Streetsblog New York City

We continue our series on City Council candidates with a Q&A with former New York Young Republican Club President Daniel Peterson, who’s running to represent District 22, covering Astoria, Ditmars-Steinway, and northern Jackson Heights. Yesterday we ran a Q&A with Democratic District Leader Costa Constantinides. There are two other candidates in this district. Antonio Meloni responded to Streetsblog’s questionnaire but did not provide answers for publication. Danielle De Stefano did not respond.

City Council District 22 candidate Daniel Peterson. Photo: Daniel Peterson/Facebook

Streetsblog: A proposal for a pedestrian plaza at 30th Avenue, 33rd Street and Newtown Avenue was defeated by opposition from Community Board 1 and Council Member Vallone. Do you think public plazas, like the ones installed in other neighborhoods throughout the city, provide a benefit to the community?

Daniel Peterson: I welcome proposals for additional public space in Astoria and throughout New York City. As councilman, I will listen to new proposals for areas of Astoria that can potentially be transformed into new public space. I will also make sure all the pros and cons are thoroughly vetted. The democratic process may not grant every proposal, but we should certainly look for alternative options that can improve our public space.

SB: Astoria Boulevard is slated to receive Select Bus Service improvements to speed bus travel. Could other parts of the neighborhood benefit from things like dedicated bus lanes?

DP: Other parts of Astoria would most certainly benefit from dedicated bus lanes. If 21st Street is an option, I would definitely look at such a proposal. The real question is: Can other parts support dedicated bus lanes? Unfortunately, Astoria’s street grid does not support many options for dedicating a section of road for a bus lane as our roads are just not wide enough. However, I am open to any improvements for our public transportation.

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Streetsblog continues our series on City Council candidates with a look at the race for District 22 in Queens, which covers Astoria, Ditmars-Steinway, and northern Jackson Heights. The seat has been held by Peter Vallone, Jr. since 2002; he is now running for Queens Borough President.

City Council District 22 candidate Costa Constantinides.

Two Democratic primary candidates – Democratic District Leader Costa Constantinides and anti-crime activist Antonio Meloni – are joined by a Republican candidate, former New York Young Republican Club President Daniel Peterson. Danielle De Stefano is also listed as a candidate by the New York State Board of Elections.

Streetsblog sent questionnaires to the campaigns to get a better understanding of where the candidates stand on transit, traffic safety, and transportation policy. We begin in alphabetical order with responses from Costa Constantinides and will run Daniel Peterson’s answers in a separate post. Antonio Meloni responded to Streetsblog’s questionnaire, but did not provide answers for publication. Danielle De Stefano did not respond.

Streetsblog: A proposal for a pedestrian plaza at 30th Avenue, 33rd Street and Newtown Avenue was defeated by opposition from Community Board 1 and Council Member Vallone. Do you think public plazas, like the ones installed in other neighborhoods throughout the city, provide a benefit to the community?

Costa Constantinides: Generally, I think that public plazas provide tangible benefits to their neighborhoods. With a few exceptions, many of the communities in western Queens don’t have park space within walking distance. Without shared public spaces where friends and neighbors can congregate, a community has no place to vent and breathe. As a Council member, I will work with the community to create more public spaces that meet the needs of both residents and small business owners.

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Are small businesses that cater to cyclists less desirable than those who look to draw motorists? That seems to be the position of Queens Community Board 1.

A good percentage of these business patrons don't count to Queens Community Board 1. Photo: DNAinfo

DNAinfo reported yesterday on the board’s refusal to endorse a bike corral proposed by The Queens Kickshaw, located on Broadway between Steinway and 41st Streets in Astoria.

Owners Jennifer Lim and Ben Sandler, the wife-and-husband team who opened the popular restaurant and cafe in March, say a “good percentage” of their customers arrive by bike — enough that Transportation Alternatives has declared The Queens Kickshaw a bike-friendly business. Yet without proper parking, customers have nothing to secure their bikes to other than a nearby meter.

Lim and Sandler went through the city’s CityRacks application process, but their request was denied by both the CB 1 transportation committee and the full board. Since DOT chooses to defer such decisions to community boards, these budding entrepreneurs are back to square one.

And here’s the kicker:

[T]he board denied the request “because it’s going to take up a very valuable parking space,” said Lucille Hartmann, District Manager.

She said the parking is crucial for merchants on Broadway and Steinway streets, which are major shopping areas.

“Many businesses there are competing with shopping malls where there is parking available,” Hartmann noted.

Got that? Community Board 1 quashed a request from a business for more parking on the grounds that it would take parking from businesses.

Speaking with DNAinfo, Hartmann suggested Queens Kickshaw customers could be accommodated by two new bike racks that will soon be installed at a library across the street. There was no word on where library patrons might park.

Hartmann was not available for comment on the board’s decision. Meanwhile, Lim and Sandler — who, it must be said, are being awfully gracious about this — are giving it another shot. They have posted an online petition, which they plan to present to the board once they gather enough signatures. At this writing they have 324 names and counting.

