THE QUEENS
DECEMBER 2018
Douglaston LDC welcomes
new executive director
Photo courtesy of Rebecca Gellos
Rebecca Gellos is the new leader of the Douglaston Local Development Corporation
BY JENNA BAGCAL
jbagcal@qns.com
@jenna_bagcal
Th e Douglaston Local Development Corporation (LDC) recently
welcomed area resident Rebecca Gellos as their new executive director.
Gellos assumed the position this year when the current LDC director
stepped down. She was approached by the organization to step into
the role and offi cially started back in mid-October.
According to LDC vice president and founding member Victor
Dadras, the organization was created in 2010 to preserve and revitalize
the neighborhood. Since its inception, the LDC has been able to
off er residents green markets, new plants, festivals and movie nights
in a brand new community plaza.
She moved to Douglaston seven years ago from Brooklyn and was
immediately attracted to the neighborhood’s character. In other areas
she’s lived including Forest Hills, she said that residents tended to
keep to themselves.
But she soon realized that Douglaston was diff erent, recalling a time
when a man off ered to give her husband a ride to the Long Island Rail
Road station when he was running late.
“People are really nice. I speak to at least 25 people a day when I walk
my dog,” she said.
Th e executive director also learned that residents were passionate
about their neighborhood and community engagement. According
to Gellos, there are 15 diff erent organizations serving the community
including civic associations, environmental groups, nonprofi ts and
religious institutions.
“It’s the most unique neighborhood to any place I’ve ever lived.
People are so involved with so many things,” said Gellos. “It feels alive,
not like a ‘botanical garden’ type of neighborhood.”
She added that people in this “special community” know its history
well
When Gellos moved to Douglaston, she became an active member
of the community. Last year, she participated in the annual
Douglaston Winter Festival as a parent volunteer when her son was in
the fi ft h grade at P.S. 98.
Gellos said that there “wasn’t enough” for the previous executive
director to do while the Douglaston Long Island Railroad station
underwent construction, so the LDC took a short hiatus.
During its regrouping phase, Dadras and treasurer Ravi Th akur
approached Gellos with the opportunity to become the new executive
director, based on her previous involvement and experience organizing
events at her old job.
Her fi rst project as director is organizing the second Winter Festival,
which she said is a new experience compared to last year when she
and the other parents were involved with providing food for the event.
Th is time around Gellos said that she has to focus on the “bigger picture”
including securing vendors, merchants and area residents.
She said that her new role has been a “learning curve” but everyone
that she’s worked with thus far have been “super helpful” in her fi rst
months learning how to run and grow an organization.
Over the next few months, Gellos said that the LDC’s goal is to get the
Douglaston Station Plaza up and running in time for the spring, following
construction in the surrounding area. When it’s “back to being operational”
she hopes to plan more events that get the community together.
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