By Celia Bernhardt | cbernhardt@queensledger.com

The Department of Transportation gave a status update on its micro-mobility and carshare initiatives to BP Donovan Richards and a table of Queens community board chairs who came armed with plenty of requests, questions, and criticisms. 

The meeting, held on Dec. 5, centered on Citi Bike, e-scooters and carshare. Here’s what the officials had to say.

The department’s carshare initiative, partnering with ZipCar and other corporations, rolled out a permanent program earlier this year after a two-year pilot from 2018-2020. There are now 42 total program sites throughout Queens, each one consisting of two spots near a street corner with signage reserving it for carshare parking only. Community Districts 3, 12, and 14 already had sites set up during the pilot period; the service has now expanded into almost all other CDs, excluding only 5 and 11. 

Citi Bike, owned and operated by its parent company Lyft, is wrapping up the tail end of its third phase of expansion. The expansion started up in 2019 and brought the bike service beyond the westernmost areas of CD1 and 2 and into CD3 and 4, and parts of CD5. No further expansion is on the horizon for now except some extra installation to bolster the bike service’s capacity in CD2, explained Finlay Scanlon, DOT’s outreach coordinator for bike share and ride share mobility. 

Slide from DOT’s presentation, depicting which Commu- nity Districts received Citi Bikes. Courtesy of @queensbp on YouTube.

E-scooter share hasn’t landed in Queens yet, but it’s about to: after a 2021 pilot in the East Bronx, the DOT is bringing the service to eastern Queens in the late spring and early summer of 2024. It’s part of a transition that began this year to establish a longer-term scooter share program, in collaboration with companies Lime, Bird, and Veo.  

Map of where e-scooters will be in Queens. Courtesy of DOT

Richards expressed some disappointment that Citi Bike wouldn’t expand farther into the borough. 

“A neighborhood like Far Rockaway is ripe for it,” he said, mentioning an earlier successful pilot with Lime Bike. Finlay responded by explaining Citi Bike’s strategy.

“We try to have every station be about a five minute walk from another station, so it increases the use of the system,” she said. “So that really requires building out continuously without any gaps or holes.” 

Richards maintained his point. “As we’re talking about transit equity, these are neighborhoods, according to your map, that are just left out of the conversation,” he said. “We still have to have the conversation around infrastructure, but the bottom line is transit deserts should have several options. And we’re just not seeing it here.” 

Rev. Carlene O. Thorbs, Chairperson of CB12, slammed the implementation of carshare in her district. 

“They’re in front of homes, private homes, and that should not be. How can you help another company and bring them into our community and park their cars in front of somebody else’s house?” Thorbs said. 

Courtesy of @queensbp on YouTube.

Thorbs also criticized parking spots in front of businesses. “Did you even think about the fact that there are barber shops and beauty parlors? People want to park and go in and out of these locations, and then we’re going to have two stationary cars sitting,” she said, alleging that some store owners hadn’t known about the program. 

“There were a lot of lessons learned this round,” Project Manager for DOT’s carshare program Stevie Feig said. “We will be revising that for this next round of site selection. Some sites will be removed, some sites will be added, and some sites will stay.”

CB3 Chair Frank Talyor (East Elmhurst, North Corona, Jackson Heights) felt similarly to Rev. Thorbs, expressing disapproval of carshare parking spaces in front of both businesses and private homes. “These parking spots represent business and dollars,” he said. 

With regard to Citi Bike, Taylor said that his board had requested in writing that bike corrals not be placed in front of private homes, though this had not changed the outcome. 

Heather Beers-Dimitriadis, Chair of CB6, had a different problem. 

“There is nothing,” she said. “We don’t have Citi Bike and we are looking forward and wanting [it]…we have ample places to put docking stations without taking up parking space.”  Beers- Dimitriadis rattled off several examples of where docks could be placed, including a location near a former Rite Aid by the Long Island Rail Road. 

Finlay reiterated Citi Bike’s approach to expansion, but said that if a new wave of expansion was eventually greenlighted, CB6 would be first in line. 

“It would so easily blend into where we already have bikes installed,” she said. “I’ve received, actually, several emails from high schoolers in your district requesting Citi Bike.” 

