On July 13, 2016 at the Rosedale Senior Center located in Cross Island Plaza, Councilman Donovan Richards hosted a visioning meeting for Merrick Blvd. The plan highlighted 4 vacant parking lots in surrounding areas with an emphasis on cutting 242 Street. Initial ideas proposed by Richards included the need for affordable housing for youth and seniors in the area and he has commissioned the Department of Transportation to make the business district more attractive. There was a strong emphasis by Richards of the importance of building capacity in the community. Partners in the community visioning session included Ivy Equities and RKTB Architects. According to the online source National Real Estate Investor, Ivy Equities purchased Cross Island Plaza for 24.3 million dollars from Block 1289 Realty Corp. under a bankruptcy court plan in 2013. The meeting also had in attendance architecture firm RKTB Architects. RKTB Architects has been providing over 50 years of architectural design and creating social responsible design around housing, healthcare and education. The architecture firm presented aerial photos of the Merrick Blvd Development highlighting 4 empty parking lots that could potentially provide residential and retail space in addition to the possibility of underground parking. Residents of Laurelton expressed their desire for there to more healthy food options, less barbershops and no 99 cent stores. Both the Federated Blocks of Laurelton, the 229 Street Block Association expressed the importance of there being a transparent process in deciding the final outcomes of what would be made available in these lots. Many residents also shared there is a need for a community center that targets youth because there are no options for them in the community. As one local resident stated, “ Merrick doesn’t need to be extended, it needs to be improved.” Councilman Richard’s staff stated there would be additional visioning meetings and future committees will be formed.
I feel very strongly about this and I think this is a farce designed to convince our constituents of Laurelton that all of this affordable housing construction is to our benefit. Lets think about this for a moment- seniors from South East Queens mostly own their homes outright. Why is Mr. Donovan Richards proposing affordable housing for seniors? Our beautiful neighborhood of Laurelton must not fall victim to the gentrification of Brooklyn neighborhoods like DT Brooklyn, Bed-Stuy and Bushwick who displaced affordable options to many families of color, thus forcing them to South East Queens. We are not a dumping ground!
Instead, why not try to attract vendors worthy of our hard earned tax paying dollars that we frequent already like, Trader Joes, Starbucks, etc…and give us an opportunity to hold them to maintaining the fidelity of their products.
Also why not focus on making our schools in D29 better and worthy of our multi-talented children. Do a survey and I’ll bet that most Laurelton residents send their children to private schools since the conditions in most D29 middle and high schools are deplorable. Why not focus on that? Student’s leave such a great community elementary school such as ps176q and have nowhere comparable to go afterwards. This is SHAMEFUL!!!! Brain drain yes! But give us a choice and a school worthy of our kids then, maybe we won’t go running for the independent school hills!
Bottom line SouthEast Queens Politicians, you owe it to us not to let our community turn into a dumping ground! Fix our schools. Attract commercial businesses worthy of our high middle class incomes!
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