CH 5 Open Street/Stakeholders

OPEN STREETS, PARKS/ STAKEHOLDERS

Marina Iodice Daniella Vlakancic Lianna Moze

Open Streets is a community initiative that took into affect in 2020 to provide residents with additional outdoor space during the pandemic. The Department of Transportation formulated a plan to have a linear space free of cars. But after some time, the agency planned to establish pedestrian plazas from 69th Street to Junction Boulevard. Despite these efforts, those in favor of a car-free space are still not satisfied with the proposal, as they don’t see these portable barricades as the most safe nor efficient. Likewise, those who are against the limitations of parking space and blockage of roads are not satisfied either. Some of the challenges asides from parking availability include the inability to make deliveries, as truck drivers are hesitant on having to move the barriers. However, Open Streets has provided beneficial and much needed safe space for pedestrians to engage in activites outdoors, such as walk their dogs, dancing, parades, and outdoor vendor businessses.

Parrot, Max. “Dot Unveils Plan for 34th Avenue in Jackson Heights, Includes Pedestrian Plazas and Car Access.”

The city currently wishes to utilize “diverters” or barricades for the majority of intersections along 34th Avenue. This 1.3 mile open street spans between 69th Street and Junction Boulevard. The open street, according to officials, serves as a standard to keep the roads free of cars in exchange for more walkable space. In addition, volunteers would place the barricades every morning and remove them for the evening. This enables 56 blocks segments of Jackson Heights to be as car-free as possible during the daytime, and for those who need to move their car to move the barricade. With these considerations, it is evident as to why 34th Avenue is believed to be the city’s most-used open street.

Individuals prove to enjoy the current designated pedestrian spaces, as many are found engaging in activities throughout the day. People often come out for coffee and socialization, while others are found walking thier dogs. One could enjoy free recreational classes such as yoga, salsa, or Mexican dance. Other distinctive activities include a pride parade and even once, a wedding event. Moreover, businesses have started to establish themselves occasionally on the avenue. Food trucks and green markets selling fresh produce are just some of these local businesses that found support during the recent challeneges in the economy.

DOT. “Diverters.” Streetsblog NYC, Department of Transportation, Jackson Heights

DOT. “DOT Diverter Graphic.” Streetsblog NYC, Department of Transportation, Jackson Heights

Plan view and diagram

Full access streets 34th avenue /partial access

Recreational buildings Parks

Schools

Food

Garages

87

Road diagrams

Example of a block

80th st 34th Ave

81st st

Parking spaces Road verges Crosswalks

Bike lanes Barriers

Direction of traffic

34th avenue (partial access) Full access streeets

The original plan vs. today

Private parks

There are technically 20 private parks in Jackson Heights. The original plan of the the Queensboro Corporation to develop a “garden city,” in which architects had to incorporate a large amount of greenery into their site. In fact, majority of the sites footprints is green space and not taken up by the actual building itself. Although the greenery still exists in parts of Jackson Heights today, most of the spaces are private courtyards that belong to the apartment buildings residents. None of the 20 parks are open to the general public. There are only 7 public parks, and not all are appealing.