Bryan Block, chair of CB13, held a similar sentiment about the e-scooters set to spread through his district. “We do not want them, period,” he said. “CB6 can have them.”

“Merry Christmas,” Beers-Dimitriadis said. 

“It’s not a fit,” he continued. “We’re not Park Slope; we’re not Fort Greene; we’re not Brooklyn Heights. We’re a suburban community. We drive, we ride, we purchase our own bicycles, period.”

By Celia Bernhardt | cbernhardt@queensledger.com

The city’s Parks Department kicked off the redesign process for Ridgewood and Glendale’s Mafera Park on Tuesday Dec. 5, with a community scoping meeting on Zoom that drew about 40 people. 

Racking up $500,000 in funding from Borough President Donovan Richards and $3.5 million from Council Member Robert Holden, the capital project involves reconstructing the playground and sprinklers. District Manager Gary Giordano said that the park has held up generally well since its last renovation in the 90s, but has suffered some deterioration.

“It’s just age,” he said. “The safety matting gets worn, the playground equipment gets worn.”

With the closest playground a ten minute walk away at Beninger Park, Mafera’s playground is a go-to spot for parents who live nearby. 

Credit: Celia Bernhardt

Tuesday’s scoping meeting marked the beginning of a 10-15 month design process.

“It starts tonight with listening to you all,” James Mituzas from NYC Parks’ capital team told attendees over Zoom. “We listen to your wants and desires of what you want to see at the playground. We’ll put pen to paper and create a conceptual design; that takes us roughly four to five months. And at that juncture, we’ll take that conceptual design and bring it to you at Community Board [5]…and they’ll tell us whether or not we got it right.”

Mituzas explained that tweaks can still be made in response to the board’s feedback. After that, the procurement process (consisting of plenty of contracts and legal reviews) will take about a year; then, construction can last between a year and a year and a half. 

“Unfortunately, the best time to work is the best time to go into a park,” Mituzas said. “You’ll lose a season with this, and in the end, you’ll have a brand new playground.” 

Credit: Celia Bernhardt

Frank Vero, the landscape architect and project manager for Mafera’s makeover, introduced himself to the Zoom attendees. He recalled moving with his wife and kids to the neighborhood in 2017. 

“We’ve lived in Ridgewood for about five years, and this was one of our main parks that we came to,” Vero said. “So it’s really exciting to get to now take that park that we spent five years using as our backyard and try to make it better for all of you.”

Vero listed off several considerations the department keeps in mind whenever it embarks on a park redesign: heat mitigation (especially through tree canopies), managing stormwater, tree preservation, accessible design, and welcoming entrances. He also highlighted building additional seating areas for caregivers, bringing in “new, interesting, fun” play equipment for kids, building small fences within the wide-open playground to make things more manageable for caregivers, and strengthening the water spray features as specific ideas for Mafera.

Credit: Celia Bernhardt

Building barriers throughout the playground, especially to create some distance between younger and older kids, was an idea echoed by multiple parents during the open comment section of the meeting that followed. Also mentioned by a couple parents was creating more visibility through play structures, as the current density of the design can make it difficult to keep one’s child always in sight. 

The bathroom was mentioned by some as an area that could use improvements, but Parks officials reminded the public that it was outside the scope of work.

By Celia Bernhardt | cbernhardt@queensledger.com

The busy Sutphin Boulevard–Archer Avenue–JFK Airport subway station in Jamaica is now home to a fleet of the MTA’s new fare gates. 

The double-door gate devices replaced traditional turnstiles and emergency exit doors in one side of the station earlier this month. It’s the first full deployment of the technology following its pilot in Brooklyn’s Atlantic Ave-Barclays Center station.

The MTA hopes to reduce fare evasion with the gates, which don’t easily lend themselves to being hopped over — though some have observed that evaders might find “doubling up” to pass through the gates with just one payment to be even easier with this design. 

The gates allow customers with strollers, large luggage, bikes, or mobility devices — who might have needed to use an emergency exit rather than a turnstile in any other station — to pass through smoothly. Built by Cubic, the firm which developed both MetroCard and OMNY, the new additions cost roughly $700,000.