A Key Food delivery truck in Astoria blocks the crosswalk and a fire hydrant, forcing pedestrians into Newtown Avenue. Photo: Todd Schultz

Last month, Queens Community Board 1 voted down DOT’s proposal for a pedestrian plaza at the intersection of 30th Avenue, 33rd Street and Newtown Avenue, opting instead for curb extensions that will keep the block open to vehicle traffic.

The curb extensions are set to be installed next year. In the meantime, as shown in this photo sent in by reader Todd Schultz, trucks unloading at the Key Food on Newtown Avenue are parking illegally in the crosswalk, endangering pedestrians crossing the intersection.

At the CB 1 meeting, Thomas Anderson of Key Food spoke against the plaza, saying it would “eliminate convenient access to our store” and “potentially threaten our viability,” despite a DOT survey of the store’s shoppers showing that 90 percent arrive on foot or by transit.

Astoria residents got one day to experience "Newtown Plaza" last month, but they won't have a permanent new public space after Community Board 1's vote on Tuesday. Photo: Stephen Miller

DOT went before Queens Community Board 1 on Tuesday to propose a pedestrian plaza at the intersection of 30th Avenue, 33rd Street and Newtown Avenue. The audience at the meeting was split on the proposal, but CB members were not: They voted against the plaza 25 to 7.

Since the board rejected the plaza, which would have cost $75,000 to install, the location will be receiving three smaller, but permanent, curb extensions at a cost of $400,000. The project could begin as soon as spring 2013. Legally, community boards serve only an advisory role, but DOT representatives said at the start of the meeting that the agency would not install the plaza if the community board voted against it.

Plaza supporters had formed Friends of Newtown Plaza to advocate for a community board “yes” vote, but the plaza was opposed by Council Member Peter Vallone Jr., who favored a smaller intervention that would have preserved through traffic (which DOT had previously rejected). Local business interests, including the 30th Avenue Business Association, were also vocal in their opposition.

Newtown Plaza was the site of DOT’s first one-day demonstration plaza on the last Saturday in August. At the event, DOT staff surveyed passersby about their preferences for the location. Support for the plaza was overwhelming, with 96 percent saying they would like a permanent plaza. And the vast majority — 88 percent — said they got to the plaza by walking. Most respondents came from the immediate neighborhood or adjacent zip codes and cited safety, cleanliness and public space as their top priorities. Few respondents identified parking as a priority.

A plaza would also have helped address the lack of public space in Astoria. According to DOT, city guidelines call for a minimum of 65 square feet of open space per person. Queens has 206 square feet per person, while Astoria has only 16 square feet per person.

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The Astoria plaza plan is up for a community board vote tonight. Image: DOT

The intersection of 30th Avenue, 33rd Street and Newtown Avenue was the site of DOT’s first-ever one-day demonstration plaza. Will it get a permanent public space enhancement?

In June, DOT presented two options for this location: three curb extensions at a cost of $400,000, or the plaza at a cost of $75,000.

So far, Council Member Peter Vallone Jr. has sided with a group of vocal business owners who oppose the plaza. But tonight, the plaza will be up for a vote at Queens Community Board 1, and the dynamic could change.

A strong showing of neighborhood support for the 78th Street Play Street helped sway Queens CB 3 to support a car-free block in Jackson Heights in 2010. Public support for the Astoria plaza could shape the outcome of this project, too.

Merchant attitudes toward pedestrian plazas also have a way of changing after seeing the results in practice. Business owners who started out opposing the 37th Road plaza in Jackson Heights were eventually won over, and announced last month that they would help maintain what they now call “Diversity Plaza.”

Tonight’s community board vote is advisory but figures to factor strongly in DOT’s decision-making process. The meeting starts at 7:00 p.m. at 25-22 Astoria Boulevard. Stay tuned for coverage here tomorrow.

DOT is proposing a plaza on Newtown Avenue at the intersection of 30th Avenue and 33rd Street. Photo: Stephen Miller

Facing a small but influential opposition to a permanent plaza in Astoria, DOT installed a one-day demonstration on Saturday to give neighborhood residents a sneak peak of how the street could be transformed. The demo, a first for DOT, was installed before Queens Community Board 1 votes on the proposal on September 11.

Throughout the day, people were taking breaks in the moveable chairs, kids were playing hopscotch, and residents were giving feedback to DOT.

Freida Raemer, 80, lives nearby and was walking down 30th Avenue when she came upon the demo plaza. She said that she would use the plaza if it’s installed. “Sometimes you want to take a little rest.”

Community Board 1 will vote on the plaza on September 11. Photo: Stephen Miller

DOT has put forth two options for the intersection: three curb extensions at a cost of $400,000, or the plaza at a cost of $75,000. If the plaza is built, DOT would work with the Central Astoria Local Development Corporation to maintain the space. Council Member Peter Vallone, Jr., siding with some businesses who don’t want to see the plaza get built, has said he opposes the plaza option.

Opponents were also out collecting signatures against the plaza on Saturday. Kat Valiotis, who lives on Newtown Avenue and works for Alma Realty, which is one of the businesses that opposes the plaza, said that she supports plazas, but that a plaza on her street would create unbearable traffic congestion. Valiotis also noted that the neighborhood has a park, Athens Square, a few blocks away at 30th Street.