Parks with the label “NV” are “not visible” to the public Brulene Garden 34-10 94th Street, Jackson Heights, NY 1952 Cambridge Court Park [NV] 85th – 86th Streets, 37th – Roosevelt Avenues, Jackson Heights, NY Olmsted Brothers / 1922 Cedar Court Garden 83-01, 83-09 35th Avenue, Jackson Heights, NY 1924-25 Chateau Park 80th – 81st Streets, 34th – 35th Avenues, Jackson Heights, NY Olmsted Brothers (?) / 1922-23 Community U.M. Church Prayer Garden 35th Avenue, 82nd Street, Jackson Heights, NY 2006 Dunolly Gardens Park 34th – 35th Avenues, 78th – 79th Streets, Jackson Heights, NY 1938-39 Elm Court Park [NV] 79th – 80th Streets, 34th – 35th Avenues, Jackson Heights, NY 1921-22 Greystones (East) Park [NV] 35-30…35-50 80th Street, Jackson Heights, NY 1916-18 Greystones (West) Park [NV] 35-16…35-54 80th Street, Jackson Heights, NY 1916-18 Hamilton Court Park 79th – 80th Streets, 37th – Roosevelt Avenues, Jackson Heights, NY 1925-26 Hampton Court Park 78th – 79th Streets, 35th – 37th Avenues 1919-21 Hawthorne Court Park 76th – 77th Streets, 35th – 37th Avenues, Jackson Heights, NY 1921-22 Hayes Court Garden 34th Avenue, 82nd – 83rd Streets, Jackson Heights, NY 1922-23 Ivy Court Park 34th Avenue, 83rd – 84th Streets, Jackson Heights, NY 1924 Laburnum Court Park [NV] & Laburnum Court Gardens (4) 80th – 79th Streets, 37th – Roosevelt Avenues, Jackson Heights, NY 1921-22 La Mesa Verde Parks (2) 90th – 91st Streets, 34th – 35th Avenues, Jackson Heights, NY Henry Atterbury Smith / 1927 Linden Court Park [NV] 84th – 85th Streets, 37th – Roosevelt Avenues, Jackson Heights, NY 1919-21 Montclair-Colonial Court Park & Fountains [NV] 75th – 76th Streets, 35th – 37th Avenues, Jackson Heights, NY 1940 Oak Hall Park [NV] 35-34 84th Street, 35-33 83rd Street, Jackson Heights, NY 1930-31 St.Joan of Arc Our Lady’s Garden 35th Avenue, 82nd – 83rd Streets, Jackson Heights, NY 1927 St. Mark’s Episcopal Church Gardens (2) 34th Avenue, 81st – 82nd Streets; 33-50 82nd Street, Jackson Heights, NY 1927 Spanish Gardens Park [NV] & Spanish Gardens (4) 3rd – 84th Streets, 37th – Roosevelt Avenues, Jackson Heights, NY 1924-26 34th Avenue Garden Median 34th Avenue, 69th – 90th Streets, Jackson Heights, NY Original: Queensboro Corp. / c.1925; New: M. Zargarelahi, 1996 Towers Park 34th Avenue, 80 – 81st Streets, Jackson Heights, NY Noel Chamberlain / 1923-25 The Washington Plaza Park & Fountains (2) 73-12 35th Avenue, 73rd – 74th Streets Sylvan Bein / 1940 Wemberly Gardens 34-38…34-50 75th Street, 35th – 34th Avenues 1947 The Woodstock Garden 81-01 35th Avenue, 81st Street 1949

Public parks

Travers Park 76-9 34th Ave, Queens, NY 11372 Gorman Playground 25th Ave. & 84th St, East Elmhurst, NY 11369 Northern Playground Northern Blvd, Jackson Heights, NY 11372 Playground Ninety 90th St, Jackson Heights, NY 11372 Community Playground 33-54 74th Street, Queens, NY 11372 Louis C. Moser Playground 25th Avenue and 76th Street, East Elmhurst, NY 11370 Landing Lights Dog Park 29-99-29-27 78th St, East Elmhurst, NY 11370 90

Visible vs. nonvisible private parks

Henry Sanchez: “A space for sunbathing, a lot of tables for play and the play area for children is wonderful, very clean”

Victoria Karpinsky: “Always packed with kids and families, as it should be! I love hanging out with my neighbors in this beautiful park.”

Asli Arslan: “Nice neighborhood park. It gets little crowded sometimes.”

Juan Ramos: “Nice park to bad its always crowded”

Aarsh Kahn: “Getting too crowded, no social distancing, city needs more parks.”

Travers Park is one of the most popular parks in Jackson Heights. It is on 34th avenue which means it is conveniently located for the community. Although it is loved by many, the reviews tend to have an overall theme of it being too crowded at times.

93

Valeria Paltan: “Disgusting the place is so dirty and wet manydrunk people was there it is dangerous for the kids”

Tony Thompson: “Its boring because I’m old to play on the games but it’s cool to hang out”

Ruben Tovar: “this park is crowded all the time”

John Magione: “Great place to bring the kids and play ball!”

Javier Martinez: “This is a great playground for the entire neighborhood. Great to see adults as well as children playing or exercising here.”

Northern Playground is great for small kids but not as much for teens or adults. Adults are often seen excersizing but other than that theres not much to do unless youre a child. Also seems to have a problem of being overcrowded at times.

Rosana Gati: “Nice place but too many people” Paula Macias: “My toddlers loves this park and it’s always filled with families having fun.

J.M. Gonzalez “not good for smaller kids.Its very open no doors or gates to keep the kids enclosed for their safety”

Ramon Amaro: “Kids friendly. It can get a little too crowded.”

Sandra C: ‘Friendly and diverse. Great playground.”

Gorman Playground is more strictly for kids. All thats there is a playground and theres not much more space for anything else. Unshockingly, it is also overcrowded.

97

Alina Rameriez: “. Be prepared to get dusty from the part of the field that isn’t covered with grass anymore.”

Antonio Adorno: “Nice but no division of small or large dogs and no place for water”

Rebekah Kroesing: “Great little dog park! It’s only really a square with grass/dirt with no place to sit it’s not amazing but it’s nice for the area.”