The MTA held a news conference in the station on Dec. 4, marking not only the debut of the fare gates but a Customer Service station as well. The shiny new alcove is the 14th of its kind in the city. It’s staffed by station agents who can assist customers with OMNY technology, Reduced-Fair, and other issues. 

MTA Acting Chief Customer Officer Shanifah Riera said at the press conference that Sutphin Boulevard was a particularly appropriate station to receive the new additions. “With a direct link to the AirTrain, the [station] is often visitors’ first introduction to New York, making it a perfect spot for a new customer service center and wide aisle fare gates,” she said.

In the evening of Monday, Dec. 11, some customers seemed exasperated by the unfamiliar fare gates while others passed through without a hitch. A station agent was active in helping people who had issues with OMNY on the new machines. One fare gate seemed to glitch, remaining open even when no one was swiping or tapping to pass through.

Maggie Tiwarie, a Richmond Hill local on her way home from work, said that the new gates were a good addition. 

“I think it’s efficient,” Tiwarie said. “It’ll stop people from just going through without paying.” 

At the Dec. 4 press conference, one journalist asked how the MTA would determine whether or not the gates would reduce fare evasion when one emergency exit door remained on the other side of the station. “Obviously we’re watching these gates in particular,” NYC Transit President Richard Davey said. “If someone is a determined fare evader I think that’s going to be tough to beat under any circumstances, but I think the majority of folks are not.”

“At a station like this, you have a lot of customers with luggage who legitimately need to use these wide-aisle gates,” Davey added. “Obviously for customers with disabilities as well and mobility devices is an example. So we’re watching all that to see and learn.”

By Celia Bernhardt | cbernhardt@queensledger.com

Community Board 5’s Liquor License and Cannabis Committee heard again from cannabis vendor-hopefuls last week, each applying for a dispensary license at a specific location. The Committee discussed six different proposed locations and voted on a series of recommendations for the full board.

Three locations received unanimous votes of objection. 64-40 Myrtle Avenue in Glendale was deemed too close to Saint’s Church—state guidelines require dispensaries to be located at least 200 feet away from houses of worship. 66-74 Fresh Pond Road in Ridgewood garnered concern about its location approximately 500 feet from Benninger Playground. The committee also emphasized that the merchant hoping to open up shop was a no-show, which didn’t help his case. 55-14 Myrtle Avenue in Ridgewood was voted down on grounds that it lies within 200 feet of a Synagogue. 

CB5’s Liquor License and Cannabis Committee

78-10 Cypress Avenue in Glendale received a rare unanimous vote of no objection from the committee due to its location in a manufacturing district. 

Votes were split on two locations. 66-33 Fresh Pond Road in Ridgewood pulled three no-objection votes and two objection votes, making the Committee’s official recommendation one of non-objection. 71-05 Myrtle Avenue in Glendale brought in two no-objection votes and three votes to object, making the verdict an objection. Members objected on the grounds that the location sits not far from Forte Prep charter high school. Apple Maps records the distance between the two as 600 feet, 100 feet over the mandated distance between dispensaries and schools. 

A location from the previous round of voting, 70-24 Myrtle Avenue, was just down the block from 71-05 Myrtle Avenue but sat closer to Forte Prep—it was shot down by the Board for its under-500-feet proximity to the school. Multiple community voices had also expressed concern about it neighboring a McDonalds where local students often hang out. The new 71-05 location is just 150 feet away from 70-24, according to Apple Maps.

Elizabeth De La Cruz, a Glendale resident and grandmother who voiced opposition to cannabis dispensaries in previous meetings, brought up concerns about 71-05 Myrtle Avenue during the public comment period before the vote. 

“The last time I spoke, at that time it was the facility by McDonald’s where the bank used to be,” De la Cruz said, referring to 70-24 Myrtle. “So I was surprised to find out today that this meeting was on and it was again, instead of by the bank, the facility was across the street [at] the Mobile station. We still have the same problem. We have children from [P.S.] 119 walking, they walk 78th Avenue, right into Cooper, down Cooper, right down the street where the facility is supposed to be opening up. McDonald’s is there, McDonald’s is not moving. I take my grandson to McDonald’s a lot.”

Diego McCleary, a member of the Board, offered a different perspective when he took to the mic—one rarely expressed at CB5’s meetings. 