But Antigone Babalas, carrying her 6-month-old girl down the street, said the neighborhood could use more public space. “The other park is always crowded,” said Babalas, who also has a 4-year-old boy. The Parks Department has identified Astoria as one of the 10 neighborhoods with the least amount of open space in New York. Looking at Newtown Avenue, Babalas said it might make a nice plaza. “It’s not a very busy block,” she said.

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So far, a small but vocal group of plaza opponents have the ear of City Council Member Peter Vallone when it comes to this pedestrian project in Astoria. Image of proposed plaza footprint: NYC DOT

City Council Member Peter Vallone, Jr. opposes a proposal to create a new pedestrian plaza in public space-starved Astoria. The plaza is one of the options on the table for a dangerous intersection that NYC DOT has targeted for safety imporovements.

The irregular intersection of 33rd Street, 30th Avenue and Newtown Avenue has long been a dangerous place to cross. In 2001, Community Board 1 sent a letter to DOT asking for major pedestrian safety fixes at the intersection. Recent data from DOT show that it is one of the most crash-prone locations in Queens, with more crashes than 89 percent of the borough’s other intersections.

On June 5, DOT hosted a meeting to present two options to the community. The first, which would install three curb extensions, grew out of a 2006 study DOT conducted as part of a citywide school safety program, which included nearby P.S. 17. The curb extensions would be installed at a cost of $400,000 and could begin to be built in spring 2013.

The second option would create a pedestrian plaza on Newtown Avenue between a driveway and 30th Avenue. The plaza would be less expensive and faster to install than the three curb extensions, costing $75,000. It would also provide 4,700 square feet of new public space to Astoria, identified by the Parks Department as one of the 10 neighborhoods with the least amount of open space in New York. DOT would work with the Central Astoria Local Development Corporation to maintain the plaza.

“Either way that this goes, it will be a win for the intersection,” said Marie Torniali, executive director of the LDC. “The intersection needs something, both for the safety of pedestrians and aesthetically.” Torniali described those in attendance at last week’s workshop as being evenly split on which alternative they preferred.

Opposition to the plaza proposal has come from a small number of vocal business owners. Some businesses are objecting to a net reduction of seven parking spaces. Flower shop owner and CB1 member Gus Prentzas told DNAinfo, “People want to be able to shop in the area and stop in front of Key Food.”

Most shoppers at the proposed plaza location arrive by foot. Survey graphic: NYC DOT

But more pedestrian space will not prevent people from shopping. The vast majority of customers already arrive on foot. DOT surveyed Key Food shoppers at four different times and found that 82 percent of customers walk to the store, while only 8 percent arrive by car.

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Many cyclists in Queens feel theirs is the forgotten borough. Though it ranks first in size and second in population, Queens ranks third behind Brooklyn and Manhattan in bike lanes. And the existing bike lanes too rarely link up, cyclists say, discouraging bicycle use for commuting to work or for recreation.

"Queens Boulevard is the big ask," said one workshop participant. In recent years, cyclists Asif Rahman and James Langergaard have been killed on the highway-like thoroughfare that connects many Queens neighborhoods.

With the goal of improving bike travel in their borough, Queens residents met with city Department of Transportation officials Saturday for some bottom-up planning. The idea was to get the people who know their streets best to provide initial input for new bike lanes.

Convened by Queens Community Board 2, the meeting was the first of its kind for the city, said Hayes Lord, who directs the DOT’s bicycle program.

CB 2, which includes the western Queens neighborhoods of Long Island City, Sunnyside and Woodside, is strategically located to improve bicycling for Queens residents. It is home to the Queensborough Bridge, an important route for cyclists commuting to work, and with a burgeoning collection of cultural institution, it is increasingly a destination unto itself. ”We definitely see that there’s a great deal of excitement for cycling in Queens and we want to be able to support that,” Lord told the roughly 50 attendees.

Cyclists gathered in groups around large maps showing existing bike lanes and conferred about traffic trouble spots.

The Queens side of the Pulaski Bridge into Brooklyn was described as “atrocious,” by Helen Ho, who often bikes that route to commute between her Astoria home and office near Union Square in Manhattan. ”To get to the bike lane on Vernon Boulevard you have to go across some really scary intersections,” she said.

Some participants urged the creation of a continuous east-west route. Jonathan Dunn, a former investment banker, said he regularly uses that thoroughfare for his one-hour, forty-minute recreational jaunt from his Sunnyside home to the Rockaways. “But you have to be very careful along Queens Boulevard,” he said.

“Queens Boulevard is the big ask — the dream,” said Astoria resident Ian Hardouin. “It’s a major thoroughfare and connects to many other neighborhoods.” Hardouin noted that a Queens Boulevard bike lane would be a heavy lift because the boulevard is home to many stores, restaurants and other business that depend on street parking, some of which could be lost by the creation of bike lanes.

Lord had another concern: whether Queens Boulevard bike lanes would be safe. He said DOT would like to look at a possible parallel route.

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