Th e plan also includes 1,725 residential
units, including aff ordable housing, 879
hotel keys, offi ce and community facilities,
retail space and parking spaces to
help alleviate traffi c along College Point
Boulevard.
“Th ose who oppose the Special Flushing
Waterfront District claim to want to see
Flushing thrive. However, they have no
plan or means to bring Flushing the jobs,
aff ordable housing and public space they
want,” the developers said in a statement
to QNS. “As evidenced on social
media, many who oppose this project are
not even from Flushing, but rather from
other neighborhoods in NYC such as
Sunnyside, Woodside and Brooklyn. Th ey
are woefully misinformed – the issues
they are protesting are exactly the problems
the SFWD will solve.”
According to the developers, they have
heard from hundreds of residents, community
organizations and business owners,
who want to see the project succeed
for the benefi t of the community. Th ey
have garnered the support of City Council
Hearing speakers, more than 300 letters
written to the Council in favor of the project,
and an overwhelmingly positive vote
from Community Board 7 and the City
Planning Commission.
While opponents of the SFWD claimed
that the counterprotesters were paid to
attend the rally, the developers said it is
“entirely false and that all who attended
were there of their own accord.”
“As for the protest itself, it is despicable
to intentionally cause harm to a small
business like Council member Koo’s, particularly
to a neighborhood pharmacy
which aids the elderly and sick in our
community, and particularly now when
Flushing’s businesses need only unwavering
support,” the developers said. “Our
project aims to support small businesses
and it seems the opposition is determined
to rob Flushing of that opportunity.”
Opponents of the SFWD are receiving
support from City Council members,
such as Councilman Carlos Menchacha,
who fought back against the Industry City
rezoning in Sunset Park.
“Sunset Park is with you every single
way because we just fought our own
battle. You heard about Industry City,
and just like John said, this rezoning
will come crashing down in fl ames,”
said Councilman Carlos Menchacha.
“Industry City went down crashing in
fl ames. How did that happen? Because
community came together and all its
power and solidarity, and I am seeing it
here, will bring it down in fl ames. Protect
Flushing!”
During the rally, Hailie Kim, who is
running to represent City Council District
26, recalled the development of the Long
Island City towers.
“When I started school, I saw the towers
in Long Island City start to go up,
and the rents went up with them. One
by one, all of the kids I went to elementary
Photo by Dean Moses
school came up to me and told me,
‘My mom and dad can’t aff ord to live in
Sunnyside anymore, so we have to move
away,’” Kim said. “It’s really disturbing to
watch the same patterns unfold here in
Flushing today.”
Tiff any Cabán, who is running to represent
City Council District 22, is calling
for a “No” vote on the Flushing rezoning.
“Th is corporate redevelopment project
is going to displace working class immigrant
families in the middle of an unprecedented
global pandemic in a community
that is experiencing the racial and
economic disparities disproportionately,
quite honestly, than other parts of our
city,” Cabán said.
On Wednesday, Nov. 18, Councilman
Francisco Moya, chair of the
Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises,
issued a joint statement signed by 11
Council memberssaying that approving
the rezoning as it currently stands would
be a “grave mistake.”
“We believe that it would be irresponsible
to approve the application without
deep community benefi ts like real aff ordable
housing and commitments to provide
good jobs for local community members,”
the Council said. “Th e ongoing economic
crisis fueled by a global pandemic
continues to strain Flushing as community
members face xenophobic backlash,
housing instability and unemployment
— all with the looming and constant
threat of illness. Th is year has forced
us to examine the needs of our working
class communities in a deeper and more
holistic way.”
New COVID-19 testing site opens at JFK Airport
BY JACOB KAYE
jkaye@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
A new COVID-19 testing site opened in
JetBlue’s Terminal 5 and John F. Kennedy
International Airport earlier this week.
Th e testing location, which opened on
Wednesday, Nov. 18, will be fully operational
for six months.
Created in partnership with the Port
Authority of New York and New Jersey,
JetBlue and the NYC Test & Trace Corps,
the site has the capacity for 600 tests per
day, and will provide free, walk-in testing
seven days a week, from 9 a.m. until 7 p.m.
“New York City is fi ghting COVID-19
by building the strongest testing infrastructure
in the country, and this new site
at JFK Airport in partnership with Jet Blue
and the Port Authority of New York and
New Jersey enhances our eff ort to reach
audiences at the key intersection of travel,”
said Dr. Ted Long, the executive director
of the NYC Test & Trace Corps. “New
Yorkers are urged not to travel out of state,
but for those who must, and for essential
airport and airline workers, the new
site and pilot program will allow them to
access safe testing and comply with the
state’s quarantine requirements to protect
themselves and their loved ones.”
Th e Test and Trace Corps expects to
return the results from tests done at the
site in 48 hours.
Th e new site marks the second testing
site at a New York City airport. Last
month, a testing site opened at LaGuardia
Airport’s Terminal B. File photo: REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
/WWW.QNS.COM
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