“Nobody really speaks up for cannabis at these things, so I have long hair and a beard, I’ll do it,” he joked. 

“Cannabis doesn’t kill anybody. And I get all this is new. But the level of scrutiny being given to cannabis is way out of proportion to the social harm of legal cannabis,” McCleary said, emphasizing the far higher death rate from alcohol. 

“I think we should consider every legal cannabis application and approve it,” McCleary continued. “This is about cannabis for adults. It’s about making it safe, taxed, regulated, and repercussions in case there’s anybody selling it to kids or anything like that. Now, there’s liquor stores within how many feet of a school and stuff like that—nobody’s making a big fuss. There’s bars that sponsor kids’ sports teams. Nobody’s making a fuss, right?”

The board is set to vote on whether to adopt the committee’s recommendations during their December 13th meeting. The board will send their ultimate recommendations to the state, which makes the final decision in granting or not granting licenses.

By Celia Bernhardt | cbernhardt@queensledger.com

LGBTQ flags, string lights, electric candles, and snacks welcomed attendees at Queens Borough Hall’s Transgender Day of Remembrance gathering. 

Held on a blustery evening on Nov. 21, the event drew about two dozen people. Borough President Donovan Richards and multiple Queens-based LGBTQ activists spoke to the crowd, reflecting on the tidal wave of anti-transgender policy and rhetoric that the year had brought. 

“Transgender community, as I say every year, we see you, we love you, and we will forever fight alongside you,” Richards said to the crowd. “And we don’t do that simply in words here. That’s why we open the doors here at Borough Hall. Not everybody was doing this, but we do it because we truly value you.”

BP Richards speaks to the crowd.

Transgender Day of Remembrance, observed annually on Nov. 20, was started in 1999 by activist Gwendolyn Ann Smith. The day is meant to commemorate transgender people who lost their lives to anti-transgender violence. Transgender individuals, and especially Black transgender women, face disproportionately high rates of violence and abuse.

South Ozone Park resident Olivia Valawaa, a Community Advocate with the southeastern-Queens-based Caribbean Equality Project, also took to the podium. 

“I am an Indo-Caribbean transgender woman from Guyana,” Valawaa said to the crowd. “I migrated to New York City in 2018 due to discrimination, lack of access to employment protection, and family abandonment.”

Valawaa continued, recounting her story. “I first experienced homophobia because of my queerness and femininity growing up in Guyana. I’ve escaped a toxic relationship and survived intimate partner violence from the one person who I thought would’ve kept me safe,” she said. “Due to a lack of human rights laws and protection for LGBTQ+ people in Guyana, I knew I wasn’t safe in my beautiful country. And if I wanted to live, I had to leave my state.”

Olivia Valawaa second from left. Photo credit: Celia Bernhardt

Valawaa explained that she dealt with suicidal thoughts while struggling through the visa process, but held on to the knowledge that her life was worth living. She was finally given a visitor’s visa, allowing her to relocate and begin a new life. She expressed appreciation for the Caribbean Equality Project for being a particularly valuable resource for LGBTQ members of the Caribbean immigrant communities that call southeastern Queens home. 

Another speaker was James Austin, a Program Assistant at Queens Center for Gay Seniors in Jackson Heights and alum of Generation Q Youth Center in Forest Hills (both centers are run through the nonprofit Queens Community House). 

“As I stand here, consumed by anger and unknowing, my thoughts turn to those we’ve lost,” Austin said at the podium. “To our beautiful siblings, you fought relentlessly to be your true selves; to know a life full of joy and pride in spite of a world unprepared for such power. The void you’ve left behind is immeasurable, and the ache of your absence reverberates in our shared silence. May you rest in power and pride. As a community, we will remember your names. We will not let your deaths erase you.”

Speaking to the Queens Ledger after the event, Austin explained the challenges that older LGBT Queens residents face. 

“Queens is a very disconnected borough,” Austin said, citing a lack of intra-borough public transportation. “It really needs to have more community outreach: people in the streets, small communities with people in their neighborhoods, starting up space for their LGBTQ community around them and then getting connected in some way.” 

BP Richards and attendees from the night.

