Long Island City, NY.
April 27th, 2019.
Saturday.
3:30 p.m.
Partly sunny, partly cloudy. A little windy. About 56 °F.
Area walked: Up and down Vernon Blvd. between 46th ave. and 49th ave., then down 48th ave. to Gantry Plaza State Park and up and down Center Blvd between 49th ave and 46th ave.
Description of Location
- Alot of plants in front of every store/business (to me, areas seem more desirable when there is nature around)
- Most businesses were privately owned or family restaurants: no chains (i.e., I didn’t see a McDonald’s or a Starbucks where I walked)
- A lot of food trucks by the water (again, privately owned businesses)
- Extremely diverse by culture (I saw an Indian restaurant, Mexican restaurant, Cuban restaurant and All-American sandwich shop all on the same block)
- A lot of family friendly areas – aside from restaurants, there were a lot of playgrounds for children, parks, basketball courts, and even a dog run!
It seems they are trying to get the youth involved in building up the area:
- The closer you get to the water, the more gentrified the area seems to be: when I started my walk, I saw a lot of small businesses located in smaller, older buildings; the closer I got to the water, the fancier, newer, taller and more modern-looking the buildings were (whether those be apartment buildings or offices)
It’s hard to believe that the buildings in these photos are right across the street from the buildings in the photos included above! They look like they belong in two completely different towns.
- Accessibility: CitiBikes available every few blocks, 7 Train, MTA buses, metered parking available for cars
- Area seems to be going from a previously industrial area to a new attraction to young residents and businesses alike
- And you can’t forget the beautiful view of the city skyline by the water!
Description of People
- Diversity by age as well as culture (diversity of culture is intrinsically connected to the description of the place as well as the description of the people*): I saw a lot of a lot of young kids in the public parks with their parents, older kids playing basketball and soccer, a lot of older people eating lunch at the restaurants on Vernon Blvd., and people picnicking on the lawn of Gantry State Plaza.
- Diversity by social class: a lot of people dressed for business in suits going to and from work, a lot of people dressed casually, etc.
Description of Yourself:
I definitely fit in. There were too many types of people here to not fit in. As I looked around, I saw so many different people, and I thought, Wow, I could be any one of those people. I could’ve been sitting down for brunch with the set of grandparents at the Italian restaurant; I could’ve been part of the group of people taking pictures near the water. The kids playing basketball at the park could have been me ten years ago; The mom watching her daughter on the slide can be me in ten years. There were so many different types of people, from so many different places and of so many different socioeconomic backgrounds that ANYONE could have fit in. I remember visiting that same area when I was in middle school; it certainly was not like it is now. Back then, it was way more industrial. Even though it was only about 7 or 8 years ago (as opposed to two decades ago), I can definitely see change in the area. And it’s really positive change.
Critical Reflections
Before, the streets weren’t as pleasant to walk down, and the area was filled with factories. It wasn’t family friendly. In fact, I don’t think it was much of anything-friendly. There were small businesses here and there, but not as many as there are now.
Although Gantry State Park has existed since 1998, it wasn’t expanded until 2009 and I truly believe that until recent years, it wasn’t as nice as it is now.
One article describes it perfectly:
“once home to artist communities and a graveyard of abandoned factories, now has its own skyline that’s dotted by high-rise apartments and commercial developments”
(https://www.theverge.com/2018/11/20/18093040/amazon-hq2-long-island-city-queens-resident-reactions-neighborhood-impact)
I chose this area because of the whole ordeal with Amazon, first announcing that it was relocating one of its headquarters to LIC, then pulling out of the deal. Surely, it caused a stir.
The city was divided, with some people for it and some people against it. What would really have happened if Amazon closed the deal?
Even though it’s allegedly not happening anymore, I chose to explore the topic anyway.
“Jobs, jobs, jobs”: The author of the following article talks to small business owners in the very area that I walked, and it turns out that a lot of them are disappointed that Amazon pulled out of the deal. For small business owners, especially mom-and-pop shops, Amazon coming to the area was going to keep their businesses growing: the deal “would have undeniably brought tens of thousands of new jobs to the area and been a boon to local bars and cafés.” Having that many more people working there meant having more people eating lunch in the area. The author quotes a restaurant owner on that one:
“Conservatively,” he figures, “I’d say we’ve lost $2 million in revenue per location.”
http://www.grubstreet.com/2019/02/lic-restaurant-owners-amazon-hq2-departure.html
But it’s not – and shouldn’t always be- about making money. Sometimes, you need to worry about the people, too.
There are plenty things about Amazon coming to LIC that would have made the area less desirable.
First off, most of the jobs offered by Amazon in the area require college degrees. That means that they’re not open to everyone. That also means that most people in the area don’t have college degrees, so it’s likely that people would’ve been moving in from other places, raising property values (which can be a good thing, until the people who already live there can’t afford it anymore and are forced to move out).
That also means that if people aren’t moving there, they’re commuting. That means the area is going to become more congested (and that includes trains, cars and buses; even walking and biking can become a hassle).
According to another article,
“…[There is fear that the city has chosen to] to invest in something that will instead further price out local residents. “Along the 7 line, it’s already so intensely crowded. The sheer number of people in Queens is [unprecedented], and the infrastructure that is there hasn’t been kept up”…At a press conference addressing Amazon HQ2 last week, Mayor de Blasio says he’s still committed to affordable housing for low-income New Yorkers. But instead of fixing the Queensbridge Houses, which reported a heating outage the day after the Amazon announcement, de Blasio this week announced plans to renovate 62,000 apartments throughout the Bronx and Brooklyn. To anti-Amazon protesters like Afridi, this is just the first step to displacing local families in need.”
https://www.theverge.com/2018/11/20/18093040/amazon-hq2-long-island-city-queens-resident-reactions-neighborhood-impact
Instead of fixing the problems that already exist, it seems like bringing Amazon HQ would have potentially created more problems.
And finally, my favorite quote from the article:
“People from Queens and people from New York in general should not have to trade in their jobs and homes for basic infrastructure like good transit and good schools,” she says.
(https://www.theverge.com/2018/11/20/18093040/amazon-hq2-long-island-city-queens-resident-reactions-neighborhood-impact)
In conclusion, the area is beautiful and definitely on the rise. I can see myself living there in the future (if it’s even affordable by then). Everything has it’s pros and cons, but I personally think that bringing Amazon HQ to LIC might ruin it; not only would adding more “factories” ruin the aesthetic that is becoming of it, but it would make it undesirable to live in due to all the congestion – it would almost be like another Manhattan.
How can I relate this to something I learned in class?
Well, I guess moving Amazon HQ to LIC would be the “Robert Moses” way of doing it – ignoring the needs of the people already living there in order to build and reap economic benefit…Keeping it out of Queens would be a Jacobsian way of caring about “the greater good” of the community.
