A significant struggle is brewing in Queens over a large biking path critics say will reshape a suburban part of the borough into one other bustling city district – and may function a brand new frontier for scooter-riding bandits.
The outrage reached a fever-pitch at Thursday’s Division of Transportation public workshop concerning the 16-mile Queens Waterfront Greenway venture, which descended into chaos as verbal and bodily spats erupted between advocates and naysayers.
“We’re not Williamsburg, we’re not Astoria,” a longtime japanese Queens resident advised The Publish on the workshop.
“I don’t wish to sound like an previous man saying ‘get off my garden,’ however I stay right here to have some quiet and be away from all of it,” the resident added.
“The place are we going to place our vehicles?” one other chimed in. “If the individuals within the space don’t need it, it shouldn’t occur.”
The DOT’s greenway plan – aimed to broaden park and waterfront entry to borough residents underserved by public transit – has been dubbed a “non-starter” by metropolis council member Vickie Paladino, who alleges the venture would eat up residential parking house, create vehicular hazards in industrial areas and even foster a “freeway” for moped-riding criminals.
“We [already] have individuals getting robbed, now we have shops getting robbed … whenever you join us with Astoria, you’re giving them a freeway the place the cops can’t get them on,” she mentioned. “Ought to [the DOT] ever do something like this, it will simply be taking away all of the limitations now we have left to maintain us the best way we’re.”
There have been additionally considerations concerning the greenway facilitating bandits on mopeds having access to secluded neighborhoods like Whitestone and Beechhurst, Paladino mentioned.
“There’s no place to place this fantasy that they’re dwelling in,” she mentioned, calling the venture “impractical” as there may be little house to construct given present houses and companies already on the waterfront, in addition to the slender residential roads in neighborhoods like Malba.
A DOT rep advised The Publish that any ultimate proposal for the greenway “will probably be made with respect for present property rights.”
The company added that there is no such thing as a present knowledge linking greenways to elevated crime, and “all avenue redesigns are coordinated with emergency responders.”
Stephen Yang
Crimes like theft, grand larceny and housebreaking are literally down within the NYPD’s 109th precinct – which encompasses School Level, Whitestone and Beechhurst – by 1.6%, 4.8% and 26.3% year-over-year, in line with police knowledge.
Regardless of the newest figures, some residents are nonetheless cautious about inviting extra commotion into the public transit-sparse – and car-heavy – space of Queens.
“Folks listed here are extra quiet. It’s not as loopy,” mentioned Luis Perez, who has lived in Whitestone close to Powell’s Cove Park for about 4 years. Perez mentioned he wouldn’t desire a bike path going via Whitestone, and prefers the seclusion of the neighborhood.
“I lived in Elmhurst earlier than,” he mentioned. “Lots of people are strolling round and smoking, it’s very unhealthy. Coming over right here, it’s completely totally different – within the nighttime, it’s very quiet.”
Paladino herself left the Thursday public workshop early (later calling the assembly “absolute bedlam” in a video posted to X), and the DOT postponed the same workshop slated for this week till a code of conduct might be developed “to make sure decorum and respect for all individuals.”
The brouhaha erupted nearly as quickly because the workshop started, with Paladino later standing on a chair to handle the gang because the chaos ramped up.
“This was alleged to be a public listening to,” she mentioned, regardless of DOT supplies promoting public workshops since September.
“Folks got here right here pondering they had been going to have the ability to get two minutes at a mic and specific their emotions … both professional or con,” Paladino added within the X video.
“There have been many vegetation,” she later wrote. “That was the purpose — they wished to have a faux assembly with solely their activists and no precise group members to allow them to manufacture consent.”
A rep for the DOT advised The Publish that the company “efficiently captured all kinds of suggestions at our third workshop in Douglaston,” and “will all the time attempt to make sure we’re internet hosting respectful, inclusive conferences as we develop this historic greenway growth hand-in-hand with native residents.”
Paladino’s district is one among 5 “early motion corridors” the DOT has pinpointed lately to offer simpler entry to low- and moderate-income communities with little inexperienced house exterior Manhattan.
“A waterfront greenway in Queens will higher join residents to the East River and Lengthy Island Sound via new bike paths and pedestrian areas, creating welcoming areas for cyclists in addition to households in want of safer streets to stroll with their kids,” a DOT rep advised The Publish forward of the assembly.
A ultimate plan is predicted in mid-2026 after extra group suggestions is gathered, the DOT mentioned.
“So far as secure areas for teenagers to trip their bicycles, now we have loads of that,” Paladino added. “If it’s children hopping on their bikes going to Whitestone Park or down by the water, it’s already there … We don’t have children getting hit by vehicles right here.”
The council member added School Level is a closely industrial and industrial space “with slender streets and restricted parking,” and a motorbike path via one of many busiest components of the neighborhood can be “disastrous.”
Some cyclists say the world is harmful because it exists at the moment for these on two wheels.
“Biking on Northern Boulevard is terrifying,” one commenter wrote of their plea for a greenway.
“This can be a great spot to trip however the paths are filth and never all the time secure for cyclists,” one person mentioned of Powell’s Cove Park. “It will be nice to make the most of the attractive vistas.”
“I’m a bike owner, I’m going to Queensborough Neighborhood School no less than 4 occasions every week,” 20-year-old Luca Castilho, who lives along with his dad and mom in Paladino’s district, advised The Publish on the workshop.
The liberal arts main mentioned that, whereas a greenway wouldn’t be essential for skilled cyclists, it will be an amazing addition for older or much less skilled riders searching for a leisurely, scenic trip in Queens.
“I’ve seen the bike lane I take to go to high school has been getting busier annually,” he added. “I used to be shocked by the opposition to my viewpoint and the way a lot they suppose they’ll be harmed by what’s going to alter.”
There have been 31 bike owner and 107 pedestrian accidents on account of crashes within the council district since final September, in line with metropolis knowledge, and 145 bike owner and 449 pedestrian accidents because of crashes within the final 5 years.
Biking over the town’s bridges has skyrocketed, in line with DOT knowledge cited by the Queens Every day Eagle, with bike ridership on the Queensboro Bridge up 19 p.c year-over-year; on the Pulaski Bridge, ridership surged 26 p.c throughout the identical interval.
Sheryl Kleven, a member of A Higher School Level Civic Affiliation, advised The Publish that the arguments in opposition to the greenway are nothing new: she’s been pushing for waterfront pedestrian entry within the neighborhood for 40 years.
“[Right now] it’s all privately owned condos, with a number of industrial sprinkled in,” Kleven mentioned of the buildings on the waterfront. “Pedestrian and bike entry on the waterfront can be a dream.”
“To have one thing like this, it will be not solely good for our neighborhood,” Mirjana Karcic, one other School Level civic affiliation member, added, “but in addition an enormous enchancment to Queens.”