Austin mentioned that the Queens Center for Gay Seniors, the only center of its kind in the borough, had to pay for one elder’s taxi rides because there was no other way for him to get to Jackson Heights. This disconnect across distance in the borough compounds already-existing issues of loneliness among older LGBT adults, Austin said. “Isolation is a huge issue that all older adults are dealing with—especially LGBT older adults, because our support systems aren’t, like, family or kids. A lot of people’s support systems are their friends, the people around them—that means that as you get older, your support system tends to dwindle.”

After several other speakers addressed the crowd, an emotional drag performance to Christina Aguliera’s “Beautiful” by Queens native Eiby Leandra closed out the night. 

“Tonight was great. Tonight was very significant. It was so amazing, especially for me to get to tell my story for the very first time,” Valawaa said, reflecting on the event. “Although it’s an event to remember transgender people who lost their lives, it’s also a great time to really celebrate the people we have lost within our community. So it’s a bittersweet moment.” 

By Celia Bernhardt | cbernhardt@queensledger.com

Hundreds of Glendale residents and visitors filled the square in the Shops at Atlas Park on Saturday evening for a Christmas tree lighting and holiday festivities. 

The night began with a crowd-wide countdown to the official tree lighting—after a few seconds of technical faltering, the large evergreen was lit up from top to bottom with brilliant lights and ornaments.

Kids pose for a picture in front of the tree. Photo credit: Celia Bernhardt

Multiple local youth dance groups performed for the crowd, including the Queens Dance Academy and KTB Dance Studio. Also featured was a bubble show, a DJ, and a visit from Santa. 

KTB dancers of all ages perform for the crowd. Photo credit: Celia Bernhardt

Lavinia Bopp, a 44-year-old Glendale resident and mother to a KTB dancer, said her daughter has danced at this Christmas event annually for years. 

“I come here every year because my daughter dances every year,” she explained. “I think they’ve been preparing since October.” Bopp said that a local recital like this one was a good opportunity for the dancers to perform for their local friends when they might usually only perform at competitions. 

Bopp said she loved the tree lighting. “It’s not quite like Rockefeller, but us being in a small area, it’s very nice to not go into the city to do something like this. It’s a smaller thing,” she said. “It’s a nice occasion.”

Photo credit: Celia Bernhardt

By Celia Bernhardt | cbernhardt@queensledger.com

This past Sunday, doors were locked at Central and Flushing Queens Public Libraries. And they’ll stay that way every Sunday for the foreseeable future. 

It’s the first week of a new schedule for the library system, which is cutting Sunday service entirely at these two locations. The change follows citywide budget cuts for Fiscal Year 2024 announced in Mayor Adams’ November Financial Plan, which adds updates to the FY24 budget passed by City Council over the summer. Along with all other city agencies under the new budget, The Queens Library, Brooklyn Library and New York Public Library saw their funding slashed by 5%. Officials warn that the cuts could get deeper in January.

“Due to this significant loss of funding, the Library has made the extremely difficult decision to close our Central and Flushing libraries on Sundays, decrease spending on our digital and print materials, and delay needed maintenance and repairs in our buildings,” Queens Library wrote in a press release. “We know how much you rely on us and how disappointing this news is, and we remain as committed as ever to providing the best service possible despite the challenges we face.”

Books at Central Library. Photo credit: Celia Bernhardt

Kimberly Silva, a 47-year-old Hollis resident, said she enjoys visiting Central library. 

“Out of all the libraries, honestly, I would prefer to go to this one. Even though it’s a little bit far from where I live,” Silva said. “They have everything you want.”

“That’s horrible,” she said upon hearing about the new schedule. “No, I would prefer them to stay open. Because a lot of people can’t make it during the week. Sunday’s their off day, they want to come to the library.”

Out of 66 Queens Library locations, Central and Flushing were part of just four locations offering Sunday service before the budget cuts. Now, only Kew Gardens Hills and the Hunters Point Mobile Library remain.

Silva said that free internet and technology help at Central Library—which is equipped with a large room of desktop computers—will be particularly inconvenient for locals to lose access to on Sundays.

“I know a lot of people probably don’t have computers or access to the internet and they probably come here on their day off, which is Sunday,” Silva said. “A lot of people, you know, they’re struggling. Sometimes the internet access is too hard, sometimes it shuts down.”