Yaling Chan: “Lots of space, a decent strip of grass. It’d be perfect if they could get a hose installed :)”

Karina Johanna “Beautiful, clean, and very friendly dogs.”

Landing Lights Dog Run is a good spot to go to let your dogs run around off leash. A common complaint is that its pretty much just a dusty field and its not as well kept as the community would hope. Pretty much just an empty plot. Its nothing special for most who come here but its appreciated as its one of the few spots dogs can roam free in Jackson Heights.

It seems that the people of the Jackson Heights community wish for a compromise. Some wish for a design that would make one street in Jackson Heights 34th Avenue completely car-free while other streets are designed to suit those who wish to drive.

Resident Mike Lydon mentions that “data shows that the key to a successful, widely used open street is to prevent thru car traffic by making it difficult to enter the street in a car”.

It also seems that some community members wish to bring back the gardens and parks Jackson Heights was known for in the last century. However, modern development transformed it into one of the most space-deprived neighborhoods of the city. The pandemic proved that streets could be utilized beyond the current proposals, as open spaces in lower class and minority communities reduce air pollution and enable room for local businesses to find greater success.

LOCAL GROUPS

JACKSON HEIGHTS BEAUTIFICATION GROUP (JHBG)

is a non-profit organization working towards civic duty, the environment, and the arts. They include the residents anworkforce of the community who promote public good.

BOARD MEMBERS

James McIntyre Vice President/Fundraising/ Director at NY State Housing Agency Jerry Goldman Vice President/Dog Run Leslie Ellman Board President / NYC public schools administrator Joe Brunken Treasurer / Property Manager Daniel Karatzas Historic Jackson Heights / Financial Planner

CONTACT: info@jhbg.org 347-766-9129 PO Box 720253 Jackson Heights, NY Facebook: JHBGNY

LOCAL

82nd STREET PARTNERSHIP

is a non-profit entity and award-winning development by the board, tenants, government officials, property owners, and leaders of Jackson Heights. They seek to enrich the quality and sustainability of the community through advocacy, sanitation, marketing, and beautification.

CONTACT: 37-06 82nd Street, Suite 309 Jackson Heights, NY 11372 Ph. (718) 335-9421 Fax: (718) 507-1234 info@82ndStreet.org

Henry Mei

Originizer for 34th Ave Linear Park Project and Resident of Jackson Heights Henry Mei has been a Jackson Heights Resident his entire life and is currently an Orginizer for the 34th Ave Linear Park Project that launched in May 2021. The Project focuses on Maximizing Green space, Maximizing saftey, expanding space for public schools to use for programs and reducing conflict between pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists. Henry Mei is pushing to see effective space that can be used by anyone in the community and safter speration for people and bikes on 34th ave.

Emily Weidenhof

Director for the DOT (Department of Transportation) for Public Space Emily Weidenhof is the Director of Public Space at NYC DOT working closely with community groups throughout the five boroughs to re-imagine their streets as public space. She’s focused on the role of the public domain in strengthening and bringing together communities for over a decade, deeply involved in policy, management, legislation, and most recently leading efforts to create Shared and Seasonal Streets in New York City

James Mclyntyre is on the board of JHBG. He is also affiliated with Urban Design Forum, and is a Chief Strategy Office at Inclusive Prosperity Capital which is an organization focused on creating a “cleaner, healthier, more sustainable built environment”. He develops and oversees the implementation of financing and asset management solutions in support of furthering the agency’s mission over the long term. James has extensive experience in public finances and a commitment to political organizing and transportation alternatives.

James McIntyre

Part of the Board for the Jackson Heights Beutification Group (JHBG)

Daniel McPhee

Executive Director for Urban Design Forum Daniel McPhee is Executive Director of the Urban Design Forum, where he works with the Board of Directors to present programming on issues like community development, historic preservation, housing, open space, resiliency, and transportation.

Leslie Ramos

Part of the 82nd Street Partnership Leslie A. Ramos joined the 82nd Street Partnership in October 2014 as Executive Director. She has extensive experience working with small businesses, City agencies, and the Latino community; bringing a wealth of knowledge in economic and community development practices.

Daniel Karatzas

Part of the Jackson Heights Beutification Group and Author/Realtor Daniel is a board member and former president of the Jackson Heights Beautification Group. His book is Jackson Heights – A Garden in the City, talks about the history of Jackson Heights and its unique contribution to urban planning history. He is the acknowledged expert on the community, and has lots of knowledge of the private homes and apartment buildings of Jackson Heights.