Media Center at Central Library. Photo credit: Celia Bernhardt

Silva said she is worried the change in schedule might be difficult for her neighbor. “She has adopted kids and they don’t have internet, and she normally brings them here Sunday to do their homework.” 

City Council Member Sandra Ung, whose district includes Flushing Library, emphasized the importance of the location. “One of my top priorities upon taking office was reopening the Flushing branch of Queens Public Library, which had been closed since the start of the pandemic, because I know what an important resource this is for our largely immigrant community,” the Council Member said in a statement. “It’s where children improve their reading skills, parents learn English, and residents develop new skills they can use to advance their careers or transition to a new one.”

Ung said in the statement that the Adams administration made “difficult decisions to address a grim budget outlook,” but that she remains committed to looking for ways to bolster the library system’s resources. 

By Celia Bernhardt | cbernhardt@queensledger.com

A new mural featuring soft colors and detailed flowers stretches along the main atrium of NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens.

The mural was designed by artist Zeehan Wazed, and brought to life through a community painting party in the hospital. Wazed developed the design with the help of multiple focus groups where community members, patients, and hospital staff gave their input. Named Roots of Medicine, the painting was unveiled on Nov. 15. 

The mural is one of nine painted in NYC Health + Hospitals locations just this year. It is part of the Community Mural Project, powered by the hospitals’ Arts in Medicine department. 26 murals were already created in a previous wave of the initiative. According to NYC Health + Hospitals, The Community Mural Project is the nation’s largest public hospital mural program since the Great Depression’s Works Progress Administration worked to commission murals in public buildings. 

Wazed himself hails from Jamaica, Queens—he grew up just a few blocks away from the hospital that now sports his artwork. His parents still live there, though Wazed now resides in Astoria. 

“I have a personal story with Queens hospital,” Wazed said. “When I was young, my dad took me [because] I broke my fingers. So using the same fingers to paint that mural—it kind of felt like it came in full circle.”

Roots of Medicine speaks to the long history of healing in different human societies, depicting eight flowers used in traditional homeopathic treatments: calendula, lavender, chamomile, echinacea, flax seeds, rose petals, St. John’s Wort, and nasturtium. 

A great deal of thought went into the design. Although Wazed himself is not involved in the medical field, his sister is, and he said that his conversations both with her and with the hospital board were critical. 

“Speaking to my sister, who’s pretty blunt with me—she was like, we deal with a lot of patients and sickness. To have something that reflects another aspect of recovery or medicine would be great. And also Dr. Stein, on the board of the hospitals, she wanted something that really represented not sickness, but rather life. And jubilance of life, you know? I think flowers are a great symbol of that. I think they’re very welcoming as well.” 

Wazed mentioned that the flowers evoke the diversity of communities in Queens, and pointed out the green, vine-like patterned lines criss-crossing through the mural. 

“There’s lines that intertwine to represent our communities, and how we’re all kind of connected.” 

Wazed is appreciative of his upbringing in Jamaica’s tight-knit Bangladeshi population. “It’s an amazing community,” he said. “You can see this kind of support system that people find within their communities, at their mosque, at their library.” 

“I think it’s pretty fitting that, you know, I come back to do something at Queens Hospital where there’s a lot of Bangladeshi staff as well,” he added. 

Wazed has been working as an artist for about a decade. Though some of his work is in the world of canvas and galleries, he dove headfirst into public works during the pandemic. 

“It’s definitely been a more humbling experience,” he reflected. “We don’t really have galleries out in Queens…but for the time being, it’s been amazing, creating public art for people who would never walk into a gallery, who just happened to walk by it and connect with it in that sense.”

Wazed’s next project is a mural in JFK. Beyond that, he plans to continue painting vibrant, public murals throughout his home borough. “I feel like I have some sort of mission here to help try to beautify Queens.”

Wazed is invested in the bigger picture of the borough’s relationship with the arts. 

“I think there’s somewhat of a dearth of art in Queens,” he said, pointing out that there seem to be fewer gallery and museum spaces. 

“There’s so much culture here. And I feel like it should be reflected with vibrant art.”